My second Golden age session I captured today was of the wonderful Victoria. She had such a huge amount of pictures from her past.. Even images of her parents & Husbands family. So much history!
Her Mum was quite theatrical & the family photo she had taken (before Victoria was born) Just had me absolutely mesmerised. She had the family in costume & styled for the pics, which I haven't seen before from that era.
Victoria said her Mother would have absolutely loved my studio & the dresses, & that she would be surely smiling down on her while she had her photo taken today.
Special thanks to Victoria's daughter & Fronditha Care for helping make this happen for her.
Victoria Helen Baraliakos
Born 20 May 1932, 20 minutes after her twin sister Elizabeth (Sophia).
The youngest of seven children (one boy and six girls).
Grew up in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.
Went to Randwick Girls High.
Worked at the Australian Golf Club, Dr Jacobi, Glo International and Martin Bright Steel and also “Kelly from the Telly”.
Married Lefty when she was only 17 – no wonder her family didn’t approve.
Spent a year in Greece in 1952 with Iphigenia as a one-year-old, living with in-laws where she no doubt learnt her culinary skills.
Moved to Oyster Bay with baby George and Iphigenia in about 1955– lived in the garage until the house was built – can’t have been easy as Leftery was away working on ships as an able seaman and when home, cracked sandstone and laboured extensively to clear the block and build a home for the family.
Baby Chrisanthi was born shortly after in the years building the brick home on the property.
In those years, landlords did not welcome families with children as tenants.
The laundry was in a separate outside shed and when the new automatic washing machine, a Bendix front loader came, the day was spent with a representative to explain how to use it!
‘Catch a Falling Star” by Perry Como played on the radio.
Milk was delivered as was the bread.
The refrigeration consisted of a freezer chest.
A large block of ice delivered regularly kept food cold.
The “Dunny Man“ came weekly to collect and leave a new toilet pan outside in the toilet shed near the laundry.
Vicky’s Greek mother, Chrisanthi was born in Izmir but left for Cairo with her mother and young brother when she saw trouble brewing. There she met Alan Bruton, who had stayed in Cairo after his service as an ANZAC. He was also in the Army band and played a number of wind instruments.
Allan was from New Zealand of Scottish and Irish descent. They married in Cairo and eventually moved to Australia, making babies all the way. This wasn’t a match made in heaven and Chrisanthi divorced Alan around the time Vicky and Sophia were born. So, she was raised by her very strong mother and grandmother.
Victoria’s Memories
I attended Crown Street Public with my twin sister Elizabeth (Betty).
We twins were separated due to Elizabeth being slower in her studies and her reliance on me, Victoria, to give her the answers for her work.
Sadly, Elizabeth passed away at the age of 38 from cancer.
My strengths at school were Spelling, Composition, Maths and a variety of crafts, with particular strength in Sewing.
I loved singing, dancing and would have loved to have been an actress.
I left school at the age of 15 and became a doctor’s receptionist which involved typing reports and accounts.
In my own words.
Life changed when I met Leftery at a Greek dance.
He told me right from the beginning that he wanted to marry me.
We had a lot of hardships but stuck by each other.
I found myself in Greece in 1952 with No 1 daughter, Iphigenia and Lefty was hoping to follow.
He was dissuaded by his parents and so after a year I returned to Australia.
Upon my return to Australia, I resolved that there would be no returning to Greece until my children were educated.
George and Chrisanthi soon followed Iphigenia to complete our family unit.
Our three children did us proud, achieving the results to become financially independent.
Over the years, I was blessed with six grandchildren and more recently, three great grandchildren.
I have also welcomed some lovely partners into my family.
Our home in Oyster Bay took a few years to complete with the bottom level completed in 5 years.
My children’s friends may remember the barbeques and bonfires on cracker nights, where we all had fun together.
An early street party if you will!!
Life in Greece. Around 38 years.
I loved the people, the way of life and most of all, to see how Leftery was so happy to return to his place of birth.
I have made some very good friends there, both socially and at the Senior Citizens Group, where I sang in a choir and danced traditional dancing which incorporated trips away to dance and sing.
I managed to retire in 1984 at the wee age of 52 to fulfill Lefty’s dream of returning to his homeland
I Liked it so much, that I decided to stay until 2022
I love to sing and have been blessed with a soprano voice
I have lived life in Greece enjoying the many wonderful aspects of the culture.
I returned to Australia due to Covid and a desire to be closer to my family.
