I’m sitting at a small, round, blue table in front of the Constantinople Cake shop sipping a strong, dark coffee ‘sketo’ without sugar. I alternate the coffee with a glass of refreshing water and watch the passing parade. Portly women wearing burkas or simply all in black move about with purpose; stylishly attired young men gather in small groups - gesticulating actively while twirling chains of worry beads. I hear machine gun speed conversations in Greek (spoken with a distinct Spartan accent intermingled with the singsong delivery of Cyprus and other islands), Turkish and what must be Armenian. Motor traffic shares the narrow roadway with trundling trams. Watching this kaleidoscope of urban life swirl about me, I ask myself what it means to be Greek.

I could be in Athens, but I am not. I am on Sydney Road in the Brunswick area of Melbourne. Australia’s second city has what is possibly the largest concentration of Greeks of any major city outside the homeland. Fully 20% of greater Melbourne’s population is Greek or second generation. The Greek language is a living one spoken by immigrants and the vast majority of second generation Australian born Greeks.

Greek presence in Australia goes back to almost the beginning of European settlement on the island continent. Though there is some doubt, the first Greeks were probably seven sailors from the island of Hydra, who, while preying on Ottoman shipping during the Greek War of Independence, were rounded up by the Royal Navy, convicted of piracy by a British naval court in Malta and sentenced to transportation to Australia – arriving in Sydney in August 1829. Two of this group stayed in Australia after their pardon in 1836.

While only a handful of free Greeks migrated to Australia during the 1837-43 period, the first significant stream begin in the 1850s gold rush days. As many as 350 Greeks lived and worked in the Victorian goldfields near Bendigo and elsewhere, but the majority of these later returned to Greece or moved to the recently established city of Melbourne.

The first Greek Orthodox community of Australia was established in Melbourne in 1897. But, real Greek migration to Melbourne, founded in 1835 on the shores at the head of Port Philip Bay, began after World War Two. Bourgeoning Australian heavy industry took advantage of Melbourne’s large, well-equipped seaport and established itself in the Victorian Capitol city. Auto manufacturing, meatpacking and food processing factories all found what they were looking for in Melbourne - except people to work in them. Post war Greece had very little going for it except people willing to work. The match was made and tens of thousands left their homes for the month long sea journey around the world.

The story of the Greek presence in Melbourne is a fascinating one and one of the best places to begin to tell it is at the Immigration Museum in the old customs house on Flinders Street. There in addition to permanent exhibits recounting the lives of such Greeks as Lili Sigalas (born Eleni Vrahamis) and Dimitri Katsoulis (creator of the modern era Kareghozi shadow puppets), the recent Station Pier temporary exhibit tells the migrant’s tale of arrival by ship to the land ‘down under’ through words, pictures and the most emotive visitor’s register.

After an Immigration Museum visit, it seems appropriate to visit Station Pier in Port Melbourne. Though Greek migrant ships (owned and operated by the Chandris company) such as the Patris and the Australis, no longer call at Port Melbourne, the neighborhood still retains a strong Greek presence with several Greek owned fish-and-chips and milk bar type corner groceries trading. It is not rare to spot people reading local Greek newspapers like The Greek Herald and playing backgammon at corner tables.

The best spot in Port Melbourne for a real Greek culinary experience is probably the trendy Rose Hotel on Bay Street where its low key Greek owners Harry Stefanidakis and Christos Vafeas, have succeeded in guarding the best of modern Mediterranean cuisine as it is inspired by Greece.

The Rose Hotel is by no means the only Greek restaurant in Melbourne which is uncontestedly Australia’s culinary center. Greeks play an important role in the dynamic, fast paced Melbourne restaurant scene with fine traditional establishments, such as Pireaus Blues on bohemian Fitzroy’s Brunswick Street prospering next to upscale contemporary eateries such as Souk with its well respected young owner/chef George Billonis on Chapel Street in trendy Prahran. Ironically, working class Prahran - home to a large Greek population with a fine Cycladic cubist style church – has one of Melbourne’s most with-it fashion high streets. Chapel Street is patrolled by the fashion conscious seeking couture rags created by most of the fine local and international designers.

The difference in styles between trendy Souk and trad Pireaus Blues is much a reflection on the different orientations of Greek communities in Australia. Sydney Greeks mildly reproach their Melbourne cousins for being too traditional whereas they see themselves as being more Greek-Australian like. This perceived orientation didn’t seem to stop Melbournians in 2004 from sponsoring a successful, well attended, week-end long symposium at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) on Swanston Street on the future for second generation Greek Australians.

RMIT also hosts an extensive Australian-Greek Resource And Learning Center. Established in 1997, the Center, in addition to sponsoring language courses, maintains a comprehensive collection of materials relating to the history of Greek migration and settlement in Australia.

A few short blocks from RMIT is the Greek Precinct at the intersection of Lonsdale and Russell streets. Here on the week-end before the start of the Easter lent season, several blocks of Lonsdale Street are closed off for the Glendi party, which initiates the Antipodes Festival. Fragrant odors of grilled lamb and chicken intermingle with bouzouki music and precise traditional dancing to create an image that despite the modern skyscrapers framing the street is straight out of a Greek village.

When I want to immerse myself in ‘greekness’, I head directly for the suburb of Oakleigh in Southeastern metropolitan Melbourne. Oakleigh is most probably the most Greek of Melbourne’s many polyglot ethnic neighborhoods.

A plethora of Greek kafenion, cake shops, butchers and fishmongers make it hard to believe that Oakleigh is not a leafy suburb of Athens. Over 80% of businesses are Greek owned and a Greek Community operated school complex instructs over 800 students from primary school up through year 12. Greek is the lingua franca of Oakleigh’s streets. I get a real kick out of ordering a thick Greek coffee and sampling a baklava at sidewalk cafes before heading over to the Oakleigh market to watch Greek matrons discuss in Greek the merits of red mullet and octopus with the Greek fishmongers.

Melbourne’s Greek community leaders claim the Greek population for Melbourne is about 220,000 individuals. Privately, they are concerned that with retirement, many of the original Greeks who immigrated to Melbourne are now returning to Greece.

I’m not convinced that this is a problem. Greek ethnicity has developed such strong roots in Melbourne that second generation Greek-Australians will carry on Greek traditions while also integrating into contemporary Australian culture. I will always be able to be Greek in Melbourne. And Melbourne expects no less of Greeks. That’s what it means to be Greek in Melbourne.

The monthly To BHMA (www.tovema.com.au) heralds that it is the first Hellenic newspaper in Australia;
The Greek Herald (greek@foreignlanguage.com.au) claims it is the largest national Greek daily newspaper in Australia.

For more info on the Greek Orthodox Community of Oakleigh schools and activities contact: ogoc@ogoc.vic.edu.au. The RMIT Greek Center can be accessed via: www.rmit.edu.au/greekcentre.

For more information than you’ll probably want on the Greek presence in Australia, look no further than: Australians and Greeks, Volumes I-III, by Hugh Gilchrest published by Halstead Press of Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. If this is too daunting, the web site: www.helas.com.au offers a good introduction on the subject.

For a complete though general guide to Melbourne few books are better than lonely planet publication’s Melbourne City Guide (Nov 2004).

For background info on the April 2004, forum Greek-Australians in the Twenty-First Century, go to: www.agc.org.au.

As for the two restaurants mentioned: Pireaus Blues, (310 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy-Melbourne. Tel: +61(0) 394170222; Fax: +61(0) 394197943 and web: www.pireausblues.com.au) is the more traditional with a wide variety of dishes from Crete. It is situated in one of Melbourne’s more picturesque and bohemian neighborhoods. Souk (267 Chapel Street, Prahan-Melbourne, Tel: +61(0) 395337022; Fax: +61(0) 395337422) is one of Melbourne’s newest and trendiest dining spots featuring contemporary Mediterranean fusion cuisine bound by strong Greek roots. It is situated on one of Melbourne’s chicest shopping streets.