Historical information

A photo of Rine (Ekaterini) Varvarigos (Sikiotis) and her younger sister Olga Varvarigos (Andrews). Rine was born in Ithaca in 1910. In 1914 her parents Ioannis and Giannoula Varvarigos departed for Rhodesia with their baby son Dimitrios (Jim), leaving Rene and older brother Nicholas on Ithaca in care of their maternal grandmother. Her parents' journey to Rhodesia encountered delays at the Port Said so they eventually boarded a boat headed to Australia from where they thought they would get passage to Africa. However with the outbreak of WW1 they eventually settled in Melbourne where three more children were born, Constantinos 1916, Menelaos (Dennis) 1918 and Olga in 1925. Nicholas joined his parents in Melbourne in 1923 aged 14; and Ekaterini arrive in 1916 aged 16.

Significance

Family separations were not uncommon for early Ithacan immigrants. Typically the intention was the they would only be away for a short time or that other family members, usually spouses and children, would follow later, once the men were more established.

Physical description

A black and white photograph of a young woman in a garden with a little child.

Inscriptions & markings

Written on the back and translated from the Greek: Olga with Renee.