The Brothers Ioannis and Panayiotis N. Baveas

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


In the small country town of Barraba, in New South Wales, which is linked by rail to Sydney, stands the establishment, illustrated in the accompanying photograph, belonging to the brothers Ioannis and Panayiotis N. Baveas, from Kythera.

A particular brand of good taste distinguishes this shop and upon one’s very first visit, one may discern the Baveas brothers’ desire to better themselves. The brothers came to Australia in 1911. They immediately began working alongside Greek shop owners, managing thereby, thanks to their ability and commercial training, to acquire through purchase the establishment in question one year ago.


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.