Greek dancing filled the yard of St George College in Adelaide on Friday as excited students waited for the arrival of two very familiar faces — Anthony and Lucia Field from The Wiggles. Before The Wiggles had even stepped onto the school grounds, students were already celebrating, gathering outside and Greek dancing together as they waited. Anthony and Lucia were accompanied by guitarist Michael, adding live music to a visit filled with song, movement and celebration. During one of the songs, MIchael playfully pretended to fall asleep as part of a game with the St George College students, adding another light-hearted moment to the visit. It created a vibrant display of Hellenic culture and set the scene for a visit that was about much more than entertainment.
For St George College, where Greek language, Orthodox faith and Hellenic culture have been embedded in the school’s identity for more than four decades, the occasion brought together tradition and a distinctly modern way of keeping that heritage alive. For The Wiggles, it was also a return to a school that has already played an important part in their Greek-language journey. St George College students have previously been involved in Learning Greek with Lucia, an initiative created through a partnership between The Wiggles and the Hellenic Studies Foundation.
The relationship stretches back to the launch of the initiative at St George College in June 2024, after the Hellenic Studies Foundation approached the school about involving students. At the time, Hellenic Studies Foundation representative Harry Patsouris said St George College had “jumped at the chance” to participate, describing it as a natural fit with the College’s ethos of making learning enjoyable. The Wiggles returned to the College earlier this year to film St George students for their Greek cultural video, making Friday’s visit another chapter in an already established relationship. During Friday’s visit, students also had the special experience of watching themselves on screen dancing in The Wiggles’ Greek cultural video from that earlier visit. Excitement grew as they recognised themselves and their classmates, bringing the project full circle and allowing them to see their own school community and Greek culture celebrated through The Wiggles.
Maria Miltiadous, St George College Head of Junior Campus and Head of Languages & Orthodox Studies, said the return was particularly meaningful for the students. “It was wonderful to welcome The Wiggles back to St George College following their visit earlier this year to film our students for their Greek cultural video,” Miltiadous said. “It was a very special experience for our students and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and share our Greek language, dance and culture with the wider community.”
St George College Principal Guy Cassarchis also reflected on the joy the visit brought to the school community. “On behalf of the entire St George College community, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to The Wiggles for visiting our College and creating such a wonderful and memorable experience for our students,” Cassarchis said. “Their energy, warmth and enthusiasm brought so much joy to our children, who were thrilled to see their favourite performers in person. We are incredibly grateful to The Wiggles for taking the time to visit St George College and for helping create a special day that our students and staff will remember for years to come.”
For original Blue Wiggle Anthony Field, the connection to Greek language and culture has also become deeply personal. Anthony spoke warmly about marrying into a Greek Australian family through his wife, Michaela “Miki” Field, née Patisteas. He said he considers himself fortunate to have married a Greek Australian and described his mother-in-law and father-in-law as beautiful people who have taught him a great deal about Greek culture. His in-laws, he said, are immensely proud Greeks, and their pride and traditions have had an important influence on his own family. Anthony said Miki speaks fluent Greek, while he himself does not.
“I don’t speak Greek, so [the children] were not going to learn Greek unless they went to Greek school. And even then, it’s hard because when they come home, they’re speaking English,” Anthony said. He also reflected on the well-known Shakespearean expression, “It’s all Greek to me”, and the way such a phrase can make the language seem inaccessible. “Shakespeare said, ‘It’s all Greek to me.’ But I think that’s a bit of a negative. I think that’s when people go, ‘Oh, it’s too hard. It’s Greek.’ Whereas we’ve got to say to the children, ‘This is your culture, and you’ll learn.’ If you start with a few words, start with cooking, start with something, then you’ll become part of this community.”
For Anthony, bringing elements of Greek language and culture into The Wiggles has created another way for children, including his own, to engage with their heritage in an approachable and enjoyable way. His eldest daughter Lucia, now performing alongside him as a Blue Wiggle, has experienced that journey herself. Lucia’s path into The Wiggles was not something she had originally planned. She trained in ballet for most of her life at The Australian Ballet School, but when COVID-19 disrupted that path, she began questioning what she wanted to do next.
“I trained in ballet for most of my life at Australian Ballet School. COVID hit, I came home. I essentially had a crisis, you know, saying, ‘I can’t, I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to do something different,’” Lucia said. She returned to study and graduated before joining The Wiggles as a dancer, initially believing it would be temporary while she worked out her next step. “I went back to school, I graduated, and it was supposed to be temporary where I joined Wiggles as a dancer. Let’s figure out what I wanted to do, and the line-up changed,” she said. “It was a whirlwind. It was within two weeks I had to figure out my hair and record songs and I was on set. So it’s been fast, falling into it, but it’s been really fantastic.”
Becoming a Wiggle has also given Lucia an unexpected opportunity to reconnect more deeply with her Greek heritage. “As a young kid, of course I knew I was Greek and had Greek food and stuff like that, but this — I’m learning Greek nursery rhymes and learning words and connecting with kids who had a similar upbringing,” Lucia said. “It’s quite healing for me as well.” One song in particular has created a deeply personal connection across generations of her family. “One of the songs is Mia Oraia Petalouda. My Yiayia used to sing it to my mum,” Lucia said. “I didn’t actually know it before we did this video, and I learned it, and it is one of my favourites.”
For Lucia, the song now links her own experience with that of her mother and grandmother — a piece of family culture she discovered through a project created to help children connect with Greek language and traditions. Her maternal grandparents, Angela and Peter (Petros) Patisteas OAM, have been important links to her Greek heritage. Lucia’s Yiayia Angela died in 2025, adding another layer of meaning to the family’s celebration of Greek language and culture. Learning a song once sung by her Yiayia to her mother allows that memory and tradition to continue through another generation.
Lucia also spoke affectionately about her Pappou Peter and his enthusiasm for Neos Kosmos. “Pappou, of course, he loves everything,” Lucia said, referring specifically to everything to do with Neos Kosmos. She said he follows the publication closely and even cuts out articles and keeps them. Anthony added that if someone Peter knows appears in Neos Kosmos, he is quick to tell everyone about it. It is a warm connection to the publication and one that reflects Peter’s longstanding enthusiasm for Neos Kosmos and the Greek Australian stories it shares.
The Field family’s experience mirrors the broader purpose behind Learning Greek with Lucia: making language and culture something children can experience not only through formal learning, but through music, food, family, traditions and community. That philosophy is also at the heart of the Hellenic Studies Foundation’s work. Harry Patsouris, Director and Secretary of the Hellenic Studies Foundation and a trustee, has been a key figure behind the collaboration with The Wiggles. The Foundation began exploring the partnership as it looked for new ways to engage young children with Greek and address the challenge of maintaining the language among later generations of Greek Australians. “What better way to do so than by engaging with the world’s best educational entertainment group!” Patsouris previously told Neos Kosmos. The partnership resulted in Learning Greek with Lucia, using songs and interactive activities to introduce children to Greek language and culture in an accessible and enjoyable way.
That same cultural pride was clearly visible at St George College on Friday. Students did not simply sit and wait for their special guests to arrive; they Greek danced together in the yard, proudly celebrating a culture that forms an important part of their school community. St George College opened in 1984 as South Australia’s first bilingual Greek Orthodox College. Very Reverend Father Diogenis Patsouris OAM JP was the driving force behind the vision for the College, helping create a school where children could receive a strong education while remaining connected to their Greek Orthodox faith, language and culture.
Father Patsouris has long been a respected and dedicated figure within Adelaide’s Greek Orthodox community, with his commitment to education, faith and Hellenic culture helping shape generations of young Greek Australians through St George College. He was there on Friday to share in the occasion and witness the excitement as students welcomed Anthony and Lucia back to the College. For someone whose vision helped establish a school designed to preserve Greek identity for future generations, seeing children proudly Greek dancing in the yard and embracing their heritage through one of Australia’s best-known children’s entertainment groups was particularly fitting. More than four decades later, the College continues to pursue that purpose, even as the ways children connect with their heritage evolve.
Friday’s scenes captured that balance. Traditional Greek dancing unfolded in the school yard while students eagerly awaited two Australian entertainment icons who have found another way to bring Greek language and culture to young audiences. For Lucia, the journey has taken her from ballet, through an unexpected career change, to becoming a Blue Wiggle and discovering new parts of her Greek heritage along the way. For Anthony, it reflects the influence of the proud Greek Australian family he married into and his desire to help his own children connect more closely with that part of their identity. For the Hellenic Studies Foundation, it offers another avenue for reaching a generation for whom maintaining Greek may require different approaches from those of their parents and grandparents. And for St George College, it complements a mission that began more than 40 years ago.
As students danced in the yard awaiting Anthony and Lucia’s arrival, the connection between those generations was on display. From Father Patsouris’ vision for a school preserving Greek language, faith and culture, to Lucia discovering a nursery rhyme once sung by her Yiayia to her mother, to children now celebrating their heritage through The Wiggles, the methods may evolve — but the purpose remains familiar. It is about ensuring that what was handed down by Yiayiades and Pappoudes is not lost. And sometimes, keeping that culture alive can begin with a Greek dance in the school yard, a familiar childhood song — and a little help from The Wiggles.
