The Greeks Although Australia has had Greek migrants since the 1800s, they had only come in small numbers prior to World War II. The ‘populate or perish’ program saw a dramatic increase. Between the end of World War II and the 1980s, over 250 000 Greeks migrated to Australia. Since the 1980s, however, the number of Greek migrants has begun to drop. In this lesson, you look at the experiences of the Greek migrants.

Australia, a haven Following the victory in Greece by the Allied forces in 1944 over the Nazis, Greece experienced serious economic and political problems. A civil war broke out in Greece in 1946. The civil war meant the Greeks continued to experience terror and hardship such as they had done during World War II. In little over three years of civil war, approximately 100 000 Greeks were killed and the conflict resulted in severe economic problems for the country. During the civil war, many Greeks left their homeland, looking for peace. Following the end of the civil war, the new Greek government encouraged Greek citizens to migrate, hoping this would ease the economic problems of the country, as there were food shortages and large numbers of unemployed. This coincided with a 1952 agreement between the Greek and Australian governments to provide Greek migrants with assisted passages to Australia. Thousands of Greeks accepted this offer, although many only left their homeland to escape the poverty and extremely poor conditions they had to endure without being given any assistance from their own government.

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Activity 12 Why did so many people leave Greece after World War II? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Check your response by going to the suggested answers section.

In 1967, a military dictatorship took over the government in Greece. The following seven years were especially difficult for Greeks, as their normal way of life was denied them and many were killed or exiled for opposing the military. Again, thousands of Greeks left their homeland looking for a peaceful place to live and work. Australia was considered a sanctuary where there were many opportunities for employment and food was plentiful. In 1974, democracy returned to Greece and in the following decades Greece slowly began to rebuild itself economically. Another reason Australia was a popular choice amongst Greeks leaving their homelands was that they had fond memories of the Australians who had been stationed in Greece during World War II and had fought alongside the Greek citizens.

Hardships Although Australia was seen as a haven by migrating Greeks, many did in fact experience difficulties. Remember in the 1950s there was no SBS radio (or television), interpreter services were not readily available, restaurants did not serve Greek food and those migrating here were thousands of kilometres from their family and friends. Letters, the only means of communication, took many weeks to arrive. Early on, the majority of Greeks migrating here were single men looking for employment. With the labour shortage in Australia, Greeks were able to obtain assisted passages and a work contract for one to two years.

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Loneliness and isolation was a problem for the men who had migrated alone. From the mid 1950s, many single Greek women were also encouraged to migrate to Australia with assisted passages that targeted single Greek women. The ships that brought the women to Australia were known as ‘bride-ships’. One of these ships is illustrated.

Source:

Morrisey D, The History of Australia: Volume 2, 1888-1987, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1988, p.17.

Although some of the women who travelled to Australia did so to join their husbands who had migrated earlier, many thousands were single women, hoping to marry in Australia. Do you know that Melbourne has the third largest Greek population in the world, after Athens and Thessaloniki.

Work in Australia Prior to World War II, many Greeks in Australia owned small businesses, often milk bars or catering companies. Those migrating after the war had little money to set up their own businesses and so worked in mostly unskilled jobs such as in factories and construction projects like The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme. Those who had obtained qualifications from Greece soon discovered they were not accepted in Australia.

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Read the following extract. It highlights some of the difficulties that Greek migrants experienced working in a new country. Despina Angelis ... worked in Sydney’s Vicars Woollen Mills for 13 years, taking the 3pm to 11pm shift while her husband worked the morning shift. When Angelis commenced work at the mill, there were 600-700 people employed, of which around 60 per cent were post-war Greek immigrants. Working conditions were physically demanding and repetitive, with the air constantly filled with dust and wool waste, creating health problems for many of the workers. Most Greek workers in places such as the Woollen Mills experienced little employment mobility [moving to a better job], often teaching jobs to new English-speaking workers who would then move on to ‘better jobs’ elsewhere. Source:

Turnball C and Valiotis C, ‘Beyond the rolling wave’: a thematic history of Greek settlement in New South Wales, Sydney, University of NSW, 2001, p.39 found at: www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/docs/greekhistory.pdf

Activity 13 Answer this question based on the Despina Angelis extract. What created the health problems for the workers at the Woollen Mill? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Check your response by going to the suggested answers section.

Many migrants were forced to work very long hours and with terrible working conditions. However, many made a success of life in Australia, saving money to buy property and sometimes sending for family members to join them.

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Social life To help fellow Greek migrants settle into Australia, the Greek community set up many social groups. These organisations helped the Greeks settle in Australia, but also became a place where people from Greece could enjoy their own culture and customs. The Greeks set up more cultural and ethnic organisations than any other migrant group. Greek clubs, welfare groups, Greek language schools, coffee shops and sporting groups were established and thousands of Greeks flocked to meet with fellow Greeks. A lot of the social activity for Greek people revolves around the Greek Orthodox Church, of which there are over a hundred church communities in Australia today. The Church was a place of refuge for Greek migrants in the post-war period, as it was there they knew they could ask questions and express their concerns in their native language.

© copyright, Tom Brown

One of the many Greek Orthodox churches in Australia is shown in the photograph.

Having Hellenic social organisations would make settling into Australia easier for Greek migrants.

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Greek Australians The huge increase in the number of Greek-born Australians is illustrated in the graph on the following page. Remember that prior to World War II, there had been very few Greek-born Australians.

Activity 14 Colour in the circle that best answers the questions based on the column graph. 1

What trend can you observe in the graph? a

The number of Greek-born people in Australia continues to increase.

b

The number of Greek-born people in Australia has begun to decline.

c

The number of Greek-born people in Australia has remained steady.

2

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H H H

In what year did Greek migration to Australia peak? a

1954

H

b

1971

H

c

1981

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Check your responses by going to the suggested answers section.

Non English-speaking migrants are more likely to become naturalised Australians than English-speaking migrants. Ninety-seven per cent of Greeks who have migrated to Australia are naturalised Australians, compared with only thirty-eight per cent of migrants from New Zealand. Many of these Greek-Australians talk about feeling both Greek and Australian jointly. The following extract goes a step further. It suggests that some migrants felt neither Greek nor Australia but a combination of the two cultures. I think I created my personality from the best I took from Greece and the best I picked up in Australia. I’m not a Greek. I’m not an Australian. There is a horse and there is a donkey. Cross them and you get a mule. It is exactly the same with me. I’m a mule. I’m not a donkey and I’m not a horse. Source:

Thompson Lesson, From Somewhere Else: people from other countries who have made Australia home, Simon and Schuster, Sydney, 1993, p 137.

It is this attachment to their homeland that has seen many Greeks return to live in Greece in their elderly years. Another reason for their return, is that Greece has been relatively stable politically and economically in recent times. Multiculturalism has been a great benefit to Greek-Australians. Having their Greek culture and customs appreciated and accepted has made GreekAustralians feel more at home in their new country of Australia. Today Greek-Australians are able to watch Greek news daily on SBS television, which also shows Greek movies regularly. Pay television also has entire stations devoted to Greek programming. Interpreting services are readily available and progress in technology allows Greeks in Australia to communicate with family and friends in Greece through phone, email, SMS and web messaging. This is worlds away from the time when sending a letter took several weeks!

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Think about the number of successful Australians having Greek heritage. Read the following list and include some more on the lines provided, if you can. •

Jason Akamanis and Anthony Koutoufides (AFL players)

•

Nick Bolkus and George Souris (politicians)

•

Claudia Karvan, Nick Giannopoulos, Alex Dimitriades, Zoe and Gia Carides (actors)

•

Michael Diamond (Olympic gold medal winning shooter)

•

Mark Philippoussis (tennis player) __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Greeks migrating to Australia in the post-war period came in search of peace and also to escape the poverty in their homeland. They had high hopes of a prosperous future in Australia and many were able to achieve this, but not without a lot of hard work first. Go to the exercises section and complete Exercises 1.9 to 1.10 as directed by your teacher.

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