Kiki Betti (Angela Petroulaki) | Greek-Australian Archive

State Library of New South Wales

Greek-Australian Archive

Kiki Betti (Angela Petroulaki)

Speaker Profile Προφίλ ηχείου

Kiki Betti (Angela Petroulaki)

| Language: Greek

Kiki Betti (Angela Petroulaki)

Speaker background

Occupation: Actor, Factory workerYear of arrival: 1967

Kiki Betti was born near the south-western tip of the Peloponnese, to a poor farming family. As a teenager she moved with her family to Athens in 1963, where she did factory work. Frustrated by the limited employment prospects, she took advantage of Australia’s assisted migration scheme and moved to Australia in 1967. She married an Italian from Egypt and raised two daughters in Sydney’s Inner West. Ms Betti has spent much of life engaged in cultural pursuits, particularly Greek theatre.

Place of birthFoinikounta, Peloponnese

Location in AustraliaPetersham

Interview summary

Kiki Betti explains why she left Greece and why she decided to remain in Australia despite planning to return. She explains how she wanted to see the world, what it was like as a young woman in 1960s Sydney, and why she was drawn to a life in Greek community arts.

Interview highlights

highlight

Why did you come to Australia?

Because they said that they were signing up and organizing girls with the ‘The-Me’ (Intergovernmental Commission for Migration in Europe) so they can go and work overseas, and because we were told we could work for three years and come back. So, we could help our folks. They understood that since we had grown up a bit and because we understood that from here on, our folks will be in need and we will have to help them. So, I did my papers with the ‘The-Me’ even though my parents did not approve. They did not want a family to be sending off a girl when it had three boys.
Timecode 02:28 - 03:12

highlight

What were Australian people like when you arrived?

Ok, they were not as warm as they are today. At the beginning they called us ‘wogs’, to me and my daughters. I lived through all that, but we don’t see that now because they’ve mixed with us. The world has changed. They have married into our group. But back then it was different. They swore at us, would tell us off. They were a bit cold [...]. We often tried to be neighbourly and friendly. They liked fetta. Slowly, slowly they got to like good [olive] oil, the Greek oil. Just now, I recall how I could not go anywhere near their oil. Imagine, we had oil from Kalamata. Oil! Fresh olive. Organic! And I then come here and I see this white stuff [lard]… My mother wrote to me, saying: “I’ll send you a large tin of [olive] oil by ship”.
Timecode 09:16 - 10:48

Explore more

Oral history in the Library catalogue

Related photographs

Listen to more oral histories

George Hatzithavoris

George Hatzithavoris was born into a farming family in the town of Velvendo in Kozani, Greece in 1943. After completing his compulsory military service at the age of 20, he travelled to Australia on the Patris, arriving in 1968. His first job was as a concreter for a pool company and then worked in different small food businesses, before buying his own. He met his wife Patricia in 1972, and the two lived in shared accommodation in Paddington until they bought their house in Willoughby. They had two children, Sophia and Kosta. In 1986, the family moved to Greece, but after a few months, realised life in Australia was more favourable.

Stavroula Moschatos

Stavroula Moschatos was born in 1935 and grew up in a poor farming family in Lakonia. Stavroula lived for most of the 1940s and early 1950s in Athens, where she mostly did nurse duties in a hospital. She was selected as a nanny for a Greek diplomat and followed his family to Sydney. Stavroula (or Voula) met her future husband through friends, who asked her employer for her hand in marriage. They had three children and settled in Kingsgrove in the mid 1960s.

Kyriakitsa Kevgas

Kyriakitsa Kevgas was born in Xylokastro, a seaside town in the Peloponnese in 1932. In 1956, she left Greece to come to Australia, after an aunty had recommended the move to her parents. Kyriakitsa joined her first cousin in Sydney, who was the owner of the Redfern Hotel. After her sister arrived from Greece, they rented an apartment together in Bondi. The two sisters opened a shop in Darlinghurst, called The Bride’s Corner, specialising in bridal gowns, christening wear, candles and bonbonnieres. Kyriakitsa didn’t want to get married for several years, despite the many suitors in Sydney. She developed a long-distance relationship with a man from Greece and they married soon after his arrival in 1965.

Stavros Economidis

Stavros Economidis is a Greek Cypriot, born in Cairo, Egypt in 1945. He migrated to Australia in 1960 with his mother and siblings after the death of his father. His older brother had emigrated to Australia a few years earlier, paving the way for the remaining family members. In 1965 he met his mentor, Chrysostomos Mantouridis, who introduced him to the theatre. In 1983, the Hellenic Art Theatre was established with Stavros as its Artistic Director.

Father Christos Vergos

Father Christos Vergos was born in 1939 to a poor farming family in the central Peloponnese. He migrated to Australia in 1963 to join his sister in Wagga Wagga, where she and her husband ran a café. He later took up a role with Qantas in Sydney, working in aircraft maintenance. At the same time, he joined a committee to establish a parish church in Belmore, where he also served as a chanter. After marrying his wife, Sofia, in 1967, he was ordained a priest, and was assigned to set up a new parish church in Liverpool, NSW.

Vivi Germanos Koutsounadis

Vivi Germanos Koutsounadis was born on the Greek island of Chios in 1943. Vivi’s parents wanted to educate their three children. Realising it wouldn’t be possible if they remained in the village, the family emigrated to Australia in 1954. Growing up, Vivi worked in her parents’ milk bar in Redfern. Her experiences inspired her to pursue a career in welfare and social justice. Vivi had a high level of involvement in Sydney’s Greek community. In 2000 she became the President of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW, the first woman president in its history.

Konstantina Tourvas

Konstantina Tourvas is an artist, activist, teacher and writer. She was born in 1940 in Evdilos, Ikaria and grew up in an orphanage. She migrated to Australia in 1959 on the Dutch ship The Waterman. She lived first in Woollahra, then Marrickville and currently resides in Turrella.

Katina Mexis

Katina was born on the island of Leros in 1926. Her family spent the war years in Rhodes, where she met her husband, Nikolas. In late 1949, Nikolas emigrated to Australia. In 1953, he sponsored the migration of Katina and their son Themos. Music was a big part of their lives, and the family often sang at home and at larger family gatherings. For several years, Katina supported Themos’ education as a musician by working as a seamstress.