KALIOPE MATHEOU nee CHRISTOFIS
Born 14 April 1901 Alaçati Asia Minor
Memories of my early childhood in Alaçati are of a happy and comfortable life living with my family in a two storey house. We owned farming land at various locations situated at Iliça, Bouda, Reisderi and Agrilia Beach. We grew grapes, olives for oil, figs and wheat of which some were bartered for other goods.
The farthermost vineyard, located at Iliça, was half a day’s walk and we would stay here until harvesting was complete. There were grass huts (tsarthakia) built on the property where we would live. Whilst the adults tended to the vines, I remember playing with my cousins on the beach. We would choose the smoothest stones and pretend they were our baby dolls.
Although we worked hard cultivating the land, celebrations for name days were an event we always looked forward to. These gatherings were called “Loutourma”. Everyone would gather in the courtyard, eat, drink and be merry, playing the “toubeleki” and singing laika songs.
In 1914 our life as we knew it came to an end with the “first thiogmo (expulsion)”. Leaving behind all our possessions, we made our way to Thessalonica. With no home and no place to stay, we found refuge in the Lefko Pyrgo. I remember my parents using a piece of timber as a bed while the children slept on the ground.
After two years and the death of two children, we returned to Alaçati. Our home and farms had been looted and destroyed. Slowly we began to rebuild the life that we had known before.
In 1922 with the second thiogmo, we had to leave again. This time we knew it was for good. As refugees again we travelled to Chios and Samos. We finally settled in Chania in Crete, and began a new life. The government’s intention was to allocate us with house and land to the value of property lost in Asia Minor. The exchange however, was not equivalent.
Kaliope Matheou migrated to Australia with her niece, the youngest daughter of her widowed brother, on the 11th January 1949. Gradually the remaining family followed. By the 18th February 1957, the family were reunited in Brisbane, Queensland. Kaliope Matheou was the pioneer for her brother Kosta and his family settling in Brisbane. She passed away on the 7th April 1991.
Submitted by Anna Sarikas