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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

This Russian Orthodox parish, the first in Australia, was established by white Russians fleeing the Russian revolution. For many years they worshipped in St Thomas’s Anglican Church in nearby South Brisbane. In 1925 they purchased a cottage and converted it into a church. It was later moved to the back of the block to make way for the construction of the new church. Since these early days, and indeed since the foundation of the church, services have changed little. Worship is still conducted in the liturgical language, Church Slavonic. There are no pews or chairs and the congregation stands while the smell of incense wafts around singing members. Candles burn before the icons and on the altar. More icons line the walls representing the spiritual beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven. Source www.stnicholascenter.org/gazetteer/81

'Stay and die or get on a boat': choice faced by waves of migrants By Tony Moore Updated July 30, 2014 — 6.32pmfirst published July 29, 2014 — 12.33pm Rob Cavallucci’s Italian grandparents had the choice of dying on their Italian farms as WWII smoldered to a finish, “or getting on a boat” to a new country. They chose Australia, over Argentina. Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs’ story is typical of the children of the first wave of Italian, German, and Greek post-war migrants to Queensland. His grandparents and parents are the migrants who worked in the state’s canefields, goldfields and railways before establishing their own businesses. Rob Cavallucci’s Italian grandparents had the choice of dying on their Italian farms as WWII smoldered to a finish, “or getting on a boat” to a new country. They chose Australia, over Argentina. Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs’ story is typical of the children of the first wave of Italian, German, and Greek post-war migrants to Queensland. His grandparents and parents are the migrants who worked in the state’s canefields, goldfields and railways before establishing their own businesses. “After the war, there wasn’t too much left of their homes in Italy, because the Germans retreated through central Italy around Rome and they didn’t leave too much with their ‘scorched earth policy,” Mr. Cavallucci said. “They were both farmers from little farming villages and everything they had was basically burnt to the ground or bombed,” he said. “So they really had two choices. “And that was to stay and die, or get on a boat and come to another country.” Source: www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/stay-and-die-or-get-on-...