Nicholas Inglis – Family Story
Pappou’s Treasure: My grandfather’s Biography
by Afrodite Inglis Olver
I write this piece in my grandfather’s memory, and thank the people who were able to assist me to produce a biography of a man who did so much for those around him. Auntie Sofia’s interview with Pappou gave me a generous amount of information which I was able to intertwine with comments and thoughts from my parents, my aunt and uncle, my brother, my cousin and other family members. All direct quotes come from the interview, and all other quotes are acknowledged accordingly. Please note, Pappou is the Greek word for grandfather and this is the story of the many beautiful treasures that he created in his life.
I was at a party and this lady says to me, “I remember a Nicholas Inglis. He used to have a cafe in Monto. We used to go there.” She had been to Pappou’s shop. My cousin and I both listened intently as she talked about the café. We in turn shared some memories of our grandfather, and I recall the two of us speaking with much zeal about this remarkable soul who was our grandfather.
Pappou was born in Katopanayia, Asia Minor, near Smyrna (now Izmir) in April 1905. He lived on the coast line with his parents Fotios and Sofia Egglezos until the Turks aligned with Germany and forced them to evacuate their home. Many Greek families were persecuted in this way during World War 1. After the war when they thought it was safe, the many Greeks and Christians whose families had lived in Asia Minor for centuries returned to their homes. Fotios and Sophia were amongst them.
The return of a ‘normal’ life was short lived as the Greco Turkish War erupted in September of 1922. It was horrible. Women were raped, cities burned and people were tortured for their beliefs. Innocent people were being slaughtered like pigs. Fotios and Sophia guided their seven children to safety, leaving with just the clothes on their backs. They travelled across the sea to the island of Chios and became refugees.
Pappou was only eleven years old when he went to live in Athens. He worked his way to Alexandria in Egypt and took the advice of a friend, George Panogiotakis to go to Australia simply ‘because it was easy to get a visa’. George and his brother Nick were also from Asia Minor. As fate would have it they later became Pappou’s brothers-in-law. Auntie Sofia tells me that in September of 1924, Pappou paid a Kings ransom of nearly 30 pounds to board an Italian cargo boat, the Karatiano which was filled with marble, in order to travel with four hundred and fifty young Greek men through turbulent waters in search of a new life. Their fifty day journey was interrupted by the loss of a propeller which added six days to the trip. Despite the trials Pappou had pleasant memories. These are his words: ‘We all slept on deck in canvas deck chairs. I thought the experience was wonderful. I was young, the company was good, and so was the food and there was plenty to eat.”
Eventually he came to Brisbane. Pappou ‘s first home was the floor of an upstairs room in the Greek Community Centre in Charlotte Street. He soon gained employment at a fish and oyster bar, worked hard and saved wisely. Pappou and Con Varthas, who were both from Asia Minor, built enough equity to buy a small cafe in Lowood. Success had come with sacrifice and a willingness to persevere.
Improving his command of the English language, Pappou broke social barriers in the community and participated in track and field events, played cricket and was “…chosen to play in the Lowood team in competition matches with nearby towns…” Conomos, Denis. A. (2002: 315). After two and a half years he sold his share of the business to his partner. Pappou sponsored the passage of his younger brothers, Jack and Con to Brisbane. He then worked in several cafés in Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, and formed a solid friendship with Nicholas Koocooles, who encouraged him to change his surname from Egglezos to Inglis because it was easier to pronounce.
When Pappou moved to Gympie in 1929, Auntie Sofia tells me that he purchased ‘sixteen acres of banana -farming land’ cleared with the assistance of two Australian timber cutters. Pappou, Jack and Con reunited to work on the farm until it was sold. Then Jack went North, while Pappou and Con travelled to Rosewood where they bought a café.
During the world depression in 1931, Pappou and his family shared good and bad times. One morning at the cafe, Pappou lit a fire with kerosene and wood. The flames lashed out and burnt his back severely. There were more bad times to come. His brother Con died of peritonitis at the age of sixteen. Distressed and alone, Pappou wrote to his parents who encouraged a union with Afrodite Panagiotakis. She lived in the Peloponese where Pappou’s parents had resettled, less than an hours travelling time from the town of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games.
Yiayia Afrodite, my grandmother, was nearly 18 years of age when she travelled with her chaperon Mrs. Mathiou on the liner Orama to meet her fiancé Pappou Nicholas. The ship which arrived in Brisbane on the eighth of August 1932, was to bring happiness for Pappou.
Yiayia and Pappou travelled by train, coach and boat to meet with Nicholas Koocooles and his wife, also named Afrodite. They looked after Yiayia in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast. She was taught how to light a fire for cooking, make breakfast, light the copper to wash clothes and sew. Pappou did not meet with his bride again until the day of the wedding. Yiayia and Pappou accepted the responsibility of entering into an arranged marriage. Their love for each other flourished. Yiayia and Pappou were married in Rosewood on the fourth of September 1932 by the Rev. Father Kotiadis who came from the Greek Orthodox Church in Brisbane to perform the service. Greek and Australian guests celebrated the union at Pappou‘s cafe.
In October of 1933, Auntie Sofia tells me that Yiayia and Pappou left Rosewood for the ‘big social town’ of Monto, where they stayed at Mr. Morgan’s hotel free of charge. In November of that year they had their first child Sofia. It was a busy period in the life of this young family as they worked to get themselves established. Pappou’s new fruit shop was soon transformed into a café and was refurbished by the well known Queensland designers Christie and Walker. The café was one of the most beautiful in Queensland. A hidden treasure was created.
Yiayia, Pappou and baby Sofia lived at the back of Inglis’ Cafe which was admired for its personalised crockery sets and satisfied customers with ‘sumptuous’ meals and a guaranteed silver service. Uncle Foti remembers, “If a farmer were to come in to catch a train at four o’clock in the morning, the farmer would let him know and Pappou would be there with his breakfast. He was on call twenty-four hours a day.”
In February of 1938 while still in Monto, Yiayia and Pappou welcomed a second child into their lives, my father Constantine who was named after Pappou’s brother. It was around this time that Pappou and Jack entertained their passion for wrestling and according to Denis .A. Conomos (2002: 512), bought a boxing ring and made mats to turn “…an old theatre into a gymnasium.” Rusty Cook, a local champion boxer and winner of the Empire title in England in 1935, assisted the amateur wrestling club. Their circle of friends expanded tremendously and the café became the focus of many boxing and wrestling festivals attracting participants from all over Queensland. Pappou’s best friend and wrestling opponent Jerry O’Connor who was also editor of the Monto Herald, raised interest and enthusiasm with his regular features of these events.
In 1939 Pappou sold Inglis’ cafe in Monto to Jim Varthas. After a short stay in Brisbane, they returned to the country where their third child Foti was born in Biggenden in January of 1941. This is where Pappou opened his second Inglis’ Café, which Jack bought when he came out of the army during the Second World War. As Pappou was not accepted into the force because of arthritic problems, he along with Nick Mathiou, operated a fruit shop on the corner of Queen and George Streets in Brisbane in December of 1943.
They also opened a milk bar on the corner of George and Adelaide Streets which they christened ‘The Trophy’; to honour Australia’s continued success in the Davis Cup. My father Con can recall helping to serve the large numbers of customers who included many politicians and their families. He tells me that whenever General McArthur’s wife and son came into the milk bar, they would always be accompanied by military police. Uncle Foti remembers serving many Davis Cup tennis players, including world champions Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewell.
Pappou and Nick Mathiou managed to purchase the two sections of the building, and for nearly 20 years worked from six o’clock in the morning till midnight each day. As well as managing the milk bar, Pappou also supplied fruit and vegetables to Government House and Lennon’s Hotel.
Pappou and Yiayia were able to continue raising their family in a magnificent home overlooking the Brisbane River and the University of Queensland which they purchased in Gladstone Rd, Highgate Hill. The two boys studied and completed their secondary education at Brisbane State High while Sofia studied at Somerville House.
My father Con went on to manage Pappou’s chicken farm on Beaudesert Rd in Coopers Plains. It was a very successful venture. During my father’s time on the farm, he recalls being called to do “… three months of continuous National Training and three fortnights of camp in three years.” After doing his National Service my father continued his work on the farm which was rapidly expanding. In 1960, Pappou decided to sell the businesses in the city in order to assist in the successful continuation of the farm.
In 1971, Pappou took his first holiday in forty-seven years. His three children were all married when Pappou, Yiayia, Nick Panagiotakis and his wife Sophia returned to their homeland feeling like foreigners. With their parents no longer alive, Greece seemed like a strange place. Australia was now their home. The highlight of Pappou’s trip was meeting up with his brother Stamati from the United States after fifty-five years.
Pappou sold the farm a couple of months after their return to Australia, and we moved five months after I was born in 1972. My father Con went on to work for Dunlop, before working in a fruit shop and then the transport industry. He worked for one company for over twenty years. Uncle Foti went to university, became a doctor, and furthered his study to become a radiologist. Auntie Sofia began co-managing the Chermside Dawn cinema and did this for over 50 years.
I am one of six grandchildren and, to date, there are also seven great grandchildren. My parents, keeping with tradition, named my brother and I after Pappou and Yiayia. In turn my husband Stuart and I have named our own son after my father Constantine.
I wholeheartedly agree with Pappou when he says, “My family is proud of their Greek heritage and even prouder Australians.” He tells Auntie Sophia that, “…we are a close knit family – and are fortunate to live in such a wonderful country.” When Pappou came to Australia, he created a treasure in the knowledge that his family’s future was secure. He passed away on the twenty-third of June 1992. There were more than a thousand people at his funeral.
I am proud of my Greek heritage and feel honoured to be an Australian citizen with an ancestry of devout, loving people, who held a positive approach and treasured the prosperity of their family. My brother and two cousins have the honour of being named after Nicholas Inglis, our Pappou. He will always be a part of who I am and will remain in my heart forever.
References
Conomos, Denis.A. (2002) The Greeks in Queensland: A History from 1859-1945,
Brisbane: Copyright Publishing Co. Pty Ltd.
Fardoulys, Sofia (1986, May 19) Interview with Nicholas Inglis (Pappou)
Olver, Afrodite Inglis (2003, Sept. 15) Interview with Sofia Fardoulys (Pappou’s first child)
Olver, Afrodite Inglis (2003, Sept. 17) Interview with Constantine Inglis (My father and Pappou ‘s second child
Olver, Afrodite Inglis (2003, Oct. 5) Interview with Dr. Frank Inglis (Pappou ‘s third child)
Nicholas and Afrodite Inglis Wedding Photo – 1932