Alek Lyras

Story

Born on 12 December 1935 I was the youngest of 7 children to parents Aristos and Konstantina Lyras. My siblings (Spiros, Panayiotis, Eleni, Giorgos, Athanasios, Tavitha) and I lived at the top of mountainous North Corinth in a village called Feneos. We were an agricultural farming family and ran sheep and goats up the mountains of Corinth. Life was typically hard, having experienced WW2 in my younger years followed by the Greek Civic War (1945-50).

Our village was a beautiful place to live, but it was a hard life with no electricity or other basic amenities. We did however have fresh cold water which flowed down from the mountains through our village and into the river. Feneos was a town of about 320 houses. During the winter the town would be snowed under and we had to make sure we had enought supplies to see out the winter.

We had a church and a small primary school with a high school in nearby city of Goura. I completed primary school but didn’t go to high school needing to take on responsibilities on the family farm. My father passed away in 1951 following a heart attack and subsequent pnuemonia.

My older brother Spiros migrated to Australia in May 1955, having successfully won in a lotto a sponsored one way ticket to Australia. He was one of 6 men in our town to have the opportunity to migrate. My brother often wrote letters telling us of his life in Australia and encouraged me to follow. He would describe Australia as a young and vast country but a country that needed people to migrate in order to cultivate and prosper. His experiences appealed to me and I decided to try a different way of life.

In order to migrate I paid 158 pounds to the Government of Australia and set sail on 2 October 1956, on the ship Kirinea. We departed from the port city of Pireas. The trip was exhausting and took 30 days. During this time we attended English language classes. We were treated very well on the ship and were entertained by musicians and were shown movies about our new country.

We reached Melbourne on 1 November 1956 and set off by train for the about 8 hour trip to Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre in Victoria. I was met at the train station by my brother Spiros. After the first couple of months I questioned my decision to migrate because life in Australia was very different to what I had experienced in Greece. I liked what I had seen of Australia but found it difficult to understand the culture and language. Thankfully I was amongst many other Greek people in Bonegilla and we formed strong friendships and helped each other through difficult times.

Within 3 weeks I began working with the Dept. of Immigration as a gardener and a cleaner. I also worked as a garbage collector, then a distributor of the food stocks and equipment for the various blocks within the reception centre.

In 1960 Spiro moved to the Snowy Mountains and then onto Canberra. In 1961 I commenced working as a truck driver transporting luggage and equipment to and from the centre. I immersed myself in Australian culture by playing basketball and soccer. The Bonegilla centre was like living in a small town which included the Hume Public Service club as a meeting point.

In 1962 I sponsored my older brother Athanasios who migrated to Australia and moved to be with Spiro in Canberra. I lived and worked in Bonegilla from 1956 to 1965 and then moved to Canberra to be with my brothers. The 3 of us then sponsored our mother to migrate in 1970 and she lived with Athanasios until she died of cancer in 1981.

In 1966 I joined the Dept. of Supply and worked as an office removalist. In 1982 the Dept. of Supply became the Dept. of Adminstrative Services and I began work as a Commonwealth Car driver where I drove politicians, judges and Heads of State. I worked as a driver until 1997 when I finally retired.

On 19 August 1967 I married Evyenia Aggelakopoulos at St Nicholas Church in Marrickville Sydney and together we had 3 children Konstantina (1969), Eleni (1971) and Aristo (1975). We were keen to make sure our children learnt about their heritage and language. Our children 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 Vasilios (Bill) Papandreaou (Pappas)married in 1996 and have 3 children Evyenia (Evelyn), Alexandra (Lexi) and Nicholas. At this time my son Aristo (Ari) is not married. My family and I still live happily in Canberra.

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