IN 1950, the steamship, Cyrenia, left the port of Piraeus in Greece, bound for Australia.
On board were peasant farmers Athanasios and Stogiana Bassos, their young sons, five-year-old Traianos and three-month-old Dimitrios, and Athanasios’s mother, Ioanna.
Arthur, Anna, Donny, Jimmy and Joanna Bassos farewelled a life of poverty, and travelled halfway around the world to reunite with Joanna’s husband, Michalis, at Moree in north-western New South Wales.
Joanna had not seen her husband for 21 years.
The Bassos family endured WWII German occupation from 1941-1945 and the Greek Civil War between 1945 and 1949.
During these turbulent years, Arthur was drafted into the Greek Army. Historically, there were conflicts, border wars, names and villages Hellenised, and people were forbidden to speak the Slavic dialect of Macedonia.
It was time to leave and start new lives. Family patriarch, Mick Bassos, was in Moree waiting for them. He migrated to Australia in March, 1928.
Michael Bassos
Since the late 1800s, Greeks sought opportunities and a better life. Australia, America and Canada were high on their wish-lists.
Mick Bassos chose Australia, and a family legacy was born that is still talked about today.
Mick worked on farms across New South Wales and relocated from Bathurst to Moree in the 1940s, where he took on the Monterey Café on Alice Street, established by the Andronicus family.
Sadly, Donny Bassos, the five-year-old who experienced the adventure of a lifetime on board the Cyrenia in 1950, passed away on October 9.
He was 79.
Donny’s sister, Maria, said Donny was privately cremated in Newcastle.
“Our family will miss him immensely – the little five-year-old Greek boy who with his father, mother, baby brother and grandmother boarded a steamship to join our grandfather and resettle in Moree,” Maria said.
“As a small Greek boy, Donny’s fate was sealed. The sorrow is, Donny never made it back to his place of heritage. Meeting up with family and cousins in Greece always generates mention and love of Donny.
“He was definitely the keeper of stories, replete with history. Donny had a memory like a steel trap and with his time cut short, there was so much more to say and ask,” Maria said.
“As a family, we suffer his loss.”
Bassos’s Café – the Monterey – holds a deeply ingrained chapter in Moree’s history, particularly the town’s Greek café history.
And it is Moree where Donny held a lasting kinship and affection.
“You can take the boy out of Moree, but you can’t take Moree out of the boy. He loved his home town,” Maria said fondly.
Donny attended Moree Primary School and Moree Intermediate High School at age 5.
“I don’t know how he managed the language barrier and learned English in a 1950s country town,” Maria said.
“It must have been a horrendous culture shock but the thing about Donny was, he never complained.”
Donny left high school in third form and began an apprenticeship with electrician Jim Wilson, whose premises were next door to the Monterey Cafe.
“Later, Donny came back to work in the family café as was traditionally expected,” Maria said.
Donny and his family were later involved in mixed businesses in Moree, Melbourne and Newcastle. He also worked at Tip Top Bakery in Newcastle as an all-round maintenance man.
“Donny loved his work and the camaraderie among fellow workers and friends. It was where his son Chris worked at the time, too. Their relationship remained strong and special, and Donny was very proud of Chris, and his family’s accomplishments,” Maria said.
Donny’s last place of employment was with Ausgrid in Newcastle, a job placement inspired by brother George, who lives in Sydney.
Donny again enjoyed working alongside Chris, and later, with brother Jimmy’s two sons, Christian and Ben, and he always had their respect.
Donny twice battled illness – prostate cancer and abdominal aortic aneurysm – and passed away peacefully at Calvary St Francis Aged Care Home at Eleebana, a suburb of Lake Macquarie near Newcastle.
“Donny became very ill and diagnosed with prostate cancer. He received 12-18 months of harrowing treatment until a clinical drug trial from Boston in the US managed to miraculously give him his life back,” Maria said.
“He was dealt another blow and experienced abdominal aortic aneurysm. The chance of survival is always slim, but Donny came from tough stock.”
Donny Bassos is the loved father of David (deceased), Chris and Mandy, and Sharna, adored poppy of Ellie and Jake and cherished brother and brother-in-law of Jimmy and Deb, Anna and Glen, George and Louise, Maria and their respective families.
“Donny never forgot his roots and some ashes will return to Moree where his parents, Arthur and Anna and grandparents, Mick and Joanna are buried, more than 13,600 kilometres away from their homeland,” Maria said.
May he rest in peace.
