Monterey Café, Lismore, 1939

L to R: Matina Crethary, Peter Crethary, Grace Collins
Peter, born 1895 Karavas, the son of Nick and Stamatina (nee Kypriotis), is believed to have been educated in Smyrna before signing up with the Greek army in 1914, serving through till the end of the war and rising to the rank of Sergeant. After the war he joined his mother’s well-established Kypriotis family in Egypt where he spent 4yrs, becoming a cotton merchant based in Khartoum, before coming on to Australia in 1922 with his probable cousin Harry Demetrios Crethar. They went straight to Glen Innes where Harry worked for George Vanges and Peter with his cousin Peter Angelo Crithary. In 1926, shortly after acquiring his own café, the Popular, Peter married Anna John Coroneo. In 1929 they sold up and settled permanently in Lismore.