Georgios G. Falangas
This biography is part of a collection from "Life in Australia" :
An exceptional personality, distinguished for his love of country, the extremely likeable Mr. G. D. Phalangas resides in Perth, the capital of Western Australia.
He hails from the island of Andros and came to Australia in 1871. Initially he worked in the goldmines, after which he moved to the north of Australia to prospect for gold. After an adventurous and stormy life there, being frequently obliged to fight against the man-eating blacks of the time, he came to Sydney, whence, after a flourishing business in Sydney of some years, he settled down in Perth, in 1895.
Mr. Phalangas is the wealthiest of the Greeks there, for he possesses considerable property. He has lofty patriotic feelings and is full of benevolence and good works. All appeals carried out in Western Australia to raise funds have up to now always been carried out while he has been President of the Committee.
In 1911, on a visit to Greece, he donated various animals and birds of Australia to the Zoological Garden, whilst he gave to the National Museum various weapons of the savage natives, as well as silver and gold minerals. However, the respected Greek, Mr. Falangas, has never hesitated regarding donations to his particular homeland, Andros.
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.
