{"id":1376,"date":"2026-02-08T17:17:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2026-02-17T13:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T11:22:21","slug":"dialogue-with-australian-writer-shelley-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/?p=1376","title":{"rendered":"Dialogue with Australian writer Shelley Dark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6th<\/sup> February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

W.H. <\/strong>I have just been given your book \u201cSon of Hydra<\/a>\u201d by my friend Vice-Admiral Heraklis Kalogerakis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley Dark: <\/strong>How lovely \u2013 please thank Vice-Admiral Kalogerakis for me. I hope you enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W.H.<\/strong> I am starting it now. We are just over the road from the Voulgaris estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.D.<\/strong> Wayne, do you know anything of the history of the Voulgaris estate? Or maybe an online reference? I would love to know more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W.H.<\/strong> https:\/\/www.karapanou.com\/the-story\/#the-history-of-oikia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.D. <\/strong>Thank you so much, Wayne. That is interesting, Wayne. Do you know when it was acquired? I didn\u2019t include any mention of Aegina in \u201cSon of Hydra\u201d because I wasn\u2019t sure when the land was acquired \u2013 whether the Sultan granted it to Giorgos along with the title of Bey and governor of Hydra or whether he bought it before he became governor, during his time in office or later, after leaving Hydra, under pressure from the Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ghikas would certainly have known about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W.H.<\/strong>  I am not  well informed about all this. You can ask Heraklis the relevant questions. But here is something I sent to Heraklis the day before yesterday and mentioned to him last night when we were together in a restaurant:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/?p=1349<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is much more to come out of this serendipity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley are you related to\u00a0Eleanor Dark<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Shelley Dark\u2019s \u201cSon of Hydra\u201d, p. 382<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have news of Greece,\u201d says Ando. \u201cFrom the newspapers. Would you like to hear?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know I would!\u201d I lift my voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know the new Greek king is a Bavarian \u2013 a Roman Catholic? His taxes are higher than the Sultan\u2019s and the foreign debts remain. It\u2019s a disaster \u2013 no constitution, no democracy. They sentenced our Hydriot war heroes to death and only pardoned them under pressure.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damos says, \u2018Didn\u2019t you hear that Ghikas\u2019 friend, Spryidon Trikoupis, is petitioning the English king to pardon men who fought in the revolution?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitterness heats my face. (thinks Ghikas)  \u2018He had a chance to do something when we were in Malta. He\u2019s forgotten we exist.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ando continues.  \u2018Well, they shifted the government to Athens, still in rubble. And they speak French instead of Greek. They wear western dress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I struggle to picture this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hydra is in a worse position than before the war.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I place my mug on the table. \u2018So, Ando, are you still Greek?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Even if I were to be given a pardon, Ghika, I will stay in New South Wales. I sell my first crop of wheat this year. One day I will buy my own land.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6th February 2026 W.H. I have just been given your book \u201cSon of Hydra\u201d by my friend Vice-Admiral Heraklis Kalogerakis. Shelley Dark: How lovely \u2013 please thank Vice-Admiral Kalogerakis for me. I hope you enjoy it. W.H. I am starting it now. We are just over the road from the Voulgaris estate. S.D. Wayne, do you know anything of the history of the Voulgaris estate? Or maybe an online reference? I would love to know more. W.H. https:\/\/www.karapanou.com\/the-story\/#the-history-of-oikia S.D. Thank you so much, Wayne. That is interesting, Wayne. Do you know when it was acquired? I didn\u2019t include any mention of Aegina in \u201cSon of Hydra\u201d because I wasn\u2019t sure when the land was acquired \u2013 whether the Sultan granted it to Giorgos along with the title of Bey and governor of Hydra or whether he bought it before he became governor, during his time in office or later, after leaving Hydra, under pressure from the Council. But Ghikas would certainly have known about it. W.H.  I am not  well informed about all this. You can ask Heraklis the relevant questions. But here is something I sent to Heraklis the day before yesterday and mentioned to him last night when we were together in a restaurant: https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/?p=1349 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1400,"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions\/1400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}