Lecture: The Return of the Parthenon Marbles

Name: Lecture: The Return of the Parthenon Marbles
Start: 2026-03-04T08:30:00+11:00
Location: 253 Albert Street, Brunswick, VIC, Australia, Victoria 3056

Schedule

Wed, 04 Mar, 2026 at 08:30 am

UTC+11:00

Location

253 Albert Street, Brunswick, VIC, Australia, Victoria 3056 | Brunswick, VI

-- 𝑳𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 --
The Pallaconian Brotherhood invites all to join us for a free lecture on the topic of the Return of the Parthenon Marbles. The lecture will be given by Emanuel J. Comino AM PSP on Wednesday the 4th of March 2026. Doors open at 6:30pm.
The lecture will be held at 253 Albert Street, Brunswick 3056.
Emanuel, 93 years old, was born in Queensland, but spent his early years in his ancestral home of Kythera in Greece. He returned to Australia as a teenager and worked at various cafes, until 1952 when he was called up for National Service in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Townsville.
In the RAAF he was trained as a military photographer and flew in Lincoln Bombers during the Korean War (1950-53). He then joined the RAAF Reserve for a further 7 years. He met and married his wife Matina, and relocated to Sydney. He purchased a milk bar, raising his sons. He later moved into the insurance industry, where he continues to work to this day, and sold the milk bar.
Emanuel was involved in the Kytherian Association of Australia, established in 1922. He was also a founding member of the Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club (now Sydney Olympic FC), he was the President and secretary of the Greek Orthodox Church of Kogarah, he was a community liaison officer in the Kogarah police district, a member of the Southern Sydney Health Services board (overseeing St George, Sutherland and Canterbury Hospitals) and President of the Australasian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA).
In the 1970s, Emanuel became horrified at what he saw as the looting of Greek antiquities, scattered throughout European museums. In particular, Emanuel was inspired by the Classical Greek marble sculptures that were removed from the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, between 1801 and 1812 and taken to Britain.
Emanuel is the founder and Chairman of the International Organising Committee - Australia - For the Restitution of the Parthenon Sculptures and is also the Vice-Chairman of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. He was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours List in 1985. He was invited to speak about the case for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles at the Hague in the Netherlands in 2003.
If time allows, at the end of the lecture there will be an opportunity for questions to be asked by the audience.
WHERE? 253 Albert Street, Brunswick, 3056
WHEN? Wednesday 4th of March 2025 @6:30pm
PRICE? FREE