Review. Katsehamos and the Great Idea.

Peter Prineas, as an Australian of Kytherian Greek ancestry, has written Katsehamos and the Great Idea to tell the story of his ancestors’ migrations in the early 1900s' from Kythera in Greece to the United States, and subsequently to Australia. He integrates his family members into the bigger picture of Kytherian migrations, their involvement in the many wars during the early to mid-1900s which involved both Greeks at home and abroad, and the Greek focus on the great idea. His story goes on to focus on his family members’ own great idea for Bingara in New South Wales, which was an ambitious project to build the Roxy Theatre in the town centre – and their subsequent involvement in a local cinema war.

The Roxy Theatre, built from 1929 to 1933, is listed by the NSW Heritage Council as a ‘fine example of an Art Deco cinema with Spanish Mission and Art Nouveau elements’ and especially rare for ‘retaining its original theatre interiors and spaces on two levels’. The NSW Ministry for the Arts contributed $205,000 to the theatre’s recent refurbishment and it now operates as the regional area’s only theatre for ‘cinema, performing arts, community and cultural use’.

Mr Prineas’ book is the result of a combination of excellent writing style, comprehensive research, and the integration of family and the wider Greek and Australian community to tell a story of particular cultural significance about the contributions of early Greeks in Australia, and in particular those from Kythera. His writing style is a wonderful combination of lyrical prose, a very effective use of imagery, and the creation of characters and events which come alive on the page. His extensive research of historical events and Greek migrations, well documented, underpin his ability to develop a well-written, interesting, and relevant book. It was evident that Mr Prineas is a writer of a high standard.

Katsehamos and the Great Idea is a book of noteworthy relevance to the Kytherian Greek community in Australia. It celebrates its early focus on the Greek great idea and particularly the re-birth of the Roxy Theatre in Bingara, New South Wales, a building of recognised heritage value contributed to the Australian community through the innovation and tenacity of early Greek migrants. I am sure that this book would be of interest to a wide circle of readers in Australia, and abroad – the Greek community both here and in Greece, other migrant communities, and the entire contemporary integrated Australian community interested in reading about the early development of this country.