TRANSCRIPT
It's not a sight often seen in Sydney.
A procession of Greek presidential guards known as evzones marching down a city road - honouring the shared history between Australian and Greece.
That shared history dates back 125 years to the First World War when Australians and Greeks fought side by side.
There is also the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two which saw Australians fighting alongside the Greeks against German Nazi forces.
But the uniform dates back further to 1868.
Lieutenant Ioannis Kontogiannis says the guards now play a ceremonial role in Greek culture.
"Most of the evzones are volunteers drawn from the Hellenic Army's Infantry Corps through a painstaking process, maintaining the status as unserving guards. The presence continues to pay tribute to the unknown soldier around the clock, under any weather conditions. They also stand guard at the entrance of the presidential mansion and at the gate of the barracks of the Presidential Guard. "
But there also famous for their traditional outfits consisting of stockings, a skirt made with 30 metres of fabric and 400 pleats, symbolising 400 years of Ottoman rule and colourful pom pom shoes.
The lower part of the uniform looks a little like a kilt.
In Greek, though, it's known as a fustanella and was part of clothing worn by those who fought against Ottoman occupation of Greece.
And you may be wondering more about their shoes, and how exactly they once fitted into warfare.
Known as tsarouchia in Greek, they once concealed weapons used for hand to hand combat.
Lieutenant Kontogiannis explains.
"The ROI is entirely handmade, made of tough red leather. A pair of ROA weights about two and a half kilos as they have nails and horses on the swords. According to tradition, the large black pompon of the ROI called concealed blades useful in hand-to-hand combat."
The visit to Australia is also about marking the long presence of the Greek community in here.
Greek migration to Australia started in the early 1800s, but most Greeks moved after World War Two and the Greek Civil War with migration peaking between the late 1940s to the early 1970s.
Some of those migrants are now being supported in aged care by the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales.
In an aged care facility in Sydney, Aristidis Bobatas was on hand to welcome the guards who paid the residents a special visit.
"It's not every day Greek presidential guards visit you. It's very nice to see them this year. Hopefully we will see them again next year."
Nia Karteris is the Chairperson of the Greek Festival of Sydney.
She says it isn't a given that all of these migrants ever returned to the country of their birth after migrating to Australia, making opportunities such as this rare.
"This is the only opportunity these people get to see them up close- there's a lot of people here that probably have never gone back to Greece and didn't get the chance to see them again. "
Facial hair is also part of their unique uniform, with the moustache worn as a badge of honour to show 100 hours of duty.
