1. Expectations and Achievements
This is an exerpt from Peter Haniotis book "Expectations and Achievements” which is available for $40 from Peter or Vicky Haniotis
40 Eastern Avenue, 2032 Kingsford
Australia
Tel. +61.2.9662 49 09
Many thanks to Mr. Haniotis for his kind permission to let us display parts of his book on this site.
Preface
At the ripe old age of 84, I realise my time is running out. With the idea of leaving my children and grandchildren something to remember me, I decided to write my memoirs.
The task is a big one; perhaps greater than my mental capacity and my limited knowledge of English (which I began learning from a book called "Learn English Without a Teacher” sometime before I left Greece).
I arrived in Sydney on the P & O liner "Strathaird” on 1st April 1937 at the age of 25. (It was April Fools’ Day.) I had not chosen to come to Australia by chance. Since I can remember, Australia was always mentioned in our house as a wonderful country where my brother, two sisters and lots of relatives had ‘made it’. Australia was always referred to as the country of ‘milk and honey’, where anyone who was willing to work hard, obey the laws and use some common sense could not go wrong.
The day I arrived I had in my pocket twenty pounds – and a small English dictionary. In my head, apart from my pride, I carried a thousand English words. (The trouble was I couldn’t put them into sentences.) It took me nearly two years to be able to understand what people were talking to me about. However, with the use of my dictionary, it was quite easy to write a small letter and to read the newspaper.
My motive in writing my memoirs is not of course for financial reward. Who would be curious enough to read the story of the ups and downs of a migrant – just one of so many who came to Australia to make a good life and above all try to be good Australians.
This story is written for my family in appreciation of the good care and love they give me, at home and from afar. There are no words (English or Greek), that can express my gratitude and pleasure in having my daughters Katherine and Vicky with me on this journey.
Genesis
In the year 1453 AD, with the fall of Constantinople, the Turks completed the conquest of Greece.
The Greeks suffered unbelievable tortures for four hundred years under Turkish rule. At times they revolted against the tyranny. Though they knew it was hopeless to regain freedom, they preferred to die or to be ex-patriots, rather than adjust to slavery.
In 1770 the Cretans rose against the Turks on their island. At the beginning they had some success and the Turkish garrison withdrew to their forts. Unfortunately, reinforcements from the mainland arrived and the revolt drowned in blood.
Thousands of Cretans escaped in small boats to nearby islands. One of the escapees, a young man from Hania (Canea), sailed to the island of Kythera, seventy miles from Crete. His name was John, his surname probably Aglasitakis.
Kythera is one of the seven Ionian islands and at that time was under the rule of the Venetian Republic. It is situated on the south side of Greece between Crete and the mainland. It is a small rocky island (40 x 20 kilometres), where people work very hard to make a living on their small farms. At the time of my story the island was occupied by the Venetian Republic until 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte, at the height of his glory, annexed the seven Ionian islands – Corfu, Paxis, Leukas, Cephalonia, Zante, Kythera and Ithana, the birthplace of Ulysses.
Napoleon lost the islands after the Battle of Waterloo. England took them over and in time this proved to be the best thing that happened. English governors and officials, plus small garrisons of soldiers, judges, solicitors and doctors became the backbone of the aristocracy, as the peasants called them. They all lived in the capital Kythera (Hora), adapting English laws and making several reforms for the benefit of the Islanders. With compulsory personal work, they built a new main road from the top to the bottom of the island and several bridges which even now benefit the residents. One of the reforms was to be kind to animals. If you were caught hitting your donkey with a stick you had to pay a fine. One peasant, who had not heard about the new law, was fined ten shillings in court for hitting his donkey with a stick. After he paid the fine he went outside to his donkey, moved up close to him, removed his cap, bowed to him and said, "I salute you Sir Donkey. Sorry, I didn’t know you have such a high class relative as the judge.” There are several similar anecdotes which I do not have enough space to mention here.
At that time Kythera’s population was 14,000 and the island could not produce enough to feed its people. The young people started to migrate overseas to places like Smyrna in Turkey, Russia and the United States of America. Only at the beginning of the century did Kytherians start coming to Australia.
Kythera consisted of sixty small villages and two towns – Kythera (Hora) had about 3,000 inhabitants and Potamos 2,000. With migration gaining momentum, the population of Kythera was getting smaller and the Kytherian population in Australia bigger. In 1995 an estimated 10,000 Kytherians, including their children and grandchildren born here had made Australia their home. The Kytherians left behind are mostly elderly people who are content to stay home, live on their small pension and the occasional small cheque from their relatives in Australia to supplement their income.
I am proud I came from Kytherian stock. I am also proud to be an Australian, having been naturalised in 1943, five years after arriving here. It was the law then: we had to wait five years then prove ourselves. To make me feel better, the N.S.W. Government in 1955, gave me the title of Justice of the Peace. For the average Australian, that does not say much. But it gave me a motive to try to be a better citizen.
Kythera and the rest of the islands were presented to Greece in 1864 as a present to the second son of the King of Denmark, George I (grandson of Queen Victoria of England), on his appointment as King of Greece.
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That was an exerpt from Peter Haniotis book "Expectations and Achievements” which is available for $40 from Peter or Vicky Haniotis
40 Eastern Avenue, 2032 Kingsford
Australia
Tel. +61.2.9662 49 09
Many thanks to Mr. Haniotis for his kind permission to let us display parts of his book on this site.
