The Greek Australian community is mourning the loss of much-loved George Antoniou, who passed away on 19 July 2025 at the age of 98.
Born in Analypsis-Triconidos on 20th September 1926, he was one of seven sons and a lone daughter of parents Kleomvrotos and Yiannoula Antoniou.Â
George was fortunate and privileged to complete his high school during the hardships of WWII. He furthered his education in the Greek Police Force and as a 20-year-old fought in the Greek Civil War. After the end of the Civil War, George progressed his career in the ‘chorofilaki’ and became an officer and was posted to Rhodes along with two other good friends and colleagues from the same region of birth, Messolonghi. Nick Lois and George Vassilopoulos were his best friends and later were to become his best men when he met and married Eleousa Lakerdis in Rhodes on June 13th, 1954.Â
George adored Eleousa, a love that was everlasting and was to span over 71 years. Upon marrying Eleousa, George decided to travel with his new bride to Australia, with the sole intention to work hard for several years and to earn enough money to return to Greece and establish a better future for his family.
George and Eleousa travelled by sea on the German boat Bloemfontein, bought later by Chandris Lines and renamed Patris. They arrived in Sydney in February 1955.
During the long voyage, Eleousa was in her early term of pregnancy to their first son Cleo, and gave birth to him on August 10th, 1955. The decision to move to Sydney was made easier as Eleousa’s brother George Lakerdis had already established himself in Sydney many years earlier. However, the first years were very difficult for the fledgeling Antoniou family, but fortunately they had great support from Eleousa’s sister Irene and brother George.Â
Irene had married Nicholas Apoifis and for many months the Antoniou, Apoifis and Lakerdis clan, along with a few other relatives, 13 in all, lived and worked happily together in a two-storey terrace in Steele St, Surry Hills.
George Antoniou soon found work alongside his brother-in-law George at the ETA Vegetable Oils factory. On his first day of work, and to the surprise of many, especially his brother-in-law, George came to work in a suit and tie. The embarrassment didn’t phase George. He was given a change of pants and went along as normal. The need to earn money meant that he had to swallow his pride, which he did and he proudly worked alongside his countrymen as a factory worker for just on 13 months. It was a well-paying, highly laborious job, paying nearly twice as much as other similar jobs.
In 1959, George and Eleousa purchased their first home in George St, Erskineville, where they proceeded to raise their children Cleo and Louie before moving to the more salubrious suburb of Earlwood where Jayne was born and later to Sans Souci to finally settle in Beverley Park for the last 20 years of his life.
In the early 60’s, these homes were constantly filled with young men and women, predominantly young women whom George and Lucy had proxied to Australia and who lived with them for the nominal period often only leaving them once they were wed.
Even though George never really minded the factory work, often having to work double shifts, he felt he was destined for greater things. It wasn’t long before George sought a more entrepreneurial vocation. George assisted many Greek immigrants with the writing of letters back to their families in Greece and over a short period of time he established friendships and a network of newly arrived Greeks from all regions of Greece.
He discovered that there was a Greek Orthodox Community Organisation (GOC) in Sydney. George’s patriotism for the homeland led to him introducing himself to the GOC, they were offering payment for those who could introduce and sign new members. In his first two weeks, George signed a record of 116 members. He proudly refused to take any payment – an action that became a common trait of his dedication and unselfish contribution back to the Australian Greek community.Â
His devotion to the ‘patritha’ and the love for all that was Greek defined him. He longed to return to Greece however, the opportunities in Australia for work and the sense that he could play a pivotable role in the creation of a strong Greek community ultimately led to his decision to permanently stay in Australia.
He, along with Lucy, tried their hand at various ventures including as Makers’ up in the rag trade, different retail shops selling a variety of wares including men’s shirts and ladies apparel and manchester.
At one stage, along with his Koubarous at the time, Sam Michalopoulos and Theo Karras and good friend Kosta Lianos, they formed a company and set off for Japan to bring in the next big thing which would secure their future. And it almost did. It was the first electric hand dryer and in those early years, never seen in Australia other than by international travellers.
Once sold to any number of international hotels and restaurants, they thought they had it made except for the fact that once the UV lamp of that time died, the replacement cost more than the original unit.
Next venture, taped recordings of local Greek immigrants which were sent back home to cities and villages where they were played and return tapes with messages were made and sent back. This was all well and good because at the time, telephone services were not only expensive but also not readily available. Once they were, this also faltered.
George’s desire to further progress and grow the Sydney Greek community did compete with the needs of his own family. He saw an opportunity to combine both efforts and made the decision to start a Seamstress Sewing College. Eleousa was an accomplished and qualified dress maker, and led the teaching whilst George, through his expanding contacts, found the students. Within a very short period, the school had three teachers and 13 sewing machines and were providing 2-week courses to immigrant students that led to immediate employment, as the clothing industry was then strong and provided plenty of employment for trained staff. No fees were charged and George and Lucy, upon finding full time employment for their students, kept the first week’s wages in lieu of payment.
In 1957, with a few notable Greeks in Argyris Karavelas and Vlassis Papadopoulos, they formed EFSEVIA whose sole aim was the promotion of Greek language and culture to the children of migrants who had neither the time nor the necessary skills to do so. In a very short period of time they managed to establish 13 ‘afternoon’ schools after having first gained the approval of the State Government of the time to utilise public school premises at no charge, save for their being kept clean. Quite obviously an acknowledgement at that time of the importance of the Greek community and the need to keep them on side.
These first 13 schools were then transferred to the Greek Orthodox Community as, at the time, there was no conflict between the Church and State and consequently led to creation of many more schools in many areas of the state where Greeks lived.
Throughout this period, George was involved in many similar community initiatives. In 1959, George led the formation of the Messolonghi Philanthropical Association, fellow founders included Odysseas Triantafillou, Petro Prindisis, Stergiou Constandinos, Sotiris Pascalis and Costandinos Scolarikis.
He was instrumental in the drafting of this Organisation’s Constitution, as he was for many other similar Greek regionally-based organisations who sought his assistance not only with drafting of their Constitution, nearly always in Greek, but also in running elections, functions and liaising with various government bodies and authorities necessary for them to develop and progress their associations goals.
This was in fact the precursor to many other organisations, which were now more community-based as this became necessary to maintain the independence of these communities for the better interests of its students and the community they served. Away from political and religious differences which were starting to become more evident and which upset George immensely, he nevertheless continued his Greek Odyssey and his quest for a more egalitarian society.
His Greekness was never doubted. One such Community, which had Earlwood as its base, boasted 320 students out of Earlwood Public, with Undercliffe which had 70 and South Canterbury 75 being the highlight of his efforts right up until his passing.
George wasn’t only interested in the moral and spiritual wellbeing of his fellow Greeks. His love of sports was well documented and in the early ‘60s he was instrumental in the formation of the Pan Hellenic Athletics Organisation which every December at ES Marks Field ran a ‘mini-Olympics’ of sorts funded by the Greek Consulate along with numerous generous donations from local Greek businesses. Most of the contestants were university students consequently why it had to be December. But that didn’t stop George or indeed his friend Theo Skalkos at the time, competing in the 100m and 400m where they both enjoyed great success.
On August 6th of 1962, George and Eleousa had another addition to the Antoniou family, with the birth of Louie (Elias) Antoniou, and not long after, on June 16th of 1965 the Antoniou family was complete with the birth of their loving daughter Jayne Antoniou. With three children, a decision was made to sell the sewing business.
Around this time, George involved himself in the hospitality trade namely the Greek night clubs. The venues were highly patronised from the growing Greek immigrant community, who were in constant need to fill the lost Greek entertainment void. After several years of learning the hospitality trade and managing a number Greek Night Spots, George made the decision to start his own nightclub, The Panorama in Enmore Rd, Newtown. It was a highly successful business which he ran for several years and then partnered in the Salona Nightclub also in Newtown.
With migration from Greece and other European countries slowing, the night clubs also started to decline as the number of patrons started to dwindle. George then put his skills to work in the Wedding Reception field managing the Westfield Lounge for his friend and former partner George Hatziplis.
In 1972, George also was elected the President of the Panhellenic Soccer Club (now Sydney Olympic). During the year of his presidency, the Panhellenic board identified a couple of Greek footballers that they wanted to join the club. The board contacted the players, agreed on terms and arranged meetings. Coincidently, George had a prearranged trip to Greece to arrange for Greek singers to travel and perform at his nightclub, which he regularly did. The board asked George to meet the players and arrange for their move to Panhellenic, only to find that the trading window had closed many weeks prior to his visit. On his return, George was greeted by headlines in The Greek Herald Newspaper stating that Panhellenic sent the President to Greece to sign star football players, but he returned with star singers. This was particularly funny as the owner of The Greek Herald was George’s long-time friend Theo Skalkos. Both would laugh when reminiscing over this.
Greek politics was always at the fore of many discussions but also occupied a good deal of his spare time in promoting local Greek candidates and candidates who promoted the Greek ideal.
Soon after the formation of Greece’s New Democratic political party in 1974, it didn’t take long for George to become an active member and representative of the party. He duly set up the first NSW ‘outpost’ and later where he served as the President of the New Democracy Party of Australia and throughout his tenure met with several Greek Prime Ministers such as Kostantinos Mitsotakis, Kostas Karamanlis and current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He was a proud member of the Australian Liberal Party, and although a staunch conservative, George was able to debate and accept differing political views hence the many friends and acquaintances he made across both sides of the political divide.
George was a very well-known and well-liked identity in the Greek community; it was only fitting that he joined his lifelong friend Theo Skalkos, and took the position of Advertising and Distribution Manager at Foreign Language Publications and later Media Press. He was a regular contributor to articles in The Greek Herald, the paper and staff duly benefited from his understanding of the political landscape both local and in Greece. He joined in 1973 and worked at The Greek Herald until his early eighties.
During this time, his energy revolved around the formation of a group of 38 Greek Community based organisations initially called the Pan Hellenic Organisation of Greek Charitable Societies which later became OFSE and through which, along with other members, petitioned the Unsworth State Government at the time for some land to build what was to be The Hellenic Village at Kemp’s Creek and even though it was initially gifted on a 99 year lease they were able to convince the Government to sell it to the Organisation for the princely sum of $500,000. He served initially as President but later, for several years, as Secretary.
The rest is history.
His love of Greece and of its history and culture, even though he left it behind, were instrumental in his drive for the Greek language to have a place in our universities and this led to many money raising functions to ensure its place was maintained and until recently secured.
There are way too many stories that we could write about George but his love of life of family and of his fellow man was his driving force and helped build much of the community ethos which survives, albeit sadly, at a lesser degree today.
He travelled to Greece with Lucy many times and just as many as a representative for various Organisations including SAE, New Democracy and many more but always returning to his family and friends and the country he loved.
When asked by Cleo one-time what country he would fight for if ever Australia and Greece were to become foes, he proudly announced that he would fight for the country which put food on his table and gave his family the opportunity for an education and a way of life that he had never experienced as a young man.
He did also say that life in his new homeland was very much like marriage, the first 40 years being the hardest.
In his later years, George was fortunate not to have many health concerns, he lived a full and happy life with his wife Eleousa in their family home until he was 97 years of age, when it necessary for both he and Eleousa to move into the St Basil’s Care Facility in Randwick.Â
George was a fastidious dresser, if he wasn’t wearing a matching suit, you could expect he’d be wearing sports jacket, pants and always a well pressed shirt. Very well liked and adored by the staff and fellow occupants of St Basil’s Randwick. It wouldn’t have surprised many if George had lived passed a 100. He was very independent and up until the time of his passing, he was still bathing and dressing himself without any assistance. An unfortunate fall, led to a broken hip and his passing in hospital.
George is survived by his wife Eleousa of seventy-one years, sons Cleo, Louie and daughter Jayne, daughters in-law Alexandra, Sophia and son in-law George. Grandchildren George and his wife Eleni, Aris and his wife Ashlee, Elisha and her husband William, also George Elias and Bella, James, and Christopher. Great Grandchildren Gregory and Stella.
His funeral will be held on Tuesday 19 August at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kogarah at 10.30am, with burial to follow at Rookwood Cemetery.
