Mr. Theo Bacalakis awarded by the Australian Government

Mr. Theo Bacalakis, a prominent member of the Greek Omogenia in Australia, President of the Greek Orthodox Parish – Community of Cairns in North Queensland and the Archon of the Great Church of Christ, was awarded by the Australian Government, as part of the honours awarded by the Governor General of Australia on the occasion of the birthday of King Charles III. The institution provides for the awarding of citizens who have distinguished themselves for their work and contribution in various fields.

Mr. Bacalakis was awarded the third class award, the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), for services to the Greek community of the State of Queensland.

Mr. Theo Bacalakis is President of the Greek Orthodox Parish-Community of Saint John the Baptist Cairns, President and founding member of St. John’s Community Care, member of the boards of St. John the Baptist Day Care Centre Cairns and St. Paraskevi Child Care Centre in Taigum, as well as Vice President of the Consolidated Trust of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia. He has been honoured by the Holy Archdiocese with the Golden Cross of Saint Andrew and by the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the office of Archon of the Ecumenical Throne. He has served in many community organisations over many years, as well as on government advisory boards, and was named Cairns’ Citizen of the Year in 2018.

It is noted that, as part of the awards, this year distinctions were awarded to a total of 1,191 citizens. In the list of awardees, apart from Mr. Bacalakis, there are other names of citizens of Greek origin, such as: Magdalena Simonis, Leonidas Earlston Pericles, Claire Gazis, Mechel Pikoulas, Efstratios Poulos, Angelica Poulos, Terry Psarakis, Michael (Mike) Zervos , George Cotis, Suzanne Caragianis, Antonios Stavros Koufos, Bobby Antoniou and Stacey Solomou.