Panayotis B. Frantzis

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


A particular commercial acument distinguishes the polyglot Panayiotis B. Frantzis, who hails from Kalavryta.

While still a child, he moved, with the approval of his parents, to Egypt, where he was not slow to engage in commercial activity.

In 1902, he moved from Egypt to South Africa, in pursuit of a better future, where, within a short period of time, he founded two establishments.

By reason, however, of the well-known set of difficult circumstances and the financial crisis in Africa in 1910, Mr. Frantzis was compelled to migrate to Australia where, a month after his arrival, he opened a small shop in Sydney, in a central location.

Now 30 years old, he is the owner and manager of four profitable establishments in Sydney. On of these is The Athenian Club, a Greek club, recently founded by Mr. Frantzis. It has a Greek clientele and includes a snackbar that shines with cleanliness, a tobacconist, a cafe, a hairdresser’s, a restaurant and a billiard room. It stands in one of the most best locations in Sydney, at 208-210 Castlereagh St., Sydney.


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.