The Life and Times of the Lathouras Brothers in Australia
A Note from the Author
Writing a history of the Lathouras Family has been an ambition of mine for a number of years. In 1996 my Daughter Tina with her Cousin Goldie, compiled from the information they were able to obtain at the time, a full Family Tree of the Lathouras Family as well as organizing the Lathouras Family reunion. Since then, I have wanted to update the Family Tree with further research and to write the history of the Lathouras Brothers.
This history has been written using information found from legal documents and as well as database searches in the National Archives in Canberra. I have tried to be as accurate as possible with all the information at hand including my recollections of incidents that happened in my lifetime.
It is my sincere wish that someday the younger members of the family would carry on my work by continuing the documentation of the generations.
It would be amiss of me not to thank my grandson Peter Samios for typing and compiling the manuscript, Clair Ferguson for producing the updated version of the Family Tree and to my Daughter Tina Menz-Bugler for her assistance.
Anthony Lathouras December 2002
Greek History Prior to Migration to Australia
I believe it is important for the younger generations of the Lathouras families to understand the history of those times and the struggles, when our forefathers were forced to virtually leave all personal belongings and assets and migrate to Australia.
For centuries, Greece was occupied by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. It was not until 25th March 1821, known to this day as the Greek National Day that the Greeks rose as one and vanquished the Turks. Unfortunately they did not recover Asia Minor and other northern parts of Turkey (Pondos), which were once all part of Greece and the Byzantine Empire.
The Patriarch Head of the Greek Orthodox Church still sits in Constantinople (Istanbul). The cathedral Agia Sophia, which means Holy Wisdom, was completed in the year 537 AD by the emperor Justinian. Over the years it has been desecrated, turned into a mosque and a museum.
At the beginning of the First World War (1914-18) there was political upheaval in Greece between the Prime Minister Venizelos and the Royal Family. The King had divided loyalties between Germany and Greece. It was not until 1917 that Greece entered the war.
The First Exodus
For centuries, millions of Greeks were permitted to live under Turkish rule in Asia Minor. Those Greeks were leaders in commerce, industry and agriculture. In 1914 there was a large exodus of Greeks from Asia Minor to the Greek islands and mainland. When the war finally finished in 1918, those Greeks returned to Asia Minor. In the early 1920’s, the Greek Government sent the army to Smyrna to protect the Greek populace but instead the army decided to march north and try and take further territory. The Greeks pillaged and killed many Turks.
The Second Exodus
By 1921-22 a new Ottoman force unexpectedly emerged under the command of the young Turk, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It repulsed the Greek army who were marching north. Greek President Venezelos, refused to negotiate with the Turks, as he was certain of support from his former allies Britain and France. But no support was forthcoming. The Greek army, having run out of food and supplies, retreated to Smyrna. Ataturk ordered his Muslim troops to massacre thousands of male Greeks, whose families had lived in Turkey for centuries. Terrified families fled south, seeking protection at the Greek administrated port of Smyrna, under the auspices of the sultan.
Ataturk’s forces followed, remorselessly slaughtering and raping men, women and children. The forces were aided by rampaging mobs of Muslim civilians who set fire to Greek houses in Smyrna. Thousands were incinerated, raped and killed. People were killed with scimitar and swords.
The burning of Smyrna lasted three days and nights. It made headlines across the world but no one helped the unfortunate Greeks. While some ships of the Greek navy were anchored at Mitlini (Lesbo), the British, American and French warships anchored in the harbour, refused to help. Greece’s former allies who had pursued Turkey under the sultan had no wish to oppose Kemal Ataturk. They hoped to negotiate favourable concessions with them for oil fields in Mesoptamia where Turkey owned a half share. The discovery of oil had changed the former allies’ policy with Turkey. They now had no wish to make an enemy of Kemal Ataturk and they feared a takeover by the Turks.
Orders were given to the waiting navies, not to intervene, only to rescue their own nationals. Naval officers watched as thousands of terrified Greeks swarmed the quayside. Still the Turks advanced and the panic stricken victims fought for places, hoping foreign vessels would rescue them. Those in the front were pushed into the sea. Many women, children and the aged were drowned.
An estimated 200,000 Orthodox Christians managed to reach the quay, where they formed a line two miles long. Some 250 000 Greeks were trampled underfoot or slaughtered where they stood by the Turkish cavalry. Only an Italian warship and Greek fishing vessels picked up survivors from the sea.
Ataturk issued propaganda insisting it was the Greeks that had set fire to Smyrna and that they killed many Turks. The result was a Muslim uprising against Greek villages throughout Asia Minor. More Greek homes were burnt and thousands killed and raped. Thousands of Greeks went to refugee camps in the Greek Islands and the mainland. They lived in atrocious conditions with little food and medical supplies.
These were the circumstances when our forefathers left their homes and country.
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I can vividly remember my uncle John Cholakos who had two paintings on his dining room wall, depicting the terrible slaughter of women and children on the quayside of Smyrna, with fire raging in the background, and Turks decapitating young children with their scimitars and swords. I can only wonder why he had such gory paintings on his wall. Perhaps it was his way to help him to not forget those gruesome tragedies.
For anyone wishing to read a comprehensive version of events that took place at that time, I strongly recommend a book by Majorie Housepian Dobkin “Smyrna 1922; A destruction of a city”.
The Life and Times of the Lathouras Brothers in Australia
The Lathouras family can be traced to my great grandfather Hadgigiani Lathouras, who was married to Anna Droungas. Their nickname was Koundouroudas. They had seven sons and one daughter. My grandfather, Antonios who married Malama Girdis (1850 – 1924), Hercules who married Theadora Scourdi, John, Costadi, Ourania, Theodosis, George (1876 – 1918) who married Melpomeni (1879 – 1964) and Demitrios. Of these, only the families of Antonios and Hercules (Iraclis) migrated to Australia. It is not known why Australia was chosen as the preferred country to which to migrate, as lots of migrants leaving Asia Minor at that time went to America.
It was likely because the Girdis family, who were first cousins, had sent their eldest son John Girdis to Australia to see what opportunities were here. He probably arrived in Melbourne where there was a considerable number of Greeks from Asia Minor already living.
The sons of Antonios Lathouras, brothers Jack (Ioanis), Jim (Demitrios), Mick (Michalis) and Mark (Markos) left Asia Minor prior to the First World War in 1914, because of the unsettled times with the Turks. The problem was that the Turks were conscripting young Greek males for the Turkish army, and indoctrinating them in the Muslim faith. These young men were referred to in the derogatory name of Gianitsary, meaning Greeks brought up by the Turks.
Jack Lathouras was the first to arrive in Australia. He was born in Volos in 1885, and arrived in Melbourne on 11 November 1906 on a German ship (unknown name). He worked for three years in Melbourne, most probably in cafes, fish shops and oyster bars owned by the compatriots (People from Asia Minor). In 1909 he arrived in Brisbane and found work in the Coffee Palace situated on 374- 376 George St. Jack lived upstairs above the shop which was owned by John Girdis.
He later went to Ingham, North Queensland, as a cane cutter. The wages paid were about double of that you could earn in cafes. He also opened a small general store in Ingham. He returned to Brisbane about 1914, and he bought the Coffee Palace from John Girdis, whose brothers, Steve and George Girdis opened a Melba Café in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, while John and Mark Girdis opened a café milk bar in Toowoomba.
Jim (Demitrios) was next to arrive, Jim was born according to his naturalization papers, on 20th October 1889 in Salonika, Greece. All the birth dates would have been purely guess work as Greeks did not celebrate birthdays in those days. The custom was to celebrate the saints’ day by which they were named. It is possible many Greek immigrants used the date of the saints’ day as their date of birth. It has also been noted in the research that the place of birth varied considerably, most likely because of the timing of their migration to Australia. As war clouds were building in Europe, and as Turkey was the enemy, the brothers coming from Asia Minor, would have not wanted to be considered as Turks as this could have impacted their ability to immigrate. Hence various places other than Asia Minor were declared in legal documentation.
Jim Lathouras travelled to Australia on the maiden voyage of the S.S Koopa, which arrived on December 26th, 1911. The ship later became an excursion vessel for school trips and travelled to Redcliffe and Bribie Island at weeks-ends for picnics. In later years when I accompanied my father on the wood run at Kangaroo Point, we would see the Koopa moored at Customs House, across the river. He would always tell me that he came to Australia on that ship.
The story has it, but it has not been verified, that Jim disembarked in Cairns thinking he had arrived in Brisbane. The SS. Koopa was a steam ship, which made me wonder why he disembarked in Cairns, as most other migrants arrived in Australia via Fremantle, WA, Melbourne, VIC or Sydney, NSW. Further investigation from the maritime museum found that the SS Koopa, being a steam ship had to sail close to land so as to be able to load coal or wood for its bunkers. Its maiden voyage left from Leith in Scotland on the 17th October 1911, and travelled via Egypt, Colombo, Indonesia, around Cape York and down the Queensland coast. Jim boarded the ship in Egypt. It is not known if he was a passenger or part of the crew.
He disembarked in North Queensland and he worked in Ingham for two years cutting cane, and then later in Cairns where he lived and worked for seven years.
It has been said that my father’s brothers wondered what had become of him. Another Greek migrant coming back from Cairns met my uncles and mentioned that he met a Demitrios Lathouras who was cutting cane in Cairns. So one of my uncles was dispatched to bring him back to Brisbane where he also worked and lived at the Coffee Palace in George St.
Mick (Michalis) arrived next. He was born on the 20th July 1895 in Athens, according to his papers. He arrived in Melbourne on the ship “Micereri” on the 24th December 1910, and later came to Brisbane. He was very young at the time, and Jack took him to Ingham where he was sent to school to learn English and the three R’s, as the other brothers’ language and writing skills were limited. Mick would ride to school on horseback. When Jack and Mick returned to Brisbane, in 1914, Mick started work at the Coffee Palace.
Mark (Marcos) was also born in Athens, on the 12th October 1896, and arrived in Brisbane on the 12th October 1914 on the “SS Sundar”. Like his brothers, Mark also worked and lived at the Coffee Palace in George St. Some of the brothers may have worked part time at the Paris Café which was situated upstairs, near the corner of George and Queen St, not far from the department store of Allan and Stark. (This was later taken over by Myer Department store).
While the Lathouras brothers worked at the Coffee Palace, they acquired a farm at Kuraby on the outskirts of Brisbane. It was not exactly known what they intended to produce, but I know that they had a citrus orchard (lemons), probably tried to start a vineyard and grow tobacco which was what they knew from Asia Minor. (Kuraby is now a large residential area of Brisbane).
The Lathouras Brothers walked off the Kuraby farm in the mid 1930’s.
Around 1920, the Lathouras brothers decided to sell the Coffee Palace, and move to Bundaberg.
They acquired a building, at 41 Bourbong St, in the middle of the main street. The building had two floors and there was ample area for accommodation upstairs. Downstairs was a café milk bar, named “Café Royal”. All the Lathouras brothers worked and lived there. It has to be noted here that they were working long hours, were industrious and determined to succeed with a sense of responsibility and destiny. They refurbished the café’ with beautiful solid silky oak chairs and tables, installed refrigeration, and a marble soda fountain for making ice cream sodas or as some call “spiders”. They made their ice-cream in a room at the back, where they also built a kitchen. There was another freestanding building at the back of the café, which was converted into a confectionary factory. Mick and Mark were the confectioners. The brothers showed a lot of perseverance and ingenuity and it could be said that they were very innovative. They had silver tea service and utensils, with crockery they imported from England. The crockery was embossed with their own logo. “Lathouras Brother” was written with calligraphy on the sides of the crockery.
As business improved they opened a second café called the “Elite Café”, with the same diligence and artistic flair as was put into the Café Royal. Similar ideas were incorporated there with mirrored back bars, glass shelves to hold glasses and ice cream dishes, signs and drawings of their ice creams and drinks painted on the mirrors, and lights close together over the curved tops of the back bars. It looked very impressive.
The menu in those days was not cordon bleu. It consisted of mainly light refreshments such as ham and eggs, toasted sandwiches, fresh fruit and tea and coffee. They had ice creams sodas, malted milks, milkshakes, in a variety of flavours, and ice cream sundaes with whipped cream, wafers and a cherry top. They had also banana splits and parfaits. All ice creams were served at the table or at the bar with a cold glass of water. (The bar had fixed stools).
There were three cinemas in Bundaberg, so the cafes were always busy before and after screenings. It would be after midnight before work for the day would finish.
As mentioned earlier, Mick and Mark were the confectioners in the family. Mick made a large range of sweets but specialized in chocolate, which won prizes at the Brisbane Royal Show. Mark made a larger range of sweets including peppermint twists, Humbugs (aniseed balls), peanut brittle, honeycomb, rocky road, fruit jubes and my favourite, coconut logs, which was a nougat bar covered with marshmallow and shredded coconut. Mark also made other chocolate varieties and chocolate and sugared Easter eggs at Easter time.
Another innovative idea they introduced was fruit salad ice blocks and chocolate coated ice cream on a stick. I think they were the first to introduce a chocolate coated heart, but they ran into trouble as a larger ice cream company in Brisbane started to make them, and registered the name. Not to be outdone they introduced the club and diamond instead. Café Royal sold clubs and the Elite sold the diamond ice creams.
As time progressed other meals were made available, such as grills, roasts of the day, fish and chips, casseroles, soups and three course meals.
The Lathouras brothers were very popular in Bundaberg. Although there was some racial animosity, generally they were respected for the services they provided to the town. Such was the esteem they held in the community that they were honoured to have a street in South Bundaberg named after them. (A park is planned to carry their name in the near future). The cafes were like meeting places for the locals, just like the Kafenia (Coffee Houses) in Greece, where the Greeks gathered to talk and enjoy their coffee.
I assume that the brothers were lonely. They were bachelors, working long hours. At the time, Charles Londy and his family ran the Bluebird Café, and the Lewis brothers had a wine saloon and a fish shop with a dance hall upstairs. They would have got together over a Greek coffee and reminisce about old times.
There were others that came to Bundaberg to work such as Jim (Iraclis) Lathouras, Con Catimergis, Jack Drakos, Con Droungas, and Nicholas Garalis who married their Mariyi (Maria). They were all compatriots.
By the early 1920’s the brothers decided it was time to marry and raise a family. Jack, being the eldest, was the first of the brothers to marry. In 1922 he married Aphrodite Droundgas, a 36 year old whom he met in Sydney on her arrival and later married her there. It would have been an arranged marriage as Greek weddings were in the early days. Probably arranged by Con Droungas who was working in Bundaberg at the time. I’d doubt if there were any honeymoons in those days, just marry and return to work. There were plenty of match makers, as a lot of the young men wanted to bring their young female relatives from Greece because of the circumstances and their evacuation from Asia Minor.
Jim (Demitrios) married my mother, Kyriacoula Cholakos on 9th June 1923 in Brisbane. No doubt arranged by her brother Nicholas Cholakos who also worked in Bundaberg. Kyriacoula Lathouras came to Australia with her mother, Maria Cholakos, who lived in Kyriakoula for most of her life, except for a few years when she lived at her son’s house. John had lost a wife and left five young children. Maria took over the raising of the children until John remarried. Maria was known to all as Kalomana (Good Mother). She was a grand old lady and was responsible for installing the Greek customs and Greek Orthodox traditions to all the young members of the family.
Kyriacoula’s History
Kyriacoula Lathouras, my mother, escaped Alatsata to Chios. They waited for a long time before deciding to leave as they did not want to leave their home, but when the Greek Commander arrived he advised them to leave, as the Turks would seek retributions. She managed to board a raft with other young people and float to the Island of Chios. Kyriacoula was to be met by a relative who was a nun in a monastery in Chios which was very close to the mainland of Asia Minor and Smyrna, about 5 or 6 km away. On arrival in Chios there was no one there to meet her so she was forced to sleep on the beach that night. The next morning the relative came down from the monastery and met her.
After Kyriacoula escaped to Chios, her father, my grandfather, Constandino Cholakos was taken prisoner, never to be seen again. My grandmother hid in a cave for several days, suffering from hunger and thirst. Some young men, who managed to obtain a boat to rescue their families, told Kyriacoula that her mother was safe and they would try and bring her to Chios. This they did. Mother and daughter were reunited in the monastery where they stayed until Kyriacoula’s brother, Nicholas, brought them both to Australia.
An unusual situation developed then, once my parents married. They lived with Jack and Aphrodite, and the other two brothers in an open area on top of the Café Royal. I was told by my mother, Kyriacoula, that they strung two clotheslines across the hall and hung blankets for privacy.
This state of affairs could not last, so Jack purchased a house at 34 Woongarra St, a workers cottage on high stumps. This left Jim and Kyriacoula still above the shop, where I was born, so later another house was purchased at 18 Woondooma St. This was a low set Queenslander with verandas front and sides, three bedrooms, a sleep out, kitchen and a dining and lounge room. These houses were within walking distance of the cafes but nearly everyone rode bicycles, which was the popular mode of transport at the time.
When the Woondooma St house was purchased, the brothers decided to try a new venture, selling ice creams on the streets of Bundaberg and to small townships, close by, such as Gin Gin and Bargara, Bundaberg’s main beach. They became travelling ice cream vendors. An ice cream room was built at the back of the house, as well as a stable for five horses, and an attached feed and tack room. The additions were built very professionally, and there was room at the back of the stable which ran down to Saltwater Creek, a tributary of the Burnett River. This afforded space for the horses to graze.
Two ice cream carts with canvas canopies were also purchased. The Lathouras brother’s logo was printed on the sides, with racks to hold bottles of flavours. The ice cream was kept in metal cans about 20cm in diameter and about 70cm high. These were placed in a wooden barrel, about the same height, but about 40cm wide. Broken ice was packed around the can and topped with a coarse salt with hessian sugar bags packed around the top and rammed down tight to keep the ice cream cans in place and keep the ice cream frozen.
They had five horses, including one black mare called Mary, which like the nursery rhyme was very contrary. One had to be careful how she was approached. Another was a white stallion called Prince. He was inclined to break out of the paddock at the back of the stables, taking all the other horses with him. When this happened, some of the brothers would have to trek all over Bundaberg to round them up. The other horses, Tom, another white horse, and two chestnut horses, Spot and Max, were much tamer. Prince would lash out with his front leg when being hosed down after a day’s work. I remember once my Godfather Nicholas Garalis, being knocked down by Prince, onto the muddy ground.
I also remember an incident that happened when I was home for lunch, as school was close to home. Jack Drakos, who was Kyriacoula’s first cousin, was working for the Lathouras Brothers in the shops as well as doing the ice cream run. The ice that was used in the ice cream cart was broken up in a large wooden box. Jack was standing in the box breaking up the ice with a shovel when the shovel slopped and almost severed his big toe. First aid was applied by the family, but he still went on the run contrary Mary pulling the cart. While on the run, something spooked the horse and Mary bolted. Jack,with his injured toe, lost control and jumped out of the cart. Mary, who knew her way home, returned alone.
While we were having lunch, we heard an enormous crashing sound at the side of the house and everybody rushed out to investigate. The cart was lying on its side and Mary was lying on the ground in the shafts, but there was no sign of Jack. About half an hour later, Jack limped up to the house. It appears that when Mary entered the yard she crashed up against the corrugated iron fence. Luckily Mary suffered no serious injury, but the cart needed some repairs.
For many years I spent my annual holidays in Bundaberg. I was always reminded of that day the scars of that incident were still visible on the corrugated iron fence next door.
During these times, the brothers brought their sisters Ourania, Mariyi and Eftihia to Australia. Ourania, who was a very good dressmaker and embroiderer, opened a business in a small shop besides the café royal, which was part of the same building. She worked there until her marriage.
Ourania had been married before coming to Australia, to a young Greek man whose name is not known, and who was killed by the Turks shortly after their marriage. The young widow had intentions of becoming a nun at a monastery in Chios, where she learnt her sewing skills. She was skilful at making vestments for the Greek Orthodox priests. After several years there she decided that life of a nun was not for her and she left the monastery and came to Australia and eventually married Jim (Demitrios) Bachadouris (Douris). They married in a double wedding ceremony with Mick Lathouras who married Ourania Catimergis on the 26th January 1926, at St Lukes, an Anglican church in Charlotte St in Brisbane. Mick and Ourania also lived in the house at Woondooma St, while v and Jim bought a house in Thomas St, West End.
Their neighbours were the George Girdis family and the Jim Galis (Galia) family. The three houses were side by side, with the Galis family in the middle.
During the early years of the Greek Orthodox Church in Brisbane, Ourania made a lot of the vestments and other church requirements, and organised the import of icons from the monastery where she still maintained contact.
Maria Cholakos, my grandmother, was also strongly involved in this task as she also had relatives in the monastery. Ourania, Maria and Kyriacoula were foundation members of the Ladies Philoptohos (Ladies Auxiliary of the Church) and were involved in this cause until their death.
Mariyi, who was married to Nicholas Garalis, stayed in Bundaberg for a short time, but returned to Brisbane and lived in a small cottage at 14 Merivale St, South Brisbane. Nicholas worked in various cafes and also for a period of time, managed the first Greek Club (Kafenion) in Charlotte St. They had a daughter Roseanthe, born in 1913. She unfortunately died in Brisbane in 1928 and was buried at Toowong cemetery. (Many years later her Aunt Ourania passed away, and was buried in the same grave.) All this was too much to bear for the Garalis family and Mariyi, together with Mariyi’s sister Eftihia, and Nicholas returned to Athens. On their return, Eftihia married Demitrious Manjavelakis and later had a son named Fonda.
As there was no Greek church in Brisbane, priests from Sydney visited Brisbane from time to time to perform ceremonies of marriage, baptisms and funerals at St Lukes in Charlotte St. Funerals were also performed by Anglican or Catholic priests if a Greek priest was not available. The first Greek Church, named St George was built later, next to the Greek Club, just a few doors down from St Lukes.
Around 1928, the Lathouras brother’s partnership dissolved. Mick and Jack took over the Elite Café and Mark kept the Café Royal. Mark purchased new crockery and tea services with his own logo “Mark Lathouras” marked in blue calligraphy on the side. Mick was once again very innovative by installing his own diesel generator for the electricity supply at the Elite Café.
Mark was the last brother to be married. A marriage was arranged with Maritsa Kanioridis. Mark went to Sydney, met Maritsa and married her there in June 1929.
About 1930, they made another attempt to grow tobacco in Bundaberg, on a cane farm. I remember all the families going to the farm and planting the young tobacco plants using a round pointed stick to make hole for the seedlings. The government at the time was trying to establish a tobacco industry in Queensland, but as it turned out, the conditions in Bundaberg did not suit the tobacco crop. Later, an industry of tobacco growing was successful in North Queensland.
The Lathouras Brothers were not the sporting type, except for Mick. He tried his hand as a boxer, played rugby league and was involved in the administration of the Wanderers, a Bundaberg rugby league club. He played lawn bowls along with his brother Mark, liked fishing and game shooting. He also acquired two cocker spaniel dogs for duck shooting. He was involved in horse racing and owned a horse named Ruffle King, which won a few races in Bundaberg, but it was not as successful in Brisbane, Mick told all the relatives it was a sure thing to win, so they pull all their money on it, but unfortunately it lost. Mick used to think it was a great joke. He laughed his head off, when the relatives complained about losing all their money.
Mick had a wide range of friends in the Bundaberg community, including pioneer aviator Bert Hinkler, who I remember meeting as a small child. He was also an active member of the Rotary Club and a member of the Greek Community of St George Council. He represented the Greeks who lived in the Wide Bay / South Burnett areas of South East Queensland for many years. His name is commemorated on a marble plaque with the names of the original council members at the Greek Church of St George in Brisbane.
The Lathouras brothers and their wives managed to produce a number of children.
In 1923, Jack and Aphrodite gave birth to a son Antony, who had an intellectual disability. He contracted meningitis when he was about three years old. George was born in 1925 and Theo (Theodosi) in 1927.
Demitrious and Kyriacoula had me on the 2nd of March 1924, upstairs over the Café Royal. My brother Con (Constandinos) was born on 30 May 1931 in front of the bedroom of 18 Woondooma St. I remember being bundled into bed early that evening and I could not sleep. About midnight I was taken into the mina bedroom to see my new born brother.
Ourania and Demitrios Bachadouris gave birth to Christopher in 1926, Antony in 1928 and Mick (Michael) in 1930. Christopher served in the Australian Army in New Guinea. He was a signals operator and was a trained radio technician. After the war he worked for the Dutch Air Force which was based in Brisbane. While testing instruments on the aircraft on a training flight, the plane crashed in Moreton Bay. There were no survivors and no sign of the aircraft. To this day it is still a mystery as to how the accident happened. Demitrios died in Athens when on vacation in 1967 and was buried there. Ourania died in 1988 and was buried with her niece at Toowong Cemetery.
Mick and Ourania gave birth to the most welcomed child, Goldie (Malama), the youngest of the Lathouras cousins, after a sixteen year wait. When Mick died Ourania and Goldie came to Brisbane and purchased a house. Goldie found work with a large men’s clothing manufacturer named Stubbies. She started as a bookkeeper, progressed to become the executive secretary of the Managing Director, and later the staff administrator.
Jack and Aphrodite were not in good health. Jack died on 26th June 1937 and was buried at the Bundaberg cemetery. On the 7th November 1937, Aphrodite passed away in Brisbane, and was buried at the Toowong cemetery. This left the three boys as orphans. Mick and Ourania having no children at the time took them to their home and brought them up as their own. There became a problem with Tony, as he was now a teenager it was difficult to communicate with him. He acted like a three year old toddler. It got to the stage where Mick and Ourania could not cope and Tony was admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital in Goodna, just outside Brisbane.
George and Theo continued their schooling in Bundaberg and when reaching leaving age worked at the Elite Café. When George was eighteen he joined the army and served time in New Guinea and in Borneo. On returning he continued work at the Elite Café. When Mick died in 1957, George, Theo and Mick’s brother in law, Con Catimergis took over the Elite. Unfortunately they could not buy the building as it was a deceased estate and was not for sale for various reasons in the testament of the original owners. Ourania died in 1985 in Brisbane and was buried with Mick in the Bundaberg Cemetery.
Mark on the other hand was fortunate to buy the freehold of the Café Royal and also an old theatre building in the rear facing Woongarra St. It was called Queens Theatre. He also converted an extension behind the upstairs hall of the Café Royal into residential accommodation where he lived until retirement. He also built several shops a few doors up from the Royal. Mark’s daughters married and left Bundaberg, (Rose in Brisbane and Chrissa at Nambour), and upon retirement, his son Ben (Panagiotis) took over the running of the Royal as well as the confectionary manufacturing. When Mark and Maritsa moved to Brisbane, they purchased a house in the Hill End, Brisbane. Mark died in 1984 and Maritsa in 1989 and both are buried at the Mt Gravatt Cemetery.
Demitrios and Kyriacoula sold the ice cream run in Bundaberg and returned to Brisbane in 1932. They lived with Kyriacoula’s brother Nicholas at 39 Princhester St, West End for a short time before purchasing a property at 10 Spring St, where there were two cottages.
Demitrios decided to try the ice cream business again and purchased a piebald (brown and White) horse and built an ice cream cart. He also built an ice cream room in the front of the back house and a stable for the horse, at the back of the house. Business started by selling ice cream in the streets of West End, Hill End, South Brisbane and Highgate Hill. He only went out selling in summer as there was not much demand for ice cream in the winter. He took the horse to the Kuraby farm to be looked after during the winter.
As there was a depression in Australia at the time, the ice cream business was not very profitable. The large ice cream company, Peters was selling ice creams to all the small grocery stores in the area, so reluctantly Demitrios retired from the ice cream business.
Around 1934, my father met another Greek by the name of Demitrios Spinos from Chios, who was originally from Chesme in Asia Minor, and they decided to start up a firewood run. At the time houses only had wood stoves. The wood was used for cooking, heating and for laundry requirements. They purchased a used 1927 Chevrolet truck and drove it to Kingston which was then a bush and dairy farming area outside the city. Blocks of wood were purchased from saw millers and delivered to the yard on the Sprint St property, where they built a shed with wood saplings and a corrugated iron roof. They split the wood with axes, bagged it in potato bags and loaded it on the truck and drove to the Kangaroo point area, as West End and South Brisbane was already serviced by another wood supplier. Business went well and by 1936 they purchased a new Chevrolet truck. This went on for a while, and I am not sure of the reasons but the partnership eventually dissolved. Demitrios Spinos started his own run, working from his home in Granville St, adjacent to Sprint St.
My father, Demitrios, had a hearing defect called Otosclerosis, a hereditary condition which was inherited form his mother Malama Lathouras nee Girdis. This condition deteriorated until he became profoundly deaf. Hearing aids at the time were very bulky and were not powerful enough for his severe hearing loss. Fortunately, Demitrios was good at lip reading. This condition unfortunately has also been passed on to several members of the Lathouras and Girdis Families.
These days, this condition can be treated with an operation called Stapedectomy which involves removal of the three small bones in the ear called stapes (hammer, stirrup and anvil) and replaced by a piece of stainless steel wire and Teflon. Also the advance in hearing aid technology is amazing with the advent of miniature digital hearing aids.
Demtrios got a job in the Brisbane fish markets cleaning and filleting fish. He worked for an old Greek man who had a lease on a large tub that was used to clean the fish. The old man died and Demitrios took over the leasehold and ran it as his own business, employing other people on piece work. Demitrios worked there until his death in 1947. This business was very successful, and at the time of his death, he had acquired four houses. My mother lived comfortably on the rentals and by taking borders. Kyriacoula died in 1986.
My brother, Con, and I took up trades. I undertook a five year apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, while Con served an apprenticeship as a French polisher.
After finishing my apprenticeship I started my own furniture business with my cousin Alex Cholakos. We later sold the business and moved on to retailing. Con, Alex and I purchased a mixed grocery store at Bulimba, name it Bulimba Food Store. We worked there for six long years, working long hours.
After selling that business, I went into the self-service grocery business in a small store on Hardgrave Road, West End, Brisbane. The business later progressed into a larger store in the heart of West End shopping area. My store was named “Cut Price Store”, and I was a founding member of the group, the first grocery discount group in Queensland. I worked there for twenty five years until retirement.
Con worked at Tip Top Bakery, becoming supervisor in the delivery department. He worked there until retirement.
The Bahadouris boys, Antony and Mick also worked in the food services industry at various shops in Brisbane, first in West End with their father and later at Kenmore. Their father Demitrios also ran a wood run from their house in Thomas St, West End, prior to running the grocer shop in Hardgrave Rd.
George Lathouras left the Elite and came to Brisbane to further his children’s education. He started a milk bar and takeaway “Pearl Milk Bar” at Mt Gravatt central, and built a house at Mt Gravatt. Theo Lathouras was left to run the Elite with Con Catimergis. Upon Con’s death, Theo took over the business on his own. George died in 1999 and is buried at Mt Gravatt Cemetery.
Over the years the brothers purchased a few automobiles. In the late 1920’s a Chevrolet utility was purchased. The utility had seating on the side, and a canopy on top. It was often used for picnics at Bargara, Elliot Heads and Burnett Heads. Mick in later years purchased many other cars including Ford and Pontiacs. Mark purchased an unusual car, an old Armstrong Siddley Sedan. It was one of the first cars to have a semi-automatics transmission. My father finally purchased a 1936 Ford Coupe, which was mostly used by me in my growing years. That car held a lot of pleasant memories for me. Both the Armstrong Siddley and the Ford Coupe would have been collector’s items today.
I trust you enjoyed reading about the life and times of the Lathouras Brothers. I am very proud to have been a part of their lives and their dreams for the future.
From left Ourania Bachadouris, Aphrodite Lathouras, Eftihia Manzavellaki, Mick (Antony) Lathouras, Fonda Manzavellakis, Jim (Hercules) Lathouras, Baby Antony (John) Lathouras
The Lathouras families and other Greeks at Elliot Heads near Bundaberg
34 Woongarra St. Bundaberg
