Both my parents were born on the island of Imvros, which was a Greek island situated very close to the Turkish mainland.

In a land-swap deal, the island was handed over from Greece to Turkey and then life became very difficult and dangerous for the Greek Christians who lived there.

My parents knew they had to leave the island, so with great difficulty they were able to obtain visas for Greece. After living in Athens for a number of months, my parents could see no good economic future there and decided to migrate to “the country across the world where everyone could get a job and where the government looked after its people”.

In mid-1969, they had enough money to fund the sea trip from Greece to Australia, on a ship with many other migrating Europeans.

They settled in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, where many other Greeks had come before them. Even though they had no knowledge of the language, life was good. There were plentiful jobs available, public transport was affordable, and accommodation was easily found in share houses. My parents had a great network of friends, and the local Greek Church was nearby.

As time passed, my parents were able to purchase a couple of houses and live a comfortable life. They had 2 daughters, my sister and I.
We are forever grateful that our parents decided to settle in Australia instead of South Africa or America (which were the other 2 popular choices at the time).

This is a beautiful and wonderful and safe country and our families are extremely happy here!

– Effie