Peter Katsambanis, former Western Australian and Victorian Liberal politician and former president of World Hellenic Inter-parliamentary Association, lost his father Argyris Katsambanis on July 14.
Mr Katsabanis called his late father’s story “a remarkable and sometimes improbable”.
“It is about a man who came from humble beginnings and who migrated – like so many others to Australia – and left a legacy that will carry on across generations.”
Argyris Katsambanis was born on 28 April 1930 in a tiny mountain village of Velanidia, outside the city of Kalamata. The fifth of twelve children was born to Panagiotis Katsambanis and his wife Ourania, whose maiden name was Sousounis.
They were farmers, but after two of their children died very young, Panagiotis and Ourania moved from the remote Velanidia to Kalamata in 1939 to be close to medical services. They settled in Akovitika a suburb that was walking distance from the old hospital. They bought a small land holding which they farmed with their children.
Mr Katsambanis said that his father Argyris “was a man with a strong values and morals.”
“He was a self-reliant individual with an ethos of hard work and he was a devout Christian, a patriot with a thirst for knowledge, a committed family man and a loyal friend” Mr Katsabanis said.
His formal schooling was cut short by the German occupation from 1940 to 1944 and the subsequent Civil War.
As for all Greeks of that generation the 1940s were dangerous and destructive and younger people suffered most.
“Dad would tell the story of how, like other families in the Kalamata area, his family would care for soldiers who became stranded after the Allies retreated from Kalamata to Crete and who were hiding from the Germans.”
Youth and his love of Greece were the ingredients of the bravery Argyris Katsambanis exhibited one night.
“My father made his way from Akovitika in pitch black, all the way to the Kalamata sea front where he managed to cut the telephone communication lines to the German headquarters that had been set up in the historic Panhellenic Hotel,” Mr Katsabanis said about his father’s anti-Nazi activity.
He kept it secret for twenty-five years until he told his father after they landed in Australia. His father scolded him for endangering himself and his family.
“However, his father said, that he was very proud of him,” the son said.
During the Civil War, Argyris and his family fought with the loyalist forces which reinforced his anti-communist, conservative political beliefs. The Civil War helped build his lifelong trait of resilience.
“But, it was a dark period which revealed the horror of war, especially civil war, and like other people of that era, my father did not like talking about incidents other than to remind people that war should be avoided at all costs,” said Mr Katsabanis.
Argyris was almost 20 when the Civil War ended, so served his time in compulsory military service. He thrived in the army. He enjoyed the structure, discipline, teamwork and sense of loyalty that the military provided. When his compulsory service ended, he stayed on at the officer training school in Athens. He was employed as a driver and as a cook. He had no idea that these cooking skills would be very useful to him in later life.
He spent a few years working as a commission salesman in Athens but post-war life in Greece was tough so he accepted an invitation from his older brother Kon to come to Australia. He arrived in Melbourne in February 1960 and stayed with his brother and other siblings who had come before him, in York Street Prahran. He chose to fly to Australia an extremely rare event at a time of mass ship transport. In his 62 years in Australia, Argyris never lived anywhere apart from the Prahran and Windsor in Victoria.
Like other migrants he worked in factories and as an unskilled labourer, however he threw himself into the Greek community in Melbourne. He gravitated towards the church and became a founding member of the Community of Saints Constantine and Helen.
He joined the church committee and took on the responsibility of looking after the after-hours Greek language schools. He was determined to ensure that the next generation of young Greek people did not miss the opportunity to learn.
Argyris met Nikoletta Kalogeropoulos, who landed in Melbourne in 1963, and they married on 27 December 1964. The wedding took place at Sts Constantine and Helen. They had two children, Panagiotis (Peter), born in December 1965 and Ourania (Rani), born in August 1967.
Being self-reliant, independent and headstrong, Argyris did not like working for a boss and wanted to provide more for his family. He bought an old fashioned kafenio in Chapel Street, Windsor where he created a hub for the hundreds of young Greek men who were arriving weekly from Greece and settling in the area. The kafenio was a social club, an entertainment venue, a restaurant, an employment agency and even a marriage agency.
Argyris put his old army skills to work and he started cooking familiar homestyle meals for the young working men. He discovered a strong demand for these meals. Rizogalo and patsa for breakfast to fortify workers for the day ahead and anything from kokkinisto to stifado to yiouvetsi in the evenings. In keeping with his faith there were always lent food, or nistisima on Wednesdays, Fridays and during major fasting periods. Of course, Greek coffee was a staple.
Argyris was a surrogate brother and father figure to many men. “They never forgot the role he played in helping them adjust to Australia, an often hostile land. They would stop him in the streets, at church or at functions many decades later to thank him.”
“He loved coming home and telling us who he had bumped into and how well they and their children had done in life,” Mr Katsabanis said.
The young men married, had families of their own and began to move out of to outer suburbs. Argyris realised the days of the kafenio were numbered so he established a restaurant in Chapel Street Windsor and focused on his cooking skills and ensured that it was a family friendly space for everyone. He ran this restaurant until 1981.
At home, ensured his children were focused on their school work.
“He also took us to the shop so we could pick up people and business skills, my father worked seven days a week, and as we were growing up we only saw dad at breakfast time, or when we went to the shop with him, and those memories are now precious.”
In 1977 the family move from Victoria Street Windsor, to Highbury Grove, Prahran East. The large new family home was the culmination of the Australian dream and the migrant success story. For Nikoletta, there was space for everyone and where she could entertain family and friends. For Argyris, there were the large front and back yards where he could grow vegetables and fruit trees – a passion that just got bigger and better in retirement. And it was the home where they could raise their family and grow old together.
Argyris was always interested in politics. He had been involved in the youth movement of Konstantine Karamanlis’ ERE party in Greece and when he came to Australia he soon joined the Liberal Party.
“He was not active until the mid-1970s when he, like many other small business people, felt the negative impact of the policies of the Whitlam government. That’s when he became more actively involved in the Liberal Party in Prahran and Higgins assisting candidates and members like Sam Loxton, Roger Shipton, Peter Thomson, Don Hayward, Leonie Burke and Peter Costello,” Mr Katsabanis, the former Liberal politician said.
He was so proud to see his son, Peter, elected as a Member of Parliament in Victoria in 1996 and continued to work voluntarily for the Liberal Party until the last few years of his life. In fact, he stood at a polling booth in Perth for the whole day in March 2017 when Peter stood for and won the seat of Hillarys in Western Australia.
After selling his last business in 1981, Argyris worked for 10 years at the William Lawrence Globe Dye Works in Ellis Street South Yarra which gave him more time to devote to volunteer and church activities.
He returned to the church committee and even served a term as president. He assisted the Hellenic sub-branch of the RSL where his brother Kon was president for many years. In recognition of his service to the Hellenic sub-branch he was awarded a certificate of honour by RSL President Bruce Ruxton on ANZAC Day 2011. As an Allied serviceman he really cherished this award which he hung up in the family room with pride.
When he retired in 1991 he has even more time to devote to family and to volunteer activities. He worked with Father Dimitri to establish a senior citizens club at the church and for many years he used his cooking skills to cook lunch for the members of the club every Tuesday.
“He always smiled when people reminded him that many of the lunch guests he was feeding were actually significantly younger than him,” his son said.
He became a loving grandfather, to Argyrios (Ross) and Nicolette and later to Andrew, Angelica and Zoe.
“Perhaps being a grandfather was a perfect role for Argyris combining his care and compassion for others, his passion for education and his great love for storytelling. I know his grandchildren cherish the time they had with him and will miss him greatly,” said Mr Katsabanis.
Argyris loved reading history and religious books and loved telling stories. He had a great sense of humour and often saw the funny side of the most difficult events. He loved his garden and he enjoyed nurturing his crops even if they didn’t always produce many vegetables.
He loved watching Westerns and wrestling. He loved to cook and we will all miss his rizogalo, his kokkinisto and his schnitzel. He was partial to a icy VB in summer.
He always kept up with the news in both Greece and Australia. He walked to the shop to buy the Neos Kosmos every Monday and Thursday and would often critique what he had read or heard offering his own researched views. He also had sartorial grace and loved a well-cut cuit and tie, with his RSL badge proudly on display.
In the 62 years he spent in Australia, he returned to Greece only once, for three months in 2011. He was proud to be a Greek but after that trip he said that he made the right decision coming to Australia in 1960.
“Dad was very proud to be Australian for everything that this country gave him and his family,” Mr Katsabanis said.
The illness and the eventual passing of his daughter Rani in September 2020 took a heavy toll on him and the family.
“It is overwhelming the grief that infects a parent who loses a child. Just as his own parents had twice done in the past,” his son said.
He took the loss with the dignity, grace and stoicism that he confronted all the other challenges in his life.”My father, Argyris, was a dignified, passionate family man with strong values and strong convictions, he was a patriot who loved his two nations – Greece and Australia. He was boy who survived war and famine and grew into a man who built a new life in a new land,” Mr Katsabanis, his son added.
