Images of the Greek Family in Australia 1900's-1970's
Introduction
The thesis has examined the 'continuities and changes' that have occurred in Greek family life in Australia. It has placed the Greek family in an Australian context in an effort not to isolate it and treat the Greek family as though it existed in a vacuum divorced from Australian society. In so doing, the thesis has also documented an aspect of Australian immigration history which was previously unknown.
The first generation, the early Kytherian and Castellorizan migrants came to Australia to flee political persecution, starvation and possibly to find adventure. They came as very young men with the inducement of relatives and friends who spoke of Australia's wonderful opportunities. There was no government assistance to south Europeans before the war and they came as a result of a process referred to as 'chain migration'.
Upon arrival in Australia they found an organised and supportive Greek community which was able to offer them food and shelter. The Kytherian community in particular, functioned on a familial basis. Thus although family life was not a part of early settlement in Australia there were other supportive organisations which functioned as substitutes until the early Kytherian and Castellorizan settlers formed their own families. The early settlers laid the foundations of 'Greekness', they inculated within their children, the second generation, an awareness of their Greek heritage and culture, not so much out of loyalty for the family.
The first generation Kytherians who spent the greater part of their lives in the country where the threat of migrants was less immediate, tended to introduce Greek culture to their children in a less obvious and more subtle way. They were less evangelical in their desire to retain the Greek culture within their children. Nevertheless they were still equally concerned with making them aware of themselves as Greeks, and as belonging to a distinct group of people whose culture would be dissipated and divided if intermarriage took place. They were not any more prepared to assimilate than the Castellorizans who were very severe in the introduction of 'Hellenism' to their children. The Castellorizan parents living in the city,
Castellorizian insularity
where anti-foreign sentiment prevailed, were determined to shield their children from any immoral and dangerous influences within the Australian community. The daughters in particular, were severely restricted. This was partly due to the severe seclusion of women practiced on the island of Castellorizo but was exacerbated by the anti-southern European sentiments displayed by the British Australian society before the Second World War. One is not suggesting of course, that Castellorizan insularity and restrictive attitudes towards the daughters was totally a product of Australian hostility. Their desire to perpetuate the culture and style within their own ethnic group was not a reaction to Australian prejudice towards southern Europeans but a desire to mix with people who had similar customs and beliefs to themselves. However, one can assume that if an ethnic group feel their culture threatened, they are likely to be intent on preserving it.
The Castellorizan parents were not preoccupied with being accepted as equal by the Australian community nor did they dwell on the anti-southern sentiment. They were far too concerned with achieving some measure of economic success in their new country. However the prejudice in the late 1930's and the 1940's did affect their second generation children who were born in Australia and resented not being accepted as equals. The prejudice they saw and experienced growing up in Greek families in inner city migrant suburbs made the second generation strongly committed to social mobility. Their childhood and upbringing an and the influences within the Australian society at the time strongly influenced the nature of the second generation Greek family that was later to emerge.
Traditional Family
When the second generation married, they formed a family which was a synthesis of the Greek and Anglo Saxon norms. The second generation changed the traditional Geek family that their parents brought out with them. The had wrought major structural changes in the traditional family structure. Greek language and Greek Orthodox religion were no longer the distinguishing features of the Greek Australian family that emerged in the late 40's, 50's and 60's. Greek morality and authority had been changed. The man was no longer the sole decision maker, the wife was no longer secluded but was at liberty to work if she so wished and to socialize independently o of her husband. The features of the new Greek Australian family were not evident in Greece, though changes had occurred in the urban center, they had been limited and few.
Second Generation
The features of the new Greek Australian family were partly determined by influences within the Australian environment such as industrialisation and urbanisation which greatly changed the character of Australian society after the Second World War, and was also determined by the changes in class status from the first to the second generation. A similar observation was made by George Kourvetaris while examine mobility patterns of first and second generation Greeks in Chicago,
" as one moves from the first generation of Greek immigrants to that of the American born second generation, one finds a change in status which reflects the status system of the large American society. " (1)
Although there were changes in the second generation families in Australia which reflected the values of the Australian middle classes, there were also continuities such as a desire to keep the extended family together by making sure that their children marry endogenously. Although the second generation, after having experienced a strict upbringing, could not insist that their children maintain contact within a totally Greek circle of friends, they did encourage them to join the Greek Australian organisations in order for them to meet Greek friends.
Third Generation
The third generation was also influenced by their parents in regard to endogamous marriage. They retained some contact with Greek culture mainly through their grandparents, however they were far too detached from the initial migrant experiences to be motivated in the same way as their parents. They were middle class children with middle class concerns. They had not had to experience 'struggle' like their parents. Thus they did not have the same emotional commitment to 'education' and achievement. The second generation parents felt that educational advancement would give their children the status they were denied.
The difference which existed between the second and third generation in regard to education, career and Greek morality were not a result of a movement away from the core of Greek culture but a result of class changes in the third generation.
Thus changes in the Greek family in Australia cannot be totally explained in terms of 'ethnicity'. Instead, all influences must be examined if cultural change within an immigrant group is to be understood.
