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Entity

Greek-Australian Archive – Lea and Nikolaos Kanellakis

Date
2017-12-02
Place
Sydney
Subject
Category
Author
Kanellakis, Lea and Nikolaos
Keywords
Greeks in Australia
Oral history
Creator
Doumanis, Nick
Current holder
Access rights
Digitised
Rights
Copyright holder : State Library of New South Wales
Please acknowledge : Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Country of origin
Language
Description from source
Interviewer: Nick Doumanis

Occupation: Lea: seamstress and receptionist; Nikolaos: driver for Australia Post driver, then ran a removalist business
Year of arrival: 1961
Method of transport: Aeroplane

Nikolaos and Lea came from the northern Peloponnese: Lea was born in Planitero and Nikolaos in Valmantoura. Nikolaos came to Australia in his late 20s under the migrant assistant scheme, while Lea was sent by her family to join siblings that had migrated earlier. Nikolaos tried several jobs, including working for the national postal service, where he mastered Sydney’s street map and started his own removalist business. Lea worked as a seamstress and then worked in the removalist business after they met and married in 1968. They started a family in Marrickville and then bought an old soldier settler’s house in Earlwood, which he demolished and built a new house.

Interview summary
Nikolaos and Lea each took turns, recalling their former lives in Greece and the circumstances that led to their emigration to Greece. Each provided very thoughtful and reflective accounts of their working lives and their early impressions of Australia and Australians.
Physical format
Sound recording
Related resources
Record author
Siobhan Campbell
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