Anna Coroneo
- A Short Story about My Mother.
This article was written for The Kytherian under The Kytherian Cinema Supplement The Picture Show Men – August 2001 and was then adapted for The Greek Australian VEMA in March 2003.
Anna Coroneo was born in Pitsinathes, Kythera in May 1928. When I think how hard things are for us today, I have to remember how hard things were for our parents then. Yes, you might say things were simpler, less complicated and less competitive on the island, but certainly our parents did it tough. My mother never met her father, Panayiotis Mavromati. He left for Australia in 1928 with the view to bring his family here after he had settled. Unfortunately he died in Tottenham, NSW in 1947, leaving a young widow with four, small children to fend for themselves on Kythera, often on a ‘lacana’ (‘lahana’) and milk diet.
My mother’s eldest sister, Helen Conomos (Megaloconomos) was brought to Australia by her maternal uncles, Andreas and Theodore Comino. She and her husband Con Conomos then brought my mother to live with them in Oberon for 2 years. My mother then brought out her mother, Maria Mavromati (née Comino), who also lived in Oberon for some time. Their siblings remained in Greece. Malamatenia Malanos lived and still lives in Athens and Vretos Mavromati, after a 6 year stay in Australia, lived out his remaining years on Kythera.
My mother married Theodore Mena Coroneo (from the “Bellos” clan in Potamos) and our family lived in Scone, NSW, running the local picture theatre - the Civic Theatre - for many years. In fact, the cinema is one of the few to have remained open over the years and is still going strong – a testament to my mother’s strong will not to concede defeat, even when times get tough. She felt it was my father’s wish that the theatre remain open. She would often screen for an audience of five.
Civic Theatre, Scone
My memory of a small, Greek lady, large, silver torch in hand, telling 6 foot tall bikies to get out of the pictures when they arrived often very drunk, still amazes me. With their rows of Harleys parked out the front of the pictures and their sheep-skinned, denim vests, big, black, leather boots and bike chains, they would obey her, taking their helmets (which she usually looked after for them in her office, whilst they watched the movie), tucked under their enormous arms upon leaving. She was fearless!
My father had arrived in Scone when he was just a young lad of about 14, attending Scone Public School for one year. He worked in the Niagara Café along with his younger brother Sam, for their elder brother Con, firstly in Muswellbrook, and then at the Niagara Café in Scone. Getting up at dawn to light the log fire for the café to feed the farmers their breakfast and going to bed very late was a part of life. A life, which led the local GP to advise my father to abandon, believing it would cause him to have major health problems. And so he took on the Civic Theatre which he purchased from his first cousin Alec Coroneo. A theatre that he loved in a town that he loved.
He represented his new country in the war by joining the Australian Army. He even made the Civic Theatre available for the annual Anzac Day Commemorative Services for many years. His civic mindedness involved him in many community projects. From the screening of the Premier of The Shiralee with Peter Finch my parents donated the proceeds of the Premier for the building of the Scone Swimming Pool.
Anna and Theo Coroneo with young Dana Wilson, co-star of The Shiralee (the Australian film starring Peter Finch, 1957) at the Premier of the film held at the Civic Theatre, Scone.
My father initiated the introduction of the sewerage system in Scone. He also assisted with the planting of trees on the road to Lake Glenbawn and he was further involved with the building of the Glenbawn Dam which employed many immigrants during its construction. My parents assisted these men (and often their families) in finding homes, getting a job and even becoming Australian citizens. Often my parents ended up christening many Greek children.
My father, Theo, died in 1973, in Sydney, leaving yet another young widow. My mother managed to raise their three children on her own, making sure she carried out my father’s wish, which was to ensure that our education was furthered. They both felt that education was of the greatest importance and had the war not interrupted my mother’s schooling on Kythera, she would have become a teacher herself. They both encouraged excellence in education and they showed this by donating annually a Scone Primary and Scone High School Dux Award. They were both honoured to actually give this prize to their eldest son now, Professor Minas Coroneo, Professor of Ophthalmology, when he completed 4th Form.
When my parents moved our family to Sydney in 1970, they decided to live in Kensington. The reason for this choice was because it was close to the University of New South Wales and they thought it would be convenient for us to get to university. This was great for their younger children Peter Coroneo and myself, who both studied Optometry there, but Minas had to get himself to Sydney University. This did not bother my mother overly as she was always on call. If Minas rang at 1am, having just completed some vital experiment, there was mum, pyjamas and slippers, driving through the streets of Redfern, to collect him.
Although my mother has adapted to Australian life, she has always maintained her love for Greece. She has taught us to love her Greek traditions and interestingly enough we all married into families with Greek backgrounds. Minas married Hellene, daughter of Zacharia and Mary Souris, Peter married Andreani Costa, daughter of Michael and Polixeni Michael, and I married Nick, the first son of Con and Nina Malanos.
Now at 73, she enjoys a happy life, in seeing it’s greatest rewards - her 8 grandchildren - Anna, Alexandra, Anna, Theodore, Con, Theo, Anna and Stephanie - growing up.
by Eleni Malanos
