Angelo Zantey (Zantiotis). Frilingianika, Kythera, 1990.
Born in Karavas, Kythera, in 1916, Angelo arrived in Sydney in August, 1939. In 1941 he was called up for army service. However, as he possessed experience in carpentry, he was placed with the Allied Works Council as a tradesperson. Not long after the war he purchased his own cafe in Summer Hill, Sydney - the Isabelle Cafe. In 1953 he married a fellow Kytherian, Stella Notaras. Three years later...he established himself as a carpenter specialising in shop fittings. He retired from the trade in 1981.
'We always liked to come back as a holiday. But....it's very hard to shift the children from Australia to Kythera because their education was in English. So, we made Australia our home...1974, it was the first time [in Kythera] after thirty-five years...I was fascinated. When I came back, there was electricity onto the whole island more or less...roads were much better and wider...and water supply was practically in every town...they (the locals) welcomed us back....I made up my mind to stay at least two summers....I like to go back to Australia because,... after fifty-one years in Australia, this [Australia] is my place, this is my home, and everything.'
From, Images of Home, p. 145.
*There are about 33 other Kytherian images and entries in the book, Images of Home.
Author's:Effy Alexakis & Leonard Janiszewski
When Published:1995
Publisher:Hale & Iremonger Publishers
Available:Hale & Iremonger Publishers, 02 9565 1955
Description:285x210mm, 160 pages.
Available from:
Hale & Iremonger
PO Box 205,
Alexandria, NSW. 2015.
Ph: 02 9656 2955
Fax: 02 9550 2012
Eml: [email protected]
Website: www.haleiremonger.com
Documentary photographer Effy Alexakis and social historian Leonard Janiszewski have been researching their history and contemporary presence since 1982, and have made many field trips throughout both Australia and Greece, painstakingly piecing together what has become a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Effy Alexakis:
"The idea for this project began in Greece in 1985 whilst I was staying with the parents of family friends in the village of Mitata, on the island of Kythera. Although I had already noticed many deserted homes throughout Greece, it wasn't until I saw a whole street of deserted homes and ventured inside them that I realised that many of the people had left their homes with the intention of returning. Letters, photographs and other personal documents had been left behind. Like pieces of a huge jigsaw puzzle, these items provided small clues about the life within these homes. Australia's migration history is to be found in these homes. Unfortunately, through time, much is being lost."
For a digital archive of photographs, see, also,
http://www.austhistmuseum.mq.edu.au/greek/intro.htm
For other entries about Effy and Leonard, search internally, under Alexakis or Janiszewski.
