In an Australia many still remember, in each suburb and every country town, was the Greek café or milk bar – open all hours, seven days a week.
The Blue Mountains Historical Society and Friends of the Paragon are hosting a public lecture next month which will chronicle how these family-based food-catering enterprises set the agenda and broadly affected and influenced Australian popular culture.
Presented by social historian Leonard Janiszewski and accompanied by unique archival historical images and contemporary photographs taken by documentary photographer Effy Alexakis, the lecture will look at the overall development of Greek cafés and the personal stories of those involved.
Greek cafés and milk bars in Australia were a ‘Trojan Horse’ for the Americanisation of the eating, social and cultural habits of Australians from the start of the twentieth century. They introduced American commercial food-catering ideas, technology and products and influenced the development of cinema, popular music and even architecture along American lines.
The event is on Saturday 27 August at 99 Blaxland Rd in Wentworth Falls. Cost is $15 and includes the lecture, afternoon tea and admission to the Paragon Cafe exhibition. Bookings: 0419 973 145.
