Josephine And Harry Zammit Cordina have just returned from a six-week trip to Australia in preparation for the popular programme Waltzing Matilda, shown fortnightly (on Wednesday), with a repeat on Friday, on TVM. The couple visited Victoria, New South Wales (NSW) and Canberra and carried out almost 100 interviews.
Through Waltzing Matilda, Josephine Zammit Cordina wants to show Maltese viewers that their brethren in Australia belong to an active and growing community and that the Maltese in Australia want their families in Malta to know that they are doing well in their land of adoption and that they want to share their success with those they left behind.
Waltzing Matilda is also quite popular in Australia. In fact it has been showing on Channel 31 in Melbourne, since October 2000. "Malta has strong ties with Australia," Josephine and her husband Harry told The Sunday Times last week. The programme, which has become an institution, is like a window to Australia, she added.
Josephine and Harry met students, businessmen who have done well for themselves, members of various Maltese associations and other personalities from various walks of life. "The main idea is to focus on the Maltese and their lives in Australia," Josephine said.
Josephine and Harry's first stop was Victoria, where they spent about three weeks, followed by Sydney and Canberra. They were joined by their son Henry in Sydney and Canberra; he did all the filming there. Joe Montebello filmed all coverage in Victoria.
Among other personalities, the Zammit Cordinas met Jarlath Ronayne and Ron Adams of the Victoria University of Technology; Gozitan Ray Scerri, commercial counsellor at the Maltese High Commission in London, who graduated with a Ph.D. from Victoria University; anaesthetists Stephen Gatt of NSW and George Boffa and his wife Laura, daughter of the late Erin Serracino Inglott; Dr Carmel Sammut, a medical doctor who runs a clinic in Victoria; lawyer Paul Sant of Sydney; Dr Ivan Fsadni, the Maltese High Commissioner in Canberra; Chevalier Manuel Pisani, president of the Australian-Maltese Chamber of Commerce; John J. Aquilina, Minister for Fair Trade, Land and Water Conservation, in NSW; Lino Vella, editor of The Maltese Herald.
Dr Gaetan Pace, president of La Valette Social Centre, Blacktown, NSW; Mario Pirotta and Mario Jnr, insurance and financial advisers of Victoria; Antoine Said Pullicino, president of the Maltese Businessmen and Professionals Association of NSW; and broadcasters Richard Curmi, head of Maltese programmes on SBS Radio, Melbourne, John Borg, head of Maltese programmes on SBS Radio, Sydney, and Emanuel Brincat of Radio 3ZZZ, Victoria.
Josephine and Harry's last assignment was a reception held in honour of Opposition Leader Dr Alfred Sant, who recently visited Australia, at the Hamrun Association in Marsden Park, NSW.
Josephine and Harry were hosted by Carmen and Frank Trani in Victoria, Chevalier Manuel Pisani and his wife Josephine in Sydney and Alfred and Anna Flask in Canberra.
Emirates Airlines were the main sponsors. Other sponsors included PBS, Maltacom, Herbert Portanier of Professional Freight Services of Victoria, Chevalier Frank Gatt of ANPAS in Victoria, Franco Farrugia, BoV representative in Australia, and Panther's Travel of NSW.
Josephine Zammit Cordina was a member of the Commission for the Maltese Living Abroad (1991/4) and eventually chairman (1995/7). She was honorary member of the Maltese-Australian Chamber of Commerce and was presented with the Manoel de Vilhena Award (1993) for her services to the Maltese community in Australia by the Harmonic 65 Culture Centre in Victoria.
Josephine was honoured by the Maltese government in 1995 with the MQR award for her distinguished service to the country.