Bangalow

In about 1905/06 Nick Nicholoudes came to Byron Creek, officially named Bangalow in 1907 with its gazettal as an ‘Urban Centre’, and established an oyster saloon at a time when records show there were no refreshment rooms or dining rooms anywhere in town. At the turn of the century the place only consisted of a store, hotel, sawmill, school, post office, railway station and four dwellings, but by the time of Nick’s arrival growth was underway as the dairy industry rapidly expanded, helped along by the formation of 32 new dairy farms with the break-up of the 'Garvan Estate' in 1905. In 1906 when the Police District of Bangalow was created by being hived off from Byron Bay, a district population of 2448 was recorded, bigger numbers than in the Byron Bay and Mullumbimby districts. By 1911 the township was bigger than Mullum and only marginally smaller than the Bay.

So Nick should have had a captive clientele from all the single dairyfarm hands around, mainly Scotsmen, but he seems to have walked away from the business in 1909, perhaps because the township itself still hadn’t reached a critical mass or the Scotsmen hadn’t yet been weaned off porridge and haggis. Shortly after he left however, two women launched refreshment room and dining room businesses and the following year two fruiterers opened up, suggesting that there was enough custom to make free-standing feedlots viable, independent of the set meal times of the pubs and boarding houses.

His decision to move on therefore, may have had more to do with 'alien' hassles. Like Murbah and Mullum at this time, the Bangalow/Byron district was suffering dreadfully from the highly infectious White Australia virus, with calls for draconian measures to quarantine its ‘Hindoo’ carrier. Norco took the major policing role in early 1904 when it resolved to ban the produce of dairy farms employing Hindoo labour because of the indubitable fact that there was no doubt that the Hindoo was not conducive of good butter (Yep, cross my heart), but couldn’t get the other factories to fall into line. By mid 1905 however, it was boasting that it was the largest dairy cooperative in the Southern Hemisphere and more in a position to exercise its muscle. The other creameries had surrendered by early 1906.

The ‘Hindoos’ then began wandering the countryside looking for a means of earning a quid and by early 1907 were causing the Bangalow Progress Association to begin making loud noises about aliens taking over the district. The noise got louder in mid 1907 when the loveable George Nicklin of Murbah added the Bangalow Herald to his newspaper stable. But the region lost its great crusader in early 1910 when, after 17 battle-scarred editorial years, he moved to Beerwah to become a banana grower. He was given a public farewell at Murbah where the speechmakers generated much humour by highlighting ‘his antipathy to Hindoos’. [The unrepentant George had been successfully sued by an unforgiving Hindoo for some earlier over-the-top public comments: …low-down Asiatics…filthy wretches….] His son, Frank Nicklin, became Premier of Queensland in 1957.

So if Nick was a particularly dark skinned Greek and into wearing funny hats he may have been caught up in this popular sport of Hindoo hounding and prudently decided to move on.  While there appears to be no further Greeks in Bangalow until 1913 when the Kytherian, Theo Bangi, turned up, it’s believed that one of the Andrulakis sons may have had a cafe here at some stage.

Theo Dimitri Bangi (Vangis) came across from the cosmopolitan town of Lismore and seems to have bought the fruiterer’s business of Annie Cass, possibly housed in an Andrulakis building. Annie, who appears to have arrived in town the previous year, then moved to a Murbah cafe (with that suspicious anglicised Greek name.) Theo had another go at establishing an oyster saloon, presenting his successful Lismore menu which featured oysters served up fried, battered, curried, stewed or devilled, and even au natural for the courageous, that had been well-received by Lismorites for many years. Yet it seems Bangalow, or at least the stomachs of immigrant Scotsmen, still wasn’t ready for this type of Greek enterprise, so in 1915 he sold out to E & A Haroupoulos who changed the orientation of the business into a purely fruiterers venture. Bangi then moved down to Coraki and did the same. (‘E’ was Emmanuel, but ‘A’ can only be conjectured, possibly his likely brother Athanasios.)

As was the case elsewhere, the term ‘fruiterer’ was a misnomer as these shops functioned in a wide variety of styles. A lot started out as purely fruit and veggie retailers, but most eventually incorporated confectionery, small goods, tobacco, grocery lines and the like, as well as serving as cafes and milkbars. Later still some evolved into the ubiquitous ‘corner stores’, others adding a range of retail lines to become general stores or mini supermarkets. Trust the Greeks to figure out that a fruiterer’s licence was cheaper than a cafe licence.

Athena Andrulakis, the daughter of Con Florias and Catherine Cochinea of Ithaca, also came across from Lismore around 1914/15 and established a small goods shop in town, possibly in her own freehold building her late husband had acquired sometime after the turn of the century. She became a substantial owner of land in Lismore, Bangalow, Woodburn and Sydney upon his death in Lismore in 1908, aged 50, and continued to build on the portfolio. Two blocks in Sydney were sold during the war through the local Bangalow auctioneer and the proceeds donated to the Red Cross. She was being pursued by a number of suitors and eventually bestowed her favours on a fellow Ithacan, Conis (perhaps Ionis) Vervorakis, the son of Athanasios and Vasiliki (nee Zervos). They were married at St Paul’s Church of England at Byron Bay in late 1916, but Athena retained the name Lakis under which she was recorded back in Lismore in 1917 (and in 1918 as Mrs Bangi - don't ask), and continued to trade as such until her death in Lismore in 1938. She lies next to her first husband, the illustrious Strati Andrulakis, in North Lismore.

By 1920 the lingering effects of the post war drought were still impacting on business; in the first quarter alone an estimated £500,000 was lost to the Richmond-Tweed region through the decline in dairy production. This probably prompted Tsicalas to sell out to Nick Theo Crethar mid year and return to the Tablelands via a stint in Lismore, although there were now four other fruiterers/cafes/refreshment rooms in town giving some hot competition and lending weight to the decision. George spent about 18mths in Lismore, managing Mick Catsoulis’s Fresh Food Supply Co, before opening the Olympia Café at Tenterfield, which he struggled with until 1934 when he was beaten by the Depression and subsequently re-established in Lismore. Meanwhile Athanasios Haropoulos had disappeared, leaving Emmanuel to take in the unlucky Emmanuel Harry Mavris (Mavromikhail) as a partner, but they too moved out in late 1920, possibly selling to J. Oddie of Ballina.

Emmanuel Jacob Haropoulos (Haros), born in 1892 in the village of Manitohori at the southern end of Kythera, landed in 1909 (or 1911?) via 4yrs in Egypt and had spent a few years at Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby and Parkes before coming here in early 1915 to acquire the Bangi business. He and Mavris moved onto Murbah to have another go at earning a quid from the café game, but a couple of years later he decided that pig farming might be a more secure occupation. He bred and raised the beasties at Hearn Bay, near Campsie in Sydney, for the rest of his life.

Emmanuel Mavris had been in town only 6 or 7mths when he was wiped out in a disastrous fire at midnight on 27Apr1920. Flying shrapnel from the explosion of two 300psi ammonia cylinders powering the soda fountain in his premises also killed two fire fighters in the ‘Bangalow Herald’ office next door. His fruit and confectionery shop, in Leslie Street across the Railway line, along with the Herald office and three other adjacent buildings were totally destroyed.

He was born at Piraeus in 1893 and sailed into Sydney in 1910/11 via 7yrs in Egypt. He was accompanied on his Bangalow venture, his first time outside Sydney, by his new wife Iris and baby daughter Dorothy. It seems he linked up with Emmanuel Haropoulos after the fire and shortly afterwards they moved to Murbah, where they traded as Harol & Mavris for a couple of years until Mavris opened the first Greek cafe at Alstonville in mid 1922.

Nick Crethar also disappeared within six months. He acquired or established The Golden Gate Café in Nyngan in early 1921 and 3yrs later was joined by his family after 10yrs separation. He was born on Kythera in 1885 and was settled in Egypt by at least 1907. However, he sailed back across the water to Kythera in about 1913, married Eugenia, begat Stamatina and Despina and then came on alone to Australia, landing in Sydney in early 1914. He was another classic Kytherian wanderer and the coincidence of his appearance here perhaps presupposes a connection to all the other Crethars starting to invade the north coast at this time. And, like him, a lot of these Crethars had spent a few years in Egypt prior to arrival in Australia.

The economic base of the Bangalow district, along with most of the North Coast, continued to deteriorate. A public protest meeting over rates held at the A&I Hall in late 1926 disclosed that dairy farm values had fallen by 33% since 1920, while the Valuer-General’s valuations, adopted by the Byron Shire in 1923, had been made at the height of the banana and dairy land boom. Pre war had seen dairy land around Bangalow going for an average £35/acre, while post war it soared to £60, cracking £100/acre when a record regional price was paid for a local farm in late 1919 (at the height of one of the biggest droughts for many years.) The valuations (up 65%), coupled with a percentage rates increase by the Shire, had effectively raised rates by 115%, despite the average returns from dairy farming showing no increase since 1914 (in which year a Bangalow farmer milking a herd of 60 cows earned £21/7/9 for the year, claiming the lowest net income in the region. The fixing of the price of butter in 1915, while production costs continued to rise, compounded the problem, the farmers dubbing themselves 'slaves to the cow.')

Successful lobbying by Mr Missingham MLA during the election campaign of early 1927 had the Valuer-General agreeing to revisit all North Coast shires. But it was too late, as over the 12mths of continuing drought from 31Dec25 the Bangalow district suffered a staggering 10% population loss; just over 400 people. The township’s population had peaked in 1921 and thereafter spiralled downwards before stabilizing 70yrs later, from where it took almost to the end of the century to climb back to the 1921 figure of 1169 people. The dairy industry experienced its best ever returns over the period 1920-22, peaking in Jan21 with a butter cheque paid at the rate of 27½d per lb, but thereafter drifted inexorably south, hitting a low of 6½d in Feb34, until the post WW2 subsidies restored the 1921 price.

By the Depression Byron was the most financially stressed shire in the region. In 1931 the 'unimproved capital value' of £1,985,371 (with Tweed Shire the next highest on the North Coast on £1,845,457), was reassessed to £1,721,131, followed by another devaluation to £1,376,693 in Oct1933, while actual house prices in Bangalow had more than halved over the same period. This new Valuer-General’s assessment was delivered to the Councillors by the Shire Clerk along with the exciting news that the overdraft was now £11,319, exceeding by £974 the limit allowed by law, and unkindly adding I would point out that each councillor is personally liable to be surcharged any amount of expenditure incurred over the limit of overdraft..., which resulted in a resolution ...that all employees other than those engaged on subsidised works be dismissed and that the clerk be authorized to sue for outstanding rates, without discrimination. The council had been kind to the farmers, carrying defaulting ratepayers in the hope of a dairying turnaround, but by this time cumulative rate arrears had reached £7100.

The outlook for 1934 wasn’t looking good, with a reduction of £2,870 in income from rates because of the new ucv (it was decided to leave the general rate unchanged at 2d in the £), coupled with arrears of £5251 (the Clerk had done his best), rate exemption of Government lands wef 1Jan34 (loss of £334), reduction in Main Roads Board grants (loss of £750) and other sundry things, leaving the only good news an announcement by the Dept of Local Govt that the endowment/subsidy would be increased from £3000 to £3250 (£5250 until 1931), the sole LGA in the region to be so privileged. And 1934 turned out to be the year of the farmers' lowest income ever. In Feb34, coincidental with the all time low butter cheque to farmers, the council's overdraft again went way into the red and 25 of its 44 re-engaged staff were again welcomed back to the dole, including some of the indoor administrators.

Unaware of, or despite the gloomy outlook, the Samios Bros made a courageous decision and decided to bring back a Greek presence when Milton Dimitrios Samios came across from Mullum to acquire Oddie’s refreshment rooms in early 1925. Shortly afterwards he was joined by his brother Peter from Grafton and in early 1927 by the eldest brother, Paul, who had been in partnership with the fourth brother, Alex, in the early Mullumbimby period.

Fourteen-year-old Paul had landed in Sydney in early 1903 and initially worked for John and Nick Dimitrios Psaltis in the York Café at Kings Cross before becoming the manager of Peter Cassimaty’s oyster saloon in Pitt Street. Except for sojourns at Wingham and Tamworth as a fishmonger in 1917 and 1918 he spent most of his time in Sydney. He was the first brother into Mullumbimby in late 1921, but after passing the business to Alex six months later his movements are a bit hazy. It seems he spent another six months in Brisbane, thence Goulburn for about three years or so, before finally settling in Bangalow following another Sydney sojourn.

Thirteen-year-old Alex and nine-year-old Milton landed in late 1912 and were met by Paul, whom Milton set eyes on for the very first time, and escorted to prearranged jobs with Mina Anthony Comino in George Street. They spent about 4yrs in Sydney doing their obligatory Greek cafe apprenticeship and rudimentary English lessons before making their way north looking for a business opportunity of their own. They chose South Grafton, the base for hundreds of railway navvies who gave them ready-made customers. They started trading as Andrew & Samios, with Alex the gaffer of the Samios half, but the identity of the elusive ‘Andrew’ remains a mystery. It was another of Grafton’s notorious floods in about 1919, which saw Alex clinging to the cafe tables floating towards the ceiling that prompted his move to Tamworth, probably passing on his share of the business to his newly arrived brother Peter. He spent two years in Tamworth, thence a brief 6mth sojourn at Moree before linking up with Paul in Mullumbimby, where he was joined by Milton shortly afterwards.

Samios Bros became the first Greek presence of any substance and longevity in Bangalow, which by this time was a struggling commercial centre supporting 350 dairy farms, although the Progress Association was boasting 40,000 cows and 500 registered dairies in the wider Bangalow Police District (and trying to attract new settlers and tourists by marketing a therapeutic image: the air is of champagne-like quality with a tang of the sea.) There were still four other Australian owned refreshment rooms in Bangalow at that time, Smith's Cafe across the road being the greatest competition, but the Samios saw most of them off over the next 10 to 15 years. They acquired the freehold of their business, in the middle of the main street opposite the Commercial Bank, shortly after arrival and proceeded to demolish the old building and erect a new single storey brick edifice. It consisted of two shops, one a combination fruit shop and restaurant known as the Marble Bar Café, and the other rented out to a tailor. The Marble Bar was a commodious place, 18ft wide and 60ft deep, with all the latest architectural features, soda fountain and other cafe paraphernalia, leaving the existing cafes in the dark ages.

The brothers left progressively through to the early 1940s, Milton being the first in 1928 when he took over the management of the London Café in Brisbane while his brother Alex spent a year or so in Greece. In 1932 he too returned to Greece, where he married Constantina Samios, and upon return acquired the Paragon Café at Dalby (and begat The Honourable James Samios AM, MBE, BA, LLB Syd, MLC, a leader in multicultural affairs.) Peter was the next to move on, about the mid to late 1930s, when he went to Rockhampton to manage or acquire a share of the Blue Bird Café with his Lismore based sister Vasiliki and her husband Jack Feros. Paul and his wife Veneta  (nee Dawson) were the last to leave in about 1944. Alex and Milton remained the freeholders and owners of the building, while Paul became the business owner and agent for the shop next door, in which shop the tenant went bust in late 1929 owing a heap of rent.

Paul was a very keen bowls player and was still being featured in the newspapers as the Bangalow club’s mainstay into the 1940s. He was club champion in 1942 and President in 1943. He and the ebullient Tony Feros of the Byron Bay club were the stars of the Australian Greek Day bowl’s competition at Mullumbimby 28Feb41.

Paul led a more Australian mainstream lifestyle, growing away from his brothers and, because of his marriage, suffering a touch of the usual Greek ostracism. But the Sergeant of Police in Bangalow thought he was a bonzer bloke: ‘…lives as a good British subject and associates with all the better class of people of this town and district’.

Paul and Veneta suffered a blow on the night of 29Apr39, when a fire destroyed all their belongings and had them temporarily out of business. This fire, with a damage bill of £20,000, was described as one of the most disastrous in Bangalow’s history and destroyed the Granuaille Hotel, where they resided, and three buildings across the road. It occurred on a Saturday night and had over 50 nearby residents forming a bucket brigade to hold it at bay until the fire brigades from Lismore and Mullum arrived.

Paul introduced the locals to Greek coffee, a great urn of which continually bubbled away on the counter and was topped up regularly with a spoonful of the potent stuff until it could be eaten with a knife and fork, signalling it was time to brew another batch. Some brave locals survived to so testify. And these same courageous chaps swear his homemade pies were the best in the region. Nevertheless, by the early 1940s lack of labour and wartime rationing were starting to bite and his cafe, like a number of others in the region, became unviable, with his situation compounded by Bangalow’s continuing stagnation. He and Venetia initially went to Kyogle, where Paul became cafe manager in his brother Alex’s Cabaret Café for a while, until permanently settling in Sydney in the late 1940s. Their Bangalow shop, at number 11 Byron Street, continued as a cafe for a period in the hands of a Lebanese. (A few doors down at No 21 the Central Cafe in the hands of Mrs Ernie McNiven remained in business into the late 1950s.)

Henry Andrew (Harry) Lakes (aka Andrulakis and Lakis) came from Lismore in 1938/39 after his mother’s death and acquired Mrs E.A. Piggott’s cafe business in the Draper building on the corner of Byron and Station Streets, now known as ‘Bellitas’ and home to an antique shop. This building, constructed a little after the turn of the 19^th century, is one of the oldest in Bangalow and may have been the one originally owned by the Andrulakis family. In 1925, at the time the Samios arrived, it was known as The Corner Café and in the hands of Mrs R. Moulton, who had recently inherited it from Mrs R. Esilman who boasted that it was ‘Bangalow’s Best.’ Other strong competitors at the time were Mrs Pigott, then with The Strand Café, and Mrs F. Fairbairn, who ran her café in conjunction with a boarding house.

Harry diversified in the late 1940s when he opened a jeweller’s shop across the road from his cafe and, in early 1950, adding a hairdressing saloon and a fishing tackle sideline. He died under the name Lakes in 1953, age 59, and lies in the Presbyterian section of the Bangalow cemetery where he had prepaid for two plots, but his wife Minni (nee Raftopoulos) outsmarted him, selling up shortly afterwards and moving to Brisbane. Harry’s funeral was a large one and his mourners included members of the Bangalow Bowling Club and Progress Association, as well as Greeks from the local area led by Tony Feros of Byron Bay, to make sure he was laid to rest. Thereafter Jimmy Vlismas took up the challenge and carried on the Greek-Australian presence in town. (Harry's Corner Cafe remained in business into the late 1950s.)

Bangalow became a moribund sort of place through the 1940s/50s and by the mid 1950s the population was down to about 650. In the 4yrs to early 1954 the place had eight new dwellings erected, with only another three added in the next 4yrs. [Conversely, Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads and the rural hinterland of the Byron Shire had 82, 39 and 67 houses built in the four years to 1958, with respective totals over the past eight years of 149, 84 and 118, not to forget the many unrecorded shacks erected on banana leaseholds without 'Development Approval'.]

Paradoxically, the Mullumbimby Star Advocate of late 1954 reported a mini building boom, with the approval of a new two-storey cafe for Jimmy Vlismas amongst other things. This was another courageous decision, but gave the north coast one of the few new cafes of the era. And it was a classic example of the apogee of 'The Greek Cafe' after its long evolution from the oyster saloon, featuring black tiles lining the outside, interior walls panelled in Queensland maple, cubicles sporting plastic covered sponge rubber seats, tables of laminex and chrome, crystal cut mirrors behind a 17ft soda fountain and a separate snack bar. Upstairs was the residence. It opened as The Vogue Café on 2Nov54, on the site of the old bakery across the road from the pub at the top end of town, but shortly afterwards was trading as The Popular Café. Jimmy had his own bakery out the back where he made his famous ‘Vlismas Cakes’, which became well-known throughout the region. The cafe facade is still intact and recent refurbishment has recaptured a little of the ambience of the classic period.

Jimmy, the son of Con of Murwillumbah, was also a keen bowls player, becoming the club’s singles and pairs champion in 1968/69 and triples and fours champion in 1969/70. He went on to become a National Bowls Umpire. Bangalow and bowls seemed to be intertwined; the club, founded in 1910 next to the school, is the oldest in the whole Tweed-Byron Association. Jimmy sold the cafe in 1970 and moved on to Sydney, at which time catering to the passing highway trade and servicing Byron Bay through his bread run were the main side of the business. The cafe has the distinction of being the last in the region to make its own soda, the new owner removing the soda fountain paraphernalia in the early 1970s to make way for commercial soft drinks. It's namesake, the Popular in Mullumbimby, wears the honour as runner-up.

Ironically, it was Bangalow’s poverty that preserved all the old architecture and now makes the village so attractive to new settlers. ‘Modernisation’ and ‘progress’ were the catch cries post WW2 when Mullumbimby, Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads were zooming along. The Byron Shire and Mullumbimby Municipality Councils passed by-laws for the removal of all street verandah and awning posts in 1951, but Bangalow business houses couldn’t afford the expense and ignored the order despite many prosecutions. By 1956 the Byron Council had to rescind the order because ‘Bangalow businessmen are going through some torrid times…. Some businesses are carrying up to 75% of their customers and if council forces the issue it will result in hardship…’. The other towns in the shire were also going through a rough patch at this time but Bangalow’s was more sustained, and while there were still 660 dairies in the shire, down by over a hundred in just two years, most of the farmers were doing it hard, while others were shopping elsewhere with the rise of the car.

The number of dairy farms over the whole Richmond-Tweed district had peaked way back in 1934 and thereafter there was a steady decline. By 1937 there were still over 2,500 dairies in the Tweed-Brunswick district, registered and unregistered, but closures started to accelerate from the start of the war and by the late 1950s numbers had fallen considerably. The Government had attempted to prop up the industry in the early war years by kicking in with large subsidies in an effort to keep the farmers producing butter for Britain, but it only temporarily slowed the exodus. Post war the cunning Country Party kept the subsidies going and growing but still couldn’t stop the haemorrhaging, although continuing to prop up inefficient producers. By the late 1960s other rural industries were looking just as shaky, resulting in the national electors finally deciding to reward the Country Party with its lowest ever vote in 1972, believing the preaching of Saint Gough that 'it's time'  for him to have a go at working a miracle. 

A survey over 1961-64 showed the reality; average net farm income of north coast dairy farmers was the lowest of any dairy farm in Australia (£1026 verses £2078 NSW average and £2397 Australia-wide average), of whom 31% enjoyed a negative income and another 24% earning less than £1000, while the rest of the regional workforce was taking home an average net cash income of around £3000. A follow-up NSW survey in 1970 found that nothing much had changed despite an increased subsidy, with north coast dairy farmers now showing the lowest income of any type of farming enterprise in the state, a quarter of them living below the poverty line. Subsistence living was all the go. Over the 20yr period to 1972 Byron Shire's dairy herd decreased by 44%, the major part of the loss occurring in the period 1967-72. Paradoxically, the decline was less than the regional average, placing it third in the dairy producing hierarchy after Kyogle and Terania, but finally displacing the Tweed where 70% of the herd was pensioned off. And in the ascendancy of Archangel Gough that year the farmers rewarded Doug Anthony MHR with a safe return in Richmond (57.5% of the vote, a decrease of 5% on 1969.)

The rural recession of the early 1970s, which saw farmers all over the North Coast struggling to the same degree as in the Great Depression, was one of the final nails in the industry coffin. Richmond-Tweed butter production was down to 26million lbs by 1970, less than half that of the peak production year of 1934. By 1975, after the Saviour ended the subsidies, it had fallen dramatically to 7million lbs, albeit still accounting for 33% of the State’s production, and the electors rewarded His Holiness with the sack and gave the new National Country Party its highest number of seats ever, Mr Anthony winning 64.1% of the Richmond vote, an increase of 1.9% on 1974, and again becoming Deputy Prime Minister. That year also saw the final closure of Norco’s flagship Byron Bay factory, allegedly the largest in the world at one stage, underlining the parlous state of a once dominant industry and marking a symbolic end to an almost century-old way-of-life for the whole region. At the same time the number of registered dairies throughout the state had slumped to 4,834, an 80% drop on the peak year of 1933. Those towns wholly dependent on rural industry like Bangalow suffered concomitantly.

The village population was down to 479 by 1966, less than half of that 50yrs earlier, but bottomed out shortly afterwards and from then on it was ever upwards as new rural industries, notably tropical fruits and macadamias, took off. In the early eighties growth started to accelerate with the arrival of the new wave of agrarian lifestylers and nowadays it’s a boomtown. The population has more than doubled in the last 20yrs, but still retains the village ambience despite the huge development. 

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Byron Bay

From the turn of the 19th century Byron Bay progressively eclipsed Ballina as the main port in the region. A much faster coastal shipping service ran from the Bay and with the arrival of the Lismore-Murwillumbah railway in 1894 the volume of traffic started to increase substantially as people and produce to and from the hinterland fed its port. The convenience of the railway and port also led to the formation of Norco at the Bay in 1895. Moreover, the rail line and jetty meant Byron Bay became a serious rival to Tweed Heads as the main port for the Tweed region.

The refinement of refrigerated transport led to the rapid expansion of Norco and the dairy industry, which sustained growth in the shipping trade and hence the Bay for many years. By the time Nick Nicholoudes arrived in the area in 1905 there were four well-established refreshment rooms at the Bay, effectively squeezing out any Greek competition and probably prompting his establishment at Bangalow instead. At this time too, the railway had increased the Bay’s popularity as a recreational outlet for day-trippers and weekend excursionists through to Lismore and Murwillumbah. New Year’s Eve festivities in 1908 brought 3000 visitors, 80% of whom were excursionists conveyed by train from all the villages and hamlets along the line.

Post war Byron Bay rode the proverbial wave of prosperity and by the early 1920s the permanent population had grown to 1600, probably convincing the Feros Bros that it could now support another cafe. Paradoxically, they arrived at a time when things were starting to look a bit shaky; the meat works had gone out of business in 1920 and Norco was facing the prospect of a long-term decline in the price of butter.

George and Tony Dimitrios Feros, from Mitata on Kythera, came to the Bay via Lismore in 1923 and over the next 50yrs were variously fruiterers, confectioners, greengrocers, refreshment room and cafe proprietors operating out of their original Jonston Street premises. Their initiative in acquiring a generator quickly established their restaurant as the social hub of the town. Until electricity arrived in 1926 their generator, as well as meeting their own needs, had an excess capacity that brought in an extra quid by lighting up the English, Scottish and Australian Bank (ANZ) next door. Another innovation was the development of a passionfruit syrup, which they passed onto the Lismore based Cottees Cordials who further developed it to give a new punch to their famous Passiona, the top selling soft drink in the region.

They became an institution in the Bay and George is affectionately remembered as the prime mover in collecting money for an old people’s home. With his mass of snowy hair, luxurious beard, often barefoot and somewhat dishevelled in flowery Hawaiian shirts, George was just right for Byron, becoming the forerunner of the later laid-back lifestyle of the surfing fraternity and early baby boomer dropouts who set the new trend for the Bay as an alternate lifestyle haven. But behind this disguise was a man of determination who raised $100,000 towards his vision of a home for the frail and elderly, after earlier honing his skills in raising money for the Australian Orthodox Home for the Aged. He became known as “the bloke with the bell and box” and in any weather could be seen out and about rattling his box and ringing his bell collecting money for his nursing home. It was a good ploy as such an eccentric ‘local character’ attracted a lot of attention.

By 1971 he had raised $27,000 and persuaded the Commonwealth to add $38,000, but this still left him dissatisfied, so he sought out similarly motivated people to help with the fundraising. They formed a committee, which has evolved into today’s Feros Board of Management, and by the time of George’s death in 1981 had raised another $72,000, and by 1990 had won a further Government grant to build the Feros Village Hostel in the Bay. A 30-bed hostel was finally built in 1994, but due to complications the Feros Nursing Home had to be built at Bangalow.

In 1943 he married Edna Murphy, a lass of Irish-Scottish stock whom he had met in Ballina, and had one daughter, Ruby (Roubina Maria), born at the Bay in 1946. They moved to Tweed Heads to run The Paris Café a short time afterwards but returned permanently to the Bay a few years later. George died in 1981, just nine months after Edna. His funeral was a grand affair with the officiating minister, in a wonderful gesture, ringing George’s bell throughout the streets of town. He lies next to Edna at Alstonville. Ruby married a local farmer, Kevin Brown, and now lives on their property ‘Patonga’, near Yass, where she writes well-received cookbooks.

George’s brother, Jack, first landed in 1909 but returned for the Balkan Wars in 1912 and afterwards spent 18mths in Philadelphia, USA. He made it back to Oz in 1918 and managed to beat the wartime restrictions on Greeks entering the country by landing with an American passport. In the mid 1930s he came to the Bay from Lismore with his wife Vasiliki, sister of the Samios Bros of Bangalow, both being recorded as cafe proprietors of Jonson Street, but whether they had a separate cafe or were in partnership with George and Tony is unclear. However, shortly afterwards they moved off to Rockhampton where Jack was prominent in the Greek National Relief Appeal in 1940/41.

They returned to Lismore in the mid 1940s but eventually retired to the Bay in about 1954, selling their Lismore business to cousin Peter George Feros, and lived with George and Edna thereafter. George and Edna nursed and cared for Jack for many years as he slowly declined with Parkinson’s disease, and it was this experience that prompted George into his single-minded determination to see that the frail and elderly of Byron Bay should have well-appointed care facilities in their twilight years. Jack died in 1969, having survived Vasiliki by many years. They both lie at the Bay.

George’s brother Tony died in 1983, aged 76, in Brisbane, to where he had retired seven years earlier. He was a resident of the old Great Northern Hotel until mid 1936 when he managed to escape the fire that consumed the building by doing a swan dive off the balcony to the new bitumen roadway 15ft below. He was accommodated in hospital for a while afterwards as a few bones knitted back together. Thereafter he was a driven man, starting a fruit run to and from the Brisbane markets in the early 1940s, receiving an auctioneer’s licence in 1945 and later branching out as a stock & station agent, insurance agent, real estate agent and business broker. His adventurous nature also led him to be amongst the first to join the Byron Aero Club, formed at Tyagarah in early 1950.

By the late 1940s Feros & Feros were wine and spirit merchants and general merchants, even stocking paint and hardware items, all of which could be conveyed direct to the door of isolated farmhouses through their grocery delivery service. During the war years the carrier business of Feros & Feros, along with Angouras Bros of Murbah, was the leading supplier of fruit and veggies, sometimes black market stuff, to the cafes and fruit shops in the region. By 1950 they were doing two runs a week to the Brisbane markets, taking the fruit and veggies of the local growers from whom they won the carrier contracts and returning with non-local produce for distribution to the shops around the district.

It’s understood the brothers split their business and established themselves separately about the time George bought the Paris Café at Tweed Heads. That year, 1948, they also wrote off their fishing boat, The Audax. Tony went on to acquire several properties in the town and the family has since redeveloped the Feros Arcade on the site of the original shop at 23 Jonston Street. He and his wife, Rita Kentrotis, married in Dalby in 1937, were also actively involved in community affairs, were stalwarts of the Red Cross and Surf Club and were very prominent in raising large amounts of money for charity through the Oleander Festival, as well as contributing significantly to the George Feros Homes. Rita was instrumental in having the swimming pool built and was active in the Byron Bay and Ballina P & C Association and hospital auxiliary. She died in Brisbane in 1994 aged 77. Children Maria Masselos, Irene Maras, Betina Christofides, Elene Comino and Constantina Manolatos now mostly live in Brisbane. Constantina’s twin brother Jim, who unfortunately died just three months after his father, aged 33, married Helen Tsolakos.

By the outbreak of WW2 Byron Bay was well positioned as the leading industrial centre in the Brunswick district. Norco, employing 342 people and distributing over £2,000,000 annually to local suppliers, was still the leading industry with its 12 factories, including those in Lismore and elsewhere, producing 32% of the state’s butter. About 4000 dairy farmers supplied the Norco factories, which also had a highly successful bacon and canned meat operation being fed by the huge growth in the pig industry. Anderson’s Meat Works, started in Aug1930, was employing 100 people and the new zircon rutile industry had built to 21 permanent employees, while the recreation industry was booming along nicely. During 1940 building activity throughout the shire was valued at £28,000, exceeding the Tweed Shire and Mullum and Murbah Municipalities, but despite all this growth no further Greek businesses tried to muscle in and the Feros continued to have the place to themselves.

Conversely, post war the Bay’s growth couldn’t match what was happening elsewhere in the region. By 1954 the population stood at 2001, up only 7% since 1947 and below the Tweed-Brunswick average of 8%. By 1961 however, another 171 permanent residents had arrived, giving an increase of 9% and placing the Bay amongst the few growth centres on the stagnating north coast, albeit way behind Ballina and Tweed Heads. The latter towns, together with Coffs Harbour and other beachside centres, were becoming retiree havens and had embraced tourism, while the Bay was still locked into an expansion of the secondary, processing, industries, which compensated somewhat for the decline in the fishing industry and closure of the whaling station.

George and Tony also sponsored out their 15yr old nephew Jim, son of their brother Mick who never came to Australia, in late 1937. He moved between Byron, Ballina, Mullumbimby and Toowoomba, working in various rellies’ cafes, before eventually acquiring the Paragon Café in Kingaroy, in partnership with Jim Prineas of Gulargonbone, in 1941. He subsequently married Jim’s niece, Irene Prineas, born in Mudgee of parents who had arrived via a stint in America. He and Irene remained at Kingaroy until 1977 when they retired to Brisbane.

Jim’s period at Mullum sticks in his memory because of the terrifying encounters with snakes. These he confronted daily when he worked with Theo Psaltis, an old school friend from Kythera, on the Main Arm banana farm of Theo’s brother-in-law, Archie Caponas. Their week was divided into three days working at Archie’s Popular Café, followed by four days banana labouring on his farm. The snakes soon won the battle of nerves and Jim left Theo to make his own arrangements with them and Archie.

George separately sponsored out his nephews, Theo and Con Tambakis, sons of his sister Kirani, just after the war, and installed them in The Paris Café at Tweed Heads. At this time the Byron Shire was looking a bit dodgy with the Council in serious financial plight, mainly due to over-expenditure on road building to meet the demands of the large post war banana boom in the hinterland. George himself took up Tweed Heads residence in late 1950 and it’s believed the nephews then moved on to Toowoomba.

George returned to the Bay in 1953/54, coincidental with the establishment of the whaling industry. This little earner remained viable until 1962 when the factory was closed following a progressive decline in economic viability. The butchering was a popular spectator sport, but the end of the smell permeating the town brought back the sun baking fraternity. Live whale watching now draws bigger crowds and bucks.

Byron Bay has long since ceased being a working town and nowadays lays claim to being Australia’s most well known tourist destination, with its 134 cafes and restaurants, including a couple of Greek theme ones, now the main industry. The huge growth in the permanent population has urbanised the place with a booming arts community and environmental activists, while the transients, from backpackers to ferals, have brought plenty of colour, fizz and frenzy, but the developers seem to be winning the battle to go upmarket as the place becomes more trendy.

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Brunswick Heads

George Patrinos, perhaps a native of Zakynthos/Zante, came across from Mullum in mid 1909 to open what appears to be the first Greek cafe in Brunswick Heads. His arrival could serve as an indicator that the Heads still retained its commercial importance over other coastal towns on the North Coast. The Greeks were a canny lot and their extensive business network quickly identified those towns with growth potential. They established at Ballina in 1907 and Coffs Harbour in 1908 while Byron Bay and Tweed Heads were overlooked until the post war years (or the lack of any records indicates they were overlooked.) While the Heads gradually had been eclipsed as a port town by the Bay after the establishment of the jetty in 1885, and by Mullum to which it mysteriously lost the rail line in 1894, its growth as a recreational outlet still left it with a lot of potential at this time. Things started to move in 1906,  with the arrival of the telephone amongst other things, and by early 1914 the Star was reporting a mini building boom when Mullum itself was still stagnating. Nevertheless, the place remained a quiet backwater despite the large influx of holidaymakers in the season. Pre war the permanent residents were mainly guesthouse proprietors, fishermen, oystermen, storekeepers, and very busy ferry operators.

Into the war the Progress Association was instrumental in preserving crown foreshore land for public recreation and in pushing tourism ahead of commercial fishing when they had all netting banned in the river, providing stocks for the holidaying line fishermen. Tweed Heads followed suit, leaving Ballina unable to capture a large share of the tourist and seaside traffic ...where... net fishermen led to the utter ruination of the prospects of the line fishermen, who go elsewhere, and Ballina suffers in consequence. But both Bruns and Ballina's earlier experiments, where large 'Public Oyster Reserves' were set aside as an attraction for holidaymakers, resulted in the species being all played out in these patches by WW1. Post war the Department of Fisheries granted the Bruns reserve to a private lessee, over the protests of the Progress Association, but Ballina persisted with misguided egalitarianism (and issued a warning that gathering oysters from off the walls and wharves right behind the main business part of town ...was unwise as... drainage from several important places runs into the river here ...and... causes contamination for oysters...)

Patrinos traded from The Brunswick Heads Café where part of his business was wholesaling fish and oysters. There were a couple of oyster merchants in Bruns at this time handling the produce of one major lease, established in 1902 by a Lismore syndicate, the source of much aggravation to the Progress Association. The syndicate would only deal in 10/- lots, which in the main all went to Sydney, and as a result the retailers had to go to Tweed Heads to feed the locals and holidaymakers. Through to the early 1920s the other merchants in the region were selling in 2/6d, 5/- and 10/- bags. Most of the Bruns leases were taken over and developed from 1910 by the Colemans, but whose main lease was reduced in 1918 to make way for recreational boat launching. The industry was never as large as those of Evans Head, Ballina and Tweed Heads, but the produce must have been pretty tasty as Peter Baveas of the posh Garden of Roses café in Lismore post WW1 always made a point of specifying ‘Beautiful Brunswick Oysters’ whenever the beasties were available on the menu. Ditto the Vlismas Bros upon establishing the posher Capitol Cafe in Lismore in 1929 - 'Brunswick Oysters available fresh daily.' Similarly at their Belle Vue Cafe in Murbah through the 1930s: ‘Brunswick Oysters – Fresh, Fat and Succulent.’ And the Feros Bros at the Bay were always specific in describing their oysters as Bruns beasties.

Bruns oysters were the only ones to be singled out in this way, possibly implying that all the other growing centres were sending their produce to city markets by this time, or that pollution from shipping was effecting commercial viability - in 1932 Ballina oysters were reported with a 'distinct benzine flavour'. And maybe  there was still a resident Greek agent in Bruns (given some credence by the fact that over the period 1925-30 Athena Andrulakis of the Richmond Oyster Rooms in Lismore advertised as a 'wholesale depot for Brunswick Heads Oysters'..., carried on by Panaretto's Fish Market in 1930: LA 'BELLE OYSTERS ... Try our delicious Fresh "Brunswick" oysters... also retailed/wholesaled at 2/3d per large bottle - whether Denny shucked the things himself or they arrived already bottled from Bruns is a mystery.)

But it appears that only the privileged consumers of the Richmond-Tweed made up the small boutique market. Albert Lofts, president of the Brunswick Heads Improvement Committee and prominent cafe owner, was instrumental in restricting commercial oyster leases. In a submission to the Government in 1929 he said …The alienation of the areas in question would inflict hardship on the public and on the whole district. If the application were granted, the utilities of the public would be handicapped, the foreshores would be monopolised, … and visitors from enjoying fishing. It would mean stagnation to the Brunswick Heads… And at Christmas 1930 in extolling the virtues of Bruns as a holiday resort said In addition, Brunswick oysters have a wide reputation for their excellence. A little later Tweed Heads took the same approach in restricting leases. The Bruns fishing industry didn’t develop until 1954 when the fleet transferred from Byron Bay following the cyclone that destroyed the jetty.

Patrinos came and went over the years and possibly operated his cafe as a ‘seasonal outlet’, returning to somewhere or other during the winter months. He seems to have disappeared during the war years, but is probably the same bloke identified as G. Patrios back in Mullum in the winter of 1919. He was still going strong at Bruns in 1920 and still advertising as a wholesaler of fish and oysters, but moved to Lismore shortly afterwards to acquire the Busy Bee Café in partnership with George Theo Poulos. The ‘seasonal outlet’ concept was the modus operandi employed by the Crethar Bros who opened at Evans Head in the 1930s, returning to Lismore in the winter months.

His move, like a lot of others, is coincidental with the economic downturn in the district. The languishing of the surf club in 1920 is perhaps an indicator that the popularity of Bruns as a recreational outlet was falling away by this time. It was reinvigorated in 1928 but seems to have fallen back into the doldrums sometime afterwards. It wasn’t till late 1935 that it was reformed, just in time for a post Depression record Boxing Day crowd of 7000. In the Byron Shire devaluation hit of late 1933 (down an overall 22%), Bruns ucv was reduced by a big 37.8% (£42,499 to £26,416), meaning the place was only entitled to £155 worth of works for 1934, to the chagrin of the Improvement Committee who wanted a foot bridge across the south arm of the river to the surf. They figured advantage should be taken of the experts already on the job building the new vehicular bridge to replace the punt across the main arm of the river. This was the only council unemployment relief project around at the time, but 60 of the 131 registered unemployed from the Bay itself got most of the work. (It was opened in Apr34, but it took until 1945 before the lobbyists managed to get the highway re-routed through Bruns and make the bridge earn its keep by giving the holiday makers readier access - at the expense of Mullum's loss of the passing travelling trade.)

But while the council was broke and ceasing all other expenditure, it managed to kept up the money flow for completion of the power line from Mullum so that Bruns holiday makers could enjoy electric light for Christmas, at which time Albert Lofts did a whip around and managed to extract a few bob from the business houses to hire a lifeguard for the happy campers, 700 of whom managed to wade across the river and be counted frolicking together amongst the breakers on New Year's morning. (And for the trivia buffs, 6639 people were tallied 'patronising the surf' through Jan1934. As well as head counting duties the guard was also responsible for ensuring the blokes didn't roll down their neck-to-knee bathing costumes and frighten the ladies, as was happening at the Bay.)

Through the 1930s The Brunswick Heads Café was a general store in the hands of the Reynolds family, and in the 1950s M. Hoogeruorst had it, but whether it was Patrinos’s original cafe is mystery number ^*#. Through to WW2 there appears to be no further Greek presence although Bruns remained as a popular family summer holiday resort in the region. The traditional Australian annual holiday at the beach was hard to give up despite the Depression hard times. Every year Albert Lofts proclaimed a new record crowd. In 1937 Bruns’ continued family orientation can be gauged by the continued objection to men rolling down their neck-to-knee bathing costumes, at the same time Coolangatta approved trunks for men - as long as they had a skirt. (But post war Coolangatta found that if you give 'em an inch they take a mile: The new French bathing costume for women consisted of two ladies hankerchiefs and one mans hankerchief and is just plain vulgar said the Mayor of Coolangatta…in Oct1945 and adding…council had a duty to protect people against themselves... and will ensure ...beach inspectors be instructed to enforce the by-laws.)

From the early 1940s Bruns became a popular recreational outlet for the growing band of Greek banana growers around Mullum. Every Sunday, come rain, hail or sunshine, a fair crowd gathered for a picnic, an event that remained popular into the 1960s.

Most of the cafes operated in conjunction with stores and guest houses until the early 1920s when the first free standing cafe appears to have been built by Bob Miller, who nevertheless moonlighted as a banana grower and later expanded the cafe into a general store to supplement income. Despite the opposition of Albert Lofts and his Brunswick Improvement Committee, in the late 1920s Miller also built The Kiosk at his own expense on a crown land reserve, inclusive of dressing sheds (normally a Council responsibility), which became a freestanding cafe open all year round and catered to the permanent campers. 'The Kiosk', whether Miller's original or something new, was in the hands of Charlie Walker by Christmas 1933 and offering a 'special oyster cocktail' as the house speciality, along with 'meals at all hours'. This cafe gradually grew into a substantial structure with a platform out over the river, making it the focal point for holiday festivities.

The Lofts family opened The Brunswick Cafe in conjunction with a boarding house, general store and petrol station in the mid 1920s, which subsequently became the biggest and most popular in town. By the 1940s the posh Lofts Café occupied the ground floor front of the upmarket Seabreeze Flats next to the pub. In early 1947 it was the first cafe in the Tweed-Brunswick district to be granted a liquor licence, with a permit for the serving of ‘light wines and malted liqueurs’, perhaps indicating that Bruns, while still family oriented, was also amongst the upmarket beachside resorts in the region at this time. Having added to the value of the place however, they sold up a little later. The first cafe liquor license on the North Coast went to Angelo Crethar in Lismore in late 1946. The third went to Tweed Heads in 1949.

Archie’s shop was destroyed by another fire in mid 1961, after which he acquired Tom’s vacant building next door and built the three-shop brick edifice on the combined sites. Theo Psaltis from Mullum opened The Brunswick Fish Shop in one of these three shops and operated it until 1968 when he passed the business on to his in-laws. The cafe, now The Sea Venture next to the popular Happy Dolphin, is still going strong, although the building was sold by the Caponas family in the 1980s.

Theo installed Gerry Cassianos, son of an Ithacan banana grower of The Pocket, as manager for a period. Gerry subsequently became a barman at the Bruns pub where his brother Greg was also employed, both living with their parents in town. Together the two brothers bought ‘Uncle Toms’ at Everitts Hill from Bill Naoum, son of a Macedonian Middle Pocket banana grower, and ran it in conjunction with their mother until the early 1980s. Both subsequently became successful hotel managers on the Gold Coast.

Like this Cassianos family, a few other Greek and Macedonian banana growers lived in Bruns by this time and commuted to their plantations around Billinudgel and Mooball. In the mid 1950s bananas were riding high and the growers were perceived to be the nouveau riche, with Tom Mott’s Brunswick Heads Real Estate Agency specifically pitching its adverts at them: ‘Seaside homes – ideal weekend cottages for banana growers – priced from £1200 to £6000’. Brunswick Heads was zooming along with 45 new houses erected in the 4yrs to 1954, and over the period 1951-54 showing a valuation increase of 20%, the highest in the Byron Shire. By the end of 1956 there were only a few vacant blocks left, each going for over £1000, resulting in lobbying from the real estate agents and the immediate release of more crown land west of Byron Street for a new 36 lot subdivision. More building took place resulting in Bruns being amongst the most ‘modern’ looking towns on the north coast by the late fifties, albeit still a town mainly catering for transitory tourists rather than a permanent population.

[At odds with Tom Mott, also President of the Progress Association, was his fellow Bruns resident and Byron Shire councillor, David Harrison. Amongst a range of commandments from the arcadian manifesto, he exhorted the council to oppose the building of the Rocky Creek Dam, the rock training walls at Bruns, the indiscriminate release of crown foreshore land and the building on all waterfront reserves. He resigned from the Byron Council in mid 1956 after his comrade councillors rejected his motion to force the removal of ‘the unsightly and abominable’ RSL housie shed on the waterfront reserve at Bruns. He would have hated the later beachside subdivision across the South Arm. He eventually retired to Byron Bay where he died in 1991, but not before being instrumental in ending the method of goat culling which had previously seen the rangers driving the unwanted off the cliffs. (He was also the ex-proprietor of the Star-Advocate and left the Mullumites with an admonishing front page article on 10Jul51, three weeks before he sold out to Jim Brokenshire to take up residence at Bruns and a banana patch at Billinudgel: ... The ugly scarred hillsides between Mullumbimby and Murwillumbah give mute evidence of the prodigality of banana growers. Many growers deserved the accusation that they laid their land waste like locusts ...The land did not belong either to the grower or owner, but to the people as a whole. ...)]

It all started to collapse in early 1959 when the auction of more crown land was a fizzer, with only 4 of the 12 blocks attracting a bid, the best on the corner of Fingal and Byron Streets going for a mere £355 and the other three only averaging £230. Conversely, there was keen demand for Byron Bay land with 98 applications in a tender for five crown land blocks on Lighthouse Road. This encouraged the Dept of Lands to write to council with the proposal to release all crown land at Wategos in early 1960 upon the expiration of existing leases. The council was broke at this time and up in arms over the proposal. They were already complaining about the ribbon development at the Bay and had no money for more supporting infrastructure. Nevertheless, the Bay pulled ahead while the Heads sailed into the doldrums.

Bruns was still amongst the most popular beach resorts in the region through the 1940s and 50s, with its Boxing Day and New Year crowds surpassing Twin Towns at times. The bean counters estimated day-trippers swelled the permanent and camping population to another all time record of 20,000 for Boxing Day in 1946, all coming for the entertainment provided by the axemen and carnival operators as well as to enjoy the family friendly river. The cafe proprietors performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes to feed this lot, but don’t ask about the other end, a regular Christmas complaint going back ~30yrs. The place didn’t get a sewerage system until the late 1960s. While the whole region was very sluggish by the late 1950s, Bruns remained as popular as ever for holiday makers and the 1959/60 Christmas/New Year season saw a record crowd of 10,000 staying in the caravan parks, flats, boarding houses and motels, prompting the council to start talking about a £6500 septic scheme for Massy-Greene and The Terrace. The following Christmas saw another record crowd but there was still no septic. Apart from the Christmas holiday period however, Bruns became Sleepy Hollow until recently. The permanent population had fallen to 1068 by 1966, but 15yrs later had built back to 1877, which is around its max and where it was stuck given the topographical constraints on expansion. Across the river Ocean Shores came from nowhere to build a population of 5000 over the past 30yrs.

Even nowadays Bruns is the only resort in the region that still retains a feel of the old Australian beach culture, with the long-running Christmas ‘festival of the fish ‘n’ chips’ still attracting crowds, but the pub has now gone upmarket and, like elsewhere on the coast, the place will probably become chic as the developers replace those overpriced fibro shacks with zillion dollar apartments.

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Tweed Heads

Tweed Heads was a major port in the coastal shipping trade for many years, but the completion of the Lismore-Murbah railway and the development of the port at Byron Bay meant goods for transfer to the Tweed District could be more quickly and cheaply offloaded at the Bay. The Tweed breakwaters, completed in 1908, extended the life of the steamer traffic from Brisbane and Sydney into the 1930s, but the transport of all mail and passengers by boat to and from Murbah to link with the line to Brisbane was eclipsed by road transport within 20yrs. Sugar and molasses from the huge Condong mill however, continued to be transported by sea for sometime.

The rail link from Brisbane, completed in 1903, also marked its establishment as a viable seaside resort, although it had been gaining a reputation amongst Brisbane and Southport people for its therapeutic seaside air from about the mid 1890s. By the turn of the century it had a permanent population of 298, a general store, the grand Pacifique Hotel, ship and boat builders, steamboat proprietors and a host of services. It’s increasing popularity as a recreational outlet can perhaps be gauged by the formation of The Tweed Heads and Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club in 1911, 4yrs after that of Byron Bay and 2yrs after Brunswick Heads. Greenmount on the Coolangatta side however, was the most popular beach and this is where the club established. The Kirra club wasn’t formed until 1916.

By the outbreak of WW1 there was a permanent population of 1000 living in 220 dwellings spread over the 600 acre designated township. It’s surprising therefore that there were no evident Greeks around, particularly when the insignificant port of Brunswick Heads had a Greek cafe by 1909. At this time the most posh feedlot in town was The Bellevue Café within the Wells (Dolphins) Hotel and taking up half the street level frontage. The first Greeks turned up towards the end of the war and by 1921 the place had reached a peak population of 1514, still smaller than Byron Bay where the Greeks were yet to make an appearance. Until 1931, with the formation of an Urban Committee, Tweed Heads was governed from Murbah by The Tweed Shire Council and suffered relative neglect in the provision of services. By 1935 there were still only 1500 permanent residents and about 2000 in the surrounding farming district providing support for the business houses outside the holiday period.

Around 1917 the Kytherian Patrick Bros, probably solely Minas (Mick) Theo Patrikios earlier of Warwick and Allora, took over the Belle Vue Café and in early 1921, at the same time Nick Antonios Koukoulis acquired the place, was joined by his younger brothers Stavros (Steve) and Con. Mick, who had landed in 1911 after 8yrs in Russia, took himself off to Roma in about mid 1921 to acquire a café with Koukoulis as a silent partner, but shortly afterwards settled permanently at Gympie. Steve and Con had landed as 14 and 15yr olds in 1912 and gone directly to Warwick and Allora respectively, but wandered off to Sydney a few years later. They were still running the place in mid 1923, with Nick Kavozos as an employee, probably under some management agreement with Koukoulis who was based at Murbah at this time.

Probably connected with the Belle Vue in some way was Christo Dimitri Karidis (Careedy), more than likely of Kytherian extraction despite his birth in Constantinople in 1894. He spent a few years in Russia, Egypt and Java before landing in Sydney in 1914 and then spending time in Warwick, Goondiwindi and Allora prior to arriving in Tweed Heads in late 1917. Two and a half years later he opened a classy restaurant in Brisbane.

Around 1919/20 Manuel & Co, probably Greek, also had a cafe somewhere in Tweed Heads.

Nick Koukoulis also acquired Jack Aroney’s Olympic Café at Murbah in 1921 and redubbed it The Belle Vue Café as well, perhaps with grand visions of a franchise chain. It seems he elected to oversee the Murbah branch himself while retaining the Patrick Bros as managers in the Tweed Heads outlet, at least through to 1923, at which time he was claiming ownership of the Bellevue at Murbah, the Bellevue at Tweed Heads, the Bellevue at Roma, the Victory at South Brisbane and the Aktaiton at Redcliffe. ('Akaiton' is perhaps a corruption of 'Astikon', the name of the oldest kafenion in Potamos, the largest town on Kythera, and loosely meaning 'Civic Cafe'.) In mid 1924 he sold the Murbah branch to Tom Copland and probably disposed of his Tweed Heads outlet shortly afterwards, as he acquired the Capital Café in Coolangatta around 1924. It’s unlikely he allowed the Tweed Heads Belle Vue to become a seasonal trader, probably installing some other manager after Con and Steve Patrick joined their brother Mick in Patrick’s Café at Gympie. At Coolangatta he also installed a manager until he took up hands-on proprietorship in 1926/27. 

In early 1924, around the same time as Nick acquired the Capitol Café, a travel writer passed through the region and left these impressions, recorded in a number of local and metropolitan newspapers: …Coffs’ Harbour and Byron Bay are just money spinning towns – neither has any soul. Brunswick Heads is a lovely little spot. Ballina is pretentious, but ugly. Nambucca Heads is very pretty and Yamba has modest charms, but without doubt the twin cities (Tweed Heads and Coolangatta) hold the palm for charm and variety of attraction. It is evident ‘the’ Australian Pacific City of the Future is being built hereabout. I am glad to know that their residents realise this and propose to develop their towns so as to make them the premier resorts of the coast….

The second Greek establishment in Tweed Heads appears to have been opened by the Kytherian Peter Constantine Condoleon when he took over a cafe integral with a boarding house in Bay Street in early 1922, and went on to make a name for himself - in early 1926 he was described as proprietor of the best cafe here for the last five years, implying that the posh Belle Vue may have gone downmarket or belly up. He was 25yrs old when he landed in Sydney from the village of Viaradika, near Mitata, in late 1911, but 12mths later started wandering around Queensland. After a long stint labouring in and around Brisbane he tried his hand at cane cutting with a couple of other Condoleons in Cairns, but within six months figured the catering game was the way to go. He subsequently had cafes in Childers and Laidley before being drawn to the seaside. An employee who came with him was James Spyro Coroneos, cousin of the Lismore Crethars. He landed as a 15yr old in 1909 and wandered around the Tablelands until going to Laidley, to where he returned in early 1924. His brother, Peter Coroneo, 17yrs old when he landed in late 1922, came direct to Tweed Heads and remained for 2yrs before joining his brother-in-law, Vasilios George Gengos, the cousin of the Lismore Panaretos, at Moree for 3yrs, thence a year or so with Alex Samios at The London Café in Brisbane until buying James’ business at Laidley. James resettled at Dalby. (Vasilios's son, Flying Officer Spiro Gengos, died over Tobruk in 1942.)

At this time the Tweed Heads cafes were going through the same turbulence as elsewhere in the region and another proprietor of a combined cafe and boarding house in Bay Street seems to have gotten a little upset at the new Greek competition. The adverts for this establishment were amended to specifically include …under British Australian Management, just after Condoleon opened up.

At the same time The White Café was operating in Wharf Street, the main business area of Tweed Heads. It seems to have been around since at least 1913, when it was known as Thornton’s White Café, and may have opened earlier as another of the famous ‘White Australia Cafes’, suggesting that there was some earlier coloured competition somewhere in town. These things often sprung up in response to the Greeks, but at this time the frightening Kanakas were the leading dark source of heartburn in the district. Tweed Heads was still a touch paranoid in 1929 when the Chamber of Commerce wrote to the Minister of Education to ask for the segregation of coloured children at present attending the public school and for the establishment of a separate school for their education… Segregation at the park bench level lasted into the 1950s.

Tweed Heads got to experience its first Greek Orthodox wedding on 3May1924 when Jack Dimitrios Feros married Vasiliki Dimitrios Samios at St Cuthberts Church of England, with John Stratigakis and Alex Samios as witnesses. Vasiliki was working with her brother Alex, and possibly Milton and Paul, at Mullumbimby at this time, while Jack was holding the fort for Feros Bros in Lismore. After the honeymoon they returned to Lismore where they bought the Bavea Bros business and re-established another regional branch of Feros Bros. Stratigakis (aka Sargent), a Brisbane identity and foundation President of the Greek Community of Brisbane in 1921, opened Sargents Markets in Lismore in 1931. He may have been here to take a breather from his clashes with Christy Freeleagus by booking into the Condoleon boarding house for respite care – or maybe the Koukoulis boarding house in Coolangatta. About this time factional infighting broke out between a community clique lead by Stratigakis and Peter Aroney and one lead by Christy Freeleagus and his brother Charlie, the new President. As they say in the classics, put two Greeks together and you get three arguments - but all played happy families when they often holidayed together at Twin Towns.

John’s daughter, Katina, and her new husband, Nick Terakes, honeymooned at Tweed Heads after their marriage in Brisbane during the Greek Festival of late 1921. It was the grandest Greek Orthodox wedding ever seen in Brisbane, with 600 attendees, amongst whom were many familiar Northern Rivers names, including Basil Feros, Nick Koukoulis, Stan Galanis and George Venery. The Festival was held to mark the occasion of the official opening of Hellenic House, which John Sargent was instrumental in establishing. The play, Golfo, directed by his brother George Sargent, also later of Lismore, was performed by members of the Hellenic Dramatic Society, again with a cast of many familiar local names. Two other grand weddings were conducted that week, including that of Theo Stavrianos Comino, earlier of Lismore and uncle of the Murbah Cominos. Amongst the baptisms was that of ‘little Cosma Aroney’, the ‘bouncing son of Jack’ of Murbah and Southport. Katina and Nick Terakes later took over Sargents Markets in Lismore.

[And be wary of crossing the Greeks. A commemorative booklet produced by the publishing house of Hardcastle & Aroney to mark the occasion of the Festival had this word to the wise: … It is to be regretted that one of the largest houses in this City doing business with the Greek citizens have withheld their support to this book; that firm, which has raised hundreds of pounds from the Greek weddings would not help the publication, but when doing business in future the Greek community will remember them. Lest we Forget.]

At this time Tweed Heads was becoming a popular holiday spot for the Greeks of Brisbane as they adapted to the Australian custom of the regular summer holiday at the beach. A bloke who turned up for a prolonged holiday in late 1925 while his Brisbane cafe was being given a makeover was Paul Czaranda Vlanders, aka Paul Sarantos Vlandys, a cousin of Freeleagus. He was 33yrs old when he landed from the Kytherian village of Kalokerines in early 1909 and spent a couple of years at Toowoomba before moving to Brisbane, subsequently going into partnership with young George Venery in the Albert Café. He acquired George’s share in 1922 and continued to run the Albert for at least the next 20yrs, leaving the place in the hands of managers from time to time as he holidayed back and forth to Kythera, where he retired permanently in 1953.

After all that padding the punchline is that his holiday here wouldn’t have many happy memories as he got tangled up with an unsympathetic Commonwealth Investigation Officer upon his second application for naturalization. This bloke thought there was an attempt at deception in making another application from NSW when he had already been knocked back in Queensland because he couldn’t speak the King’s inlish proper. He eventually was successful in 1936, after elocution lessons and another couple of applications.

His partner George Venery is probably the same bloke who had The American Store at Murbah in the early 1930s. He landed as a 13yr old in 1911 and in 1930 became the third Greek to establish a wholesale fruit agency in the Brisbane Markets after those of Theo Stavrianos Comino and John Stratigakis. The fourth was Kostas Karistinos (Con Caris) whose son Nick became a pharmacist in Murbah in the 1950s. George was also foundation vice president of the Brisbane branch of AHEPA in late 1936 and President of the Kytherian Brotherhood of Queensland during the war years.

Another bloke recorded here in 1925 was Harry Aroney, but whether he had his own café or was working for someone else is uncertain. He was 24yrs old when he landed from Potamos on Kythera in 1905, spending a couple of years at Moree before settling in Cowra where he had his own café for at least 10yrs until moving on. He was another knocked back for naturalization during the war. He is probably the same Harry Theo Aroney who became a well-known figure in the Brisbane Greek community and another star in the Hellenic Dramatic Society with the Strategakis, Terakes, et al.

By mid 1926 Peter Condoleon’s Paris Café was in the hands of G. Andrews & Co, but whether this was a Condoleon trade name or a new bloke is unclear. Either way, one or the other sold out to Tom Copland, earlier of the Bellevue Café in Murbah, about mid 1927 and disappeared into the woodwork. Tom had arrived from Murbah around late 1925 and probably managed a cafe, perhaps Koukoulis’, until taking on the Paris. A couple of years later he moved onto Maclean to acquire or establish the oddly named Karmery's Cafe, leasing it to Poulos & Papas in 1932 to become a boarding house proprietor at Yamba until retiring to Brunswick Heads. Also at Tweed Heads at the same time as Tom was a bloke named John Copland, possibly his brother earlier of Armidale.

Around mid 1927 as well, The Tweed Café within the giant two-storey Greenwood’s building on the corner of Bay and Wharf Streets was in the hands of M. Mathaiou, at the same time a mysterious J. Manolis appeared in town as a cafe proprietor. The Greenwood’s building, owned by Mrs A. Gill of Murbah, also housed the Black Cat Tea Rooms. Manolis disappeared within a year, at which time the firm of Simos & Co turned up in town. Who owned what is too hard, but by late 1927 Jack Morris was running The Black Cat Dining Room and undercutting everyone in town by advertising full dinners for 1/- and pies a speciality at 3d. And by early 1928 Mrs Gill herself was running The Mauve Café from the building. And then in early 1931 John Mathio sold his Tweed Cafe to John Smith, a Greek (sic) aged 35, and Theo Tsoucalos, aged 41, for £1500 on a deposit of £250, the place going up in flames on April Fool's Day during redecoration, at which time it was described as the best looking shop in Tweed Heads and in a very good position. What happened to the ownership after that is a mystery, but the place was repaired in time for the whole building to be razed to the ground 12mths later, at which time Gill & White (with Peter Gill as the Gill half) were trading from the Tweed Cafe in the Bay Street frontage of the building.

In 1921/22 The White Café was taken over by George and Sarah Sands who eventually changed the name to The Sands Café and traded through to 1935 when they constructed the giant Sands & Gill building on the adjacent corner block, which had been left vacant after the Greenwood’s building was consumed by fire in Apr1933. The Sands Café, with this convenient location on the corner of Bay and Wharf Streets opposite the Post Office, subsequently became the most popular cafe in Twin Towns, with the best reputation between Lismore and Brisbane and a regular stop for tourist buses. Its large banqueting hall with a seating capacity for 300 also enabled it to capture the ‘big function market’ such as weddings and conferences. Sands Bakery, with a reputation for magnificent cakes throughout the region, retailed through the cafe. In early 1949 the lease was taken over by Tim Donnelly and 4mths later he was granted the first cafe liquor licence in the Tweed Shire – and third on the north coast after Lismore and Brunswick Heads. The Sands traded from 6am to midnight and at its peak employed a staff of 54, and when it closed in 1984 was the longest established business in Tweed Heads.

A few yards further north along Wharf Street was The Classic Café, sandwiched between Morleys, the largest store in Twin Towns, and Wells (Dolphins) Hotel. It was popular with the patrons from the pub and the nearby Pacifique (Tweed Heads) Hotel. Further south along Wharf Street was The Empire Café, across Empire Lane from the Empire Theatre, which traded through to the early 1960s but doesn’t seem to have been as popular. (A.H. Lattimore, later of Coolangatta cafes, was running the Empire from at least 1932, and is probably the same Lattimore prominent in Ballina cafes through the 1920s.)

Vasilios Dimitrios Heliotis had a Tweed Heads fish shop from the 1920s until giving the game away in 1932 when he became ill and went onto the old age pension. He was born in the village of Agana on the island of Aeginis near Pireaus in 1867 and landed in Fremantle in 1908. He spent a couple of years in Perth before moving to Melbourne where he became a diver, probably a skill learnt during his stint in the Greek Navy in the late 1880s. At what stage he headed north is a mystery, as is the site of his business at Tweed Heads. The mortality experience must have prompted him to make a will, nominating Nick Koukoulis of Coolangatta as his executor, but he hung on for another 7yrs before ascending from Dry Dock (Terranora) near Tweed Heads, leaving Nick, who was in New Zealand by then, with a problem. Nick was eventually tracked down but it seems he left the whole matter in the hands of a Murbah solicitor.

Elias Cokinos, aka Cox, came to town in 1928 to take over the management of an unknown cafe, but shortly afterwards purchased Tom Copland’s Paris Café, which subsequently became colloquially known as Cox’s Café.  Elias was born in Smyrna, Asia Minor, and was 20yrs old when he landed in Melbourne via Egypt in late 1901. By early 1904 he was manager of a cafe in Swanston Street but sometime pre WW1 headed north to become a milko in Brisbane. He was still proprietor of a milk delivery company at the time he came to Tweed Heads.

He died at Tweed Heads in 1943 and the cafe passed to his reluctant son, Homer Theodore Cokinos, also Cox. The place was given a makeover in late 1944 and re-emerged as The New Paris Café, but it seems Homer was still a half-hearted cafe player and a few months later was persuaded into leaving the place in the management hands of a smooth talking conman. This bloke was installed as manager in early 1945 with a contract awarding him 50% of the profits and access to the cheque book. Three weeks later Cox was informed that the place was deserted and upon investigation found £1 worth of stock left, cheques to the value of £650 drawn and no trace of his manager. The bounder was subsequently found donating the money to the bookies at Roma race course, charged, found guilty and awarded 18 months in the slammer after it was revealed he had a record, under different aliases, longer than a lawyer's bill. No record of any restitution to Cox or whether he recovered financially, but he was still around in the early 1950s and had a business at Palm Beach over the border.

Elias possibly had an acquaintance with Ariadni Kokonis who married Christy Kosmas Freeleagus (Frylingos) in Melbourne in 1925 and became a regular visitor to Tweed Heads over the years. Ariadini was a refugee with her parents from Sokeia near Smyrna where her father, Ioannis, had been a prosperous merchant and whose brother Elias was a community leader in Smyrna.

Post war Tweed Heads was where it was at for investors. In late 1946 the canny Vlismas Bros were top bidders for a block at Tweed Heads: … 'Sextonville’… was knocked down to Vlismas Brothers for £8050 … after exceptionally brisk bidding and keen competition.  This property without a doubt is one of the best of its kind ever offered at the seaside being right in the Main Street, and handy to surf and fishing. It is an ideal position for the erection of business premises or modern flats. The place was later known as Cox’s Buildings.

Their move was timely. Wharf Street had a growth in value of almost 200% over the 1947-51 period (from £13 to £38 per foot), at the same time Murbah’s Main Street frontage only had half this increase (albeit up to £300 per foot). While the whole region was booming along nicely in concert with general post war prosperity, the places to invest were becoming the seaside towns. Kingscliff was also taking off with a growth in value of 276% on the Esplanade. By 1958-60 the average land value of Tweed Heads CBD lots was £21,322 when Murbah had an average of £10,817. The costal strip helped Tweed Shire weather the economic storm; in the 12mths to 1961 it enjoyed a growth in unimproved capital value of 14.6% while Mullum Municip remained static and Byron Shire fell by 1%. (And at £7,126,000 was the highest valued LGA of the 11 making up the Richmond-Tweed region, Residentially however, was where the action was; by 1965-67 the average value of a house block in Murbah had fallen to £587 while Tweed Heads had zoomed to £2365 and Kingscliff to £1122. Nevertheless, the Tweed CBD languished as Coolangatta developed, which in turn was overshadowed by what was happening around Surfers Paradise.

The move of George Feros of Byron Bay into Tweed Heads also was timely when he purchased The Paris Café in 1949 and installed his nephews Theo and George Tambakis as managers, with the generous instructions to pay themselves whatever they thought they were worth! George took up full time management in late 1950 and shortly afterwards the Tambakis brothers are believed to have moved onto Toowoomba.

Nonetheless, trading must have been competitive at this time as The Paris was still offering the basic three course meal at 3/-, when all the other cafes in the region had gone to 3/6d a couple of years earlier, but takings were just over £100 a day. George and Edna continued to run the business until 1953 when George became ill and they returned to the Bay to go into business with (allegedly) George’s brother Jack. They passed the Paris to J. Kolotas who promptly took the standard three-course meal to 4/6d.

Around 1950 Peter Akon rolled into town and established the Kaymar Café in Wharf Street, above which was the popular Kaymar Cabaret run on his behalf by Nick Georgilas. It was a trendy nightclub where the lads and their dates could bop along with a belly full of those unforgettable lollywaters, Sparkling Burgundy, Sparkling Hock and Porphery Pearl.

By mid 1954 Tweed Heads had a population of 2467, representing a growth of 19% since 1947 and making it amongst the fastest growing towns in the Richmond-Tweed region. By 1961 however, following the collapse of the inland towns concomitant with the accelerating decline in the primary industries, the permanent population had zoomed to 3291, up 33% and only just pipped by the Kingscliff-Fingall strip with a growth of 34% to 1877. They were the fastest growing towns by far in the whole region, with the next closest being Ballina at 16% and Byron Bay at 9%.

Nevertheless there doesn’t appear to have been any more Greeks around until early 1958 when John Zavradinos acquired a cafe after coming up from Lithgow. He disappeared a few years later and thereafter the Greek participation in Tweed Heads’ cafe game seems to have come to an end until revived by the Rhodian Larry Karlos in the early 1970s.

Larry established the popular Fisherman’s Cove Restaurant opposite Jack Evans’s Boat Harbour on a crown reserve site leased from the Tweed Shire Council. In 1975 a rock fell from the cliff of Flagstaff Hill behind the restaurant and the council, fearing the danger of further slips, tried to shut him down. Twenty-three years later, after numerous court appearances and many thousands of dollars donated to lawyers, Larry gave in and moved around the corner into Coolangatta to re-establish The New Fisherman’s Cove. It’s a 150 seater with a staff of 25 and continues the Greek/Nautical theme of the old restaurant. And can do you a great three-course meal for $9.80.

Between 1996 and 2001 Tweed City grew 15.7%, making it the fastest growing area in NSW. The area down to Banora Point is now home to almost 40,000 people, and combined with Kingscliff-Fingal carries half the population of the Tweed Shire. The coastal ribbon down to the Marginot Line of the Byron Shire is as equally fast growing. The drift to the coast seems irreversible, while the Richmond-Tweed region outside the coastal centres continues to struggle.

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Thereafter there appears to be no Greeks at Coolangatta until Eric Diamond turned up in the late 1930s. Nobody indicated they were born in Greece at the census of mid 1933, when the place had a population of 1828.

Over the years Nick's cafe was a popular spot for the Greeks of Brisbane holidaying at Coolangatta. A regular visitor was John Stratigakis who, coincidentally, opened Sargents Markets in Lismore in 1932 at the about the time Nick returned to Murbah. Another regular Brisbane visitor was Peter Aroney and family who often stayed in the boarding rooms above Nick’s cafe. After Nick returned to Murbah they usually rented at Greenmount, where their next-door neighbours were their in-laws, Mick Tsikleas and family. Conversely, over the holidays Eric Diamond and family abandoned Coolangatta in favour of the mountain air at Toowoomba.

The Capitol went up in smoke in 1938 and the site upgraded with construction of the large Hollywood Building, which became the home of Eric Diamond’s The Hollywood Café, colloquially known as 'The Art Gallery’ because of its many ornate and expensive fixtures and fittings.  Eric had landed in 1926 after spending his early adult years as a security officer in Greece and his first business venture on the Gold Coast was taking over the newly built Kirra Beach Kiosk in 1937 with Con Freeleagus as a silent partner. Through the late 1930s and early 1940s E. D. Freeleagus, perhaps a corruption (or trade name) of Eric Diamond & Freeleagus, seems to have had a separate cafe somewhere around town.

Eric later owned restaurants in different parts of Griffith St, including the Diamond Room, which occupied the premises of Ernie's Restaurant, featuring entertainment acts and dance bands six nights a week. He also has the distinction of being the first person to hold a restaurant liquor licence in Queensland. In mid 1957 when he sold his Grovesner Guest House for £14,000 he set a new ‘price per foot’ record for Coolangatta main street frontage.

Unlike the cafes in Murbah and Mullum, Eric had no troub

Note:
Whatever was written after this has disappeared into the ether with a computer glitch. If anyone happened to download it, can you send a copy to Peter Tsicalas at tsicalas@nor.com.au (And No. I never backed-up.)