Subject	Australia–Emigration and immigration—History
	Immigrants
	Greek language, Modern
	Voyages and travels
	Assisted emigration
	Employment
Category	5. Cold War (including Decolonisation)
Author	Ioakimidis, Platon
Keywords	Greeks in Australia
	Oral history
	Bonegilla camp
Creator	Doumanis, Nick
Current Holder	State Library of New South Wales
Date	2021-12-07
Access Rights	Digitised
Rights	Copyright holder : State Library of New South Wales Please acknowledge : Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Country Of Origin	Australia
Place	Sydney
Journey	Bonegilla Migrant Centre
Language	Greek (Modern)
Description From Source	Interviewer: Nick Doumanis Occupation: Labourer, Poker machine service technician Year of arrival: 1954 Method of transport: Ship (Toscana) Platon Ioakimidis was born in 1932 into a Pontian Greek family in Molocha, central Macedonia, and came of age during World War II and the Greek Civil War. After years of menial work, he and his young wife took advantage of Australia’s assisted migrant scheme. In Australia, he settled in Redfern, where he and his wife raised a family of four. After trying his hand at various labouring jobs and small business ventures, Ioakimidis settled on a job fixing poker machines. He was involved in the Pontian Greek community and has been a church chanter. Interview summary Platon describes life in Greece in considerable detail. The interview gives a vivid description of rural poverty, and the reaction of his fellow villagers to news that Australia needed ‘labouring hands.’ He discusses his early days in Bonegilla and Grafton as well as his arrival in Sydney and efforts to find work.
Physical Format	Sound recording
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