Many readers will be aware of my love of Mani in the southern Peloponnese. I have travelled throughout the region, driving through its roads and lanes, across its mountains and into its many beautiful villages and towns, so full of history. And all around is the sight and smell of the surrounding sea as well as the abundance of mountain tea that grows wild on its hills and mountains.

I first became fascinated by the region through the writings of the late English Philhellene Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor. Patrick DSO MBE. He was many things – a decorated war veteran, the kidnapper of General Kreipe on Crete, traveller, a lover of all things Greek, friend of Greek writers and artists, like George Seferis and Nikos Ghika. He translated and helped publish the famous WW2 memoir of George Psychoundakis’ The Cretan Runner. But most importantly he was a travel writer. It was through his writings on his experiences of travel in Greece that I first became fascinated with Mani. His slim volume simply titled Mani was my introduction to great travel writing. In it he conveyed a real feeling for the region and its people. At the same time as you read the book you felt that you were traveling alongside him. I was captivated. His love of the region would see him make a post-war home just south of Kardamyli, where he would live with his wife Joan.

Later I would become fascinated with the story of the region’s role in the successful escape of Allied soldiers in the days following the fall of Kalamata to the German invaders in late April 1941. I would go on to meet the children of some of these veterans – those of Private Syd Grant and Captain Robert Vial both from Melbourne – who would share with me the stories that their father’s passed down of their experiences in the region during these dark days and the help they received from the local people. I would research the stories of other veterans who took the same escape route through the Mani such as Private George Foot who came from my own Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh.

Importantly I would be introduced to Catherine Bell, the daughter of Syd Grant, who would share are father’s amazing and unique photographs of his time on the run in Mani. He captured in vivid photographs the village of Trahila, south of Kardamyli, where he and other Allied soldiers were hidden and aided by the locals, revealing the church where they stayed and the village women who brought them food. He would photograph the village and its little harbour from which he would sail to freedom. Syd would be one of over 200 Allied soldiers evacuated by Royal Navy warships in the early hours of May 1st from Trahila and two other Mani seaside villages. They would be last major Allied evacuations from the Greek mainland during the Greek campaign.

This story and Patrick’s enticing introduction to Mani drove me to visit the region on a number of occasions and compelled me to commemorate the actions of these brave local people in helping these Allied soldiers escape. This all culminated in the installation of the Mani Evacuation Memorial at the harbour of Trahila in May this year. Supported by Melbourne’s Pamessinian Brotherhood Papaflessas and the Municipality of West Mani, the installation puts Mani on Greece’s Anzac and WW2 heritage trail.

The journey to the installation has led me to many interesting people, each of whom has played an essential part in this commemorative story. Pre-eminent amongst these have been the Mayor and former Mayor of West Mani –Giorgos Chioureas and Dimitrios Giannamaras respectively. I believe that without their appreciation and support the memorial would not have been installed nor would the installation have been accompanied by such an illustrious celebration, which included diplomatic representatives along with many veterans’ children joining with local villagers to honour the evacuations.

Along the way I encountered people who connected the Mani to Melbourne and to Patrick Leigh Fermor. One of those was former Melbourne academic and Greek Community of Melbourne activist Yiannis Dimitreas. Having returned to his home village of Kardamyli, Yiannis now operates a shop offering local organic produce. But more importantly, it was Yiannis’ father who introduced Patrick Leigh Fermor to the Mani, guiding him through the region as he researched for his book. So its no surprise that Patrick wrote a dedication to Yiannis father in the Greek language edition of his book Mani.

Another is Melbourne’s Peter Pastiseas OAM. Many in the community will know Peter from his successful coffee business and his work with AHEPA. But for me Peter is first and foremost a proud Maniot. His home is decorated with many paintings depicting his village of Pseria, high in the Taygetus mountains, north of Kardamyli. It was no surprise to me that Peter would be join me in advocating for the installation of the Mani Evacuation Memorial in his home region. Not only would it honour the role of the people of his region but it would celebrate an important connection between Australia, Greece and Mani.

But it was a great surprise for me as we sat having a coffee in Oakliegh celebrating the installation for Peter to tell me of his own personal and family connections to Patrick Leigh Fermor. Peter began by explaining how members of his family used to deliver groceries to Patrick Leigh Fermor at his house south of Kardamyli. His relative Zoe Venizeliaos would bring the supplies from the family grocery shop all the way down to Patrick’s home by the sea.

It was then that Peter produced a series of photographs depicting his own connection to Patrick. He had been interested in Patrick since learning of his book Mani in the 1960’s. On his return to Greece in 2010, Peter was keen to see if he could visit Patrick’s home and meet the writer. So it was that through his relatives a meeting was arranged and Peter enjoyed a good hour in relaxed conversation with Patrick in the living room of his magnificent home surrounded by his library.

Peter says that they conversed in Greek, Patrick’s Greek being excellent and no surprise given his decades of life in post-war Greece. Their discussion ranged over a number of topics, with Patrick particularly interested in Australia. Peter was fascinated and impressed by Patrick’s beautiful home. Patrick explained the background to his house. He spoke of how he had searched the area for the right spot to build his new home and found this perfect spot. After much negotiation with the owners the deal was settled and he began his plans to build his home. He used to sit under an umbrella at the site to oversee the local workmen as they worked to realize his dream. Anyone who has been to Patrick’s home – now part of the Benaki Museum after its gifting to the museum following Patrick’s death in 2011 – will be impressed by its design and how it fits into the landscape.

Fortunately Peter’s time with Patrick is captured in these few photographs, some of the last photographs taken of Patrick. Peter also took some photos of the house itself, its impressive entrance and an overview of the house and its surrounding bay. Many readers will be interested to see these images of the great philhellene in the place he made his home for many decades in Greece.

So it will come as no surprise that I could think of no better location for the screening of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee’s WW2 documentary – Anzac The Greek Chapter – than on the forecourt of Patrick’s former home, where Peter had met the great man himself. A film commemorating the Greek campaign held in the home of not only a Greek campaign veteran but a philhellene. The attendance of many Greek campaign veterans’ families from the UK would have pleased Patrick, a former patron of their Brotherhood. The holding of the screening there was thanks to the support of West Mani Mayor Giorgos Chioureas and the Benaki Museum. This well attended event was an excellent complement to the memorial installation earlier in the day. This story is just one of the many little known connections between Greece and Australia, between Mani and Melbourne.

*Jim Claven OAM is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author. He has written extensively on the Hellenic link to Australia’s Anzac tradition, including that in Mani. He was Associate Producer of Anzac The Greek Chapter. He thanks Peter Patisteas for sharing his photographs and story. He can be contacted via email – [email protected]