Poppy (Kalliope) Elliott | Greek-Australian Archive

State Library of New South Wales

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Speaker Profile Προφίλ ηχείου

Poppy (Kalliope) Elliott

| Language: Greek

An older person smiling

Speaker background

Occupation: hospital attendant, factory worker, homemakerYear of arrival: 1960

Poppy (Kalliope) was born in 1934 on the island of Kos, which was then under Italian rule. She was hired at the age of 13 by a doctor in Athens to assist his wife with child-rearing duties. This was the first in a series of jobs where the employer neglected to pay her wages. This experience compelled her to emigrate to Australia in 1960. Very soon after her arrival, Poppy was introduced by a Kastellorizian woman to her son, Plato Elliott, and the two were married within a few months.

Location in AustraliaKingsford

Interview summary

Poppy begins by describing her experiences in Athens, where she worked a series of jobs, including a long stint in a hospital. She then recalls her years in Rhodes, where she made many friends and enrolled in a migrant training centre for people bound for Australia. Poppy also provides a rich account of her early months in Sydney, the circumstances leading up to her marriage and life in her suburban home in Kingsford.

Interview highlights

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Poppy describes her impressions of Surry Hills and Oxford Street shortly after her arrival in 1960.

Poppy: When I arrived in Sydney, my friend, who had married someone by then, she picked me up from the port. She lived in Reservoir Street, behind the Women’s Hospital […] You’d come down from Crown Street, where the Women’s Hospital was, on that side was the post office, and in the bank on the corner of Oxford Street and Crown Street, there was a Greek man from Egypt. So, Greeks from all around would turn up to get served in the Greek language and deposit their money. That’s where we all were [Surry Hills]. That’s where I ended up. It is where I lived.
Timecode 26:40 - 27:58

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Poppy explains how she was received by the local population.

Poppy: Because I didn’t know English, I wasn’t in a position [to hear any abuse]. I always sought the company of Greeks.
Interviewer: What about at work?
Poppy: At work? Oh yes, they loved me a lot! I worked at Polaroid. When I stopped working there, it took another eleven years before I started working again. We had bought this house [...] and I started to look after the children. So, I didn’t get out much and all that. When we started this household, and we were paying it off, and he [husband] was getting his tips, I hardly spent much money at all. Even when it came to food, I did not need much to prepare. The children ate baby food. My husband would leave 10 in the morning and came home at 1 and 2am. How much food did I need to prepare? Sunday, I’d prepare a meat dish. Only Sunday really. A meat dish. I’d make him a nice meal. Sometimes I made some mistakes with it, and I recall he’d say—I never forgot this—‘Don’t worry, you’re still my bride!’ He often said that too me!
Timecode 01:17:50 - 01:19:33

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