2021-06-03

Sydney

Lambropoulos, Eugenia

Greeks in Australia

Oral history

Migrant women

Proxy marriage

Kallos, Kathy

Digitised

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

Interviewer: Kathy Kallos

Occupation: Hairdresser, Business owner
Year of arrival: 1957
Method of transport: Aeroplane

Eugenia was born in the village of Andania in Messinia, Peloponnese in 1928. She recalls the challenges her family endured under German occupation in the Second World War and the Greek Civil War.  She recalls her experiences as a young girl when she delivered food in a basket during the night, secretly helping villagers in desperate need.

She describes her life working as a hairdresser in Athens supporting her family, before making the decision to migrate to Australia to search of a better future.  In Sydney, her hairdressing skills would be utilized immediately along with factory shift work which supported both her family in Greece and her future savings.

She would marry soon after arrival by ‘proxenio’ or arranged marriage, and the couple worked hard to buy their first home, renting out rooms to supplement their income.

Eugenia and her husband raised three children in Sydney’s inner west and worked several jobs simultaneously to make ends meet: running retail businesses, factory and cleaning shift work.

Interview summary
Eugenia discusses her early years in Athens where she worked as a hairdresser. For several years she had the responsibility of supporting her family and was unable to accumulate any savings for herself. She decided to start a new life in Australia, and, within three months of arrival, she was married by ‘proxenio’.

Sound recording

Siobhan Campbell