Despina Tramoundanis
| First name | Despina |
|---|---|
| Last name | Tramoundanis |
| Country of Origin | Greece |
| Date of Birth | 7/18/1955 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1964 |
| Submitted by | Despina Tramoundanis |
Story
When I was eight years old my parents decided to migrate to Australia after my mother’s brother, who had migrated several years earlier had written to my father to say what a wonderful country Australia was, with plenty of opportunity to reward hard work.
We travelled here on a P&O liner called the Himalaya, coming via the Suez Canal before it was closed. The journey took 22 days and my mother was sea-sick for most of that time. I learned my first word in English, on the ship, appropriately the word was “thank you”.
I first stepped on Australia soil in Fremantle, everything seemed so expansive and strange. We disembarked in Melbourne where we lived for 18 years near my uncle’s family. We found so many Greeks there it was like arriving home!