From the fields of Kos to the streets of a New World

Thomas Tellis was born in 1943 in the village of Pyli on the island of Kos. His youthful years flowed peacefully: helping his father in the fields, tending to the mules, and holding celebrations with fellow villagers to the sound of the mandolin. However, the difficult years that followed the Second World War pushed thousands of Greeks towards emigration. Among them was Thomas and his family, who set off for the “other side of the world”, the distant and exotic Australia. In the fifth continent, the young islander found himself in a world vastly different from his own. He saw television for the first time, became part of the Greek expatriate community, and soon entered the demanding world of hard work. He began as a waiter, but through determination and perseverance, he became a cook, and eventually managed to open his own food establishment. In doing so, he carried with him a “drop” of Greece into a land that would become his second home.