Australia's Greek Cafes - exhibition at the Migration Museum: Ron remembers times past in the Adelaide City region of South Australia

Wherever they go in the world Greek people bring their wonderful sense of tradition and warm hospitality with them. The Kafenions of mainland Greece and the islands have been transported to the cities and country towns of Australia - offering a place where Greek men with worry beads in hand and a thick Greek coffee can relax and catch up on the news of the day.

But the Greek Café has evolved over time. In the very early part of the 20th century Greek entrepreneurs established Oyster Saloons along similar lines to those found throughout England.

But following World War Two the cultural shift was to all things American. Throughout the twentieth century the Greek cafes were selling a dream and essentially it was an "American dream". The Greek cafes in Australia were, if you like, Trojan horses for the Americanisation of Australian culture because they brought with them hamburgers, coca cola, juke boxes, milk shakes - the lot.

In Adelaide they had names like the Milky Way Milk Bar, the Black and White Café and Sigalas' Anglo American Café. Soon the booths were filled with the young and the old trying new things like nut sundaes and sodas and American candies.

It's said that part of the trend started with American GI's who asked the existing Greek Café owners to brew up their Maxwell House coffee rations. But by the fifties new Greek arrivals with more new ideas were flooding into the country.

Catherine Manning, Migration Museum: "A lot of Greek migrant families coming in the 50s and 60s were bringing with them or introducing Australia to this new American style café or this new American style culture."

The evolution of the Greek Café kept pace with the times and although the menu may not have received today's Heart Foundation tick of approval - a hamburger with the lot and the fried potato cake proved to be winners with the Australian public.

And yet it was the franchising of an American icon by Hungry Jacks and McDonalds that ultimately sounded the death knell for the old American-style Greek Café.

Catherine Manning, Migration Museum: "They bring the hamburger here - yet it's the mass marketing of hamburgers that leads to their eventual slow demise. There are lots of places that we can think of in Adelaide like the Black and White Milk Bar, the Majestic, Sigalas' Anglo American which were huge in their time, which we no longer have in the same way."

Selling an American Dream - the story of Australia's Greek Cafes is on show at the Migration Museum in Kintore Avenue until late September. It's free. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Selling an American Dream
Migration Museum
Kintore Ave
Free admission

Published 12th July 2009