2021-11-24

Sydney

Lambrou, Anna

Greeks in Australia

Oral history

Doumanis, Nick

Digitised

Copyright holder : State Library of New South Wales
Please acknowledge : Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Interviewer: Nick Doumanis

Occupation: Typist, Library Assistant
Year of arrival: 1952
Method of transport: Ship

Anna Lambrou was born in the small village of Pitsinianika on the island of Kythera in 1937. Her father had already embarked on his journey to Australia around the time of her birth. In 1952, she was reunited with her father in Sydney, who owned and operated a milk bar in Kingsford. Throughout her adolescence, Lambrou assisted her father in the milk bar with a view to improve her spoken English. After completing her HSC equivalent and continuing her education at a technical college where she learnt to type, Lambrou was employed as a library assistant at the University of New South Wales Library. In 1960, she married a Greek-Egyptian migrant with ancestry from Chios, Greece. After her husband’s death at the age of 53, Lambrou enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts as a mature-age student, where she specialised in Russian Studies and Modern History, later furthering her studies at a post-graduate level.

Interview summary
Anna Lambrou candidly discusses aspects of the Greek-Australian experience, including her troubled journey to Australia, her strong ties to the Greek Church, the Church’s efforts to expand unilaterally as the Greek population grew larger and her important charitable contribution through the Philoptohos Ladies’ Auxiliary. Throughout the interview, she stresses the value of education and the need to help those who are less fortunate.

Sound recording

Siobhan Campbell