Dimitrios Zalokostas
This biography is part of a collection from "Life in Australia" :
Our fellow Greek, Mr. D. Zalokostas, is a notable personality, distinguished among the Greeks of Sydney in Australia for his splendid culture and education. Mr. Zalokostas is Director of Engineering for the Telephone Centres in the metropolitan Sydney region.
Mr. Zalokostas was born in historic Preveza, on 19 August 1888. He is a member of one of the few groups of Greeks in Australia who, through their ability alone, assume the duty of running state services. After a splendid and attentive upbringing in his ancestral home, he was educated at the Zosimaia School in Ioannina and then at Robert College in Constantinople.
Specializing in the engineering aspect of telephones, he realized that only abroad would he be able to develop his expertise. Thus, arriving in Australia three years ago, he distinguished himself by coming among the first in the competition held at that time by the Australian government, to gain the position that he now worthily holds. He enjoys the full respect and affection of his colleagues, both for his splendid knowledge of mechanics and for his excellent English. The father of three children, Mr. Zalokostas is the exemplar of a family head and of an individual. He is respected by the whole of the Greek community, who seen in him a perfect fellow Greek in terms of moral standards and character, who always directly follows a path in life that shows a clear tendency for progress and love of his fellow man.
This biography is part of a collection from "Life in Australia" published in 1916 by John Comino. It is an important book as it was one of the first Greek books published in Australia for the Greeks back in the homeland. If they needed any more convincing of the golden opportunities awaiting them in Australia, it probably helped create interest amongst young Kytherians and other Greeks. Each of the men portrayed in the book paid for the honour, which, considering their reputation for thriftiness, must have made the decision a hard one for many a Kytherian.
The Kythera-Family.net team, with the support of the Nicolaus Aroney Trust and other generous sponsors, has undertaken to transcribe the entire book for the website and to translate it into English for the non-greek-speaking diaspora community. We hope to also produce a printed version of the translation of Life in Australia sometime in 2005.
For valuable information about the historical background of the publication of Life in Australia, please read the entry by Hugh Gilchrist I ZOI EN AFSTRALLIA in the History, General History section.
