Konstantinos Geor. Panopoulos or Soulos
This biography is part of a collection from "Life in Australia" :
The city of Bathurst, in New South Wales, can stand comparison with the most beautiful cities of Europe, for its tree-lined squares, its avenues and its dignified public and private buildings. It is here that the urbane and educated young man, Mr. Konstantinos Panopoulos, or Soulos, has his establishment. Mr. Panopoulos hails from Tegea, in Arcadia, and is 27 years old.
Mr. Panopoulos (Soulos) studied at the gymnasion of Tripolis and has an excellent command of the English language. He came to Australia in 1904 and, a year later, began to busy himself with commercial enterprises. He is already the owner and manager of the most profitable establishment in Bathurst and is also the first Greek to engage in the cultivation of tobacco on a fairly large area of land, of which, sometime ago, he became the owner by purchase.
Because of his affability and generosity, he is esteemed and loved by all the inhabitants of Bathurst. He never refuses his eager help for any good or sacred aim and is a most valuable support of his brothers and his friends.
Mr Panopoulos (Soulos) is the chief member of the Anglo-American Company, founded in Sydney and consisting of five splendid establishments. Furthermore, he is the founder and president of many associations in Bathurst as well as president of a cycling club. Thus, whatever one may write of Mr. Panopoulos, one will never be albe to depict him exactly.
His commercial name is C. Soulos, which is a name to be classed among those of distinguished shop owners, who, through their splendid behaviour and forthright efforts, show and point out to those under them the path of progress.
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.
