Greek Immigrant Cafe Owners Left Their Mark in Australia

GREEK IMMIGRANT CAFE OWNERS LEFT THEIR MARK IN AUSTRALIA

by TNH Staff

published in The National Herald

April 25, 2020

The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group.

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QUEENSLAND, Australia – The Greek immigrant experience is especially associated with restaurants and cafes around the world. Wherever Greeks went, their traditional values of philoxenia and philotimo went with them. This was also true for the Lathouras brothers who immigrated to Australia from Alatsata in Asia Minor in 1906, the State Library of Queensland noted on its website. 

By 1923 Jannos (Jack) Lathouras and his brothers, Michael and Mark, had opened two cafes in the main street of Bundaberg, Bourbong Street. Bundaberg was a thriving provincial Queensland town during the 1920s. 

Jack Lathouras worked in several locations, including Melbourne, Brisbane and Ingham before joining his cousins, John and Steve Girdis in the Central Coffee Palace, 374 George Street, Brisbane. The two families were involved in several businesses together in the Brisbane CBD but by 1920, the Lathouras Bros relocated to Bundaberg to open two cafes, Cafe Royal at 86 Bourbong Street (opened in 1920) and and the Elite Cafe at 143 Bourbong Street (opened in 1923). Their living quarters were located above the spacious Café Royal. 

The families in Bundaberg were encouraged to socialise together. Sundays were spent with the Leondarakis (Londy) and Glous (Lewis) families. Harry, Peter and Manuel Lewis had taken over a café in Bourbong Street, the Marble Café, previously connected to the Cominos Bros – John, Theo, Arthur and Paul. 

The Lathouras Brothers expanded their business by delivering ice-cream to households using a horse and cart and produced their own confectionery for sale through the cafés . These delightful treats were made on the premises at the back of the Café Royal in the “Lolly Room”. 

The Elite operated under the Lathouras Bros until 1976.