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where he spent several months he had a plate inserted in his head. After his recovery he made his way to Port Said
where he worked as a powder monkey.
He arrived in Darwin in November 1915 having learnt from a fellow compatriot, Margaritis, that railway
extensions were being planned and employment possibilities were promising. It was a time when a number of
Greeks, especially those from the islands closest to the Turkish mainland, sought refuge elsewhere. He seems first
to have gone to the Maranboy tin fields, being registered as an alien there in November 1916. When the railway
extension from Pine Creek to Katherine was begun the following year Haritos being a ‘useful sort of carpenter’
worked on the Fergusson River Bridge. When this was completed he worked on the wharf in Darwin lumping coal,
in a restaurant and various other odd jobs.
In September 1917 he married Eleni Hermanis (now spelled Harmanis) in a double wedding performed by the
district registrar. A Greek priest, at that time unlicensed, was one of the witnesses. A traditional ceremony followed.
The licence for Reverend Chrisandos Konstandinidis to perform marriages was gazetted on 28 March 1919.
He had been licensed in Western Australia and applied to be licensed in the Territory on 23 August 1917.
The Commonwealth authorities required a certificate from 20 householders that the applicant had been their
minister for six months preceding the application. This was provided and Administrator recommended the licence
be issued though too late for the first Greek marriages in Darwin. There were eight children of the marriage.
After a period in Darwin’s ‘Greektown’, the young couple early in 1919 set up home at Racecourse (Ludmilla)
Creek where Haritos, in a partnership which included John Sphakanakis and Dick Colivas, began to develop
salt pans to supply the newly built Vesteys meat works. In this the manager, Conacher, encouraged them, as the
abattoirs required a great deal of salt. When Vesteys closed after only three years of operation the partners found
markets on cattle stations and butchers’ shops, refrigeration then being far from universal; buffalo shooters also
required lots of salt. Constant analysis of the various stages of sedimentation was needed for success. The first
analysis was taken on 29 March 1919. By June 1932 the import of salt into Darwin had ceased and 150 tons of salt
valued at 1 200 Pounds was produced for the year from four acres.
At Racecourse Creek the growing family had a herd of several hundred goats and fresh milk every day. Fowls
were another source of food; at one time Eleni Haritos had a contract to supply eggs to the hospital. They grew
peanuts and watermelons, which were sold by the children from their home in McMinn Street, to which the family
moved in 1925 so the children could be nearer the school. This house was typical of its day. It was constructed
mostly of corrugated iron with wooden slats above sill level; there was a big central room with verandahs all
round and a kitchen with a dirt floor at the rear separated from the house by a covered walkway. A well in the yard
provided water.
The family prospered and by the time Darwin was bombed in 1942 Haritos owned four blocks of land in the
town, including lot 334 (corner Daly and Cavenagh Streets) on which he had erected a two storey fibro shop
and residence which was completed on 15 October 1940. He then opened a grocery store, which was to become
something of a Darwin institution until his son, Michael, finally closed it in 1979.
When the evacuation of Darwin was ordered in December 1941 Haritos was 53 years old. He stayed until after
the bombing and then joined his family at Mullumbimby, New South Wales, where he ran a banana plantation
during the war years.
During the war the Army had occupied the store. Haritos returned to re-open it in January 1946, for the first
few months, supplied by the Army. By then all the land in the town had been resumed, as it was the government’s
intention to replan and re-site the central business district, with tenure being on a leasehold basis only. For war
damage and depreciation to two houses in McMinn Street in addition to the store in Daly Street, and as compensation
for the acquisition of all his properties including the salt works, Haritos received a total of 6 100 Pounds. When
the new town plan was abandoned in 1951 he was able, as a former owner, to repurchase his improvements and
he obtained leases on one of the McMinn Street house properties as well as the Daly Street store. A new family
home was completed in Bayview Street, Fannie Bay by March 1951. Over the next 20 years he developed a small
market garden adjacent to the house.
All E G Haritos’ sons have in their own way played prominent parts in the town’s more recent history.
George became a shipmaster, Jack (Kyriacou) became the family accountant, Nicholas was involved in fishing
and Michael ran the store.
Stratos Haritos was naturalised on 7 March 1924 and he never went back to Greece. During the First World War
he lost all his family except a sister. Not until his old age did his thoughts return to the land of his birth. He was to
tell his children constantly how much he appreciated the security of his new country. He learned conversational
English very quickly and eventually learned to read and write it though he also had a library of Greek books, which
he often reread. Despite an uncertain temper at times a legacy, his family believes, of the plate in his head, he was
always highly respected and was an important representative of the early Greek community which was to grow to
significant numbers in Darwin.
He died in September 1974, not quite 87, having been predeceased by his wife who died on 8 July 1966.
His eight children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren survived him and he was buried according
to the rites of the Orthodox Church in the Greek section of the McMillans Road cemetery.
Administrator’s annual reports, 1932, 1933; Australian Archives, Darwin, CRS F46, CRS F1 1946/159 Pt 2, CRS F1 1954/419; Australian
Archives, Canberra, CRS A1/1 10053, CRS A3 19/1248, CRS A3/1 NT 21/4037; family information; Northern Territory Archives, interview
with J Haritos, NTRS 226 TS 233 and TS 578; Northern Territory News, 27 September 1974.
HELEN J WILSON and JACK HARITOS, Vol 3.