Ioannis E. Alexandratos
This biography is part of a collection from "Life in Australia" :
To be numbered among the most charming members of the Greek community Melbourne, Mr. I. E. Alexandratos comes from Ithaki, rich in great men.
Born in Ithaki in 1881 and completing his preparatory studies in the Peiraeus, he gradually engaged in the professions of money-changer and bookseller, in which he particularly distinguished himself.
Being, by nature, of a commercial spirit, Mr. Alexandratos found the business horizons somewhat limited for his own ambitions and so in 1904 arrived
in the Antipodes, to settle in Melbourne. After a period of about two years, he opened a most splendid establishment, in partnership with his brothers, Andreas and Georgios, in the most central street of the city.
The partnership having come to an end, Mr. Alexandratos then proceeded to open another establishment equal in all respects to the first. He assumed it management with the help of his wife, who is English but a Greek in outlook.
Mr. Alexandratos is a man of complete education and of great activity and usual uprightness. He enjoys a
particularly good reputation and respect among the Greek community of Melbourne.
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.
