The First Greek to Settle in South Australia

Tramountanas arrived successful Australia successful 1842. Public Domain

Georgios (or George) Tramountanas is mostly credited for being the archetypal Greek to migrate to South Australia successful 1842, according to the National Archives of Australia.

Born successful Athens successful 1822, Tramountanas was from a household of shipbuilders and seamen who lived connected Lemnos island and had connections to Thessaloniki.

He arrived astatine Port Adelaide successful 1842 with his member Theodoros, who soon moved to Albany successful Western Australia — and who was ne'er to beryllium heard from again.

Georgios worked for immoderate clip successful Port Adelaide earlier starting astatine Edward John Peake’s Winery successful 1846 successful Clarendon town. There helium helped cultivate their aboriginal vines and made brandy and wines.

According to documents held successful the Adelaide bureau of the National Archives, Tramountanas besides worked arsenic a husbandman adjacent Elliston. He showed existent pioneering tone erstwhile helium moved to the sparsely-populated Eyre Peninsula successful the precocious 1850s.

Before his matrimony to Englishwoman Lydia Vosper successful 1858, helium changed his sanction to George North, since his past name, Tramountanas, means “Northern wind” successful Greek. The mates moved to Port Lincoln, wherever George recovered enactment arsenic a shepherd.

There, George and Lydia had their archetypal son, George Henry, successful 1861 and a twelvemonth aboriginal their 2nd son, Hero Clare. Both sons joined successful the 1880s and gave them respective grandchildren.

In 1878, George North applied to go a naturalized settler successful the Province of South Australia. He became a naturalized British taxable connected April 8, 1878.

Early successful 1884, the mates bought onshore which fronted the Old Coach Road, conscionable southeast of Bramfield. After changing the property’s sanction to “North Park,” it became a remainder halt for travelers arsenic teams of horses were changed implicit for the message coach.

Late successful life, the mates retired and lived retired their last years with their lad Hero and his woman Rosina astatine their Newland Grange homestead successful Colton, South Australia. George North died connected Jan. 29, 1911, and his woman Lydia passed distant connected November 20, 1913, survived by their 2 sons and 22 grandchildren.

South Australia honors its archetypal Greek immigrant

George Tramountanas AKA George North, and his woman Lydia. Public Domain

The Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia honors George North arsenic their large pioneering grandfather. A memorial chromatic was placed astatine his gravesite successful 1994 and section North descendants planted an olive grove connected the walkway starring to his grave.

Daryl Edmonds, Denise McEvoy, Paul Willis, and Dianne Jaspers are 4 Australians who are descendants of Georgios Tramountanas. They don’t talk Greek and Hellenism means precise small to them personally.

Yet they were drawn to their roots, to the nonstop spot connected their continent wherever the incredibly brave antheral who sailed halfway crossed the satellite and created their Australian household erstwhile lived.

Thanks to the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA), which revived the representation of Tramountanas and brought his communicative to a modern audience, the 4 Australians successfully discovered their Greek roots.

Since then, the 4 person spent hours connected the Internet, speechmaking archives and visiting libraries to find retired arsenic overmuch arsenic they tin astir the lives of the Norths. They person visited cemeteries, farms, and wineries, and taken trips to the places the Norths and their descendants had lived successful hunt of clues that would pb to the antheral who started it all, the large patriarch of the family.

Once they had assembled a household histrion and the documentation to spell on with it, they started the “Tramountanas-North Association,” a radical created to unite each the members of the wider North household successful Australia and the remainder of the world.