THE MODERN GREEK NATION
The modern Greek nation was born after the war of independence from
1821-32. For more than a century after independence, differences
between royalists and republicans left Greece an unstable country.
Democratically elected governments like that of Prime Minister Eleutherios
Venizelos began to emerge.
In 1922 instability in the west of Asia Minor, created a huge refugee
movement of Hellenic people mostly into the Northern parts of Greece.
The decade of the 1940s saw foreign military occupation, followed
by the ravages of Civil war. This led to around 700,000 Greek people
emigrating to other parts of the world.
THE GREEK COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA
The first Greeks to arrive in Australia were 7 young men from the
island of Hydra who were convicted by a British court in Malta and
transported to Sydney in 1829. However it was not until the goldrush
era that Greeks began arriving in any number. The 2,000 Greek Australians
in 1914 were mainly from the islands of Kythera, Ithaca & Castellorizo.
The 2nd World War, the 1949 Greek Civil War and unrest in Egypt
attracted large numbers of people to Australia, Melbourne and Darebin
through the 1950’s & 60’s. Another wave arrived
from Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion.
COSTAS ATHANASSIOU
When Costas Athanassiou arrived for the first time to Melbourne
in 1986 he was amazed at, “how well the Greek community had
adapted, setting up Schools, Orthodox Churches, Sporting & Social
clubs. Greek born councillors were serving on the Collingwood and
Northcote councils, and in State and Federal Governments”.
In 2004 around 14,000 people of Greek ancestory were living in Darebin.
ANDREAS ‘ANDY’ MYLONAS
Andreas ‘Andy’ Mylonas had an uncle who came to Melbourne
in 1947. He followed in 1950 at age 15 immigrating from the village
of ‘Ayios Therapon’ in Cyprus. He came from a family
of ‘millers’ - Mylonas meaning miller in English. For
generations the Mylonas family had local farmers coming to them
to have their wheat ground into flour. Andreas first learnt mechanical
skills working on the diesel engine that drove the ‘flour
mills’.
ANDREA’S MYLONAS COMES TO AUSTRALIA - 1950
Andy arrived in Northcote in his mid teens. Keen to work
Andy recalls, “I found a job working for a plumber, an old
Australian fellah Fred. He encouraged me to go to school and study.
I followed his advise & eventually did 12 years study at RMIT.
In ‘55 Chrysoula and I married. In Greece you would marry
a local girl, in Australia we became all mixed. Chrysoulas family
comes from the north of Greece. I drove taxi’s during the
1956 Melbourne Olympics period to earn money and support the family
while studying English and Motor Mechanics.” Wanting to live
in “the old country”, Andy & Chrysoula returned
to Cyprus in 1959.
CHRYSOULA AND ANDY RETURN TO CYPRUS
After 13 months Andy and Chrysoula, who was 7 months pregnant and
their 4 year old child returned on the passenger ship the ‘PATRIS’.
As the only passengers with Australian experience, Andy spent much
of the return voyage preparing the many Greek immigrants for what
to expect in Australia. “People surrounded me on the deck
of the boat wanting to know information. I told them about the opportunities
to work hard.............the pots of gold.”
PETROL STATION ON THE NORTHCOTE HILL
In 1961 Andy managed the Total Petrol Station on Northcote Hill,
opposite the Town Hall. He drove Taxis at night to make ends meet.
Over the next half century Andy ran a successful automobile mechanics
and spare parts shop still operating today.
ANDY MEETS LABOR POLITICIANS
It was here that Andy started meeting the many high profile Labour
politicians and councillors who had their cars repaired or parked
at the garage before council meetings. It was also a time when Greeks
were arriving in big numbers and settling throughout Darebin. Federal
member for Batman Hory Gary and State member Frank Wilkes invited
Andy to meetings. Eventually he joined the Australian Labor Party.
FOUNDING THE GREEK SPEAKING BRANCH OF THE A.L.P
At the same time the Greek born Mayor of Collingwood, Theo Sideropolous
asked Andy and others to help build Greek participation on the council
in Northcote. “I founded the Greek speaking branch of the
A.L.P in Westgarth and Northcote and would bring along a few Greeks
to sign up each meeting. I’m still the secretary today, have
been for 32 years.”
COUNCILLOR FOR THE CITY OF NORTHCOTE
Andreas ‘Andy’ Mylonas was part of the first wave of
Greek born, Labor aligned and independant councillors in Northcote
following
‘Tsitas’ in 1977, ‘Papadopolous in ‘78,
‘Mylonas and Sakis’ elected in ‘79 and George
Gogas’s in ‘80. Greeks were represented on council and
participated in Australian democracy.
HEALTH CENTRES - SOCCER CLUBS & ASSOCIATIONS
“I love serving the community. During our time on Council
we set aside land for the Community Health Centre in Separation
Street. When the young folk needed a place to play soccer, with
councillor Tony Matisi’s help, we assisted in forming the
Hercules/Northcote City Soccer Club. Amongst other things, Council
organised the lighting, change & function rooms.”
Andy has also worked with his Greek born colleagues to set up social
clubs and associations.
FORMING THE GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITY OF NORTHCOTE &
DISTRICTS
“In 1972 we formed the Greek Orthodox Community of Northcote
& Districts. We would walk from coffee shop to coffee shop making
our people aware of what was possible. In 1979 I was elected President.
We rented a shop in High Street, a place for the Greek community
to gather. Eleven of us payed the rent putting in $20 dollars a
week each. Eventually Council gave the Greeks & Italians a meeting
room in the Town Hall.
I have been with the Northcote Australian Greek Society for the
Aged since its birth in the early 1980s. We leased a shop in the
Northcote Arcade and slowly expanded. In 1990 with help from Federal
Minister for Batman, Brian Howe we established a the Greek Aged
Care home in North Fairfield.”
Andy and Chrysoula have 4 children and 8 grandchildren and have
lived in Darebin for over half a century.
LITSA GOGAS & JOANNA LIAKAKOS (nee Nikolopoulou)
'I WAS GOING TO KYTHERA BUT I FOUND MYSELF IN CRETE'
Joanna and Litsa are passionate about books, they love books, writing
them and discussing them. They have lived in Northcote most of their
lives. Joanna quote’s the saying “I was going to Kythera,
but I found myself in Crete.” In Greek mythology Kythera is
the place of happiness, Crete a place of sadness, this is an expression
that could apply to many immigrants who found the going tough in
the early days in Australia. Sisters, Litsa and Joanna grew up in
Aigion, a coastal town in Peloponisos. Litsa says Geelong reminds
her of it. They were forced to leave Greece, not for political reasons,
but because after World War 2 there was no employment, no job opportunities.
There were 9 children in their family and they were very poor.
LITSA GOGAS
Litsa arrived in 1956 on board “a bad ship, The Tasmania,
it wasn’t a passenger ship they cramed 34 girls into one cabin,
the journey was terrible, we were seasick, the food and conditions
were terrible.” Initially living in Collingwood Litsa came
to live in Northcote in 1975. Litsa raised 3 children and while
they were little, she worked from home. She then worked in many
different factories as a dressmaker and machinist, making swimwear
and ski wear. Litsa did a short stint with MacRobertson’s
chocolate factory. During this time she also worked in a Milk Bar
in Footscray for 7 years. “It was very hard, very stressful”.
It took a toll on Litsa’s health.
WISE TEXTILES IN THORNBURY
In 1975 Litsa began work at WISE a textile factory in Thornbury.
They made school uniforms. “I had a terrific boss, he was
the best, Graham Wise” The other women on the machines came
from many different backgrounds, Italian, Greek, Macedonians, English
and Vietnamese. Litsa worked in the textile industry from 1959-1993.
She still visits WISE regularly to say hello to old friends. “Today
the women working there are mainly Chinese and Vietnamese, only
a few Greek women are left.”
LITSA STARTS WRITING IN THE LATE 1980s
Litsa began to write about her life in the late ‘80’s,
writing mainly poetry and prose. Themes she writes about include
immigration, the working class and women’s issues. Litsa has
written 4 books, which are in the Darebin Libraries and are exported
to Europe and Johannesburg, South Africa and libraries in Cyprus,
Aigiou, Athens and Thessaloniki. Litsa is a passionate writer, a
student of language, grammar, literature and social studies. Litsa’s
husband George Gogas was a Northcote councillor for 6 years and
worked in the tramways at East Preston Depot for 20 years. They
have 10 grandchildren.
MY NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
On a lovely autumn morning
My body lost its strength
I had been looking for tranquillity
In a world of conflict and intrigue
What I desired was peace
What I yearned was serenity
But tranquility proved elusive
And my vision was soon blurred
My struggle was painful
But no one understood my pain
I was crying alone, day and night
A migrant woman in an alien land
I was in despair, utterly exhausted
I felt totally helpless and hopeless
My body was lying in its hospital bed
It’s spirit broken, almost beyond repair
Doctors and nurses flitted over me
Asking thousands of questions
Offering conflicting opinions
But no answer for my aching heart
My body was bound to its bed
Awake or asleep, from dawn to dusk
Alongside other human bodies
All strangers with tortured souls
Electric wires surrounded my head
Sending shocks and shivers down my spine
But I felt no other sensations in my body
My brain was numb, half-dead by now...
Electric shocks became a daily ritual
Flanked on all sides by tubes and drugs
My soul was wounded, my power wasted
My life was a bad dream, a horrible nightmare
Shock therapy became frightening
I felt I was falling in an abyss
Drugs became addictive and useless
They offered no solution, no cure, no life
In the depths of my depression and despair
There was a ray of hope, an intuitive message
I needed an inner healing; some loving care
Some tender nurturing, my salvation was there.
A Greek poem by Litsa Gogas translated by Helen Gogas Macula
JOANNA LIAKAKOS
Joanna like her sister grew up in Aigion. Her family lived in town
and had a farm about an hours walk away. Due to the war Joanna’s
studies were interupted so she completed High School at the age
of 20 and then went to business school in Athens. Joanna remembers,
“during the war when Italy changed sides, my father hid a
handsome Italian soldier Mario from the Germans on our farm, for
about 2 months. One day Mario said he was going out to see about
getting back to Italy. We never saw or heard from him again.”
JOANNA COMES TO AUSTRALIA
Joanna came to Australia, at the age of 25 in 1958 on a proper passenger
ship, the ‘Flaminia’. There were many Italians, Germans
and Dutch on board. Upon arrival she went to live with her sister
Litsa in Collingwood. She married Vasilis ‘Bill’ Liakakos
also from Aigion, in Melbourne in December 1959.
MILK BARS
Soon after they moved to Moonee Ponds to run the Marocco Cafe, a
traditional style cafe of the ‘40s and ‘50s complete
with jukeboxes. They then moved to a Milk Bar in Brunswick before
taking over the Milk Bar opposite Northcote Football oval from 1962
-69. In November 1972 Joanna and Vasilis sold everything, packed
up the family, 4 children, and moved back to Greece. They spent
1 year there before returning, but this time they were coming home.
Like the experience of so many immigrants they found that Greece
had changed and now, Australia was home. “It cost us a lot
of money, when we came back we had to start again from scratch,
but it was a decision we had to make, we had to go back, we returned
in November 1973.”
NORTHCOTE IS MY HOMETOWN, AUSTRALIA IS MY COUNTRY.
“We ran a Milk Bar in Thornbury, it was next door to WISE
where my sister Litsa worked. It was the Whitlam period and that
was a good time for the children because they got free education.
I began to write when I was 43 years old, my office was the little
room at the back of the Milk Bar there was a little opening through
which I could see the customers and in between serving them, I’d
write. I wrote fiction, short stories, personal diaries and poetry.
The children would come home and do their homework in that back
room. In 1979 we sold the Milk Bar.”
Between 1978-1985 she was secretary of the Greek speaking branch
of the A.L.P in Westgarth and Northcote working alongside Andy Mylonas
and others.
JOANNA AT THE NORTHCOTE LIBRARY
Joanna then worked in the Northcote Library from 1983-1993. “I
looked after the Greek section adding many books, tapes and videos
to the collection. Many Greek people in Darebin were getting to
retirement age, so they had more leisure time, time to relax and
read a book. I organised many activities and functions for them.
But since I left the collection has been run down and this has saddened
me very much. It is a tradgedy to see how few Greek books there
are in the collection now.”
Joanna has written 9 books. She writes about war, peace, freedom
and social justice. Her work has been published in newspapers and
magazines. Joanna’s books are also in the Darebin Libraries
and are exported to Europe and Johannesburg, South Africa and other
libraries in Cyprus, Aigiou, Athens and Thessaloniki.
Joanna and Vasilis have 4 children and 5 grandchildren.
VASILIS LIAKAKOS - TRAMMIE
Vasilis worked in the ‘James Miller’ rope factory for
8 years, then with Joanna in the Milk Bar before becoming a tramway
worker at the East Preston Depot, starting in 1974. He worked for
6 months as a tram conductor before driving trams for more than
19 years, retiring in 1993. “At first some of the old time
trammies found it hard to mix with the new Australians. The new
trammies were from Greek, Italian, Chilean, Macedonian, Yugoslav,
Turkish, Mauritian and later Vietnamese backgrounds. At its peak
there were about 50 Greek trammies at East Preston Depot. I enjoyed
doing the late shift. I had many friends and I enjoyed the picnics
and dances.”
MELBOURNE - AUSTRALIA
Melbourne, lovely city,
fine Land, Australia...
Green and blossoming
beloved country.
They ordered you to be a penal colony,
but you became the Promised Land
for him who lived in poverty, the hunted
restless child who was exiled.
Voices and colours and ideas
on your soil became companions
in love, in toil, in Peace,
because you are so bounteous.
Melbourne, lovely city,
fine Land, Australia.
Wide-open embrace
for the children of ill-fortune.
And tho’ the wicked ordered you to be
a penal colony
and killed of all your childern
you forgave us, sweetened your heart.
Verdant, fullflowering, fertile land
I heard it yesterday in the stillness.
You have forgiven the white man
and his inhuman stance.
You’ve told us with your sun, with your rain
- even though you weep for your black child -
with your flowers, with your bounty,
with your wide open embrace.
But I, with my lilywhite hands,
write to you asking forgiveness.
Melbourne, lovely city...
Fine Land, Australia.
by Joanna Liakakos - December 1991
translated by Kristella
