This paper will outline the relations between philhellenism and settler-colonial nationalism. From federation to the refreshed expressions of Australian nationalism in the 1970s, sentimental affection and admiration for Greece (both ancient and modern) has played an active role in how the settler-colonial nation discursively imagined itself. Over the course of the twentieth century, philhellenic images, texts, architecture and attitudes, emerged, and remerged, across a range of public sites. Regional towns like Gawler and Ipswich were described as representations of ‘Modern Athens’ and Greek migrants appropriated philhellenic representations as a means to communicate cultural affinity with and political loyalty to the host nation. Public buildings at the heart of civic centres were designed with neoclassical inflictions and politicians trained in the classics emphasised that Australian culture embodied a trans-historical connection to Greek antiquity. Drawing upon a series of flashpoints where philhellenism materialized in public discourse and space, I will propose that the contours of Australian philhellenism co-contributed to assertive articulations of romantic national origins, racial supremacy, and settler-colonial territorial ownership. In short, this exploration into the multiple modes of Australian philhellenic identifications will suggest that philhellenism and settler-colonial nationalism are deeply related historical processes.