Upload Your Entry
Ellena Galtos
3 Comments

Caringbah milk bar, southern Sydney

Article from: St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
16 November 2004 pages 7 & 8
Author: John Mulcair
Photo: John Veage


Milkbar family sells, and leaves you in good hands

PHOTO CAPTION:
Farewell: Peter and Bill Cassimatis have retired after running the Caringbah landmark for 36 years. Peter is pictured front left with Bill and his wife Kathy next to him. Picture: John Veage

ONE of Caringbah’s landmarks, Parry’s Milk Bar and Candy Store, changed hands yesterday for the first time in 36 years.
The Cassimatis family have sold what they have proudly claimed to be Sydney’s last, traditional Greek milk bar.

No fast food, a huge range range of confectionery and chocolates, milkshakes made in the old metal containers and served at a table in a glass, and coffee to die to for. Oh, and a large range of smokes, including a cigar range popular with the new dads from up the road at Sutherland Hospital.

Beyond this, the milk bar next to the Caringbah railway steps has provided a refuge for kids who have missed trains and parents collecting them, often providing a ‘‘come and get me’’ phone service long before the days of mobiles.

Bill and Peter Cassimatis have decided to sell because, as Bill put it: ‘‘We’ve been here a while and its better to walk out than get carried out.’’

The good news is that new owners, local couples Tim and Helen Downes and Doug and Kelly Beattie, will be keeping the successful formula.

The story of the Cassimatis brothers follows the odyssey of so many Greeks after World War II.

With little money and even less English, they left their home on Kythera buoyed by hope and dreams - but with the support offered by extended families with an already extensive network in Australia of the ubiquitous ‘‘Greek cafes’’.

Arriving in 1948, they lived at Murwillumbah in northern NSW with Peter spending a brief time at school before joining Bill working at an uncle’s Civic Cafe, ‘‘learning the language and earning some money.’’

Then followed five years working at another uncle’s bakery in Erskine Street, Sydney, ‘‘where we didn’t save much money, but had a great time.’’

For the next 10 years the landmark Regal Cafe at Toowoomba, renowned for its morning and afternoon teas, was their home. Bill recalled that one of their regulars was a magistrate who gained fame for becoming the first in Australia to jail a drunk driver.

Some 36 years ago the brothers, with Bill’s wife Kathy, arrived in Caringbah to take over Parry’s.

Caringbah was a much different place then, with department stores and a vibrant Friday and Saturday night social scene, much of which centred around milk bars.

Bodgies and widgies, surfies and rockers, punks, goths and all the variations...Peter and Bill have seen them all.

‘‘We have always enjoyed being part of Caringbah, serving our customers, and members of the business community and part of the wonderful Sutherland Shire,’’ they said.

‘‘We thank everyone for their support and know you will get the same service from Tim and Doug.’’

Leave A comment

3 Comments

Ellena Galtos
on 06.01.2005

This article from my local newspaper in November 2004 touched a sentimental spot for me in several ways. Firstly, because I have patronised the Cassimatis milk bar myself, having lived in the area for the last few years. I can attest to the wonderful array of chocolates on sale; very convenient for when I visit my parents-in-law nearby! It was always a pleasure to be served by the Cassimatis brothers. However, I did not realise our common heritage until I read about their retirement. I'm not sure if theirs is really the last of the 'traditional Greek milk bars', but it was certainly a classic. And reading the Cassimatis brothers' story reminds me of other places from my family's past. Having grown up in Brisbane, and having family and friends in southern Qld/northern NSW, I am familiar with Murwillumbah and Toowoomba. These must have been areas many Greek migrants passed through at some time. Ellena Galtos

Ellena Galtos
on 06.01.2005

I realise someone else has posted a similar picture and article to this one. However, it was incomplete. Hence why I posted the article in full with the acknowledgements requested by the newspaper.

George Poulos
on 07.01.2005

This article was also re-produced in The Kytherian, Newletter of the Kytherian Association of Australia, December 2004, page 5. To join the Association, and to receive the Newsletter, write to, P.O. Box A203, Sydney South NSW 1235 Or you can contact a Committee member (such as this author) by email, and your request will be acted upon.