Vagrant "Gypsies" and respectable Greeks: a defining moment in early Greek-Melbourne, 1897-1900
Abstract
Well known in Australian history are the arrivals of Greeks. Less acknowledged are the
attempts of Greeks to define themselves within the contours of the Australian nation
and the implications of such endeavours. In 1898, a group of “Greek Gypsies” arrived
in South Australia. Coincidentally their arrival coincided with the establishment of
the Greek community of Melbourne and the emergent politics of Australian nationbuilding.
As a group of semi-nomadic, questionably “Greek” migrants they were treated
in contradictory ways. They received charitable assistance from some settlers while
others — predominantly immigration restrictionists and the Greek-Melbournians —
regarded them as a burden to colonial progress. How and why the Greek community of
Melbourne chose to discredit these people was linked to the colonial ideal of respectability,
which fostered the social traits of independence and permanent settlement.
Positioning themselves within the attainable confines of respectability vindicated the
Greeks of Melbourne as valued settlers.