Petro and Shirley Amanda Coroneos. Karavas, Kythera, 1990.

View from the top balcony, Coroneos (fayana}, patriko spiti. The Coroneos family house lies to the left, on the road leading down to Amir Ali.

Shirley married Petro in 1947: she was sixteen at the time. 'Not too long ago', she had discovered that she was of Greek descent.

Shirley: 'My maiden name was Majoram, but it had been anglicised from the original Greek surname, Majouris.'

Petro: 'I went to Australia when I was nearly fourteen, sixty-three or sixty-four years ago....We first came back in 1956 and then in 1971-72, and then every second year since....When I die, when I meet my father I will say "Dad I left the house as you left it - as a memory". I wouldn't part with this house. I hope some day my sons come for a holiday, or grandsons, things like this. This house be over a 100 years old - top part, the bottom part will be over 150 years old.'

[Since this photograph was taken Petro has gone on 'to meet his father'.]

Πρωτή φορά επισρέψαμε το 1956 και μετά, το 1971/72 και κατόπιν, κάθε δεύτερη χρονιά από τότε.

From, Images of Home, p. 77.

*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.