Peter Repousis | Greek-Australian Archive

State Library of New South Wales

Greek-Australian Archive

An older person

Speaker Profile Προφίλ ηχείου

Peter Repousis

An older person

Speaker background

Occupation: construction labourerYear of arrival: 1958

Peter was born in 1930, in a village on the Ionian Island of Kefalonia. During World War II, the Italian and German occupying forces expropriated most of the island’s food and terrorized the population. As with many other young people of his generation, he left his village and moved to Athens, where he worked in numerous labouring jobs. In 1958, Peter migrated to Australia, and joined his brother in Newcastle. He then moved to Melbourne for a short period. After suffering a workplace injury, he returned to Newcastle. By the early 1960s, Peter had married a girl from Kefalonia and relocated to Sydney.

Location in AustraliaDulwich Hill

Interview summary

Peter’s life story is defined by a series of jobs, which he describes in detail. He also reflects on his family’s history, his experience of racism and why he found living in Australia attractive.

Interview highlights

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Peter’s first job was at BHP in Newcastle, where he worked as a lookout on trains that delivered coal. He recalls being amused when the driver used a billy can to brew tea.

Peter: I remember I had a very good driver, an Aboriginal man … He was very good. I, being a young man that had just come from Greece, I didn’t know that much. Well, he had a billy can. A big billy can that he filled with tea. I said to my friend here [laughs] ‘What on earth is this? Tea in a such a huge tumbler?’ [laughs]
Timecode 09:20 - 09:46

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Peter explains his motivations for migrating to Australia.

Interviewer: Do you remember when you made the decision to emigrate?
Peter: I made that decision because there were no jobs [in Greece]. And I will tell you another thing. No one wants to leave their homeland, to be honest. I want to say this: who leaves behind their parents? Who leaves behind their homeland to come here? That must be a mad person. But if you do not have much to eat, when you don’t have a job, there was no work, what can you do? […] That’s why all the young people came to find a land where they can make a living. It’s not just us. People from all countries did that, I think … That’s what did it. It wasn’t about coming here just to see the place. We came to live. To find work. We didn’t have jobs! All the young left the villages. The whole of my generation departed.
Timecode 30:56 - 32:04

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Peter was asked if he planned to return to Greece.

Interviewer: When you got here did you have a plan in mind? Did you think about returning?
Peter: Yes, I had it in my head to go back. Do you want to hear how that happened? During my first week in Newcastle, I noticed in those days that people did not go out on Sundays. After my first week, my brother takes me out for a stroll on Sunday in central Newcastle, and I saw no people! I said to my brother—don’t laugh—I was used to living in Athens, where I lived a great life even though we had hardly any money, but I was young, and therefore… Anyhow, I asked my brother: ‘Hey Tasso, where are the people?’ ‘Ahhh,’ he said. ‘What do you mean ‘“Ahhh”?’ I said. ‘Well on Sundays people are inside. They rarely go out, unless it’s summer.’ ‘So, what do they do?’ I don’t know what he said back. So, I said: ‘Tasso, I’m leaving! I swear, I cannot stay in such a place!’
Timecode 32:19 - 33:34

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