Guest
Eugenia Mitrakas
Episode Number
№5
Eugenia Mitrakas OAM is a pioneering Australian lawyer, community leader and advocate who became the first Greek female solicitor to practise law in Australia.
Born on the Greek island of Lesvos, Eugenia migrated to Australia as a nine-year-old unable to speak English. She went on to graduate from the University of Melbourne with degrees in Law and Arts and, in 1972, established her own legal practice in Melbourne.
What followed was a career of more than five decades marked by a series of firsts.
Eugenia became the first woman elected to the Council of the Law Institute of Victoria, the first woman to serve on and later chair Victoria’s legal admissions body, and the first female Notary Public appointed in Victoria.
Alongside her legal career, she has devoted decades to community service, particularly within Melbourne’s Greek community, working across welfare, education, multicultural affairs and access to justice.
Her contribution has been recognised with the Medal of the Order of Australia, induction into the Victorian Multicultural Honour Roll, and numerous professional and community honours.
In The 8th Voice, Eugenia reflects on migration, identity, determination and what it meant to enter a profession at a time when both women and migrants faced barriers that are difficult to imagine today. Her story is also one of service: building a career while helping create opportunities for the generations that followed.
