Greek Housing Group (fmr)

Values

The use of the place by Greek migrants from 1932 to 2014 is indicative of the period when many Greek families moved into this part of Northbridge and the neighbourhood consolidated as the social and religious centre of Greek cultural life in Western Australia.

The place represents the period up to the 1950s of strong Castellorizian influence in the State.

The place is associated with the well-known and influential Kakulas family, migrants from Castellorizia, and with a long-serving Greek Orthodox priest, Rev Christopher Mannessis.

The place is a rare surviving example of a group demonstrating the move of Greek migrants into Northbridge in the interwar years.

Physical Description

The group comprises three single-storey brick and tile former residences on the north side of Aberdeen Street, centrally within the block between Lake and Palmerston Streets. The brick of No.120 and No.122 is smooth-rendered, while No.124 is unpainted brick. Numbers 120 and 122 have very similar overall form and detailing, including matching stone quoining and lancet vent in the gable, but documentary evidence suggests they were constructed at least five years apart. Both have hipped gable roofs, with an asymmetrical façade comprising a gable end and a small porch. No.124 is an elaborate rendition of Federation Queen Anne style, with a decorative timber verandah wrapping the south and east side and twin gables embellished with ornamental stucco. All three are paved from the building to the footpath, with small plantings, except for a large Norfolk Island Pine in front of No.122. Driveways run to the rear of the buildings. There are small rear courtyards at No.120 and No.124, but No.122 extends the full length of the lot.

History

A very small number of Greeks had been in Western Australia in the nineteenth century, and appear to have lived without significant contact with each other. The first arrival from Castellorizio was Athanasios Avgoustis, who used the anglicised name Arthur Auguste. Auguste settled in Western Australia from 1896. He encouraged relatives and friends from Castellorizia to join him. Auguste was the first leader of the Castellorizian Association (Brotherhood) in Perth, formed in 1912.

By 1914, approximately 140 Castellorizians had followed him to Western Australia. Initially this was mostly men, but by the 1920s many of the male migrants had settled sufficiently to send home for brides, and the gender balance began to even out.

The economic prosperity brought to Western Australia by the 1890s gold boom and the associated increase in population led to the expansion of Perth and its division by the construction of the Perth-Fremantle railway. Many of the original large Perth Town Lots were subdivided and a rush of building established housing in what would later become the inner suburbs, including to the north of the railway line (later Northbridge).

Post Office Directory listings of the three residences of Greek Housing Group, Aberdeen Street prior to their Greek ownership are as follows:

No. 120 Aberdeen Street (numbered 126 up to 1907): The earliest available Post Office Directory, from 1893, has J.A. Campbell located in this block. Campbell remains the occupant through to 1933. From 1898 to 1909, the place is listed as Cameron Lodge, managed by Captain and later Colonel Joseph A. Campbell. From 1908 to 1933, the St John Ambulance Association is also listed at the place, with Campbell as its secretary. Cameron Lodge is last listed in 1909.

No. 122 Aberdeen Street (numbered 128 up to 1907): First listed in 1897, as the private residence of Hon Frederick H Piesse, Commissioner of Railways & Director of Public Works. In 1898, Piesse remains as the occupant and the place is noted to be called ‘Katanning Villa’. In 1899, the place is listed as occupied by John McKenna, inspector of police. In 1900, the residence is listed as occupied by William Trethowan, medical practitioner. Although it was not consistently medical rooms through the next decade, in 1910, it is again listed as medical rooms, with resident doctor Roy C. Merryweather. In 1916 and 1917, the occupant is listed as Mrs L. Bevan, nurse. From 1918, the occupant is John T Rocke, who remains through to 1931.

No. 124 Aberdeen Street: First listed in 1913. Occupied by William Neail 1913 to 1917, then from 1920 to 1929 by baker Frank Bricknell, who operated a bakery from the Newcastle Street end of his block. Various residents occupied the place in the 1930s, most of whom seem to have been associated with this bakery.

Although Joseph Campbell was listed at 120 Aberdeen Street until 1933, he died in 1924, aged 81. Campbell was born in Ireland and served in the British armed forces from the age of fifteen, including serving in India and Egypt, before arriving in Western Australia as Chief of Instructional Staff in 1886. He retired from the military in 1902 and in his retirement was heavily involved in the St John Ambulance Society. One of his sons died at Gallipoli and another in a car accident shortly before Campbell’s own death.

In the interwar years, Northbridge became a popular area for Greek migrants to settle, especially after a Hellenic Community hall was built on Parker Street in 1925, less than 100 metres from Greek Housing Group, Aberdeen Street. By the 1930s, Northbridge was firmly established as the Greek community’s ‘residential, cultural and religious heartland’, with the area acquiring a Greek character. Greek families took up land particularly in Aberdeen, Francis, Lake, Newcastle and Pier Streets. For example, by the mid-1930s, thirty Greek families were listed in about 600 metres of Lake Street, between Stuart and Roe Streets. There were nine Greek residences in Aberdeen Street and eight in the short length of nearby Shenton Street. Greek residences generally had lemon and/or olive trees, and often grape vines, planted in their Northbridge gardens to create a sense of their Mediterranean origins. Many of the Greek families who had been in Fremantle moved to Northbridge in this period. It appears they largely moved into existing residences and, as such, the architecture of the area largely did not change to reflect the increasingly Greek population.

The first Greek Orthodox priest arrived in Western Australia in 1911. The Greek community fund-raised for many years and finally in 1922 purchase land in Parker Street, Northbridge, for a future church. The site was reportedly largely funded by Arthur Auguste, and its location was chosen due to several influential Castellorizians living in the vicinity, include Peter Michelides on Lake Street. The Castellorizian Brotherhood, recognising that Greek migrants were increasingly arriving from other parts of Greece, in 1923 formed a second organisation, the Hellenic Community of Western Australia. A Greek community centre was built on the Parker Street land in 1925 and a large Greek Orthodox Church completed in 1935-1937.

The clergyman for the Greek Orthodox church, Reverend Christopher Mannessis, was listed at 122 Aberdeen Street from 1932 until to at least the end of the 1940s. He was the first Greek resident to occupy a house in this block of Aberdeen Street. It is likely that the residence remained in use by Orthodox clergy until a rectory was purchased ‘south of the church’ in 1962.

Peter Kakulas is listed at 120 Aberdeen Street from 1934 until the end of the directories in 1949. Peter Kakulas arrived in Western Australia in 1918. He was not one of the brothers who ran the Kakulas Brothers store, but he has been noted as a ‘greengrocer’ and presumably had some involvement in the family business. Peter Kakulas married Pelagia Theofilos in 1931. Their sons Bartley Kakulas QC and Theo Kakulas founded Kakulas Legal, Barristers and Solicitors, in 1957, which is now run by Bartley’s son Peter Kakulas. Peter Varthalamos Kakulas of Perth is listed as dying at the age of 60 in the 1967 and Pelagia Peter Kakulas of Northbridge as dying at the age of 82 in 1992. It appears likely that these are the people listed at Aberdeen Street in the 1930s-1940s. Further research would establish whether they still lived at the same address into the 1990s. Pelagia Kakulas was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1983 for ‘service to ethnic welfare’.

No. 124 Aberdeen Street first passed into Greek ownership in 1939, when it was bought by the Stavros and Michael Kakulas, brothers who operated Kakulas Brothers grocery store. It appears their mother lived there until her death, after which Michael and his wife Despina (married 1948) lived there as their family home. It remains owned by Michael’s daughter in 2015. In 2010, Michael Kakulas was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to the Greek Orthodox community.

In 1949, the last Post Office Directories list 120-124 Aberdeen Street as the only Greek residences in this section of Aberdeen Street.

After World War II, peace treaties saw the island of Castellorizo demilitarised and returned to Greece. At the time, there were only 663 people remaining on the island, but around 1,500 Castellorizians in Western Australia. The population of predominantly Castellorizian pre-war Greek migrants were foundational in both the establishment and the continuation of Greek community networks, organisations and facilities in the State. However, post-war immigration programs especially from the mid-1950s brought migrants from all over Greece, who settled throughout Western Australia, reducing the influence of both Northbridge and the Castellorizian community in the wider Greek presence in the State.

The rear section of the lots of all three residences were cleared for construction of the Northbridge tunnel between 1995 and 2000, but it does not appear that any portion of the three buildings was demolished in this process.

Extensions have been added at the rear of both 120 and 122 Aberdeen Street. At least part of the extensions at 122 Aberdeen Street appears to date from before World War Two. No. 124 Aberdeen Street is very intact and does not appear to have been substantially added to since its construction. All three former residences are now in use as offices or, in the case of 124 Aberdeen Street, vacant awaiting an office tenant.

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This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.