Peter: It was a very lonely place, I thought, because growing up in a country town I knew everyone, everyone knew me. I’d walk down to the garage to fill up my car: ‘How are you going.’ This sort of thing. Here in Sydney, I came to an environment where it was only me. I would go to NSW University and it’s not very far from here, but it felt like it was a long way because I had to catch the bus, fight the traffic, walk up to the university. I felt like I probably had a little bit of anxiety in first year Medicine. My brother Danny was involved with the Kytherian Association younger set group. So, through that we started to socialise with our Greek friends here in Sydney and become part of the Kytherian community. It was there that I met my best man Theodore Simos, through the Kytherian community, and it was through the Greek association, through the Greek church that I met my wife and all that. That was very challenging. But then after that as I got to know more friends at university, it became a bit easier.

Interviewer: How important would you say your Greekness was to you at that point in time?

Peter: I think I was trying to fit in with university life. There was not a lot of Greekness in the country. It was only what we had with our family. So, coming to Sydney there probably wasn’t a lot of Greekness to me at that time, but I started growing into it because my brother was involved with it. We’d go to the Kytherian functions or the dances the young groups had. They used to have them at the Town Hall at Paddington, some of the events. So, I grew into the Greekness. We didn’t go to church a lot. As I said, I went to the Church of England. When I came to Sydney, I started going to Greek Easter at St Spyridon. We started going to a lot of the Greek functions here. So that’s when I started, felt I was becoming more Greek too, I had not been back to Greece by that time too.

Peter: So, when I came back to Australia, I was looking to set up a practice and I did know the Pharmacy in Marrickville owned by Mr Sallos, Nick Sallos. I went and visited them, and they said the practice upstairs has been closed for three months. It was closed down because the doctor that was there was involved in what was called the ‘Greek Conspiracy case’ and there was still a very big need for a doctor to be there to help look after the patients. So, I chose to go into the practice at the time. My Greek was very poor, so my mother-in-law was my receptionist at that time for about 6 months because she spoke very good Greek. Anyway, she kept an eye on me because I was a young doctor, but I went into that practice, and, I have to say, at the beginning it was extremely challenging because there was a lot of angst about the so called ‘Greek Conspiracy Case.’ People felt that the Greeks had rorted the system. They had bad backs, and they were putting it on to be able to get pensions or get compensation and things like that. So, there was a lot of stigma and coming out of the hospital system where I would spend forty-five minutes to an hour doing a consultation with the patient, I felt like I had to do that very much so with every patient that I saw at the beginning. I felt quite challenged at the time because I felt like I was being watched to make sure I wasn’t part of this conspiracy theory. So, as time went on, I discovered that everyone that I looked after were genuine. They had serious problems. They had major problems. They were workers, they were labourers who ended up with bad backs or illnesses that they had afflictions for. I know a number of them went back to Greece and they had to defend themselves even in Greece and back in Australia to exonerate themselves from being so-called Greek back ... what’s the word that I can use, that they weren’t rorting the system.

Peter: I’ve been looking after them now for forty-plus years, and I’ve been through their ups and their downs and their losses and their happy days. I feel like I’m more than a doctor. I feel like I’m part of their family. A lot of them ring me for advice about things and I’m happy to give it, professionally. Personally, I get a lot of calls. People go to hospital. The families are given bad news. [They] take the patient home. They ring me, and I say, ‘Well, let’s talk about it when they come out of hospital and see what we can do.’ And sometimes we have really good outcomes.

Interviewer: How important would you say the role of the family doctor is in the Greek community?

Peter: In our community, in Marrickville, I think it’s very important. I can see that because even though my elderly patients may move out of the area, they still come back to see me. I feel like they’ve got a lot of confidence in me and if there’s something I can’t do I tell them I can’t do it and I’ll refer them to the appropriate person. I find that it’s very important because I feel like we have a good relationship with my patients.

Interviewer: How much of a factor would you say that your own Greek heritage has been in establishing faith and trust with the community?

Peter: To look after Greeks, I think you have to have a good understanding of Greek background and what their goals are and what their needs are, and you work with that because different cultures have different expectations. I think I can understand their expectations and I can talk to them and help them with those expectations, and I think that’s very important