110 years of Ikarians in South Australia

Yianni John Cartledge

110 years of Ikarians in South Australia

Historia, 2020

Originally published in Historia, issue 32, June 2020. Historia is the national newsletter of the Professional Historians Association: https://www.historians.org.au/historia-newsletter This short paper looks at a very brief history of the 110 years of Ikarian migration and community building in South Australia....Read more

1 Originally published in Historia, issue 32, June 2020 Historia is the national newsletter of the Professional Historians Association 110 years of Ikarians in South Australia The Ikarians originate from a small Greek island – Ikaria – in the North Aegean Sea. The island has a history of poverty and emigration, stretching back to the seventeenth century, but also asserted a strong local identity, having gained autonomy within the Ottoman Empire by the 1860s. This culminated in the short-lived Free State of Ikaria of 1912, which broke from the Ottoman Empire and survived independently for four months, having its own president, armed forces, flag and anthem. On the 23 March 1958, the Founding General Meeting of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of Australia created Australia’s first organised Ikarian community. Ikarian brotherhoods had been an establishment of Greek communities in the United States since 1903, and the Australian arrivals used this as a model for community engagement. Possibly the first Ikarian to arrive in Australia was Christopher Frangos. He disembarked in 1897 at Port Melbourne where he worked as a fruiterer. However, the first significant numbers began arriving in 1910, marking 2020 as 110 years of Ikarians in South Australia. New migrants, such as John and Kostas Gronthos, and Kristos and Kostas Safos, who sailed together to Port Adelaide aboard the Roon in 1911, found work in the smelter at Port Pirie. This early migration flowed into the 1920s, with many returning to Ikaria to spread the word about South Australia. Following World War Two the Ikarians migrated en masse, leading to the formation of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of Australia. In 1986, the Ikarians purchased the former Masonic Temple in Unley, South Australia (Figures 1 & 2). This 1927 building was described by local media as ‘beautifully decorated… well designed, and will give comfort and convenience to members of the lodge and visiting brethren’. The Ikarians began their own renovations on the former temple (Figure 3). Twenty-four community members volunteered, and funds were sourced from a further 127 members. The project took eight months. Four hundred people attended the grand opening dance, at which the community president John Carapetis cut the ribbon. The current generation of Ikarian South Australians has begun a new renovation project. The project originated with the late committee member Elias Mavrogiorgis who envisioned a new veranda. Spero Chapley then pursued this idea, having plans drawn, developing into a complete second function area ( Figure 4). Backed by the existing committee under president George Gronthos, the project management, budgeting and planning approval was put into the hands of Terry Tsapaliaris, operations manager at Sarah Constructions, who has called the project ‘our generation’s contribution’. The scenes of volunteers working on the proje ct are reminiscent of the 1986 project, and the original 1927 construction ( Figure 5). Due to COVID-19 the project has been temporarily halted.

2 Over the 110 years, the Ikarians have continued to preserve their independent identity while also becoming entwined in the fabric of South Australia, with their current and future generations continuing this legacy. Yianni Cartledge PHA (SA) References (as quoted in Historia, see end of article for a full reference list): Research on the Ikarian community of South Australia will be included in the PhD thesis ‘Aegean Islander Migration to the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, 1815-1930: Emigration, Community Building and Integration’, due March 2023. Previous research on the Ikarians: Research essay: ‘Ikarians in South Australia: The origins of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of South Australia “Ikaros” Inc., and its connections with the community’, Flinders University, 2014. The essay won the 2014 Wakefield Companion to SA History Undergraduate Essay Prize: https://news.flinders.edu.au/blog/2015/04/20/a-tale-of-greek-migration-wins- history-prize/ A copy of the essay can be accessed via academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/42854326/Ikarians_In_South_Australia_ The_origins_of_the_Pan- Ikarian_Brotherhood_of_South_Australia_Ikaros_Inc._and_its_connections_with_th e_community Other research: Yianni John Charles Cartledge, ‘The Chios Massacre (1822) and early British Christian-humanitarianism’, Historical Research, vol. 93 (259), February 2020, 52- 72: https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htz004

Originally published in Historia, issue 32, June 2020 Historia is the national newsletter of the Professional Historians Association 110 years of Ikarians in South Australia The Ikarians originate from a small Greek island – Ikaria – in the North Aegean Sea. The island has a history of poverty and emigration, stretching back to the seventeenth century, but also asserted a strong local identity, having gained autonomy within the Ottoman Empire by the 1860s. This culminated in the short-lived Free State of Ikaria of 1912, which broke from the Ottoman Empire and survived independently for four months, having its own president, armed forces, flag and anthem. On the 23 March 1958, the Founding General Meeting of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of Australia created Australia’s first organised Ikarian community. Ikarian brotherhoods had been an establishment of Greek communities in the United States since 1903, and the Australian arrivals used this as a model for community engagement. Possibly the first Ikarian to arrive in Australia was Christopher Frangos. He disembarked in 1897 at Port Melbourne where he worked as a fruiterer. However, the first significant numbers began arriving in 1910, marking 2020 as 110 years of Ikarians in South Australia. New migrants, such as John and Kostas Gronthos, and Kristos and Kostas Safos, who sailed together to Port Adelaide aboard the Roon in 1911, found work in the smelter at Port Pirie. This early migration flowed into the 1920s, with many returning to Ikaria to spread the word about South Australia. Following World War Two the Ikarians migrated en masse, leading to the formation of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of Australia. In 1986, the Ikarians purchased the former Masonic Temple in Unley, South Australia (Figures 1 & 2). This 1927 building was described by local media as ‘beautifully decorated… well designed, and will give comfort and convenience to members of the lodge and visiting brethren’. The Ikarians began their own renovations on the former temple (Figure 3). Twenty-four community members volunteered, and funds were sourced from a further 127 members. The project took eight months. Four hundred people attended the grand opening dance, at which the community president John Carapetis cut the ribbon. The current generation of Ikarian South Australians has begun a new renovation project. The project originated with the late committee member Elias Mavrogiorgis who envisioned a new veranda. Spero Chapley then pursued this idea, having plans drawn, developing into a complete second function area (Figure 4). Backed by the existing committee under president George Gronthos, the project management, budgeting and planning approval was put into the hands of Terry Tsapaliaris, operations manager at Sarah Constructions, who has called the project ‘our generation’s contribution’. The scenes of volunteers working on the project are reminiscent of the 1986 project, and the original 1927 construction (Figure 5). Due to COVID-19 the project has been temporarily halted. 1 Over the 110 years, the Ikarians have continued to preserve their independent identity while also becoming entwined in the fabric of South Australia, with their current and future generations continuing this legacy. Yianni Cartledge PHA (SA) References (as quoted in Historia, see end of article for a full reference list): Research on the Ikarian community of South Australia will be included in the PhD thesis ‘Aegean Islander Migration to the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, 1815-1930: Emigration, Community Building and Integration’, due March 2023. Previous research on the Ikarians: Research essay: ‘Ikarians in South Australia: The origins of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of South Australia “Ikaros” Inc., and its connections with the community’, Flinders University, 2014. The essay won the 2014 Wakefield Companion to SA History Undergraduate Essay Prize: https://news.flinders.edu.au/blog/2015/04/20/a-tale-of-greek-migration-winshistory-prize/ A copy of the essay can be accessed via academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/42854326/Ikarians_In_South_Australia_ The_origins_of_the_PanIkarian_Brotherhood_of_South_Australia_Ikaros_Inc._and_its_connections_with_th e_community Other research: Yianni John Charles Cartledge, ‘The Chios Massacre (1822) and early British Christian-humanitarianism’, Historical Research, vol. 93 (259), February 2020, 5272: https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htz004 2 Figure 1: Completion of the Masonic Temple, Unley, 1927 (Advertiser, Adelaide, South Australia, 25 March 1927, p. 14). 3 Figure 2: Foundations for the Masonic Temple, Unley, 1926 (Chronicle, Adelaide, South Australia, 2 October 1926, p. 40). 4 Figure 3: 1986 renovations (Apostolaki-Glaros, p. 39). Figure 4: 3D rendered image of proposed outdoor area, drawn by Renjie Huang, Anthony Cirocco Design, Campbelltown, South Australia, 15 June 2017. 5 Figure 5: New renovations, photo supplied by Terry Tsapaliaris, June 2019. 6 Bibliography Primary Sources ‘Christopher Frangos – Naturalization’, National Archives Australia, series no. A1, 1904/5779, barcode 1446, 1904. ‘Incoming passenger list to Fremantle “Roon” arrived 19 June 1911’, National Archives Australia, series no. K269, 19 JUN 1911 ROON, barcode 9870155, 1911. ‘Masonic Temple For Unley’, Chronicle, Adelaide, South Australia, 2 October 1926, p. 40. ‘New Masonic Temple At Unley’, Chronicle, Adelaide, South Australia, 23 April 1927, p. 52. ‘New Masonic Temple For Unley’, Advertiser, Adelaide, South Australia, 25 March 1927, p. 14. ‘Official lists of passengers arriving in South Australia from overseas 1909 - 1924 ‘, State Records of South Australia, series no. GRG 41/34, 1880-1940. 3D rendered image of the proposed outdoor area, drawn by Renjie Huang, Anthony Cirocco Design, Campbelltown, South Australia, 15 June 2017. Georgirenes, Joseph, A Description of the Present State of Samos, Nicaria, Patmos, and Mount Athos, W. Jane, W. G., London, 14 July 1677. Speis, Dr. Themis P., ΤΑΞΙΔΙ ΜΕ ΤΟΥΣ ΚΑΡΙΩΤΕΣ ΣΤΟΝ 20ό ΑΙΩΝΑ, Φεστιβάλ Ικαρίας, 2013. Secondary Sources Apostolaki-Glaros, Eleni, A brief history of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of Australia “Ikaros”, Alexiou, Petro, (trans.), Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of Australia “Ikaros”, Unley, South Australia, 2008. Booth, C. D., & Booth, Isabelle Bridge, Italy’s Aegean Possessions, Arrowsmith, London, 1928. Cartledge, Yianni, ‘Ikarians in South Australia: The origins of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood of South Australia “Ikaros” Inc., and its connections with the community’, research essay, Flinders University, 2014. 7 Papalas, Anthony J., Rebels and Radicals: Icaria 1600-2000, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Wauconda, Illinois, 2005. Richards, Eric, Destination Australia: Migration to Australia since 1901, UNSW Press, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2008. 8

The thesis aims at defining the European public policies on migration with a specific focus on the so-called process of 'externalization of frontiers'. As a result, the work presents the outcomes - on political, geo-political and social terms – of the European public policy approach carried on upon regional and national levels, and will introduce the origins of the European failure to effectively face the phenomenon on a long-term based plan. A case study of the March 2016 EU-Turkey Deal will be approached in this view. Specifically, after a presentation of the theories and concepts for the comprehension of the thesis and after a diachronic analysis of the development of these public policies in Europe it was added the description of the inward migratory fluxes in Europe since 2014 onwards, period that the common narration defines as the start of the 'migration crisis'. To a detailed analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data on migration and asylum in Europe from that year onwards, was confronted the public narration made about it by media and politicians, which considerably affected the capacity of objective comprehension of data from the civil society and which in part oriented the following electoral choices. To that it was added the fragmented reactions of the EU, un-efficient adaptations of asylum and integration capacities of the member states and an unfinished Common European Policy on Asylum - which has been ostracized by blocks of member states (as the Visegrad groups) in opposition to the more progressive side. By this situation a strong socio-political pressure increased, so that in Europe a process of political extremization took place which manifested itself with the advancements of the anti-Islamic and anti-migrants’ parties both at national election polls than in the European Parliamentarian elections. At the same time, the Union implemented new public policies which were more focused on a security-based approach and on cooperation with third countries. Therefore, the third chapter of the thesis started with a study on the development of the public policies on migration of the main transit country for migrants from Middle East towards Europe - Turkey - and discussed the process of 'europeanization' of the latter. To better understand how these public policies evolved and within which context, an explanatory description of the socio-political development of the Turkish Republic was made essential even to describe the cultural and political framework within which these policies evolved. Finally, an analysis of the changes of the last decade in the Republic allow us to find insight answers to the recent relations between EU and Turkey for what concerns the management of migratory fluxes. Finally, the last chapter analyzed the humanitarian crisis emerged during the Syrian conflict, the asylum management of Syrian refugees in Turkey and the causes for the creation of the EU-Turkey Pact on Migration in March 2016, implemented by the EU as an extrema ratio measure to reduce the socio-political pressures taking place within its territory. In so doing, Europe chose to 'externalize' its external frontiers, de facto becoming dependent from Turkish respect of the Pact. Therefore, the thesis highlighted the major point of the Pact and its consequences in Europe - especially in Greece - and on refugees, and its failure. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the possible future direction of the European public policies on migration, to which the new European Plan on Asylum and Migration presented by the European Commission in September 2020 represents and important point of interest.

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110 years of Ikarians in South Australia