Kosmas Vas. Protopsaltis

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


Mr. Kosmas Vas. Protopsaltis, who comes from Kythera, possess two establishments, in partnership with his brother, Mr. Ioannis D. Phrylingou. The shops stand in Paramatta, a suburb of Sydney, and are considered to be the first of their kind among other such establishments there.

Mr. Protopsaltis came to Australia while still a boy and after working continuously for six years, he succeeded in purchasing the establishments in question, in partnership with his cousin, in 1912. Their commercial name is Psaltis and Freeleagus.


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.