Macedonians
- 1920s pecalbari - language & tradition
Darebin’s Australians: Immigrants to Citizens
MACEDONIA - THE TREATIES OF BERLIN & BUCHAREST
The Treaty of Berlin in the 1870s recognised Macedonia as a seperate
entity which could well have become the ‘Switzerland of the
Balkans’, with peoples of Macedonian, Serbian, Bulgarian,
Greek and Ottoman background living across the region.
The Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1913 awarded most of the northern
part of Macedonia to Serbia - ‘Vardar Macedonia’ and
most of the southern part to Greece - ‘Aegian Macedonia’
and the Pirin region in the east to Bulgaria. Each of the countries
that occupied a part of Macedonia denied the existence of another
nationality in the area with the Vardar Macedonians forced to speak
Serbian and the Aegean Macedonians forced to speak Greek.
WORLD WAR 2
During World War 2, Tito’s partisans led a war of national
liberation which began on October 11th 1941. Today this is celebrated
as Macedonian Revolutionary Day. On the 2nd of August 1944, in the
Monastry of Prohor Pcinjski near Kumanovo, the Yugoslavian Communists
formally took the decision to set up a Macedonian Republic within
the Yugoslavian Federation and declared also that the venacular
speech of the Slav Macedonians would be the official language of
the republic.
A Macedonian is thus a person who speaks a Slavonic language, specifically,
an East South Slavonic dialect, coming from the area of Europe known
as Macedonia. However it must not be overlooked that a large number
of these people identify with Greece & a certain number with
Bulgaria. Most Macedonians are of the Orthodox faith, with small
groups of Moslems, Romany Gypsies & Protestants. Since most
Macedonian immigrants come from rural Macedonia, they have brought
their traditions with them & to a large degree they continue
to practise their traditions in Australia.
Dr Peter Hill, the 1983-86 head of South Slavonic studies at Macquarie
University & Professor of Slavonic studies at the University
of Hamburg - Germany
‘PECALBARI IN AUSTRALIA’
It’s with this background of social instability that many
of Australia’s
and Darebin Macedonians have come. In the 19th century, ‘pecalba’,
working away from home was a wide spread Macedonian custom. The
‘pecalbari’ who travelled overseas at first went to
the United States. They stayed overseas for some years, returning
home at more or less regular intervals. This is how Australia’s
early Macedonians saw themselves. They often borrowed money from
the ‘pecalbari’ who had been working in the United States
of America to pay for the voyage to Australia.
PECALBARI AS PERMANENT SETTLERS
Australia’s ‘pecalbari’ turned into permanent
settlers when,
(a) - they started to buy land and set themselves up in business,
(b) - the 2nd World War broke out and they were unable to return
to the old country and finally
(c) - after the collapse of the popular resistance in Greece in
1949.
It is estimated that in Australia there were 50 Macedonians in 1921
and by 1940 it’s estimated there numbers to be 1,290. From1930
to 1936 immigration was restricted to those with close family members
in Australia. The first wave of ‘pecalbari’ in the 1920s
consisted of mainly of single men saving up enough money to set
themselves up on the land or in a small buisiness. They eventually
brought out their wives, families and sponsored relatives. These
Macedonians make up the 2nd wave which lasted until the outbreak
of World War 2.
NICOLA STOJAN - FITZROY
Nicola Stojan, from Velusina/Bitola, who arrived in Melbourne in
1923 via Naples, worked as a cook in a hotel and was able to open
up a ‘fish and chips’ shop in Gertrude Street Fitzroy
in 1926. In 1932 he bought another shop in a better position in
East Preston retiring on a comfortable income in 1952. Often the
early Macedonians were market gardeners.
Dr Peter Hill
MACEDONIANS RE-UNITED IN AUSTRALIA
When aviation and shipping to and from Australia resumed after
World War 2, many first and second wave immigrants sent for their
families from Greece & Yugoslavia. Many Macedonians had been
displaced and families completely split up. Most Macedonians arrived
in Australia in the 1950s and ‘60s.
RISTO ‘STOJKOV’ ALTIN
Risto Stojkov ‘Chris Altin’ was born on the 4th of December
1919 in Lagen, a small village 16 kilometres from the regional city
of Lerin-Florina in present day Aegian Macedonia, Greece.
Risto recalls, “It used to take over 2 hours to walk to Lerin.
In those days land was the wealth of the people. The Macedonian
lands are rich and fertile and in some places you can grow 2 crops
a year.” Risto’s father, left the village of Lagen at
13 years of age. “My father Pando first went to the United
States in 1901, he was a classic ‘pecalbari’, working
away to save money and then return home. My mum’s name was
Jana, I had 4 brothers. My parents sometimes sang revolutionary
songs. I guarded the door in case the authorities came. It was troubled
times, our families were given Greek names. When I set off for Australia
I was hardly 17 years of age. I knew a little English and Greek
which I had learnt from my father.”
RISTO ALTIN COMES TO AUSTRALIA - 1937
“I came to Australia on an English ship the ‘ORAMA’,
arriving in February 1937. There were 15 other Macedonian fellahs
on board. We first landed in Fremantle and then continued onto Station
Pier in Melbourne. My uncle welcomed me at the pier. He had been
in Australia for 10 years living in Fitzroy. In those days Fitzroy
was the place to find Macedonians in Melbourne.
RISTO STARTS WORKING
I started work in a restuarant, ‘The Grill Room’ in
Lt Collins St then because the money was better I went picking peas
in Werribee. I worked for an Italian Market gardener, ‘Aciato’.
We got paid 2 shillings a bag. You could pick 4 bags a day. I slept
in a barn. Following work around I ended up in South Gippsland through
1938 clearing land for farming. Hard physical work! I came back
to Melbourne and worked as a waiter in the ‘Centenary Cafe’,
Bourke St City. The place was owned by the Greek Consul General.”
MACEDONIANS IN FITZROY
Many Macedonians had settled in Fitzroy. The ‘Basket Shoe
Company’ in Gertrude St employed 30 Macedonians. Risto joined
the restaurant trade. “The Menzies Hotel trained me as a waiter.
£15 a week. £3 in wages, £12 in tips. In the early
war years the Menzies was full of British Ambassadors, business
people, their families and the like who had retreated from the advancing
Japanese army. They came from places like Singapore and Hong Kong.
There was also plenty of Dutch from Java. This job gave me a break
and I earned enough money to purchase a business.”
‘SPORT CAFE’ - ALBERT PARK
“I bought a restaurant in Bridgeport St, Albert Park. The
shop was full day and night with American soldiers. There were thousands
camped in tents around Albert Park Lake during the war. The restaurant
was doing well, then I was conscripted to the army. I had to sell
the place and was sent to Tocumwal in1942. Working with some Italians,
we loaded ammunitions on and off trains.
ALL SLAV UNITY LEAGUE 1942
In Sydney the ‘All Slav Unity League’ made up of Russians,
Czecks, Slovacs, Serbians and Macedonians was formed to fight fascism.
I spoke at the first meeting. We joined with the ‘Soviet League’
and started collecting money for sheep skin and leather jackets
to clothe the Russian soldiers. They cost 5 shillings each. The
word was not how much money you would give, but how many soldiers
you would dress! When I was discharged from the army I moved back
to Fitzroy.”
Risto went back into the restaurant business in Queen St City in
1946. “I called this place ‘Chris’s Cafe’.
I was the waiter, cook and manager. Still plenty of American soldiers
around.”
RISTO ALTIN MOVES TO PRESTON IN 1949
“I moved into East Preston in 1949, taking up residence and
starting a family. I have lived in Preston now for over 55 years.
I’ve owned Fish and Chip shops, Restaurants, Milk Bars and
a Hairdressers in the Darebin area. For 8 years I was on the Central
Committee of the Migrant Resource Centre in Reservoir and Preston.
I admire the conditions made available to Macedonians in Australia.
We are in this land to live together with one another. A place for
all brothers and sisters.”
RISTO AND THE MACEDONIAN COMMUNITY
Risto has helped many newly arrived immigrants as an interpreter
throughout Darebin. “I speak Macedonian, Greek, English, Bulgarian
and can understand, a fair amount of Russian, Polish and Serbian.
The Macedonian Community started to organise after the 2nd War.
In Australia we were now free to nourish our spirits through language,
traditional songs, dances, folktales, legends, customs and festivals.
Sometimes we still find that past rivalries can cause the community
some heartache.
A PLACE TO WORSHIP
My friend Stojan Srbinov and I started negotiating with Archdeacon
Thomas of the Anglican diocese of Melbourne in 1955. We expressed
the wishes of many Macedonians to be under the jurisdiction of the
Anglican Church, until we built our own church. We organised for
Macedonians to use the Anglican Church of St Lukes in Fitzroy for
Orthodox marriages, baptisms & funerals.
VARDAR MACEDONIANS ARRIVE IN THE 1960s
During the 1960s another wave of Macedonians came from Vardar Macedonia
in Yugoslavia. Preston is home to many of Darebin’s Macedonian
Community. The Macedonian language is one of the 6 most widely used
community languages in Darebin.
MACEDONIAN SOCCER CLUB
On the sporting field the Preston Makedonija Soccer Club has a proud
history & has been State League Champions many times, including
1973, ‘75 and ‘80. They were 2nd in the Australian Championship.
In 1978 they acquired land & by October 1980 had opened their
own Social Club at 231 Broadhurst Avenue, Reservoir. They have their
own ‘Kulturno-Umetnicko Drustvo’ which is a cultural
& artistic society called, ‘Young Macedonians’.
NEW COUNTRY-NEW START-NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Two Pecalbari who arrived in1939 bought a farm in Shepparton. Due
to the outbreak of the 2nd World War they could not return to Macedonia
or bring family out for nine years. The wife of one of the Pecalbari
their16 yr old daughter Vanka & family left a war torn Europe
arriving in 1948. Life on the farm was a harsh poverty stricken
existence. Lena, Vanka's daughter recalls “Mum said there
was not much food, they ate potatoes and worked from dusk till dawn,
she had memories of frozen hands digging into the hard soil. Mum
only had one dress which she’d washed at night, sometimes
she had to put it on damp in the morning. Eventually they were forced
to come to live and work in Clifton Hill, while still commuting
to work on the farm on weekends.
Stavro ARRIVES - 1957
Stavro, came from a wealthy family in the Aegean Macedonian region.
They were millers. Their flourmill ground the wheat brought in from
the surrounding district. Stavro arrived in 1957, he sailed into
Port Phillip bay where he saw many whales. Vanka had agreed to marry
Stavro via correspondence.
When he greeted her at Station Pier with a kiss, she fainted.Vanka
had never been kissed by a boy. Stavro and Vanka married in 1957
in a big double wedding at Fitzroy Town Hall.
SETTLING IN WESTGARTH STREET
They bought a house in Westgarth and rented out 3 bedrooms for the
extra money until 4th daughter Lena was born. Stavro worked at the
Unigate Butter factory in Preston until the 1980s and then went
to work at Carlton & United Breweries. Vanka worked for a time
at Leeds Chemical Dyeworks in Northcote.
He was a great and enthusiastic story-teller, with a vast knowledge
of family and Macedonian history. He loved to tell a good story
to his children and grandchildren. He was very active in the Macedonian
community, through their Orthodox Church and local clubs. He organised
and participated in many social and cultural activites.
