immigrants

The foundation stone of Townsville's Saints Theodores Greek Orthodox Church was laid on 16 March 1947. In June 1950 this Church was officially opened and dedicated, though the religious practice had commenced from 1948 while the building was still being completed.[1] It is named after three saints called Theodore.[2] Some of the earliest Greek migrants to Australia arrived in the 1850s. Many of these were sailors or deckhands who jumped ship after arriving aboard sailing vessels at the various Australian port cities. In the Australian Colonies, these early Greeks found employment generally in mining, seamen aboard coastal shipping, or as wharf laborers.[1] In Queensland, little evidence exists of a Greek presence during the greater part of the 19th century, but the first Greek to this Colony to be naturalised was Christopher Arsenios in 1868. Arsenios was a Greek Orthodox Priest who heralded from Corfu, who settled in Clermont.[1] The first real wave of Greek migration to Australia did not take place until the early part of the 20th century, in the years leading up to the commencement of World War I. By the turn of the 20th century, the number of Greeks in Australia was insignificant. Even in the major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, Greeks only composed a very small group. By 1915 though, some 1000 Greeks were estimated as residing in Sydney alone, and in Queensland 400, with fifty in Brisbane. In Queensland evidence suggests that the major place of origin of these Greek migrants by 1915 was from Kythira.[1] One of the main reasons for these Greek arrivals in Australia was the political unrest at home in the period prior to World War I, as it was to occur again in the 1920s. The Balkan Wars took place during 1912 and 1913, involving Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Turkey. In order to escape the effects of this conflict many Greeks left Macedonia and other northern regions and came to places such as Australia.[1] After the end of World War I, another spur to Greek migration was a subsequent war between Greece and Turkey over Smyrna that broke out during 1921–1922. As a destination for Greek migrants, Australia was to become an even more obvious choice from 1924, due to the United States of America instituted a severe quota limit on migration into that country. The subsequent Greek arrivals in places such as Queensland accelerated the proliferation of Greek cafes and other eating places in Brisbane and the country. The new arrivals found that the path to success had already been carved out by the pioneers of the first two decades. One history of Greek migration to Queensland surmised:[1] In Townsville, Greeks began to arrive and settle in this locale in approximately 1916. Amongst the first arrivals recorded were Spyros and Vasilios Makris, Raftopoulos, Maltepes, John and Dimitrios Hondros, and Nicholas and George Voyatzis. Though these early Townsville Greeks did not establish a formal Greek Community until the 1940s, they nonetheless periodically organised social, cultural, and religious activities in celebration of their Greek origins. To meet the interim religious needs of this developing Townsville Greek community, a visiting priest from Innisfail conducted services in St James' Cathedral, as did Metropolitan of Australia Timotheos Evangelinidis when visiting this community. Metropolitan Timotheos was also to be instrumental in establishing the Greek Community in Townsville.[1] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Theodores_Greek_Orthodox_Church

James Duhig is a towering figure over Brisbane’s past. Queensland had a large Catholic representation in the population from early Irish migration, but also from much later migration from European, Asian, and African countries with significant Catholic traditions. Duhig’s impact was a connection between the Catholic population and his extraordinary skills as a church administrator, combined with the extraordinary length of time in his authority of Archbishop. The era of that long time also aided to the impact, when a sectarian Brisbane ethos meant that the ‘Protestant’ population could hardly ignore a powerful Catholic figure like Duhig. His background would strengthen his ties, or enhance controversy. Duhig was born in Limerick, Ireland, but had arrived in Queensland, at a young age, to be educated at the Irish Christian Brothers’ College of St Joseph’s, Gregory Terrace. Duhig then studied for the priesthood at the Urban University of Propaganda Fide. Outside of his conventional Catholic theology for the times, Duhig was influential in the acculturation of Brisbane to an overoptimistic urban development and land settlement policies. Unsurprisingly, he was also an important source of Catholic social conservatism, finding his polemic in blaming the cinema for lack of cohesion in family life and for the ‘perversion of the young’. As a brilliant statesman, as well as the church politician, he knew the art of charm. It particularly helped that Duhig was a genuine patron of the arts, having cultivated a love of art and literature from an early age. Source: mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/history-location/035-james-....

Holy Name Cathedral was a planned but never-built Roman Catholic cathedral for the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Designed by Hennessy, Hennessy & Co, initially in an English Baroque style inspired by St Paul's in London, it was intended to have been the largest church building of any Christian denomination in the Southern Hemisphere. James Duhig, the Archbishop of Brisbane, was the chief proponent of the project. First designed in 1925, building began in 1927 and in the 1930s services were held in the crypt chapel on the site, the only part to be built. No further construction took place, and with Duhig's death in 1965 the project lost its impetus, but was not formally abandoned until the 1970s. The archdiocese sold the site to property developers in 1985, the crypt was demolished and an apartment complex was built on the site. Today the perimeter wall along Ann Street and part of Gotha Street are all that remain, and were heritage-listed in 1992. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Name_Cathedral,_Brisbane

The basic problem Italian migrants are facing, in their religious life, is the fact that in Australia they find a Catholic Church which does not have the language and religious mentality and practices of the Catholic Church they left in Italy; but they find a Catholic Church which has the customs, traditions and practices of the Irish Catholic. Church. For many years, the only Significant Catholic group in Australia was the Irish. The Irish people, since their first arrival, were under the care of a sufficient number of zealous priests, sisters and brothers. From their own resources, without any government aid, they built up the parish and school system. These two institutions successfully helped transmit the Catholic faith from one generation to the next and develop the Australian Catholic Church. Source: "Australian Parishes and Italian Immigrants ' by Giuseppe Visentin library.bsl.org.au/bsljspui/bitstream/1/11648/1/visenting...

Brisbane was a centre of early Russian immigration, receiving some of the very first Russians to Australia. Queensland’s café scene was brought to life by Basil Naggih who installed Brisbane’s first espresso machine in his café, which itself was one of the first cafés in Brisbane. A few years later he founded Brisbane’s first coffee roastery. The State Library of Queensland boasts a number of historical items related to Russian history in Queensland. Gowns designed by one of Australia’s most significant fashion designers of the 50s and 60s, Paula Gubar, a Russian immigrant to Brisbane, are held in the Queensland Museum, and many buildings relating to early Russian immigration in Queensland are heritage protected by the Queensland Government, including St Nicholas Cathedral and the famous Mikonoshin “Fairy House”. These are just a few of the ways that Brisbane’s history is dotted with Russianness. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/brisbane-australias-most-russian-...