Historical information

The lady is Regina Mavrokefalos, mother of Constantine Mavrokefalos (Black) and paternal grandmother of Nina (Regina) and Olga Black, both well known in Melbourne's Greek community for their contributions to Greek language and culture. Constantine first emigrated to Australia in 1902, returning to Greece circa 1912-13 to serve his home country in the Balkan Wars. He met and married his Efstathia (Toula) Raftopoulos on Ithaca in 1914 and returned to Australia with his wife.

Constantine had trained as an accountant, but his qualifications were not recognised in Australia. Changing his surname to the Anglicised "Black", he started off working in his older brother Dionysios's cafés before going into business on his own. In 1917 he opened the Paris Residential Café at 54-56 Swanston Street, which offered both dining and accommodation. The business saw some years of success, but did not survive the Great Depression. Constantine died in 1944.

Physical description

A sepia photograph of a photograph of a lady sitting in the garden of a small house which is in the background.