During a visit to Melbourne this week, Greece’s Ambassador to Australia Mr Charalambos Dafaranos reiterated Greece’s readiness to sign a Work and Holiday visa agreement with Australia.
His comments follow last month’s statements given to SBS by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Akis Gerontopoulos that Greece is waiting for Australia to deliver the documentation to Athens.
Whilst there have been false dawns in the past – with both sides inferring that it was the other’s bureaucracies holding up the process – the latest comments from Ambassador Dafaranos suggest a formal signing of the paperwork is in sight.
“Before the end of the [federal] pre-election period we notified DFAT about the conclusion of the negotiations, so now it is just the internal formalities from the part of the Australian side,” Mr Dafaranos told Neos Kosmos.
“It has been a round of negotiations from the Greek side involving not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but three other ministries – Employment, Interior and Finance. You can imagine, it took some time…”
Mr Dafaranos said that he had conveyed the Greek government’s conclusion of its internal discussions – and its willingness for the agreement to be signed – to new Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
Mr Dafaranos’ observations – coming on the back of Minister Gerontopoulos’ comments – suggest the Greek government wishes to end the long-running saga over the reciprocal visa arrangement.
The visa agreement will allow Greek and Australian citizens between 18 and 30 years of age to work in each other’s countries for a period of 12 months.
In May, Victorian Federal MP Maria Vamvakinou was told by Mr Gerontopoulos’ predecessor, Mr Kostas Tsiaras, that the Greek government would sign off the agreement by September.
Mr Dafaranos confirmed that the agreement will state that a maximum of 500 Work and Holiday Subclass 462 visas can be awarded per year.
The ambassador revealed that he had encouraged former Immigration Minister Chris Bowen to pursue an annual limit above that figure.
“When France has 8000 per year [granted by Australia], I think it’s important to have an increased number – which takes into consideration Greece’s population,” said Mr Dafaranos.
“The final agreement will include a figure capped at 500 per year, but the implementation of the agreement will give the opportunity to see how it works, and to improve it.”
Mr Dafaranos said that he wished to see greater awareness in Greece of opportunities offered by 457 visas under Australia’s Skilled Migration Program, which enables professionals to work temporarily in Australia.
Asked what progress had taken place in relation to a double taxation agreement between Greece and Australia, Mr Dafaranos indicated that whilst he had made representations to the Australian Treasury on the matter six months ago, a decision by them to pursue such an agreement was not imminent.
“I raised the issue and they told me that they will take it into consideration – but that a double taxation agreement pre-supposes a high level of investment and trade between the countries concerned,” said the ambassador, who added that the matter would continue to be raised in bilateral discussions between the two governments.

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Κατά τη διάρκεια επίσκεψης στη Μελβούρνη την περασμένη εβδομάδα , ο Πρέσβης της Ελλάδας στην Αυστραλία κ. Χαράλαμπος Δαφαράνος επανέλαβε ότι η Ελλάδα είναι έτοιμη να υπογράψει την διακρατική συμφωνία για χορήγηση βίζας για “εργασία και διακοπές” στην Αυστραλία .
Τα σχόλιά του κ. πρέσβη έρχονται σε συνέχεια των δηλώσεων του Υφυπουργού Εξωτερικών κ. Άκη Γεροντόπουλου, τον περασμένο μήνα στο SBS, ότι η Ελλάδα περιμένει από την Αυστραλία να παραδώσει το σχετικό φάκελο στην Αθήνα.

Στο παρελθόν, υπήρξαν αλληλοσυγκρουόμενες δηλώσεις των δύο πλευρών που επέρριπταν την καθυστέρηση υπογραφής η μιά πλευρά στην γραφειοκρατία της άλλης. Από τις τελευταίες δηλώσεις του Πρέσβη κ. Δαφαράνου διαφαίνεται ότι οι δύο πλευρές βρίσκονται πλέον κοντά στην επίσημη υπογραφή  της συμφωνίας.

“Πριν από το τέλος της  ομοσπονδιακής προεκλογικής περίοδου επισημάναμε στην  DFAT τα βασικά σημεία των εσωτερικών διαπραγματεύσεων και  τώρα απομένουν τα διαδικαστικά από την πλευρά των Αυστραλών”, είπε ο κ. Δαφαράνος στην ομογενειακή εφημερίδα “Νέος Κόσμος”.

Έχουν γίνει διαπραγματεύσεις στην Ελλάδα που συμπεριέλαβαν όχι μόνο το Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών, αλλά και το Υπουργείο Εργασίας, Εσωτερικών και Οικονομικών. “Μπορείτε να φανταστείτε,  αυτό πήρε κάποιο χρόνο”. Ο κ. Δαφαράνος υποστήριξε ότι τα συναρμόδια υπουργεία είναι σύμφωνα για την υπογραφή της συμφωνίας και απομένουν να υπογραφεί η συμφωνία με τον νέο Υπουργό Μετανάστευσης κ. Scott Morrison.

Οι παρατηρήσεις  του κ. Δαφαράνου, ως συνέχερια των δηλώσεων του κ. Γεροντόπουλου, δηλώνουν ότι η ελληνική κυβέρνηση επιθυμεί να τερματίσει τη μακρά ιστορία πάνω από την αμοιβαία ρύθμιση των θεωρήσεων βίζα.  Η συμφωνία για την απλούστευση χορήγησης βίζας, θα επιτρέψει  σε Έλληνες και Αυστραλούς πολίτες, ηλικίας μεταξύ 18 και 30 ετών να εργαστούν στο άλλο κράτος για μια περίοδο 12 μηνών.  Τον Μάιο , η Ομοσπονδιακή βουλευτής Μαρία Βαμβακινού είχε ενημερωθεί από τον προκάτοχό του κ. Γεροντόπουλου , κ. Κώστα Τσιάρα , ότι η ελληνική κυβέρνηση θα υπέγραφε τη συμφωνία μέχρι το Σεπτέμβριο.

Ο κ. Δαφαράνος επιβεβαίωσε ότι η συμφωνία θα θέτει ως ανώτατο όριο τον αριθμό των 500 θεωρήσεων ετησίως για Εργασία και Υποκατηγορία Holiday 462.  Ο πρέσβης αποκάλυψε ότι ο ίδιος είχε ενθαρρύνει τον πρώην υπουργό  Μετανάστευσης Chris Bowen να ακολουθήσει ένα ετήσιο όριο πέραν του ορίου αυτού .
” Όταν η Γαλλία έχει 8000 ετησίως [ χορηγήσεις από την Αυστραλία ] , νομίζω ότι είναι σημαντικό να έχουμε έναν αυξημένο αριθμό – που θα λαμβάνει υπόψη τον πληθυσμό στην Ελλάδα “, είπε ο κ. Δαφαράνος .
” Η τελική συμφωνία θα περιλαμβάνει έναν αριθμό 500 ετησίως , αλλά η εφαρμογή της συμφωνίας στην πράξη θα δώσει την ευκαιρία να δούμε πώς λειτουργεί , και να το βελτιώσουμε . ”
Ο κ. Δαφαράνος είπε ακόμη ότι θα ήθελε να δει μεγαλύτερη ευαισθητοποίηση στην Ελλάδα για τις ευκαιρίες που προσφέρονται από τις 457 θεωρήσεις, στο πλαίσιο Ειδικευμένου μεταναστευτιού προγράμματος της Αυστραλίας , η οποία επιτρέπει στους επαγγελματίες να εργαστούν προσωρινά στην Αυστραλία.

Ερωτηθείς, εξάλλου, τι πρόοδος έχει πραγματοποιηθεί σε σχέση με την υπογραφή σύμβασης αποφυγής διπλής φορολογίας ανάμεσα στην Ελλάδα και την Αυστραλία, ο κ. Δαφαράνου ανέφερε ότι ενώ είχε προβεί σε διαβήματα προς το Αυστραλιανό Υπουργείο Οικονομικών για το θέμα πριν από έξι μήνες , η απόφαση τους να ακολουθήσουν μια τέτοια συμφωνία δεν ήταν του παρόντος . “Έθεσα το θέμα και μου είπαν ότι θα το λάβουν υπόψη – αλλά μου πρόσθεσε ότι μια σύμβαση αποφυγής διπλής φορολογίας προϋποθέτει ένα υψηλό επίπεδο των επενδύσεων και του εμπορίου μεταξύ των ενδιαφερομένων χωρών », είπε ο πρέσβης , ο οποίος πρόσθεσε ότι το θέμα θα τεθεί σε διμερείς συνομιλίες μεταξύ των δύο κυβερνήσεων.

Source: businessspectator

I’m delighted to tell you that the Peter Andre Foundation has launched! As you all know, I have a personal reason for wanting to raise money for research into cancer and raise awareness of this terrible disease – and to save more lives in the future.

Losing Andrew has been devastating for me and my family but through my Foundation and your support we can change the odds for people diagnosed with cancer in the future.

The main message of the Foundation is: know your body, know what’s right for you. So my Foundation will raise vital funds which will go towards Cancer Research UK’s ‘Cancer Awareness Roadshow’.

Early diagnosis of cancer saves lives. Most deaths from cancer are caused by the disease spreading around the body. So if cancer is diagnosed early, before it’s had time to spread or grow too big, it’s nearly always easier to treat successfully.

The roadshow is making a difference in communities across the UK by talking to people about cancer and raising awareness of the disese. There are four mobile units currently based in North West and North East England, London and Scotland. I am delighted that my Foundation will fully fund the London unit this year, and in the years to come.

The cancer awareness nurses onboard the Roadshow units help people to understand more about the importance of spotting cancer early and how positive lifestyle changes can help to reduce the risk of cancer. They also work alongside local health partners to signpost people to nearby services, and encourage anyone with concerns about a change to their body to go straight to their GP. The Roadshow is reaching thousands of people every year with information that could one day save their life.

Cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence. The number of people in the UK who survive the disease has doubled in the past 40 years and Cancer Research UK pioneers life-saving research to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

This is a disease which affects each and every one of us so I would encourage you all to donate to this amazing cause. Please help me to make a difference and click here to show your support.

For more information, including an interactive signs and symptoms app, visit http://www.spotcancerearly.com

I’m so excited about the launch of this Foundation. It means so much to me and my brothers and we’ll be doing all we can to help people understand how important it is to know their body and to go straight to their doctor about anything unusual. I do hope you’ll support us along the way.

Recognition that his daughter was still living was mind-blowing. It just felt too close to the history maker, to the epicentre of the 100 years-long history of Greek press in Australia – Efstratios Venlis – to find out that Maria Venlis, better known as Maria Bell, was still alive.
Efstratios Stratis Venlis was the founder, editor, publisher and printer of the first Greek newspaper released in Australia. Named Afstralia, the four-page tabloid paper was first printed on Friday 6 June, 1913, in Melbourne.
As we talked to Maria’s daughter, Gretchen Bell Oswald, trying to possibly schedule an interview with her mother, or at least listen to any, even trivial information from the life of the family Venlis, 94-year old Maria Venlis lost her battle with age.
In very frail health, she was finding it difficult to speak. She offered though, as her contribution to this article, that Efstratios Venlis was “a very loving father”.
She died on 13 February, 2013, only a few years younger than the Greek press in Australia, that her father started.
Maria Bell found her father a gentle and good man, says Maria’s daughter, Gretchen, today. As a descendant of a man who started writing the history of the Greek community press in Australia, Gretchen feels proud to have “a person like that” in her family tree.
“I am very proud of him because of what he achieved. Certainly, he came from quite a privileged background, his parents were quite well-off and they were a scholarly family back in Greece, from what I know. Descendants from a renowned Vernardakis family,” Gretchen tells Neos Kosmos.
In Venlis’ Naturalisation Certificate, provided to us by another granddaughter, June Roblom, ‘Languages Professor’ is stated as his occupation. He was fluent in five languages.
“He loved the arts, and helped Greek people hang on to their culture. He would raise money for pageants and all sorts of things in the Greek community, and he championed the poets and the writers for his magazine. I am so proud to have come from someone like that. It’s interesting that most of the family members today are fairly artistic, intelligent and creative people; I think he would be quite proud of his progeny,” Gretchen says proudly.
Efstratios Venlis’ wife, Margaret nee Barnett, was not of Greek origin. She was Australian born, of Scottish Presbyterian parents, and the two lived in a marvellous union, as their descendants today tell Neos Kosmos.
“It was a great love marriage. They had six children, and my grandmother really supported my grandfather. I had great connections with her. Papa died when I was only three, but grandmother died at the age of 100. I remember her as I was in my 40s then,” says Gretchen.
Efstratios and Margaret had 6 children, 13 grandchildren (two of them being June Roblom, and Gretchen Bell Oswald whom I spoke to), 26 great grandchildren and many great, great grandchildren, in the latest generation of the Venlis family.
Despite the century long history of the family Venlis in Australia, the Greek thread is not much present anymore. In June’s understanding, it was due to the fact that a diverse cultural background was not to be advertised in those days.
Additionally, being married to a non-Greek wife, Venlis’ children were brought up in a mostly English speaking family. With it came the anglicised surname – Bell.
However, the whole family seemed to be excited about being a part of Greek Australian history that their grandfather sealed with Afstralia, the newspaper that – according to author and academic George Kanarakis – joined the Greek Australian community to the ranks of diaspora presses, despite its much smaller Greek population (The Press of the Greeks in Australia: With Reference to Other Presses of the Hellenic Diaspora, The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora).
“A century from the publishing of the Greek newspaper in Australia. Isn’t that marvellous?,” Gretchen pointed out several times, excited by the fact that Neos Kosmos contacted her.
During our conversation, she would repeatedly apologise for not providing more information about her grandfather. However, both she and her cousin June still treasure a couple of old family photos, some papers and chapters from the two books by George Kanarakis (In the Wake of Odysseys: Portraits of Greek Settlers in Australia and Greek voices in Australia: a tradition of prose, poetry and drama) that have recorded the beginnings and development of the Greek Australian press and its main figures.
From Zagazig to Greenbushes
Efstratios Panajotou Benlis, as his Naturalisation Certificate states, with origin from the Aegean island of Lesvos, was born on 15 July 1882 at Zagazig, Egypt. At the age of 22, he migrated to Australia. He arrived from Naples on 22 September 1904 by S.S. Eldenburg, disembarking at Fremantle.
After some time, he would settle in Greenbushes, a then active mining settlement in Western Australia, where he opened a small café. This is where, June explains, he would meet his new waitress, and soon after his wife, Margaret Barnett. They got married on 16 September 1908.
“That’s where my mother Irene and the oldest daughter Helen were born. It wasn’t long till they moved to Melbourne, where the newspaper was founded.”
In his marriage certificate, the name Stross Peter Bell appears for the first time. As understood within the family – Stross was a shortening of Efstratios. It is not known when he anglicised the rest of his name.
“People were more anxious at that time, they wouldn’t advertise their background. As time went on, he seemed to use the name Bell more often,” June explains.

Talking to the two granddaughters of Efstratios Venlis, the difference is obvious. Gretchen, Maria’s daughter, is more attached to her grandfather’s figure; while June, daughter of the second oldest Irene, seems more distant from her Greek heritage.
“I think my aunty Maria had stronger connections than my mother. Maria might have mixed for longer with Greek people, because she worked more with them – in milk bars and cafes,” June tells.
“What he did for the Greek community was naturally enough conducted by himself, and the children didn’t come into that frame often. The exception, in my understanding, was the youngest son, Alexander. I believe he was the only one that attended Greek school on Saturday mornings. I know that my grandmother made costumes for Greek pageants,” she reveals.
From Gretchen’s accounts of her papa, the stronger bonds her mother Maria had with the Greek community appear. Excited, she describes to me a scene from the every day life of Venlis family, as if she was a first-eye witness. She would envisage these images as her mother Maria told the stories from her childhood, and with her powerful storytelling she allows me to do the same.
“My mother remembers when she was a girl and they lived in Brisbane; every Sunday the Greek families would get together. And it was always at somebody else’s house. She remembered very clearly the children playing, the women cooking, the men talking and smoking. And they used to have these wonderful Sundays that you can just imagine, can’t you? She said that happened every Sunday. There is a lovely photo I have of my grandfather – there is papa outside the Greek Orthodox Church, with a lot of other people,” Gretchen says excitedly.
“I am proud of him. I can tell you that I wish our Greek heritage had been more emphasised. When I was a child, my mother worked for her godfather who was also Greek, Jim Talis, and I understood Greek. I didn’t speak it, but I can remember sitting down at milk tables, and really knowing what people were talking about. Then when mum left that employment, the Greek thread was not upkept. And I really wish that it had been, I wish that I had gone to a Greek school. I think it’s so important to hang on to those things. You can be proud of where you come from and your heritage, but if you don’t know anything about it – it’s a bit strange.”
“Mum was always telling us stories about it. She was so proud of him, and would always say ‘respect your beginnings, you know where you come from, behave yourselves’. And of course, being brought up in a Greek household, as a child, I was always very loved and spoiled, as Greek children are.”
Efstratios Venlis died on 20 May 1942. Five decades after his death, it was June who, in a strange and accidental way, initiated the whole research about her grandfather to begin with.
“My mother had told me that he published a Greek newspaper, but I had no idea that it was that important.
“My mother had no memory of him earning a living apart from the printing enterprise. He moved around the Greek community doing things for people – writing, translating documents for Australian legal purposes. Printing the paper and running the milk bar and cafes was what was bringing the money in, but he would do these other works within the community.”
One day, at a book sale, just by accident she picked up the book Greek Voices in Australia, by George Kanarakis. When she showed it to her mum, Irene, she said laughingly “perhaps my father is in it”.
June looked up the index and, sure enough, there he was – Efstratios Venlis, his name listed in the index.
“Afstralia”
According to George Kanarakis, when Afstralia was first published, on 6 June 1913, the number of Greeks living in Melbourne and the rest of the country was rather small. Taking this into consideration, the first issue of this political, social and business weekly sold a large number of copies – 80 of them.
“This endeavour can be appreciated even more if we consider that at that time the Greek population in Melbourne was meagre, and therefore could not easily sustain big ventures. According to the 1911 census there were only 297 Greeks in Melbourne and the rest of Victoria, while in the whole of Australia there were a mere 1,798 Greek-born settlers,” Kanarakis wrote in his book In the Wake of Odysseys (p.69).
By 1920 the newspaper had been transferred to Sydney, where the Greek population was bigger. In December 1922 it was sold to the Marinakis brothers, who published it under the new title To Ethniko Vima. It changed a number of owners and is now under the name Vima Tis Ekklisias. According to Kanarakis, this newspaper is the second-oldest foreign-language newspaper in Australia still in circulation, after the French Le Courrier Australien.
Apart from the newspaper founder, Efstratios Venlis was also the first Greek typesetter and printer in Australia, enlarging even more his social contribution to the Greek community of the Fifth Continent.
Around 1900, in Little Latrobe Street – a laneway in Melbourne’s CBD, then filled with a wide variety of businesses and manufacturers’ agents – the names of European immigrants started to appear. Amongst them was, as Fiona Poulton writes, “Greek newspaper proprietor Efstratios Venlis, who occupied 54-56 Little Latrobe Street in 1915”.
“The street directory reveals that by 1915 there were seventeen properties clearly occupied by immigrants, twelve of them Chinese and the remaining Greek and Italian.”
This is where, in 1916, the setting and printing of a hardcover encyclopedic book for Greek Australians, I Zoi en Afstralia, was done by the Australian Printing and Publishing Company Limited.
Directed by Efstratios Venlis, it was the same company that was printing Australia’s first Greek Newspaper, Afstralia.

Academic George Kanarakis estimates that over 110 Greek newspapers have been published in Australia over the past 98 years of Greek Press history.
*The information about the newspaper Afstralia was taken from the following sources: G. Kanarakis, The Literary Presence of the Greeks in Australia; G. Kanarakis, In the Wake of Odysseus: Portraits of Greek Settlers in Australia; G. Kanarakis, The Greek voices in Australia; Fiona Poulton, Little Latrobe Street and the Historical Significance of Melbourne’s Laneways (Provenance: The Journal of Public Record Office Victoria, 2011) and Hugh Gilchrist, Guides for the Greeks (Australians and Greeks, Volume II, p.253-257)

Comino’s Oyster Saloon, aka The Sydney Oyster Saloon, 11 Woodlark Street, Lismore, 1904.
This was the first Greek feedlot on the North Coast of NSW, opened by the Kytherian, Panagiotis Emmanuel Kominos (Giraldis), in early 1903. The site was redeveloped in 1915 with the erection of the three-storey ‘Maloney Building’, still the most interesting building in Lismore and now in the hands of Peter Coronakes. (And the area of the street in front remains a designated taxi stand – sometime during WW1 Athena Andrulakis became a taxi proprietor, owning up to three horse-drawn ‘hansom cabs’ licensed to operate from this Woodlark stand.)
[Courtesy Richmond River Historical Society – Dawson Forbes Collection.]

In a special five year commitment, the National Museum of Australia will permanently house a Greek Café collection, with original furnishings and fixtures.

Based on photographer Effy Alexakis and historian Leonard Janiszewski work to identify remaining Greek cafés and café memorabilia of national significance around the country in 2007-8, the museum has taken the next step and invested in a permanent collection.

Now, after its highly popular Selling an American Dream: Australia’s Greek Café, the museum has sourced genuine interior furnishings, signage and cafe ware surviving from the Greek caf� heyday in the 1950s and ’60s.

One in particular, the Busy Bee Cafe owned by the Zantiotis family, will be the main attraction. Only closing in 2012, the cafe will live on in the exhibition, entitled Lambros Zantiotis’s Men.

Joanne Bach, the National Museum curator overseeing the display, is excited to have seen the project through to its realisation.

“The exhibit will feature objects acquired from the Busy Bee Café in Gunnedah,” she says. “It will be displayed in our ‘Journeys: Australia’s connections with the World’ gallery. Personally, it’s been very satisfying to develop the exhibit, having done the work on acquiring the collection. It’s not often that we [curators] get to see a collection through in that way.”

The Busy Bee at Gunnedah was one of a limited number of classic Greek cafés that survived almost intact, and is a fine example of early, angular Art Deco design.

It appears to have been the first café outfitted by renowned Greek shop-fitter, Stephen C. Varvaressos.

Members of the Zantiotis family operated the Busy Bee from the mid-1910s through to 2007 when Loula (Theodora) Zantiotis (nee Cassimatis) finally retired and the business was briefly sold to the Faint family.

In 2002, when Alexakis and Janiszewski interviewed Loula Zantiotis, she believed the Busy Bee’s days were numbered.

“About 30 to 40 Greeks were here [in Gunnedah] in 1955. Most of them had cafés. The White Rose, one block down from the Busy Bee. The Monterey, across from the White Rose. The Acropolis, further down the block,” she remembers.

“Now, only three to four Greek families live here… All the kids [my children] have gone. I’m the only person from my family here – I’m lonely at times… I don’t know really what to do… I’m not staying here for business… it [the café] is more my home.”

The exhibition is set to open in early October, and will run for five years. Call (02) 6208 5000 for more information.

http://www.kythera-family.net/download/Loula%20ZAN%20PAGE%203.pdf

LOULA Zantiotis, at age 71, still runs the Busy Bee Cafe, (mid 2004), although on a much smaller scale than its heyday. Life-long customers have become old friends and visitors are made welcome with traditional Greek hospitality.

GUNNEDAH’S Busy Bee Cafe is one of few traditional Greek cafes that remained unchanged in an age when technology galloped away with old memories held dear by a generation of baby boomers.

Since the death of her husband Peter in 1996, 71-one-year-old Loula Zantiotis has continued to run the Busy Bee –
although on a much smaller scale – and she is not sure for how much longer she can keep her beloved cafe open.

[For Loula and Peter’s Kytherian background see entries under People, subsection Nicknames. See another article on Loula by the Newcastle Herald in this section.

Loula has a positive and vibrant style which I find particularly endearing.

I thank her for providing me with this and other information, and for permission to re-print, and to photograph extensively.]

“This is the only life I know and it is very hard to let it go,” she said.
“This is also my home and I enjoy talking with customers and friends who drop in,” said Loula.

Growing up in Gunnedah in the post-war era was a time when the Greek cafe thrived and the taste of thick milkshakes, orange freezes and toasted sandwiches was a way of life.

Although early history is sketchy, it is believed the Busy Bee Cafe was built in 1914 as part of the Doolan buildings, with the tea-rooms accessible via an archway through the shop next door, leading to the Grand Central Hotel.

According to a 1926 newspaper advertisement, early proprietors of the Busy Bee, Jim and Andrew Zantiotis, also known as Zantos, sold “choice confectionery, choicest fruits in season, pastry, small goods, soft drinks and hot pies, with meals at all hours and late suppers.”

Lambros Zantiotis bought the Busy Bee in the early 1930s and was joined by his son Peter on March 15, 1936, from the Greek island of Kythera in the Ionian Sea. He had come out to Australia on his own as a 12-year-old, with his mother Anastasia and sisters joining the family after the war.
As Gunnedah emerged from the Great Depression, Lambros Zantiotis hired cafe interior designer, Stephen Varvaressos, to install its glamourous art-deco fittings which remain virtually unchanged.

While other Greek cafes in Gunnedah were modernised and altered to cater for a changing generation, the Busy Bee Cafe stayed the same with Peter Zantiotis resisting the urge to install a deep fryer and stove for takeaways at the front of the shop.

Lambros Zantiotis died suddenly in 1953 on a trip to Port Macquarie – his first holiday for many years.

Devastated by the loss of his father, workmate and friend, Peter Zantiotis returned to Greece for the first time since his arrival in Australia.
Meanwhile, his future bride, Theodora (Loula), had migrated to Australia to join her brother and sister at Katoomba, in November, 1954.

Born in 1932 on the Greek island of Kythera, between Pelponis and Crete, Loula had been staying with a relative in Sydney when she met the young Peter Zantiotis at an Easter dance in Paddington Town Hall.
After a whirlwind romance, the couple married in Sydney in 1955 and Peter Zantiotis brought his young bride to Gunnedah, where life revolved around the Busy Bee and later their three children Anastasia (Tessie), Lambrous James (Jim) and Emmanuel Nicholas (Manny).

Unable to speak English, Loula found life in Australia very different to anything she had experienced in her homeland.
“It wasn’t just the language, it was the whole way of life,” said Loula.
“We formed friendships with other Greek families and we would get together every Sunday night in one of the cafes.”
Although life outside the Busy Bee was virtually non-existent, the Greek families made regular trips to Tamworth to attend the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Busy Bee Cafe, in its heyday, employed six people, including a cook, kitchen hands and waiters and opened seven days a week from 7am to 11.30pm.
With easy access to the Grand Central Hotel, the Busy Bee was a stopping-off place for country people, with Mum and the kids dropping in for a refreshing drink while Dad quenched his thirst with the amber liquid next door.

A 1938 menu boasts a tempting range of hot dishes and grills, with “personal attention given.”
Curiously, customers could dine on rump steak eggs and chips for the same cost as scrambled eggs and toast, which attracted a charge of one shilling and nine pence – less than 20 cents in today’s money.
When Peter Zantiotis died on March 6, 1996, Loula had to take over the management of the Busy Bee and with the support of family and friends she has continued to provide that same friendly service.

“I made quite a few mistakes but people have always been there to help, including my bank and accountant,” she said.
The uniqueness of the Busy Bee Cafe has also attracted interest from Sydney’s Power House Museum, which recently captured the cafe’s interior on film.

Historian Lenny Janiszewski (see entries, this section or use the search engine under “Janiszewski”) has also taken great interest in the Busy Bee Cafe, which will enter the pages of Greek-Australian history when he completes his research on Greek cafes.

Janiszewski was recently awarded a $20,000 NSW History Fellowship to continue his 20-year odyssey to chronicle Greek-Australian history through Greek eyes.
According to the Macquarie University historian, oyster saloons, established at the end of the 19th century, were the foundation on which Greek cafes were built with migrants from the island of Kythera eventually spreading to every corner of the state.

“The investment in cafes was driven, at least in part, because Greeks were not permitted on factory floors in large numbers until after World War 2,” he said.
ning to and documenting the stories of Greek-Australians for the past 20 years, including Loula Zantiotis, and the fellowship will allow him to record and explore the personal accounts of scores of cafe proprietors and workers.

Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis have combined their talents to produce an exhibition at the State Library in Sydney, featuring black and white photographs which depict many facets of Greek Australians under the title In Their Own Image: Greek Australians.

The photographs are collected in a stunning book which has been published to complement the photographic exhibition.

In Their Own Image captures the stories, the successes, the conflicts and the previously unrecognised diversity of Australia’s Greek migration and settlement.

From the arrival in Australia of seven Greek convicts in 1829 to the present day, says Janiszewski, Greek-Australians have played a vital part in the development and unique culture of their adopted country.

Today the Busy Bee Cafe stands as a solid testament to the hard-working Greeks who left their homeland in search of a better life and established tens of hundreds of cafes across Australia.

The flood of fast-food outlets like McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken is threatening the very existence of Greek cafes and with the exodus of young Australian-born Greeks to the coastal fringes, a tradition held dear by many Australians in country towns is being lost.

Loula and Peter Zantiotis worked long and hard in the Busy Bee Cafe to give their children an alternative to cafe life and the young ones have chosen paths far removed from their childhood.

Tessie (Dowes) works in an employment office in Sydney while Manny also lives in Sydney and works as a computer technician.
Jim Zantiotis is a school counsellor in Wagga Wagga and the father of Loula’s three grandsons, Zacharay, Alex and Nicholas.

On Australia Day 1997, Loula Zantiotis accepted a citation from Mayor Noel O’Brien, which paid tribute to the hard-working Greek-Australian, Peter Zantiotis, who “contributed greatly to Gunnedah’s social and cultural history, as a warm and generous representative of his ancestry and a proud Australian.”

In Australia’s great sporting dynasty, many might have forgotten Stan ‘The Man’ Longinidis.

Eight time world kickboxing champion, amassing only eight losses out of 102 matches and securing 65 knock outs, Stan was a revelation in the ’80s and ’90s.

Now, Stan will finally be recognised for his very successful 22 year career by being inducted in the Sports Australia Hall of Fame.

He is one of seven taking the prize, and will be awarded on October 10.

The award is a cherry on the top of an illustrious and very successful career.

He was crowned by the King of Thailand personally when he became the first Westerner to win the muay thai title in 1996 and was given a lifetime achievement award in France in 2000 for his contribution to the sport of kickboxing.

The latest honour is humbling for Stan, who still remembers going to Festival Hall in Melbourne to see wrestler Spiros Arion fight.

“I used to put my dad’s belts around my waist and pretend I was a little champ,” he tells Neos Kosmos.

It’s kind of surreal when you look back on it now.”

Chairman of The Sport Australia Hall of Fame selection committee, Robert de Castella was particularly impressed with Stan’s career and wanted to give him more recognition, something he thinks was not done at the time.

“[Kickboxing is] a sport that is on the periphery and is often overshadowed by something like the Olympic sports of boxing or taekwondo or judo,” Mr de Castella said.

“In some ways Stan was under-recognised here in Australia but was a real pioneer for the sport of muay thai and kickboxing and the sport has now grown into the mixed martial arts area.”

With a life dedicated to training, eating well and hours of exercise, the 48-year-old knew there would be a greater reward in the end.

“The pain, coming home, ice-packing, bruises, all this sort of stuff was all part of paying a price for one day hopefully having a moment like this,” he says.

Stan will be the first to tell you he wasn’t one to shy away from challenges. He wouldn’t obsess over short term goals, but laboured hard at long term goals that would make a real impact in the martial arts world.

From Australian champ, to US champ, the accolades only mattered when he achieved world champion status.

Between 1990 and 1998 he would be crowed with a world champion title each year.

He became one of the few fighters to secure world titles in not just one style, but three, including international rules kickboxing, full contact and muay thai.
“I didn’t want to be a kickboxer, I wanted to be the kickboxer,” he reasons.

One of the hardest things he had to do was mentally prepare himself before a match.

With the hum of the crowd filling the change rooms, Stan would seek out a quiet corner and contemplate what getting in that ring would mean.

“I’d get on my knees and pray that our Lord would protect me and my opponent and all the boys fighting on the night, despite the fact that in my sport the most prestigious way to win was by knockout,” he says.

“That’s the attitude I had.”

While Stan’s intensity might at first be slightly intimidating, his smile and good nature make you realise that being a fighter doesn’t change your personality.

In and outside the ring you can see Stan is a different person.

“I know I can kick a door down, but why kick when there’s a handle,” the gentle giant says.

Now that intensity is being utilised as Stan embarks on his new venture: motivational speaking.

As a man who made a living out of knock outs, picking yourself up is something Stan knows very well.

He’s spoken to children about bullying and violence and inspires the corporate world to strive for long term goals, not settle for short term gratifications.
“Anyone can get knocked down, it’s what you do when you get back up,” he says.

Stan ‘The Man’ Longinidis is available for public speaking appearances that can be organised by calling 0407344317.

The number of people leaving Greece to start a new life in Australia is continuing to rise, according to the latest data released by the Department of Immigration.

Figures announced this week show the number of temporary and permanent visas awarded to Greek nationals increased in the last financial year, showing growth in nearly every visa category, with a particular spike in temporary 457 visas – up by nearly 70 per cent.

Such visas, which accounted for 156 Greeks entering the country in 2011-12, increased to 264 in 2012-13. In 2010-11 only 57 visas were granted in this category.

Registered Migration Agent Penny Dimopoulos told Neos Kosmos said that the spike in 457 visas could be partly attributed to those who came to Australia originally on student visas in recent years.

“Many Greeks who arrived on student visas have been able to improve their English, acquire a qualification or gain Australian work experience – that has now enabled them to apply for a work or skilled visa – which they may not have been eligible for previously.”

Numbers for permanent migration under family and skilled migration streams rose between 2011-12 and 2012-13 by 61 per cent – from 325 to 525.

These figures, says Ms Dimopoulos, are likely to relate to spouses and children of Australian citizens who were born in Australia but returned to Greece.

“When the crisis initially hit, many of these people decided to stay and wait for the situation to improve, however, given the fact that unemployment remains high and opportunities in Greece are currently so limited, some of these people have now decided to make a new start in Australia.”

Over the last three years the number of people from Greece entering Australia via the family and skilled migration streams has been growing steadily, with only 134 Greeks permanently migrating in 2010-11.

Student visas – the single highest visa category other than temporary offshore tourist visitors – continues to rise – up by 45 per cent on 2011-12.

In that 12 months 587 Greek citizens were offered visas to study in Australia. In 2012-13 the figure increased by 332 to 855.

Temporary tourist visas – allowing short stays (usually a maximum of three months) continue to be the most common method for Greek nationals to enter Australia, though the figure fell in the last financial year.

In 2011-12, 7938 Greeks came to Australia as temporary offshore visitors on tourist visas. That figure decreased in 2012-13 to 7222.

For Cyprus, which has a much smaller level of migration, 27 Cyprus nationals permanently migrated in 2012-13, an increase of 11 on the year previously.

1414 Cypriots visited Australia in 2012-13 as temporary offshore visitors compared to 1395 in the 12 months before, while 128 Cyprus nationals came to

Australia on Working Holiday visas, an increase of nearly 100 on 2011-12.

Immigration’s latest figures do not include Greek Australian dual-nationals who have returned to Australia.

Yota Krili was born in Kerastari of Arcadia, Greece in 1937 and migrated to Australia in 1959. Completed High School studies at East Sydney Evening College and graduated from the University of Sydney with an Arts Degree and a Diploma inEducation.

She taught ESL, Modern Greek and English in secondary schools and lectured part-time in Education at the University of Sydney. She has also been a tireless activist on political and educational issues and edited a series of books for Modern Greek students.

Yota Krili’s new book, Origins, was launched last week to a strong Greek Australian crowd. The historical novel follows the story of the 1821 revolution and the civil war, undergoing hardships and showing unimaginable bravery.

The book was introduced by Helen Nika and Dr Chris Fifi and was presented by the Greek Australian Writers Association.

Coming up for the Association are three events.

Mr John George will give a talk on the theatre of Nikos Kazantzakis on September 29 at 3.30 pm at the Hall of Pontian Community of Melbourne and Victoria , 345 Victoria Street, Brunswick. Admission is free.

Litsa Nikolopoulou-Goga will launch her new book, Some Truths that will be presented by Dimitra Ainisli on October 20, 3.00 pm, and in November, the book Stathis Raftopoulos MBE – Poet: A Ulysses at the Antipodes will be launched. The book is written by Kyriakos Amanatides and presented by Mr George Pagalis.

The villages of Lemnos remain largely unknown and undiscovered beyond those regular visitors to the island. Like many of Greece’s villages, they remain beautiful secrets to be discovered.

Kontias is lies to the west of the Mudros Bay, standing astride one of the main routes overland to the capital at Myrina and to the thermal baths at Therma. Its heart lies along the road from Portianou and on to the great beach at Evgatia. Kontias is an old village on Lemnos.
In July I was fortunate to have stayed here as a guest, learning of its local history and traditions – and its connection to Australia’s Anzac story.

Like all Greek villages, it has its churches, village square and welcoming and well patronised tavernas, servicing its winter population of around 600. But one of the things that strikes you immediately as you walk around the winding lanes of the town is its architecture. And magnificent it is.

Yes, like many Greek villages there are many abandoned or long forgotten houses and buildings. Telling of wealthier times and large families, these deserted homes are like ghosts of a lost past.

These are proud reminders of Kontias’ prosperous agricultural and fishing past. The first to produce cotton on Lemnos, Kontias was the home of one Mr Papagiannis, the owner of a fleet of sixty boats.

But one of the things that strikes you about Kontias is its architecture, its beautiful solid stone houses and buildings. For this village has retained its traditional architecture. I walk the lanes taking photographs of these amazing structures.

The restoration of these lovely stone houses is an impressive example of how modern living can be married with heritage. Yes, double glazed windows and solar panels have been installed, as well as indoor bathrooms and satellite television. But the stone walls and plaster, the rich tan roofing tiles with their Hellenistic cornices, the beautiful door frames – all reflect the traditional character of this old Lemnian village.

A Melbourne friend told me that much of the woodwork – window and door-frames – was completed by her grandfather – including the impressive church doors and panelling. There is much that remains of the hardy carpentry of her grandfather – some awaiting loving restoration.

The historic nature of the village is not restricted to the houses. The lanes and alleys reflect their history as donkey or mule cart tracks of old.

Above the village stands its row of well-restored windmills. Once the centre of the village economy, essential to the grinding of grains, these towering structures lie largely abandoned and ruined across the island. While these wrecks of a bygone era are evocative, it is great to see those in Kontias given new life as boutique accommodation for visitors.

As if to remind everyone of the connection to the past, Kontias looks up to the lovely little church of Agios Ioannis. Unlike most of the hills and mountains on Lemnos, this one has been spared the ravages of the herds of goats that devour all in their path. Perched above its treed surrounds, the church stands above the village below. It is a great experience to walk to its summit at daybreak, giving views across to Diapori and Portianou, Mudros and Kontias Bays, as well as to Evgatia to the west.

In 1915 the Anzacs came to Kontias, and they recorded their time here in photographs and their writings. One shows them walking through the village, across one of its many lanes and alleys, on their way for a coffee or maybe to the baths at Therma or a swim at Evgatia. Another shows the broad expanse of Kontias’ nearby bay, a harbour for Allied ships. And there is another taken at the time of a funeral procession through the village.

Sister Olive Haynes, a nurse at one of the nearby Australian hospitals, wrote home telling of her visit to Kontias on the 9th January 1915.

“… We’ve had such nice weather lately – we have been awfully lucky. The other afternoon Sister Daw and I walked to Kondria [sic], such a pretty little port over the other side. We bought mandarins and nuts and ate them in a shop. The Greek kids gathered round saying ‘Australia very good, very nice. Turco finish’.

When Australian Signaller AH Edmonds described walking through the steep and narrow lanes of Kontias, describing some of the laneways as “merely flights of steps”, he could be talking about today. And one of the features he also noted was the tavernas, or “smoking clubs”, writing:

“These villages boast smoking clubs, where members bring their own mouthpieces for attachment to a “narghile” – a Turkish apparatus for smoking tobacco, in which the smoke is drawn through water by means of a long flexible tube.

The Australian 21st Battalion’s Corporal Ivor Alexander Williams wrote of the village’s windmills and the fertility of the land surrounding the village, both features of Kontias that remain to this day:

“On the other side of town is a row of their windmills. These are round stone structures of two storeys. The windmill is a series of sticks (6) all strapped together like a wheel and each is attached to a sail. This connects with a pinion wheel which turns an immense stone on top of another thus crushing the grain. Beside this is the village drinking well. The water of which is periodically blessed. All this is surrounded by very fertile fields.”

When the Anzacs arrived, Kontias would have thronged with people. It had around 1,200 residents then, making it the third largest village in Lemnos. Yet the years ahead would see its population decline, especially after the Second World War. Many of these villagers made their way to a new life in Melbourne.

Many of these now return in summer, trebling the population of the village. Sitting in the tavern or on nearby Evgatia beach, the sounds of Australia ring in the ears. “Where are you from?” someone asks, “Caulfield”, they reply. “Did Collingwood beat Carlton on Saturday?” asks another. There are so many people from Melbourne, you could for a minute forget where you are. But not for long.
They return to Kontias because it is the home that they were born in or where their fathers or mothers were born. Many of the restorations have been carried out by these returning Lemnians, renewing their traditional family homes. It’s obvious that these returnees are very much proud of being Australian, but returning to Kontias connects them with their roots in the old world.

But a village is not merely stones and mortar. Kontias has a lively population that indulges in all the pleasures of community. They share the rich and tasty home grown produce from their gardens and the fields surrounding the village. The rich volcanic soil of Lemnos delivers an abundance of produce – from walnuts and figs, watermelons, pomegranates and berries. I can still taste the sweet watermelons that Anastasia and Panayiotis shared with me for breakfast one sunny morning.

One day I take the walk to nearby Profiti Ilias. It’s one of the tallest mountains on the volcanic island and takes about 2 hours to walk. My walk is in the footsteps of the Anzacs, for it was here that the Australian, George Renwick, climbed to survey the great Allied armada of 200 ships in Mudros Bay in 1915. And he left behind a spectacular photograph.

The walk is full of the nature and history of the area – from the amazing smelling wild Rigani, the roaming donkeys, an Ottoman-era fountain to the great church on the top of the mountain. And here is the amazing view – from Kontias and Mudros Bay below, to Evgatia and Myrina, and to Agios Dimitrious and Therma.
Standing at the summit, thinking of George Renwick and 1915, it’s easy to feel the strong connection between Lemnos and Australia.

Other villages on Lemnos have their advantages too. Portianou, its links to the Anzacs clear in its cemetery. Tsimandria has its taverned platea with its restored historic bridge, commemorating Lemnos’ liberation in 1912-13. Platy has its wonderful beach and houses clinging to the mountainside. Kotsinas boasts its fish restaurants and great views of Samothraki. Mudros, with its great cathedral and war cemetery, looks out over Mudros Bay and begs one to imagine the Anzac fleet of 1915. But these are other stories.

But this year, I spent some time in Kontias and learned to appreciate its own special treasures. If you are ever on Lemnos, take the time to visit Kontias and admire its stone reminders of the past.

* Jim Claven, MA, is a historian, published author and tour leader, who is completing research into the Anzac presence in Greece during WW1 and WW2, especially the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli campaign. He thanks his local Lemnian friends, especially Joe, for their sharing of their village and its life.