In Loving Memory of
Andreas Kefalianos
Born in Pythagoreio, Samos, Greece on 26 May 1949.
Passed away on 5 May 2024
in Adelaide, South Australia, aged 74 years.
Beloved husband of Rosemary.
Loved father and father-in-law of John and Philia,
Jim and Lia Nick and Katie Jenni and Peter.
Loving Papou of Nicola, Melina, Paulina, Elsa-Marie,
Marilia, Andreas and Estelle.
Along with Your saints, O Christ, include the soul of Your servant, where there is neither pain, nor grief nor longing, but life everlasting.
Our family sincerely thank you for your kindness and expressions of sympathy
My Journey from the Island of Samos to Australia - Andreas Kefalianos
Preface
The words are those spoken by Andreas Kefalianos, then recorded and transcribed by a volunteer from the Calvary Life Stories Program. Our service provides a respectful, attentive space for reflection on life, memories and events. Dates, times and other details are the recollections of Andreas at the time of recording. We request an awareness of health, memory and the passage of time when reading her words.
I was born in Greece on the Island of Samos
I was born in Greece on the Island of Samos in 1949. It was a tough time in Greece, not only because World War II had finished but also the government was going through discord while trying to get things sorted.
My Mum and Dad met in Samos
My mum’s name was Polyxeni. She was born in Alexandria in Egypt, where there were quite a few Greeks living at that time. When Mum was born, her mother (my grandmother) died in childbirth. My grandfather took my mother to Samos, where his sister took her in. Mum’s auntie and uncle did not have any children of their own.
My mother was raised by her auntie in Samos. Her auntie’s name was Alexandria. Later they also lived in Mitilini, a port on the island of Lesbos, and in Athens.
My dad’s name was Ioannis. Mum met Dad through her uncle, who was in charge of the Military Police. My mother had been previously married with a daughter, Alexandra but she was widowed when her husband was shot during the war. In 1946 she met my Dad and they were married in Pythagoras.
During the Second World War my mum and dad lived in Pythagoras on Samos. Samos is quite a big island, and they lived on the main street in Pythagoras. Dad was an Air Force pilot for a while. As soon as the War had finished, he joined or was transferred to working for the Government operator for the electricity supply.
Samos was bombed during the war
Samos is on the edge of Turkey and Greece. During the War, Turkey didn’t have much need to get rid of any hostile troops. However, before I was born, when Mum and Dad were living in the second storey of a house which was only four or five houses away from the water’s edge in a beautiful position, their home was destroyed!
Dad was well educated for a Greek person after the War.
He didn’t learn from school but more from life experience.
Left to Right Stamatia and Emmanoil, my Dad’s parents; and Katarina, my great-grandmother.
We left Samos when I had just turned five. I didn’t go to school there at all. I do remember leaving by boat, in November 1954 and we went to Athens and then left by another larger boat, the Arosa Star (which was about 8,000 tons) and a good size for a passenger ship. We travelled to Port Said in Egypt, through the Suez Canal to Port Aden and then via the Arabian Sea to Colombo in Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon). The route continued across the Indian Ocean to the Port of Fremantle in Australia.
The trip was an adventure for me. My younger sister, Alexandra, Mum, Dad and I shared one cabin which was a good size. Our parents allowed Alexandra and me to play in a big area which was especially for the many children on board. The other passengers were mainly migrants, most from Germany and some from Greece. We were on board for a month during which the weather was good.
In Melbourne, we were put on a train to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre
Left to Right My father, Ioannis; me; my sisters, Alexandra and Stamatia and my mother, Polyxeni
In Australia we landed in Perth and then went to Melbourne and arrived on 31st December 1954. In Melbourne, we were put on a train to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre in Victoria near the River Murray. The Bonegilla was the largest and longest operating reception centre in the post-war era. More than 300,000 migrants passed through its doors between 1947 and 1971, with most of those originating from non-English speaking European countries.
After we had been at Bonegilla for two weeks we went on another train journey to Peterborough via Adelaide. We lived in Peterborough for eleven years. Our family lived in a railway cottage for two weeks and then Dad looked for a place to rent. He would work during the day and then look for a house after work at night. He found a large tin shed for us. It was on the main street and there were old-style houses and shops and then this old tin shed in the middle of them. It was pretty hot in that shed; I think we lived there for several months.
School … By Grade Six I was top of the class!
Mum took me to the office at Peterborough School to enrol me. As she had little knowledge of English, the actual paperwork was too much for her to deal with. My memories of this time are vague, but I do remember my first teacher … although I don’t recall her name.
The other kids in my class weren’t very friendly and I couldn’t speak English.
When I looked at my school report for my first year at school, it said that I was slow to pick up English as a language. I felt that I didn’t really belong there and there wasn’t anything to tie me to the school. I would go off home and then each time my mother would take me back. I think part of the problem that the other kids weren’t very nice to me, but then again I don’t think they were nice to many people. At this time, there were very few other Greek students in the school.
After the first year, I started to adapt and it didn’t take long for me to settle into school life. In many ways, Grade 2 was similar to Grade 1; I still didn’t have any friends. Our family, as migrants, were neither considered as locals nor as belonging to the town.
Once again, in Grade 2, I had times when I just wanted to stay away from school. My report cards from Grade 1 and Grade 2 showed I was at the bottom of the class. In Grade 3, my marks were average; in Grade 5, I was second in the class and by Grade 6, I was top of the class!
Progress was made and Mum and Dad were encouraging and always proud of me.
As the years went by and I got older, I tended to assimilate more and more with my classmates and as part of this, I regularly played sport with them on the big oval at the school.
In 1961, when I was twelve, I joined the Scouts and quickly established myself in a leadership position as a patrol leader of one of the four troops in 1963. A short while later I became the troop leader of the whole troop. The South Australian Commissioner of Scouts came to visit Peterborough during that time.
When I finished at Peterborough Primary, I moved on to Peterborough High. There were 60 pupils in the school in two classes of 30 each. One class was called Athens and the other, Sparta. I was in Athens. My subjects were English, Maths, Science, History, Art and Geography. In high school, I was still either second or third place in my class. I left Peterborough High school then I went to Port Pirie where I did Year 12.
In Peterborough … Mum would shop at the bakery, butcher’s shop and the Four Square Store
At the end of each day, Mum would shop at the bakery for bread, buns and cake. Mum would also get me to write a list of things she wanted and then send me off to the local Four Square Store to buy them. Another shop we went to was the butcher, where we would buy chops, cold meat and lard for cooking. There wasn’t a lot of variety available. I also remember a big shop; it had originally been four shops and was converted into one. It was just near our place and was called Shaklefords. When shopping there you would ring the bell before you were served but then if you wanted something else you would have to wait for another turn after everyone else.
Dad was working with the railways as a truck driver.
By this time, Dad was working with the railways as a truck driver for the works department. It was a good job and not too strenuous for him. He also worked in the actual works depot.
There were now about 12 Greek families in Peterborough and Mum and Dad were part of this Greek Community.
I liked Port Pirie; it was big compared with Peterborough.
We moved to Port Pirie for my schooling because Peterborough High did not have Year 12. Mum and Dad were happy to go there because my mum’s older daughter was married and lived there.
I liked Port Pirie.
There were a lot of Italians living in Port Pirie and probably between 20 – 25% of the town would have been Italian.
Their influence was obvious; there were streets where all the businesses were owned by them.
There were established families who had arrived
between the years of 1915 – 1920. Italians married Australians or migrants from other countries creating families with a mixed heritage
When we first went to Pirie, we lived in a rented house. In the meantime, Mum and Dad bought a ten-acre block in the foothills at a place called Nelshaby which was 10 km from Port Pirie. The new house took about a year to build. Dad and I did a lot of the concreting together. He hired bricklayers, carpenters and other tradesmen as needed. After we moved in, Mum and Dad grew tomatoes, capsicums and rockmelon as part of their large garden. Dad was still working in the railways and driving trucks; he transferred from Peterborough.
My new school, Port Pirie High was big; I spent a year there. During that time, I took up baseball and occasionally I went out with my mates, although not often because we lived so far out of town.
After high school, I moved to Adelaide to study at Adelaide University
After I finished high school I went to Adelaide University to study metallurgy. I boarded with a Greek family in Norwood for a year. Then I moved to Richmond with another Greek family who had five children. I lived there for a year as well.
I graduated from uni with a Bachelor in Secondary Metallurgy but I couldn’t find work in that field, so I returned to Port Pirie and took up teaching.
I taught maths and science at Risdon Park High School, which was the second high school in Port Pirie.
I enjoyed being back in Port Pirie because it was home and I was staying with my parents. It was not costing me anything and Mum was looking after me. It was a bit like being on a family holiday!
The local soccer club in Port Pirie was very strong with two Greek teams. Most of the Greeks would go to the two matches on Sunday. There were clubrooms in the main street opposite the church where dances and functions were held.
While I was teaching at Risdon High, four other teachers and I drove a bus that was converted into a motor home from Port Pirie to Orbost in Victoria. It was the summer holidays and we went via the Great Ocean Road, we swam and fished along the way.
We're all going on a summer holiday!
Halfway through my second year at Risdon High, I was offered a job in BHP in Victoria but I didn’t take it up; my pay was increasing which made me happy teaching. I have always taught boys and girls.
It was a demanding job but rewarding and I enjoyed it. There were kids who really wanted to learn and they put their efforts into it to make sure they got the results they wanted and what the teacher wanted too.
In fact, I taught for the rest of my working life.
Rosemary and I met at a dance in Adelaide
I taught in Port Pirie for five years before Rosemary and I got married. We met at a dance in Adelaide and we were married in the Greek Orthodox Church in Norwood in 1976.
There were 570 guests at the reception at Port Adelaide. We couldn’t find a place large enough to fit all our guests so we hired the hall of the Greek Orthodox Church at Port Adelaide. It was a sit down dinner, with lots of dancing, a band and children.
It was great fun.
After we were married, I taught at Morialta High School and we lived at Rostrevor. After a year in Rostrevor, we moved to Athelstone. I was at Morialta for 15 years; it was a very good school and I enjoyed my time there.
Once a year the school would stage a theatrical production; they did the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, two years in a row. I had a starring role as a policeman and I really enjoyed my time on stage.
During that time I also did my Bachelor of Education and then a Bachelor of Computer Science, an area in which I was interested.
Graduation Time
Left to Right My father, me, Rosemary, my mother and Nick and Jim in front
After Morialta, I taught at Norwood for two years and then moved to Para Hills, where I worked until I retired at the age of 65. I was ready to retire by then because I wasn’t teaching much and mainly doing administration.
One highlight, I do remember from my Para Hills High days, was a barbecue I organised and cooked; a lamb on the spit!
I was made Deputy Principal at Para Hills High and held that position until my retirement.
We have four children
Their names are John, Jim, Nickolas and the youngest is Jenni.
Our children all live in Adelaide and we have seven grandchildren, the eldest is 19 years old and the youngest is eight.
Some of our favourite memories as a family are of when we would go camping and fishing. It was a busy time in our lives with regular weekend commitments to the children’s sports. Walking in the hills in the Mt Lofty Gardens and going to the beach at Aldinga were also on our places to visit list.
While Mum and Dad were still living in Port Pirie, we would go back to see them every second weekend and for school holidays. Our children loved spending time there with their grandparents.
Left to right Nickolas, Jim, me and John
Celebrating my 70th birthday
Travel has been an important part of my life
In 1972, when I was still single I returned to Greece. It was during the winter and although it was not desperately cold, it did snow while I was there. I visited my grandmother on that trip and she came to Australia to visit us twice when she was in her 80s.
Our first trip to Europe as a couple was in 2011. Rosemary and I went to France, Italy and then Greece. Our second trip in 2016 was only to Greece and we visited 16 islands. Our favourite island was Samos, of course! We also visited Rosemary’s relatives on the Island of Rhodes.
We have been to Bali twice and also on a couple of road trips. One road trip was from South Australia, across the Nullarbor Plain to Perth then up the coast to Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia is renowned for its friendly dolphins which visit its shores almost daily.
The second trip was to Queensland as far north as Airlie Beach.
...and now I live in Australia with my family where I still celebrate my Greek heritage and culture.
Mum and Dad moved to Adelaide in 2000
Family Celebration at Easter
Mum and Dad moved from Port Pirie to Adelaide in 2000.
They bought their house at Brahma Lodge and they lived there until 2012 when Dad passed away at the age of 92. He had looked after Mum who had dementia. She died a year later in Resthaven at Paradise.
My sister, Stamatia lives in Para Hills and my younger sister, Alexandra in Salisbury East.
The second Greek Orthodox Church in Australia was in Port Pirie and I was President of the Executive Committee of the Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Norwood for ten years
I went to St George, Greek Orthodox Church in Port Pirie where I became President of the Church for a year in 1976.
I became involved in the running of the church in Norwood and I was President of the Executive Committee for ten years. The role was a busy one, running the board and a Greek School from Grade 1 to Year 12. The school, which has seven teachers, helps to keep the Greek language alive. Our grandchildren go to the school and enjoy it.
The church has over 200 people attending each Sunday.
I resigned as President towards the end of 2022 after I became ill in October. It was good in one way but not so good in another. It is good to see things continuing to develop at the church and in the Greek Community.
This document was prepared by volunteer Heather,
on behalf of:
Life Stories Program
Calvary North Adelaide Hospital
89 Strangways Terrace
North Adelaide SA 5006
February 2024
