Haralambos Vr. Kritharis

This biography is part of a collection from "Life in Australia" :


In the coastal town of Ballina, in New South Wales, stands the establishment of Mr. Haralambos Kritharis. Mr. Kritharis comes from Kythera and is a man full of the desire for betterment and of the love of hard work.

After a residence of some years in Athens, Mr. Kritharis came to Australia in 1907. Being an accomplished connoisseur of the difficulties of life, he evaluated the opportunities offered by Australia and in 1909 bought the shop in question, the result of his love of hard work and of his economies. Now Mr. Kritharis is one of the well established Greeks of Australia and rightly enjoys the fruits of his labours and abilities.


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.