MIGRATION OF GREEKS TO AUSTRALIA

It is a well-known fact that Australia is a country almost two hundred and forty years old, having been discovered by the British in 1770 and settled by them 18 years later in 1788.

What is not so well known is that Greeks were amongst the first people to almost discover Australia 200 years earlier. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1522 to find a sea route around South America to the spice islands, which just missed the northern tip of Australia, had at least 6 Greek seamen on board - from Rhodes, Nafplion and Kerkira. Of the 265 men aboard the 5 small ships only 18 returned home alive - and 4 of those were Greek - proving that Greeks are survivors by nature and that they were well suited to survive and prosper in Australia in the centuries to come.

By the time of Greece's independence in 1821 Australia had become known to Greeks, but only vaguely. An 1828 Greek publication called "NeaGeografia" for example, declared that Australia was where the English government "sent evil men for punishment", that very little was known about the country and that there was scarcely anything worthy of mention.

The first known Greek settlers arrived in this "worthless" country around 1830, at about the same time that the Nea Geografia was published. Their names were Antonis Manolis and Ghikas Boulgaris. Both men worked as farmers, both married Australian women, both lived obscure lives in NSW and both died without revisiting Greece.

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First Wave of Migration

A steady stream of Greek migration to Australia didn't begin to flow however, until 20 years later in 1851 when Australia's first goldfield was discovered. In that year and in the year following, about thirty Greek sailors deserted their ships to join the search for gold. And thus began the first wave of migration to Australia, with many more Greeks deserting their ships over time in the search for gold.

It is difficult to say how many Greeks arrived during this period for a number of reasons. Those who deserted their ships did not advertise their defection and in some cases may have concealed their identities to avoid being detected. Many of them were illiterate and committed little or nothing to paper. They tended to change their names to an English name to avoid harassment and almost all were single men, moving around from job to job and place to place.

Nevertheless, scholars estimate that 200 Greeks were living in Australia by 1860 and perhaps 1,000 by the turn of the century. These Greeks came from most parts of Greece, but most were from the Aegean and Ionian islands. A much smaller number came from the mainland, including some from Sparta and Tripoli.

Of the 1,000 Greeks who inhabited Australia at the turn of the century probably fewer than 50 had a complete secondary education. Most were unskilled and led lives of hardship in mining camps scattered over great distances. They were handicapped by language difficulties and rarely able to communicate with their kin, and they were often overwhelmed by homesickness for Greece. That so many endured the hardship for so long is attributable to the distance and difficulty of the return journey, to the poverty and uncertainties of life in Greece and to their strong desire to improve their lives. It is important to mention at this point that the beginning of Greek settlement in Australia was vastly different to the beginning of Greek settlement in America. The migration to America was an organized and planned effort and involved the transportation in 1768 (2 years before Australia was discovered) of more than 1400 Greek people to Florida. In contrast, early Greek migration to Australia was not planned but was the sum of action of individual adventurers.

It is also important at this point to mention the Greek church. The push to create a Greek church in Australia started towards the end of this first phase of migration at the turn of the century - which is quite remarkable considering that this was a time when the Greek population was almost exclusively male. The push for the creation of the church however, had little to do with religion or social contact. Rather, it was driven by a fear that a marriage not celebrated by a Greek priest might not be valid in Greece. This was a major concern not only because everyone expected to return home one day but also because they risked ostracism, illegitimacy and disinheritance in Greece. In fact, it was not until 1982 that the Greek government finally recognized civil marriages. With this strong motivation the first church - the church of Agia Triada - was built in Sydney in 1899, just three years after the first modern Olympic Games held in Greece.

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Second Wave of Migration

Initially, almost all Greeks were gold seekers or sailors, and some had become shepherds or small farmers. As the century drew to a close they ceased to be gold miners and shepherds and farmers, and became shop keepers and cafe proprietors. Indeed, it was shopkeeping that provided the pull for the second wave of migration between the start of the 20th century and the middle of that century. When the pioneer Greek had established his shop or cafe there would often be a place for a brother or a cousin or a nephew, working long hours for little money but assured of food and accommodation and family guidance. That cousin or brother or nephew would later begin his own business and bring out more of his family. Over time, they began to acquire a better command of English and to settle down in themajor cities. Shop keeping was the vocation of choice for many (but not all) Greek immigrants and had an enormous influence on the rate of migration in the second wave of migration to Australia between 1900 and the end of the Second World War. It was also a period when no one was refused entry.

Between 1900 and the beginning of the First World War, nearly 5,000 Greeks arrived in Australia and between the beginning of the First World War and the beginning of the Second World War an additional 16,000 Greeks arrived. It is important to note however, that in any given year about 40% of the Greek intake was offset by Greeks leaving the country to return home and so the net figure was substantially less. Despite the long and difficult trip back home, many people still had the strong desire to return to their homeland.

It was also during this second wave in the first half of the twentieth century that the first Zarakites arrived in Australia in 1928. Their names were Antonis Petroutsas, Peter Koulouris and Peter Bellesis. All three of them arrived together from Rihea and all three of them became partners in a farm in NSW. Antonis Petroutsas, who had changed his name to Anthony Peterson, was tragically killed in an accident in 1930 whilst taking his fruit and vegetables to market. Shortly thereafter, Peter Koulouris and Peter Bellesis - who had also changed his name to Peter Bellas - moved to Brisbane in QLD where their descendents still live today.

Third Wave of Migration

The third and last wave of migration began in the early 1950s (shortly after the civil war) and lasted until the early 1970s. For this last wave of migration the focus of this article will be on immigrants from Zaraka.

The period following the second World War was a period of strong growth for Australia. Conversely, those same years were a period of misery for many European countries and especially for Greeks who had just endured a civil war. The Australian Government needed labourers and farm workers and opened its doorsfor Europeans to migrate to Australia. For migrants who could not afford to pay their passage, the Australian government offered an arrangement of assisted passage called ΔΕΜΕ (Διακυβερνητικής Επιτροπής Μεταναστεύσεως εξ Ευρώπης). Under this system, migrants were required to work wherever the government allocated them for a period of 2 years.

There was however, a selection process. The Australian Government preferred married men with families who were prepared to bring their family to Australia with the intention of remaining permanently in the country. Married men were not selected if they left their wife and children behind. Single men were also selected and, later on, single women.

The migration from Zaraka began in 1954. About 15 men migrated to Australia in that year, including men from Agio Dimitri and Kremasti (which fell within the municipality of Zaraka at that time and indeed up to 2001). Some of the men had their families with them.

The first to arrive in that year were Nikos Kosmas from Kremasti and Giorgos Kokkoris (του Λιόκου) from Rihea. They were followed three months later by Tassos Manikis and Peter Pardalis from Kremasti, Theodoros Lagis (του Μαντάκου̃), Panagiotis Kapeleris (του Θαθέου), Giorgos Bellesis (του Κουμή) and Panagiotis Sakkis (του Φαραού) from Rihea, Panagiotis Doukas (του Μπαβέλη) from Lambokambo and about half a dozen men from Agio Dimitri. It is worth mentioning that on the ship carrying this second group were approximately 600 Greeks and 600 Germans. Almost all Greeks migrating to Australia under assisted passage were immediately taken to the migrant administration centre in Bonegilla in Victoria, at which point they were allocated their place of work for the next two years. Some people were sent to work at government jobs such as the railways, others to farms. The 2-year contract was rarely enforced however, and nearly all of them were usually free to seek their own employment within the first year and quite often within a few months. Three hundred and twenty thousand (320,000) post-war migrants from 30 countries were processed through Bonegilla in this way between 1947 and 1971.

Under this system, contracted people could bring out two members of their families, who in turn could bring out members of their families and so on. And in this way, the population of Zarakites in Australia expanded rapidly - particularly in the years 1954 to 1957.

Once the first immigrants settled in a city they effectively determined where their relatives and friends would settle. Generally speaking, the city of Brisbane almost exclusively has people from Rihea, mostly with the surname Belessis, Kokkoris, Kamarinos and Lagis. The Belessi clan, of course, went to Queensland because they already had roots there from the original immigrants of 1928. The city of Melbourne also almost exclusively has people from Rihea, mostly with the surname Kapeleris, Karagianis and Sakkis - although not many Zarakites live in Melbourne. Most Zarakites, from all the villages of Zaraka, settled in Sydney.

The total number of Greek immigrants in Australia reached its highest level of 160,000 in 1971. This number would be much higher (more than 220,000) if it included immigrants who returned to their homeland. Since then, the number of Greek-born immigrants has fallen due to negligible immigration and the natural dying out of the immigrant generation. In Australia today there are about 110,000 Greek- born immigrants of which approximately 300 of them are originally from Zaraka.