Evi (Evyenia) Lyras (Aggelakopoulos)

Story

Born on 28 December 1942 I was the youngest of 3 children to parents George and Christina Aggelakopoulos. My siblings Nicolitsa, Athanasios and I lived in a village called Himadio, Piryos which is located near Olympia in Greece.

We were an agricultural farming family growing olives, sultanas, grapes, wheat and corn. Primarily the food was for survival, but any excess we sold. There were approximately 180 families in our town. We had a church and a primary school. I was born in the middle of WW2 and experienced the Greek Civil War (1945-50). Whilst I don’t remember much of either war I recall my parents talk of the very difficult times everybody experienced.

I attended primary school for only a short time (3 years) needing to take on the responsibility of helping on the family farms once my brother was conscripted to the Greek Army. My mother died (1963) of an unknown illness at 62 years of age. My father died in 1974 at the age of 93.

In 1966, I decided to leave Greece because of the ongoing hardship and devastation from the war. A family friend, Yiannis Thomopoulos who had migrated to Australia in the early 1950s often encouraged me to migrate and spoke of the great opportunities in Australia.

I left Greece on 3 April 1966 at the age of 21, together with my cousin Yiota Bouloubasis, from the port city of Pireas on the ship Patris. The trip to Australia was long and tortuous, but I didn’t once regret the decision to leave Greece. We both experienced terrible sea sickness the entire trip, with one of the sailors taking pity and caring for us for the duration. We did however manage to occasionally go to the movies. We arrived in Sydney Australia on 29 April 1966.

I was very relieved to get off the ship in Sydney and was even more relieved when I was greeted by family friend and other relatives. I lived in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield for 9 months. Within 3 weeks of arriving I found work as a dressmaker, then gained work in a biscuit factory in Parramatta. I worked there for 5 months then worked in a clothing factory.

Despite not being able to speak English, I didn’t find living in Australia difficult becaue of a strong group of friends and relatives around me. I enjoyed the life of Sydney, and relished living in a big city.

A family friend of mine, Spiro Malapetsas knew of a man called Alekos (Alek) Lyras who lived in Canberra. Spiro thought I should meet this man and made arrangements for an introduction. I met Alek and the rest is history. Spiro Malapetsas and his wife Katina became godparents to our first born child and continue to be close friends.

On 19 August 1967, I married Alek at St Nicholas Church in Marrickville Sydney, and immediately moved to Canberra. Upon arriving in Canberra I felt I had returned to a small village and wasn’t sure if the decision had been right. I was very happy however to hear that some friends (Katina and Peter Mastoris) who had migrated on the same ship as me were also based in Canberra and we quickly re-formed a strong friendship group.

In Canberra I worked in the Australian National University kitchen, the Royal Canberra Hospital cafeteria and at various other restaurants around town.

Alek and I together had 3 children Konstantina (1969), Eleni (1971) and Aristo (1975). We were both keen to make sure our children learnt about their heritage and language. They attended Greek school and dancing lessons and today are very proud Australians with a strong connection to their heritage.

Konstantina (Koni) and her husband Evripidis (Eric) Anastasiou married in 1994 and have 4 children, Vassiliki, Christopher, Alexander and Evyenia. Eleni (Helen) and Vassilios (Bill) Papandreou (Pappas) married in 1996 and have 3 children Evyenia (Evelyn), Alexandra (Lexi) and Nicholas. At this time our son Aristo (Ari) is not married. My family and I still happily live in Canberra.

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