As an organisation serving and promoting Aeolian culture, the Societa Isole Eolie, (SIE) is known to most people as the ‘Isole Eolie Club’ or the ‘Aeolian Club’. When founded in 1925 by Bartolo Di Mattina & brothers Giuseppe and Stefano Tesoriero, our charter was to be a social, cultural and welfare point of reference, aiming to help Aeolian migrants settle in Melbourne, offering them a place to meet, as well as providing moral and financial assistance in times of need.

The idea of a benevolent society was brought to Melbourne by Giuseppe Tesoriero, who had migrated to Melbourne after having been to New York, where he had belonged to the local Benevolent Society of Stromboli, and had personally witnessed the usefulness and merit of such an association. The New York Statute was then used as the model for the Melbournian Society’s Constitution, which did incorporate the aims and regulations that were to govern the life and activities of the Victorian Societa Mutuo Soccorso Isole Eolie.

Today as times change and a newer generation is stepping forward, we have a more general focus operating within the wider Italian community, to retain traditional links with the Aeolian Islands and their rich ties with the sea, while keeping alive, in an Australian social setting, customs and practices, such as our history, music, arts, Mediterranean cuisine and renowned pastries.