The three Lucas (Lekatsas) siblings, Peter, Nina and Andrew are photographed wearing Greek traditional costumes. The boys are wearing the uniform of the Greek Evzone soldiers, and the girl the traditional dress. They are children of Gerasimos and Kaliope (nee Zavistanos) Lekatsas.Children often wore national costumes at special Greek national day events which were usually organised by the Greek Community in conjunction with the Greek language schools. Most children of Greek background attended Greek school after hours to learn Greek language, history and culture. The national day events were an important way for Australian born children of Greek background to develop a deeper understanding of Greek history and an appreciation of their cultural heritage.A black and white studio photograph of a girl and two boys dressed in traditional Greek costumes. The girl is seated on a chair and the two boys are standing on either side of her.

Panoyiannis (Peter) Raftopoulos arrived in Australia in 1937 on the RMS STRAITHAIRD. Travel to Australia between the He married Evgenia Raftopulos and they had two children, Loula and Spearos. Peter was the brother of Kalypso Sofianos nee Raftopoulos. Peter was secretary of the Ithacan Philanthropic Society 1938-1949 and 1953 and an Honorary Life Member.Between the world wars migrants made the long journey to Australia on steamships such as the STRAITHAIRD. Then came the ocean liners which remained the main form of transportation for immigrants to Australia until well into the 1960s. By the 1970s, the wave of post-war migration by ocean liner to Australia was largely over. With fewer migrants coming to Australia, travel was mainly by air.A scanned photograph of the P&O liner, RMS STRAITHAIRD on a voyage. P&O. RMS "STRAITHAIRD' 22 500 TONS/INDIA AND AUSTRALIA MAIL AND PASSENGER SERTVICE.

The young couple standing outside the stone cottage in Kioni, Ithaca are Yianni Rafopoulos (Bourlotos) and Diamando (Manto) Raftopoulos nee Paizis. The house is typical of the traditional stone cottages built on Ithaca in times past. Although similar cottage are still standing, some of them lovingly restored, there are also many deserted and in disrepair or ruin as a result of migration over generations and inheritance issues. A black and white photograph of a lady and man photographed on a mound of rocks outside a stone cottage which has a tiled roof.

The wedding of Diamando and Yianni Raftopoulos (Bourlotos)which took place on the island of Ithaca. Kalypso Sofianos (nee Raftopoulos) can be seen standing between the priest and the bridegroom.The Greek Orthodox wedding is filled with symbolism. The stefana or wedding crowns, joined by a ribbon, symbolize the unity of the couple. The crowning ceremony establishes the couple as the King and Queen of their home, which they rule with wisdom, justice, and integrity. The stefana also denote the crown of martyrdom, since every true marriage involves self-sacrifice on both sides.A faded black and white photograph of a Greek wedding. The young boy in the foreground is carrying candles and the wedding crowns that will be worn by the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony and the candles. The priest and the bride and possibly the groom or bride's father are standing behind the young boy.

The photograph taken on one of the many mountainous hillsides on Ithaca. Second from the right is Antigone Raftopoulos dressed in dark clothes, together with her son Yianni, and her two nieces Hariklia Raftopoulos and Kalypso Sofianos (nee Raftopoulos). All are from the village of Kioni. A black and white photograph of a man and three ladies standing on a rocky hillside.

Taken in Kioni, Ithaca, the photograph features members of the Raftopoulos ( Bourlotos) family. The two men at the back are Panoyianni Raftopoulos and his brother Vasilios. The older man seated in front of them is Dionysus Raftopoulos. The younger lady is Andriana who was engaged to Gerasimos (Gerry) Raftopoulos.A black and white photograph of four men and two ladies seated in a lounge room. There are two framed pictures on the wall behind them.

Kioni is a small fishing village on Ithaca where caïque boats were used by fishermen and were once an important form of transport for goods and for people prior. The people in the photograph appear to be lined up along the water's edge awaiting a boat to arrive.A caïque (or kaiki) is a traditional handmade wooden fishing boat found among the waters of the Ionian or Aegean Sea and were once the main form of transport for the many Greek islands, moving people and goods across Greece's archipelago. In the 1980s and 1990s many were destroyed as a result of a European Union decision to subsidize fishermen to scrap their boats to tackle overfishing. Hundreds of beautiful and perfectly sound vessels ended up in landfills resulting in the loss of an integral part of Greece's long seafaring tradition and heritage. Sadly Cyclone Ianos which struck the island in September 2020 destroyed many of the remaining caiques on the island.A sepia photograph, which has a partial white border. The image has been affected by light across the bottom LH corner. The visible section shows a group of people lined up along the side of a wharf like structure. There are four two storey houses in the middle distance with a hillside in the background.

Pictured are first cousins Yianni Raftopoulos (Bourlotos) and Kalypso (nee Raftopoulos) Sofianos in Kioni, the village in Ithaca from where they were from. The photo was taken before Kalypso migrated to Australia in 1936 where she married Dimitrios Sofianos in Melbourne on 14 February 1937. A sepia photograph of lady and man standing next to a stone house with a partial view of the surrounding countryside behind them.

The photograph of Kalypso Raftopoulos (on the RHS of the group) is taken in Ithaca before she emigrated to Australia in 1936. In 1937 she married Dimitrios Sofianos and they had two children, Spiro and Nina. Kalypso and Dimitrios owned and operated a fish shop in Burwood, Melbourne for close to 30 years. A photograph of three women sitting on a rocky hillside overlooking a village and church in the distance. The girl in the middle of the group is waving to someone. There are mountains in the distance.

Gerasimos Galatis is the shopkeeper standing outside his confectionary shop at 225 Bay Street, Port Melbourne. The chocolates were home made and were artistically presented, especially at Easter. He and his wife Ellie ran the business in Port Melbourne for over thirty years and it was a very popular venue especially as it was near the former picture theatre in Port Melbourne.This was yet another example of the various businesses which early Ithacan Greek immigrants owned and ran successfully throughout the first half of the twentieth century.A sepia photograph mounted on board of a man standing outside a confectionary shop. A variety of sweets are displayed attractively in the shop window which has a sign declaring the confectionary are 'Home Sweets'

The photograph was taken at one of the Ithacan Philanthropic Society's picnic some time in the 1930s.A sepia photograph in a brown folder of families and friends at a picnic. The children in the group are standing in front of the adults. There are wooded hills in the background.

The photograph was taken at one of the annual Ithacan picnics.A large sepia photograph backed onto a brown board of a crowd of people sitting and standing in rows. Some are on the ground in the front, others are seated on benches while those at the back are sitting or standing on a raised platform. in front of a corrugated iron building.

The children were photographed at an Ithacan picnic which was held at one of the racecourses in the Melbourne area in the 1930s. The annual Ithacan picnic is one of the most enduring events for the Ithacan community of Melbourne where generations of families gather to reconnect with heritage. The children photographed were all second generation Australian born children with Ithacan born parent/s. Up until the post second world war period Ithacans were the largest Greek community in Melbourne.A sepia photograph of a large group of children standing in a racecourse in front of a fence with a small judges box immediately behind the group. They have been arranged in three rows with the row in front sitting on the grass and the remaining two rows standing behind them.

The group of men were photographed at an annual Ithacan picnic some time in the 1930s.A sepia photograph with a white border of ten men standing in a row in an open field with cypress trees i9n the background.ithacan philanthropic society, picnics.

The mandolin orchestra was from Ithaca where that instrument along with the guitar is a favourite. The cantada style music of Ithaca is very lyrical and reflects the Venetian influence on the Ionian islands. Evriklia Kolaitou pictured in the middle row on the far right with the guitar. Evriklia later settled in Melbourne. She married to Spiros Kallinikos. Ithaca has experienced various cultural influences as it was under Venetian, French and British rule for periods of time prior to unification with Greece in 1864.A sepia photograph of a mandolin orchestra photographed in front of a building. There are eight women but one of them is a guitarist. Of the seven men three are guitarists and three are mandolin players while the other person is the conductor.

The confectionary shop was owned by an Ithacan family who settled in Melbourne between the two world wars.A sepia photograph of three people standing outside a shop which is on a corner of a street.

A black and white photograph with a white border of a group of ten men and seven ladies photographed on a beach. Some are standing while others in the front are sitting on the sand. The sea is lapping onto the shore behind the group.

An fruit shop owned by an Ithacan family, possibly owned by a member of the Kallinikos family in South Melbourne.A black and white photograph of a lady and man with a little girl standing in a well stocked fruit shop with promotional posters displayed above the fruit display.

Vasiliki Raftopoulosi is pictured crocheting a very fine border in a traditional design. Vasiliki was the mother of Efstathia (Toula) Mavrokefalos (Black) and the grandmother of Nina and Olga Black, both well known in Melbourne's Greek community for their contribution to Greek language and culture. Vasiliki and her family left Ithaca for Romania when Toula was only six months old. As a child while growing up in the Romanian village of Brila, Toula also learned sewing and developed her skills making lace and embroidering items for her trousseau. Some of the linen she embroidered had been woven from flax on Ithaca by her own grandmother. On a visit to Ithaca Toula happened to be on the island at the very time that Constantine arrived, fresh from the war. Like many Ithacans Constantine had returned to Greece from Australia for the Balkan wars. Within three weeks they were married, and when Constantine returned to Melbourne in 1914 his new bride came with him. Many Greek women were skilled in the making of fine lace and crochet articles which they used and displayed in their homes. Finely stitched and woven linen items were an essential part of a young woman's dowry when she married.A black and white photograph in an oval frame of a lady crocheting a lace band.

The photograph was taken at one of the annual Ithacan picnics in the 1030s held in a large sports ground, possibly Maddingley Recreation Reserve Bacchus. Everyone who came to the picnic is pictured.A black and white photograph of a large group of people photographed sitting and standing in front of a grandstand in a sports ground.

Cocks Pioneer Engine c1930s. Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold & Tin Mine Company was formed in 1899. The company's first power station, located at the eastern end of the valley began operating with its 340 Kilowatt steam-powered generator. By 1909, from 2,500,000 cubic yards worked, reported recovery was 17,284 ounces of gold and 224 tons of tin ore. By 1909, Cocks Pioneer’s power plant had become inadequate and uneconomical. The barge was floated downstream about a mile, but lost time caused the operations to cease. Following testing, a new mine was established by diverting Reid's Creek at a cost of £25 000. Settling dams were built, one of which held 1,,935,900 cubic feet. Sold earth banks, built against a wall of stringy bark saplings constructed and laced with vertical props, were built. In 1914, the company was reformed as Cock’s Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL, another power station was constructed at the western end of the township, near the junction of Clear and Reid's Creeks. From 6,800,000 cubic yards of material processed, the returns were 64,397 ounces of gold and 855 ton of tin. Cocks Pioneer mine then moved the barge downs stream and continued sluicing. In 1929 Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold and Tin Mining Company ceased operations due to a drop in values. Cock’s Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL carried on large-scale hydraulic sluicing operations until 1941. mining, gold, tin, gold mining, tin mining, machinery, engines, men, cocks pioneer, el dorado, eldorado

Moving Cocks Pioneer Barge, c1930s. Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold & Tin Mine Company was formed in 1899. The company's first power station, located at the eastern end of the valley began operating with its 340 Kilowatt steam-powered generator. By 1909, from 2,500,000 cubic yards worked, reported recovery was 17,284 ounces of gold and 224 tons of tin ore. By 1909, Cocks Pioneer’s power plant had become inadequate and uneconomical. The barge was floated downstream about a mile, but lost time caused the operations to cease. Following testing, a new mine was established by diverting Reid's Creek at a cost of £25,000. Settling dams were built, one of which held 1,935,900 cubic feet. Sold earth banks, built against a wall of stringy bark saplings constructed and laced with vertical props, were built. In 1914, the company was reformed as Cock’s Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL, another power station was constructed at the western end of the township, near the junction of Clear and Reid's Creeks. From 6,800,000 cubic yards of material processed, the returns were 64,397 ounces of gold and 855 ton of tin. Cocks Pioneer mine then moved the barge downs stream and continued sluicing. In 1929 Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold and Tin Mining Company ceased operations due to a drop in values. Cock’s Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL carried on large-scale hydraulic sluicing operations until 1941. mines, mining, gold, tin, gold mining, tin mining, men, miners, barge, sluicing, hydraulic, cocks pioneer, el dorado, eldorado