2023-02-28

Sydney

Elliott, Poppy (Kalliope)

Greeks in Australia

Oral history

Digitised

Interviewer: Nick Doumanis

Occupation: hospital attendant, factory worker, homemaker
Year of arrival: 1960
Method of transport: Ship (Patris)

Poppy (Kalliope) was born in 1934 on the island of Kos, which was then under Italian rule. She was hired at the age of 13 by a doctor in Athens to assist his wife with child-rearing duties. This was the first in a series of jobs where the employer neglected to pay her wages. This experience compelled her to emigrate to Australia in 1960. Very soon after her arrival, Poppy was introduced by a Kastellorizian woman to her son, Plato Elliott, and the two were married within a few months.

Interview summary
Poppy begins by describing her experiences in Athens, where she worked a series of jobs, including a long stint in a hospital. She then recalls her years in Rhodes, where she made many friends and enrolled in a migrant training centre for people bound for Australia. Poppy also provides a rich account of her early months in Sydney, the circumstances leading up to her marriage and life in her suburban home in Kingsford.

Sound recording

Siobhan Campbell