"From Australia to Canada, and from
Germany to Taskend there are Greeks"
This is how a modern Greek poet describes
the spread of the Greek people in the planet. Since the
begining of history Greeks have migrated throughout the world,
starting from the eastern coast of the Aegean sea where they
established the Ionian colonies and in the 8th century to
Italy where evidence of the Greek cities and civilazation
can be seen (and in some cases heard) even today.
After the 2nd
world war many Greek people migrated to Australia where
they settled in all capitals cities with the majority in
Melbourne. As a result everyone knows that Melbourne is
the third largest Greek city in the world.
When I first
arrived to Australia in the early 80s I lived in Perth
where there is Greek community of 10,000 Greek people.
It took me 10 years to come up to Darwin and about 5 minutes
to find out to my surprise that Darwin is home to a large
number of Greek people, as a matter of fact Darwin is the
only city in Australia in which 10% of its population is of
Greek descent or origin. I can say with pride that (proportionally)
Darwin is the greatest Greek city in Australia.
This is the
(hi)story of a Greek community that has lived and progressed
in the tropical north of Australia since the early years of
the 20th century but most of all is the history of the Greek
people who in the 50s left the blue waters of the Aegean to
travel down under to work as divers for pearls but then became
the nucleus of a strong a vibrant Greek community in Darwin,
Northern Territory, Australia.
Come along and
find out about our life style, our customs and our contribution
to the economy, culture and colour of our tropical city.
Welcome to Darwin!
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