Marrickville: Sydney’s ‘Little Athens’

Sydney historian Vasilis Vasilas recently announced his new project, Little Athens (Volume One): Marrickville, which focuses on the personal narratives and photographs of Marrickville’s shops and businesses, and the first volume will be published later this year.

Milk Bar στην περιοχή του Marrickville, σε μια περίοδο που το ελληνικό στοιχείο ήταν ακόμη πιο έντονο Source: Supplied

Having compiled and published works on Greek, Estonian, Ukrainian and Hungarian Jewish communities, Little Athens, is an extension of his most recent publication, Beyond the Shop Windows and Counters: Stories and Photographs of Sydney’s Current Greek Shops (Volume 1), and is part of the Agora Series, where he focused on the diversity of Sydney’s Greek shops and businesses in the post-World War II period.

As Vasilis explains, ‘These personal narratives on Marrickville’s shops and businesses began as early as 2015 when I was compiling this theme within the general Greek community. As the number of Marrickville personal narratives continued to increase, I realised there was an emerging project within this project and Marrickville deserved its own focus.’

Ο ιστορικός και συγγραφέας Βασίλης Βασίλας, στο πλευρό επιχειρηματιών γνωστής ταβέρνας στο Marrickville Source: Supplied

The first volume of this project o Marrickville’s shops and businesses focusses on the post World War II period and includes personal narratives and photographs from the first Greek shops of the 1950s until today, while the second volume will also include more recent shops and businesses.