Macedonian Agenda

The Authors

Aegean Macedonian Association of Australia
The Aegean Macedonian Association of Australia was formed in Sydney in December, 1992.

The purpose of the Association is to raise awareness of the need for basic human rights for ethnic Macedonians who live in or originate from Greece.

The Association lobbies politicians and other influential groups, and publishes and disseminates reports on the situation in Greece.

Risto Balalovski
Risto Balalovski was born in Newcastle, NSW in 1965. His parents, Tashe (village Sopotsko, Resen) and Paca, nee Topevska, (village Gjavato, Bitola) emigrated separately from Macedonia in their youth to seek enhanced economic and lifestyle opportunities.

Mr Balalovski holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and has worked for several years with the Federal Government. He is currently completing a Bachelor of Laws degree.

Throughout his life, Mr Balalovski has been involved with local Macedonian cultural, sporting and academic associations, and takes great interest in early Macedonian literature and music.

Victor Bivell
Victor Bivell's parents are from the village Neret in Aegean Macedonia. He was born in Manjimup, Western Australia in 1957, and grew up in Perth where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English.

In 1984 he moved to Sydney and worked as a magazine editor for five years before starting his own publishing company, Pollitecon Publications, in 1992.

Mr Bivell has been active in political and cultural affairs, including the campaign for human rights for Macedonians in Greece and publishing in English on Macedonian themes.

Zoran Coseski
Zoran Coseski was born in Struga, Republic of Macedonia, in 1963. His father is from the village Vranista and his mother from Mislesevo.

Mr Coseski arrived in Perth, Western Australia in 1970 and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Sociology. He is currently employed with the WA Government and is a member of the WA Multicultural Week Committee.

Mr Coseski has a strong commitment to the Macedonian community, having been secretary of the Macedonian United Society of WA for 10 years as well as working in radio and as a translator and interpreter. He is also a delegate to the Macedonian Council of WA.

Faye Kolev
Faye Kolev was born in Melbourne in 1948. Her parents are both from the village of Neret in Aegean Macedonia.

Ms Kolev attended Richmond Girls' Secondary School and worked as a book binder for 20 years.

More recently she has become a researcher and writer focusing on the suffering experienced by Macedonians in and from Greece. Her interests include the Greek Civil War, human rights, and a free and united Macedonia.

Macedonian Community Welfare Association of the Western Region Inc
The Macedonian Community Welfare Association of the Western Region Inc originated in 1983 with the identification of the need for local services for Macedonians experiencing problems with settlement and isolation.

The organization has given support, financial and otherwise, to start or assist a number of Macedonian community initiatives including the second Macedonian elderly group in the region, the Macedonian Cultural Artistic Association "Jane Sandanski", the Sydenham Park Macedonian Juniors Soccer Club, the employment of a Macedonian Community Worker, the Bilingual Directory of Macedonian Speaking Service Providers in the Western Suburbs, the Keilor Macedonian Elderly Group, the employment of a Macedonian Elderly Support and Research Worker, and forums in secondary colleges in the western region, among other projects.

Pandora Petrovska
Pandora Petrovska was born in Werribee, Victoria in 1955. Her mother is from the village Kleshtina and her father from Dolna Kleshtina, both in Aegean Macedonia.

Ms Petrovska has a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Diploma of Education, and has been accepted as a candidate for a Master of Education degree. She is employed as an education administrator.

Ms Petrovska has been involved in the Macedonian community for many years and is a past president and current secretary of the Macedonian Teachers' Association. Her interests include language, oral history and expository cultural writings about the experiences of Macedonian women.

Dr Christopher Popov
Dr Christopher Popov was born in Melbourne in 1953 to Macedonian parents from the region of Lerin, Aegean Macedonia.

Dr Popov holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a PhD in History. He presently works for the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in Melbourne.

Dr Popov is active in Macedonian community circles in Melbourne and Australia. In the late 1980s he was president of the Australian Macedonian Progressive Society, and is currently president of the Australian-Macedonian Human Rights Committee and the Macedonian Human Rights Committee of Melbourne and Victoria. He has written widely on the subject of human rights for Macedonians, and has contributed to and led overseas human rights delegations. He is a regular contributor to the Macedonian press in Australia and has also contributed to the Melbourne Age.

Michael Radin
Michael Radin was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1958. His parents are from the villages of Visheni (Kostursko) and Dolno Kotori (Lerinsko) in the Aegean region of Macedonia.

Mr Radin holds degrees in Law and Arts, and Honours in Political Science. He has worked as a lawyer and in 1989 was appointed to the Immigration Review Tribunal as an administrative judge.

Mr Radin has been a Commissioner of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, has served on numerous State and Federal Government bodies, and currently holds several consultancies. He has been active in the Macedonian community for over 12 years in a variety of positions. His interests include Macedonian migration, history, politics, culture and community affairs.

Malina Stankovska
Malina Stankovska was born in Kinglake, Victoria in 1956. Her mother is from the village Kleshtina and her father from Dolna Kleshtina, both in Aegean Macedonia.

Ms Stankovska has a Bachelor of Economics degree, a Graduate Diploma in Community Development, and is currently undertaking a Master of Social Science degree. She spent four years working in aged care and is now employed as a community worker and ethnic psychiatric access co-ordinator. She also serves on the Mental Health Sub-Committee of the Ministerial Ethnic Health Advisory Committee.

Among other roles, Ms Stankovska served on the committee that established the Australian-Macedonian Welfare Council and is the current chairperson of the Macedonian Welfare Workers' Network.

Betty Kolupacev Stewart
Betty Stewart's parents are from the village Gjavato near Bitola in the Republic of Macedonia. She was born in Wollongong, NSW in 1963 and moved to Sydney in 1982.

A lawyer, Ms Stewart has Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees and a Master of Arts degree in Macedonian Studies.

Ms Stewart has been active in the Macedonian community for a number of years and was a founder and past president of the Macedonian Studies Foundation. Among her Macedonian interests are language, folk songs, customs and traditional design.

Stefo Stojanovski
Stefo Stojanovski was born in 1958 in the village of Lazec, Republic of Macedonia. His mother is from the village Buf, near Lerin, in Aegean Macedonia while his father's family was originally from Rakovo, also in Aegean Macedonia, before moving to Lazec at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Mr Stojanovski arrived in Geelong, Australia in 1965. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in English and a Diploma of Education. He worked as a teacher for nine years and is currently a manager in the Victorian School of Languages.

A past office bearer of the Macedonian Teachers' Association, his involvement with the Macedonian community is now mainly through the Australian-Macedonian Drama Group of which he is a founder, writer, director and public officer.

Bob Spasenovski
Bob Spasenovski was born in 1956 in Krushevo, Republic of Macedonia, and arrived in Australia in 1969.

Mr Spasenovski attended high school in Macedonia and Australia and is also a NAATI accredited interpreter. A former Federal policeman, he is now a businessman with his own driving school and auto repair shop.

Based in Canberra, Mr Spasenovski has been active in the Macedonian community since 1985. Among other positions, he is a long time president of the Macedonian Orthodox Church "St Kliment of Ohrid" and producer and broadcaster of the local Macedonian radio program.

The Association of Refugee Children from the Aegean Part of Macedonia
The Association of Refugee Children from the Aegean Part of Macedonia is a worldwide body formed in 1986 to represent the interests of 28,000 Macedonian child refugees from the Greek Civil War and to fight for human rights for Macedonians from Greece.

The Association's Australian affiliate is the Australian Macedonian Child Refugees Association, which has branches in most States.

The first gathering of the child refugees in Australia was held in Melbourne from 10 to 12 January 1992. The second gathering was held in Perth from January 6 to 8, 1995.

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Macedonian Agenda

Copyright: 1995

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