Greek Cafes were once the social hubs of western Queensland towns and next week (August 18) UQ PhD student Toni Risson will board the Q150 train to embark on a journey of multicultural discovery.
The University of Queensland-sponsored Q150 Steam Train departed Ipswich in April, undertaking a five-month journey to more than 30 Queensland communities.
The heritage-listed Steam Train's trip is part of a year-long celebration of Queensland's 150th anniversary of becoming a state.
Ms Risson will board the train on its sector six travels through Queensland’s west – including the towns of Mitchell, Warwick, Stanthorpe, Chinchilla, Roma, Dalby, Charleville and Toowoomba – where she intends to document, through the help of locals, the legacy of the iconic Greek café.
In 2007, Ms Risson published a book about the Greek café but is now working on a second publication that includes more Queensland establishments.
“My hope is that long-time residents and local councils and libraries, if they have old photographs of cafes, will get involved with the project as this second publication will celebrate and promote towns in western Queensland,” she said.
“I expect to find that country Greek cafes have long gone, but in rural areas buildings may remain as a testament to this rich and important aspect of our past.
“The Belle Vue Café in Warwick is one of the few still in operation, although no longer owned by Greek-Australians, but most, I expect, will be like the Paragon Café in Dalby or the Red Rose Café in Mitchell, nothing but a distant memory.”
Ms Risson said the Greek Café was a shared chapter in the histories of Greece and Australia, and was not only the social hub of its community, but enabled generations of Greek immigrants to establish themselves in their adopted homeland.
“People flocked to them because, in the days before refrigerators, supermarkets and processed foods, people purchased cold drinks, ice-creams and lollies at the local Greek café,” she said.
“Our now-popular Mediterranean diet entered Australian life through the kitchens of Greek cafes where waitresses, who were local girls, first tasted yoghurt and olive oil, and across backyard fences where neighbours smelled the strange aromas of garlic and basil.”
To arrange to meet with Ms Risson on her journey or to provide information on the Greek cafés that once served in your town email t.risson@uq.edu.au.
Media: Ms Toni Risson (0439 664 291 or t.risson@uq.edu.au) or Eliza Plant at UQ Communications (07 3365 2619).
