Agent TypePersonPlace of BirthGreeceActivities & OccupationsPolitical activistsBroadcastersGenderMaleHistoryGeorge Zanglis was born in Greece in 1931 and arrived in Melbourne on 15th February 1951 aged 19. In the absence of any government assisted migration scheme to help Greeks, he was sponsored by a relative.
George started work at the Holden General Motors factory and at first, went to work on Saturday because he didn’t realise that there was a five day week. Soon after he signed up with his local trade union during a time when unions were very skeptical about migrants. They were worried they’d ruin their pay. They were driven by a strong working class racism. But George, like other migrants, had come out of the struggle with fascism and had higher expectations of what a society could be.
In 1951 Zangalis joined the Communist Youth Party in Australia, 8 months later he joined the main Communist Party. After World War II, membership of the Communist Party had peaked at around 20,000 and at the time Zanglis joined the Communist Party Dissolution Bill (1950) had been introduced. In 1951 not long after Zangalis arrived in Australia the High Court over turned the Act.
This was when George began to really appreciate the country. He began to realize that while the White Australia Policy was designed to stop people getting in, once here there was a strong ethic of giving people a ‘Fair Go’.
George later became involved in Ethnic Communities councils, sat on the board of SBS, and is a lead broadcaster on Melbourne’s ethnic radio station 3ZZZ. He has also written the book Migrant Workers and Ethnic Communities: Their Struggles for Social Justice and Cultural Rights: The Role of Greek-Australians. Zangalis passed away in Melbourne on 25 March 2021
Source: SBS
![[2021.0003] Papers of George Zangalis](/img/placeholder.gif?1768172494 "[2021.0003] Papers of George Zangalis")