Speaker background
John Prineas was born in Kythera in 1933, where he completed secondary school. For almost the entirety of his childhood, John’s father was in Australia, where he operated a series of cafes during the interwar and war years. In 1951 John joined him. His first job was working in his father’s café in Griffith. Later he moved to Sydney and worked in an uncle’s café in Randwick, while also working for AWA and taking evening classes in electronics. By the 1960s he had opened his own electronics business in Chester Hill. He also participated in larger business ventures, such as Retravision, became an accountant and served on a number of company boards.
Interview summary
John reflects on his family background, particularly his father’s early working life in interwar Australia. He recalls his schooling in Kythera, journey to Australia, and early days in Griffith. The interview also covers his business ventures and his family life.
Interview highlights
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Were there many families in Kythera before the war whose bread winner was in Australia?
Many. Many. Many of them. Every second house, nearly. Actually, from the whole of Kythera and even our village . . . There were more [villagers] in Australia than in Mitata in Kythera, where I was born. Originally they were migrants that came here [to Australia] to work, and make money and go back. Most of them, including my father, and my neighbour next door, they came here, they sent a lot of their money to Greece, and they build a new house, either in Kythera or bought a house in Athens, in Piraeus . . . My father did that [...] His dream seemed to be always to go back [to Greece]. And that become a bit of a problem for me because I was finishing off high school in 1950-1951.
I said: “Look, All my friends have already left high school before finishing. They’re all in Australia”.
“So what?”
I said “Look. I get news from so and so [...]. They’re now in Australia, they’re making money, and some even have their own car! And here I am. What am I going to do?”
He said: “We can’t send you to university, but you can go and become a teacher, which was a little bit easier [to do] in those days. Or a priest, or something”.
Timecode 09:01 - 11:37
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John describes his early working life when he first arrived in Sydney
I came to Sydney and to an uncle of mine near Peter’s Corner in Randwick. He had the Winning Post Café, which was the café to which the stable boys and jockeys used to come. T.J. Smith had a contract with my uncle, [who paid] ‘x’ amount of dollars, so they had dinner there [...]. And across the road was a cousin, Harry Psaltis, he had the fruit shop. I stayed with him [uncle] for nearly a year. I enrolled to study technical electronics. Now, the English I had learned was enough [for studying purposes], but was it good enough when talking in technical terms? It was a bit hard. But I did it, and while I did it, I worked for AWA. AWA in Ashfield, a big factory. They used to make everything. Radio. Telecommunications [...]. They made everything. The transformers. The transistors, The whole lot! They were making everything. But I used to knock off at 3 o’clock. I’d to go back to the café, [and] help my uncle a little bit at dinner time. And I had a room upstairs. I used to eat there and live for nothing.
Timecode 32:46 - 35:23
