"History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity." Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), Pro Publio Sestio There are many categories in this section - they are now visible in the navigation on the left. By choosing any one of them you can view the entries, and by clicking on the add to... links at the top right of each category page, you can easily submit your own entry. Please note! There are dozens of historic and fascinating photographs to be found in the Kythera Cultural Archive section of this site.
submitted by George Poulos on 24.12.2004
From: Janis Wilton. Immigrants in the Bush. Cafes and Cafe Owners. Armidale College of Advanced Education. 1989. 81 x A4 pages. Peter Tsicalas (see, Culture, subsection, Bibliography), desribes this book in the following way: "...mainly compiled from taped interviews she did with four Greeks on the New England Tablelands in 1983. She’s put together a great story accompanied by many old photos ...
Gillian Bouras was born in Melbourne in 1945. She worked as a teacher in Australia before moving to Greece with her husband and children in 1980. Her first book about this experience, A Foreign Wife, was published in 1986, and this was followed by A Fair Exchange in 1991. Aphrodite and the Others, published in 1994, won a New South Wales State Literary Award in the same year, and in ...
submitted by George Poulos on 06.12.2004
[From records maintained at the Water Tower Museum, Gunnedah. For other Kytherian history re: Gunnedah, search under Gunnedah. Written by Theo Kepreotes, [Maroubra], 1996(?) and reproduced with permission. Theo was instrumental liasing with Gunnedah Council to have the Car Parks of Gunnedah named after Kytherian pioneers. For photographs, see separate entries.] The majority of Gunnedah's early Greeks originated from the island of ...
submitted by George Poulos on 16.11.2004
Antonius Notaras, was one of the fascinating characters interviewed by Suzanne Falkiner for her 1985 book, Australians Today. (Publisher, George Allen and Unwin). Also reproduced in the Sydney Morning Heralds' Good Weekend Magazine in the same year. I still feel Greek after 50 years as an Australian Before I came to Sydney, one of the men came back to the island (Kythera) ...
submitted by Spyro Calocerinos on 04.03.2005
I remember when Mussolini demanded from the Greek Government to allow free passage to his troops through Greece and received the unexpected answer "OXI" NO!! which is still celebrated on the 28th of October I remember, the pride of the Greeks when the Italians were defeated in Northern Greece and Albania. I remember,the promises made to Greece by our Friendly and strong nations,for being brave to fight on their side and the world said ...
submitted by Spyro Calocerinos on 23.10.2004
Viron, was well known in Hora for his many fearless acts and this is one of them, but it turned out to be very costly. On the night of the 31st of August 1944, the Germans set fire to their ammunition on their Headquarters of Trahilas (near Kapsali) and the explosions and display of "fireworks", was by far the best we had seen. Obviously, the Germans didn't want their ammunition in the hands of their enemy. They went to Kapsali and left Kythera on the 4th of September. Some ...
submitted by Spyro Calocerinos on 18.01.2011
Some time after the Germans left Kythera, (to be exact on the 27th of January 1945) a British cargo ship loaded with rice,wheat and flour,anchored in Kapsali.The ship was under the supervision of a British battle ship,whose Captain was Captain Frederick Rand.He was the first official appointed by the liberated Greek Government as a caretaker,to oversee the peaceful existence of all political parties in Kythera. At this point,I must explain that there were a number of political conflicts ...
submitted by George Poulos on 12.10.2004
[Tony is a Real Estate agent in Liverpool, Sydney, Australia. In the past decade he has travelled to Kythera every Kytherian summer. Town of origin: Ayia Pelagia. Parachoukli Alai]. Food sharing. The Italians used to go to Ayia Pelagia a lot. They used to give us whatever food they had left over in "billy cans" - and we would go back and share it with the family. They were very good to us. They were very good...... The Germans ...
submitted by George Poulos on 16.03.2005
[Tony Fardoulys is a Real Estate agent in Liverpool, Sydney, Australia. In the past decade he has travelled to Kythera every Kytherian summer. Town of origin: Ayia Pelagia. Parachoukli Alai. He recalls the following about sea mines]. Sea mines - are called nurki or nurkes (plural). They were big and round ....about 1½ metres wide. They had detonators every 7-8 inches ( 16 cm's). Many of them washed ashore in Kythera. To immobilise them they were dragged ...
[Tony is a Real Estate agent in Liverpool, Sydney, Australia. In the past decade he has travelled to Kythera every Kytherian summer. Town of origin: Ayia Pelagia. Parachoukli Alai]. In 1942, He remembers as a young child of 9 years of age, watching a ship come towards the shoreline at Ayia Pelegia. "I was watching...because I had nothing else to do." This ship was being guarded by a small aeroplane.....I remember it so clearly.....it would curl up towards Panagia Thespina, then ...
submitted by George Poulos on 11.10.2004
In 1942, a bomb appeared on the beach near Firi Ammos. It had failed to detonate. It remained on the beach for many months. The feast day of Ayia Patrikia, was traditionally celebrated in the small church of Ayia Patrikia - which is situated between Karavas and Ayia Pelagia. [As of early Oct 2004, no photograph of Ayia Patrikia has been posted to the web-site]. In 1942, this ceremony drew its usual very large crowd. In the meantime, three Karavitithes, Haralambos Coroneos ...
submitted by George Poulos on 15.05.2004
The Glory Box of Yesterday Many traditions have been erased by the redefinition of female roles in modern society. Changes in these roles were slow in reaching Kythera, and even though village women were often the back-bone of the family, a woman wasn't ready for a marriage unless her 'prika'- glory box was complete. Apart from all the responsibilities of sustaining a household, the baking of bread and presiding over thew cooking hearth, most women's daily duties included ...
submitted by Giannis Cassimatis on 14.05.2004
The Cassimatis family originated from the village of Keramoto of Kythera island. The first Manolis Cassimatis (that is, the first of who some memory still remains), otherwise known as Gerontomagas married a woman named Aneta, with whom he had six children, one daughter, Katerina, and five sons, Theodoros, Giannis, Nikos, Andreas and Panagiotis. Katerina had three daughters with her husband Dimitrio, Alexandra, Koula and Aneta. It is however the five sons who concern this chapter of the family history, ...
submitted by Rowan Parkes on 05.05.2004
It was May of the year 1985. An old fisherman and his young inexperienced assistant and friend had thrown out their nets just off a beach near Myrtidia the night before, and that morning intended to bring them in. The weather however was very fresh, and the strong breeze of the evening before had climaxed into a harsh wind howling round the crags. The boat was no more than 5m long, with very little equipment and no anchor and the wind caused havoc from the moment they set out to retrieve the nets. ...
submitted by George Poulos on 31.05.2004
I have appropriated the following Oral History transcript from the site - http://www.cybernaut.com.au/greeksinoz/interviews/interviews.htm#FIRST%20GENERATION%20KYTHERIANS The site includes transcripts of lengthy interviews with 5 Kytherians. Another feature of the site is access to sound recordings of the interviews. In May, 2004, I noted that this facility had "broken down". In fact the site gave the impression that it had not been maintained for some ...
submitted by Ioanna Kaligerou on 21.01.2004
Apart from tea leaves and apple dunking etc, another way of reading the future was done with lead. One melted the lead and then when it was hot it was poured into cold water at which point it became solid, and it was supposed that the "reader" could foresee the future through the patterns in the lead. One young woman got her "lead done" and sent a friend to take it to the reader, as it was a long way for that time. When her friend got there the reader took one look at the lead and said: "Is ...
submitted by Alexandra Ermolaeff on 20.01.2004
Sophie Poulos (Tzortzopoulos) was born in Gladstone, QLD, Australia to a Kytherian father and an Australian mother. In 1978 her father Nikolas Tzortzopoulos took his family to live on Kythera. They lived in the scholi (the former agricultural school) in Karavas. Sophie was 14 years old at the time. This is what she remembers about the early days of living on the island. (This story is transcribed from an audio interview with Alex Ermolaeff recorded in 2000)
submitted by Alexandra Ermolaeff on 24.02.2004
This is a copy of a photograph of Michael Panaretos. The original is in the Cultural Centre in Potamos. The photo was taken after he returned to Greece from the Belgian Congo. Michael Panaretos left Kythera when his parents refused him permission to marry a girl they thought unsuitable. He vanished without a trace. He was about 22 at the time. His father in his will left him a one third share of his estate. This third share was to ...
Extract from the memoirs of Prof Manuel J Aroney (Beys) For Australian academics in the sciences, it is almost mandatory to go on study leave to prestige universities or research institutes in the United Kingdom, Western Europe or North America, to gain experience and reputation at international level and, hopefully, to impress a luminary or two who could provide valuable support in subsequent career moves In 1965 I had been serving the University of Sydney ...
Hi Harold (distant cousin!) Vikki is correct. Velio married Angelo Chlentzos 'Bylos' on 30 Aug 1923 in...
Hi Harold, You should be able to connect with many of your relatives here and on Kythera...
My wife and I intend to visit Kythera from Australia in August 2024. We hope to see...
This is a section of a set of maps of the Ionian Islands, item ref: MR 1/2037/48 held at the...
About 5 minutes into the program Ada Margariti, who is an Attorney at Law, speaks about how she came to...
Interviewed during his visit to Australia, 2013.
August 17, 2010 103.2 HOPE - radio station You’ve heard of PhDs in science, medicine and education but have you...
Brisbane kytherians at paliochora excursion ..exploring the wonderful site and seeing all the churches .. this one is called ' e...
Gorgeous Ruby! Ruby's father was Evangelo Megaloconomos born 7 September 1891, died 29 January 1983 Ruby was born 16 September...
26.11.2023 (Message Board)
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27.09.2023 (Message Board)
Hi Maria (and Nick), I know where his family fits in on our tree. I'll be setting...
