HELEN CHRISTINE KEZILAS (NEE GIRDIS)
compiled by Helen Christine Kezilas
This story is of my life growing up in West End, Brisbane, teen years and to date. Helen, was born in Brisbane on the 16th February, 1944, the last of the five children born to George and Kyriakoula Girdis.
George’s and Kyriakoula”s early history begins in Alatsata, near the city of Smyrna in Asia Minor. My father, George, was fortunate to leave Asia Minor with his brothers Steve and Mark to meet with John, another brother already living in Brisbane, Australia in 1919, before the nationalist uprising in Asia Minor and the Catastrophe of Smyrna. These were still considered pioneering years in Australia. Working hours were long and times tough after the 1st Great War.
My mother was to escape the conflict in Asia Minor and left the country as a refugee together with her future mother-in-law (Maria Girdis) and her daughters, first to Thessaloniki and eventually, when the Girdis boys we able, sponsor their safe passage from Athens to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. What a journey!
George and Kyriakoula Roumana, were married in Brisbane in 1924. Theirs was one of the earliest weddings in Brisbane officiated by Father Timothios. After their wedding George and Kyriakoula settled in a house they purchased at Thomas Street West End, Brisbane. They had five children,– Mary (Angus), Angela (Varthas), Nicholas and Ernie and Helen. Although I was named Christina by my parents, my Godfather, Nick Angouras, baptised me Helen (after Helen of Troy). It was at his insistence that I be known with my baptism name. My Godfather’s family history goes back as far as the Spartans, connecting with the battle of Troy and to my name, so he told us.
As many of the Greek children did before me, I attended West End State School, beginning in prep and completed scholarship (year 8). Many of the students at West End school were related to me either directly or by marriage. It was customary for all children born of Greek parents to attend Greek School to learn the Greek language. And so it was no different for me for I had to attend Greek school too. The Greek school was located in Russel Street, West End. Twice a week the children would attend Greek School to learn to read and write the language our parents knew so well. When other Greek migrant children arrived in the suburb, they would also attend West End State School. Some were placed in my class to be “mentored” in learning the English language. If a child was allocated to me it would suit me perfectly because when it came to English or Greek homework, we helped (or more to the point bribed) each other. I would do their work during school lunch break and the migrant child would do my Greek homework sitting in the gutter outside our house before going off to “Greeky”.
Our first Greek School teacher was Kirios Damthathakis and his daughter. They were later replaced by a new teacher who later on became known as Father George Karpis. I was fortunate to meet Father George years later in Canberra and he remembered me as being the class clown. (And my parents thought I was doing well). I had many detentions and my cousin Nick (Stan) Drakos can remember many of our “getaway schemes”. All this aside, we still managed to master Greek reading and writing. The language did come easy as we spoke only Greek to our parents at home. We were also taught our Heritage, History, Culture, Food and most of all our Religious beliefs. The building in which we attended as our Greek School has long been defunct as a school, but is now used as a Kafenio.
I can recall a group of Mikrasiates (Asia Minor community) who now lived in Brisbane, were able to bring with them from Mikra Asia the icon of “Ta Isodia Tis Panayias”, and a few other Holy Relics. The Icon was placed in the first church of St. George in Charlotte Street, Brisbane. This was a small but impressive church for the faithful parishioners. Later the building adjacent to the church was purchased and used as a Greek Club – Kafenio. This was mainly for the men in the Greek community. The men would have their midday meal, or coffee (short sweet black Greek style with coffee settling to the bottom of the cup), loukmia and cold water. They could have a haircut and shave or play rowdy card games coloured with language not used at home. The children attending church on a Sunday would sneak out and peer through a hole in the fibro fence which someone had conveniently smashed open. (Who knew about Asbestos then?). It was a way of entertaining ourselves if we found the services conducted by the then priest, Father Chrysostomos (who we lovingly nicknamed Father Silvermouth) a little boring. He served the parish of Brisbane in St. George church faithfully for many years and was always very popular with the parishioners. He was transferred to Melbourne and another priest was appointed to the Greek community of Brisbane.
This was the beginning of a new era for the Greeks of West End. The parish had outgrown the church in Charlotte Street so a new site was chosen and a new Greek Orthodox Church of St. George was built. Father Gregory Sakellarios had recently been appointed to the parish of Brisbane and conducted services in the newly built church of St. George in Edmonstone Street, West End. Father Gregory (now Very Reverent) and his good wife, Presbytera Roula, and their young family settled into the lifestyle of Brisbane. To this day, our gratitude as a community should go to Father Gregory and his family for their generosity and patience. Father Gregory’s distinguished achievements are too many to list here, however one which is still dear to me is the founding of G.O.Y.A. (Greek Orthodox Youth of Australia), which was established with his guidance. The youth would meet with Father Gregory at church (no hall or club house in those days). My cousins, the Drakos’, Lathouras’, and any local West End Greek teens were a rowdy lot, but Father Gregory’s great patience and determination helped us achieve the great milestone of establishing the youth club and it paid off. It continues today and hopefully will continue for many years to come. One of the “special events” which I remember so well would have to be our famous car rally and picnic week ends. Faithful parents armed with thermos flasks of Greek coffee and Koulouria would be at each check point making sure no one was left behind or lost. On a serious note, we should not forget that Father Gregory introduced Religious Instruction to our schools. This was appreciated by the children of Greek descent as they felt “left out” when other children were attending Religious lessons.
Other recollections of my younger days growing up in Brisbane are things like – Ferry rides on the river at Orliegh Park (Wow!). Even now I love to travel on the modern City Cats that plie the river and admire the city skyscrapers. What would our forefathers have to say about the changes from when they first arrived in Brisbane to what is here now? Sunday afternoon visits to the Botanical Gardens to feed the monkeys peanuts, admire the peacocks and birds and watch the very slow moving giant tortoise from the Galapagos Islands, which later on I was to learn that he was brought to Brisbane by Charles Darwin!
After attending church services during Holy Week, the Ionian Association (Mikrasiatiko Association) organised some great Easter Picnics. These were just a buzz. Special fun moments included catching a live piglet and colouring chickens in red dye. On the back of a truck would be the old beer keg covered in a wet hessian bag, no eskys in those days. There was someone playing a Violin, someone else playing a Flute and someone played the Santouri. With the “Zeimekiko” music playing, our parents would dance remembering their homeland. Red dyed eggs and avgoles were the highlight of the picnics.
Most Saturday afternoons were spent at the Lyric Theatre in Boundary Street with the children of Stanley and Despina (Roumana) Drakos. We paid six pence entry fee and one penny for an iceblock at interval. Jaffas and empty Coca-Cola bottles were rolled down the old timber floor aisles causing a racket and stopping the picture until we quietened down. Standing to attention for the national anthem was a must (just like the beginning of our school parades). This was followed by the newsreel – a Kookaburra laughing as a Kangaroo was jumping into a map of Australia. Boy, now that was called “Technology” in those days! The best was the cartoons and the serials too.
On special days, my nieces and I would be chaperoned to the Regent Theatre in Queen Street to see the great classic movies – very posh. We would be in our Sunday best and travel by tram. During interval, for entertainment on stage in front of heavy velvet curtains, there was a gentleman playing an organ, who would rise from out of the orchestra pit, as if by magic. The Drive-in Movies was another popular night time entertainment. How many times did someone drive off without firstly removing the speaker from the window of the car? – countless times.
Visiting “The Oasis” swimming pools and gardens was a special treat. Early days at the Gold Coast were special fun family gatherings. Pitching the old army tarps from pine trees at Burleigh Heads, entertaining ourselves after surfing with a portable record player with “45” rpm records playing hits of the 60’s.
The trips to Murwillumbah to visit my sister Mary, her husband Steve Angus and their children, would be a full day trip in our Vanguard. We would spend Christmas and New Year at Kingscliff. Vivid memories of Fingal Bay holidays making sledges out of huge watermelon skins to ride down the sand dunes come flooding back. There were no play stations in those days which made for much more healthy fun.
The only way to commute around Brisbane in the days of my youth was mainly by tram. Dad had the car for commuting to and from work at the Melba Cafe in Fortitude Valley. Those were the days when mothers did not drive. Our mothers would walk to visit the relatives and friends and to do the shopping, as everything was within easy walking distance in West End. The B.C.C. (with their bright orange shopping trolleys) was the first modern cash and carry grocery service. It took our mothers a fair bit of convincing that this was the new era of shopping. Our local medic was Dr. Nick Aroney, Davies had the Chemist, Shay’s the shoe store, Cook’s the corner store, Katahanes’ for Greek and International foods, Mr. Lucas was the jeweller, and Cassies (a Kastollorizian family) owned the seafood shop. Mark Girdis had the milk bar/cafe/cake shop at No 7 tram stop in Vulture Street. The Green Grocer was young George from Crete. He is now known as Father George Papoustakis of Agia Paraskevi parish, at Taigum in Brisbane. Our mothers would walk down to the stores with their “kalathi” (shopping basket), not only to buy fruit and veges, but to catch up on the local news (albeit gossip). Other local landmarks in West End were the School of Arts Building and Kurilpa Library with its famous clock tower.
On Sunday evenings when the “Salvos” marched up Thomas Street with the brass band, one of their members would go from house to house with their “collection box” for any donations. Our parents were very generous with their donations as it was a way of paying for any damages to the hall that the children of the street would be responsible for.
Hooning around at 30 miles per hour (about 40kph) was the local boy “Rock and Roll George”, in his creamy/yellow FJ Holden with the spring loaded yellow plastic canary jumping up and down on the dash and at the rear window, the little dog with the bobbing head. Pinned around the windows were cotton baubles. They were the in things back then. Tom and Jerry Zaphir owned the Ampol Service Station in Melbourne Street.
I can recall my Mother sending me to Manahan’s Store to buy Barrilla Soap (sold by the slab). After being weighed on scales in pounds (kilos, these days), the soap was taken home and prepared for wash day. We would cut it up into small pieces to soak overnight in the copper. Timber and papers were stored underneath the copper in readiness to boil the water, (Washing Machines – what were they?). Blue Bags (a blue tablet wrapped in cloth) were dipped in the rinse water particularly for whites. We would hang the clothes on “T” bars strung with wire rope and held up by “clothes props” made from tree saplings.
There was a favourite antic for the local children of West End. They would jump on to a moving tram in Vulture Street to get to school and jump off before the conductor caught us. Placing a one penny coin on the tram tracks to see how they would flatten out became expensive, so we switched to marbles. We never bought comic books; instead we would sit inside the newsagency, read them and put them back on the shelf. We pretended that we were helping the “Paper Boys” fold The Telegraph newspapers which they delivered to the houses using their billy carts or small open cars for the longer routes. The Geronimos boys (Nick and Steve) were part of this team and I recall they were part of an important group which formed the first West End Greek Boys Scouts. A.H.E.P.A. (Australian Hellenic Education and Progress Association), a Hellenic Tennis Club and a Theater Group were also established during those early years.
There were many Greek families living in West End in those early years and many of those were “Mikrasiates”. Family names which come to mind are: Girdis, Lathouras, Drakos, Caris, Aroney, Freelegus, Mathioudacios (Matthews), Englezos, Zaphir, Maliarouthakis (Millers), Hatzatonakis, Bahadouris, Defteros, Panayiotis, and Polychronis.
“New Australian” migrants settled in Brisbane during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and therefore the suburbs spread further from the city centre. Many of the “original” families began to slowly drift away from West End and become established in the new suburbs.
After completing my scholarship year at West End State School in the late 1950’s, I attended the Girls Commercial High School in George Street, Brisbane. This school later became part of what is now known as QUT (Queensland University of Technology). I was still studying when in 1961 firstly my Father, George, and then my Mother, Kyriakoula, passed away. This was a very difficult time for someone my age; having to cope with the loss of the comfort zone of parents and a family unit which was very close and loving.
It was time to relocate and leave behind memories of Thomas Street, Princhester Street, Boundary Street, Vulture Street etc., and the carefree and mischievous years of cricket matches using ripped off fence palings from neighbours’ fences as bats, of marbles in the dirt, of billy cart and pram races, of Guy Fawks night (better known as cracker night) when we would blow up a neighbour’s letter box with a double bunger, of kicking balls through the Salvation Army Hall windows ( we would blame the Stefanaros kids from Princhester Street but our parents knew we were the culprits). At seventeen years of age and now with my parents gone, it seemed appropriate for my older sister, Angela Varthas, to take me “under her wing”. And so that was how I came to live with the Varthas family – Brother- in-law Steve, Angela and their daughters –Sylvia, Christina, Marina and Georgina, at Mt. Gravatt, for which I will be forever grateful.
With six females in the house, one wonders how we managed with three bedrooms and one bathroom. Angela would cook all the meals – no take-aways, wash and iron uniforms and shirts (which needed to be starched), and of course there was the housework to do as well; a mammoth task indeed. She accomplished all this with a smile as she knew her family would benefit in the long run. Yes, my other siblings – Mary, Nick and Ernie and their families looked out for me too and I have many wonderful memories of times spent with them.
Necessity was the reason I left the Commercial High School and began working at The Melba Cafe in the Valley. At that time, the Valley was the “up market” shopping hub of Brisbane, well before shopping centres were built. The Melba at that time was owned by my Brother, Nick Girdis and my Brother-in-law, Steve Varthas.
Moving into the 1960’s was a new chapter in my life. When I turned twenty-one, all my relatives planned a grand birthday party for me; and what an occasion that was! No, this was not held at the “Hilton” or “Sheraton” type of venue, but a much more personal venue. It was hosted by my sister Mary and my brother-in-law Steve Angus at their home. They had not long shifted up from Murwillumbah, and purchased a large rambling property at Slacks Creek south of Brisbane. With plenty of land surrounding the home, this was “resort style” living. All my relations and half of Brisbane must have been at my party and all the happenings were recorded on good old fashioned 8mm movie film.
Twelve months later I was to meet the man I married. By today’s standards this would seem a very quick courtship. This is how it happened……….While working at The Melba, I met many people. Jimmy Kezilas, a Kastallorizian young man from North Queensland was in Brisbane on Christmas Holidays with Nicholas Milaras (later to become our Best Man), and a good mate, Rocco Sinopolie. Nicholas and Rocco planned to have Jim come and dine at the Melba Cafe. The following evening was New Year’s Eve 1965, and I was to celebrate with my family at the G.O.Y.A. dance at St. Lucia University Hall. Also at the dance were Jim and his friends. After some time celebrating the New Year, Jim proposed and I said ‘Yes’, sending my family into a spin. Seeing that my intentions were clear, Jim, my future husband, was hurriedly “checked out”. Step 1: Contact Father Gregory. Step 2: Contact Father Sideris in Innisfail. Step 3: Back came the response to Father Gregory – good family, good character, taught him at Greek School etc. (sounds better when describing it in Greek). And so with the approval of two priests, what better way to begin a new life. ‘The rest is History’ – the saying goes.
We had Engagement celebrations first in Brisbane at the Varthas residence and another celebration in Cairns. This is when I met the rest of Jim’s family and friends. On May 1st, 1966 Jim Kezilas and I were married at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, West End. Jim’s mother, Zambetta Kezilas, and his family from Cairns along with my family in Brisbane and our friends attended our wedding and it was a very happy occasion. It was sad too in a way, because as I was moving on to make a new life for myself with my new husband in Cairns, I had to leave behind my family and birthplace. Does history repeat itself? Leaving my birthplace was really only temporary, as Jimmy and I regularly return to Brisbane to visit with our family and friends.
Jim established his building business in Cairns, which continues to this day; and me? Well I learnt quickly how to wheel barrows, lay bricks, hammer nails and paint. When our own family came along, I semi-retired (ha ha). Our daughter, Zambetta, was born in 1968 and our son, George, was born in 1970. Life has been good, thanks to God, and we are now blessed with two grandchildren, Dimitri and Markella. Together with our daughter-in-law, Marina, and our son-in-law Costa, we have created our own family.
The recollections of my life to date was put together with great passion and dedicated to the memory of my parents, George and Kyriakoula Girdis.