Michael K. Koronis

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


Among those who have speedily settled in Australia is to be included Mr. Michael Koronis, who hails from Kythera and is highly educated. After sojourns in London and Port Said, where his family also was, he arrived in Australia in 1909. After a period of only five months, he brought an extremely profitable shop in Goulbourn, a city of New South Wales, whose beauty vies with that of the other large cities of Australia.

This was the start which led to the establishment of two other such shops, which stand on the central street of the city. It was also the start for the erection of a most splendid building, built on one of the most dominating sites in the city. Mr. Koronis has always been distinguished for his generosity, noble behaviour, his fruitful advice towards, and instruction of, his employees, most of whom have gained a name as capable and excellent shop managers.


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.