Copyright (1929)

Another Greek who built up a business from scratch was Eustratios (Stratos) Haritos.
According to his naturalisation application, Stratos arrived as a single man in Darwin on the Mataram in 1915 at the age of 27. By 1923 he was married with four children aged 5 and under, and was living and working at the Darwin Salt Works. Haritos did well at the salt works and, according to property records held by the National Archives, was able to buy land in and around Darwin.

His property included a block of land on the corner of Daly and Cavenagh Streets, where he built a grocery store. This building was later requisitioned by the Commonwealth Government for use as an emergency post office following the destruction of the Darwin Post Office in the bombing of Darwin in 1942. While the rest of the Haritos family were evacuated from Darwin along with other civilians, George Haritos enlisted and remained in the Northern Territory with the Army.

National Archives, Australia, Canberra, A.C.T.

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Article on groundbreaking Greeks, NAA