Greek-Australian Archive – Konstantina Tourvas · Opening the Multilingual Archive of Australia

Greek-Australian Archive – Konstantina Tourvas

Item

Title: Greek-Australian Archive – Konstantina Tourvas
Subject: Australia--Emigration and immigration—History; Immigrants; Greek language, Modern; Voyages and travels; Families--History; Art; Business enterprises; Sydney (N.S.W.); Foreign workers, Greek
Category: 5. Cold War (including Decolonisation); 4. World War II
Author: Tourvas, Konstantina
Keywords: Greeks in Australia; Oral history; Proxy marriage
Creator: Elefterias-Kostakidis, Eleni
Person: Tourvas, Konstantina
Current holder: State Library of New South Wales
Period of reference: 1940 – 2021
Date: December 3, 2021
Link: https://greekaustralianarchive.sl.nsw.gov.au/oral-histories/konstantina-tourvas
Item number: 92eMNB3Y
Access rights: Digitised
Rights: Copyright holder : State Library of New South Wales
Please acknowledge : Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Country of origin: Australia
Language: Greek (Modern)
Description from source: Interviewer: Eleni Elefterias-Kostakidis

1 audio file (1 hr., 14 min.) - digital, WAV, stereo (48 kHz, 24 bit)

Recorded at Turella, New South Wales, on 3 December 2021

Occupation: Artist, Art teacher
Year of arrival: 1959
Method of transport: Ship (The Waterman)

Konstantina Tourvas is an artist, activist, teacher and writer. She was born in 1940 in Evdilos, Ikaria and grew up in an orphanage. She migrated to Australia in 1959 on the Dutch ship The Waterman. She lived first in Woollahra, then Marrickville and currently resides in Turrella.

Interview summary
Dina was not expected to survive at birth because her mother took ill and died 6 months later. She was the fifth child in the family and the fourth girl. After her father remarried, she grew up in an orphanage. Her brother brought her to Australia for a better life. She describes her first experiences in Australia and how she was married by proxy. She recalls attending evening college and art school and her efforts to educate herself while at the same time raising her children and working in the family business.
Physical format: Sound recording
Related resources: https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4892/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4893/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4894/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4895/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4896/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4897/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4898/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4899/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4900/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4901/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4902/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4903/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4904/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4906/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4907/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4908/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4909/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4910/; https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/4911/