The Early Kytherians

The Early Kytherians


Murbah appeared on the Greek menu in 1903, a year after the town was incorporated as a municipality, when E. Comino of the Premier Oyster Saloon in Brisbane, Purveyor to His Excellency Sir Herbert Chermside, started running regular large adverts in the local papers urging all Northern NSW travellers to his fair city to give E.C. a trial. ‘E.C.’ was in fact the alias of the tricky Freeleagus Bros taking advantage of the high-profile Comino brand name, which was almost synonymous with oyster saloons by then. But they gave up on their entreaties to the Murbahians a couple of years later when Samio & Andronico brought the first physical Greek presence to town. Grand celebrations took place on Saturday 27May1905 when this pair opened The Sydney Oyster Saloon in Main Street, about where the Pouloudis fruit shop in the present Tweed Fruit Exchange building now stands.

Samio was 17yr old Athanasios Anastasios Aloizos and Andronico was 19yr old Theodoros Constantinos Andronicos. Athanasios (Arthur) was as tricky as the Freeleagus and alternated between his two names over the three years he spent in town. He landed in mid 1903 and went straight to Coonamble to join Andronicos, both moving out together around late 1904, Andronicos to Casino and Samios to Sydney, before they met up again in Murbah. They were both being economical with the truth when they advertised that ‘Our experience has been gained in the leading Metropolitan Saloons’. Andronicos had landed in 1901 and spent all his time out west while Samios could only claim 8mths in Sydney. (Who staked the two teenagers is a mystery, but 18mths later the first Greek oyster saloon appeared in Tenterfield with much the same opening adverts - Andronico Bros... Their experience has been gained in the LEADING METROPOLITAN SALOONS..., and claiming they had branches at Tenterfield, Muswellbrook, Casino and Murwillumbah, perhaps implying the Tenterfield Andronicos, Con, Stan, David and Charlie, the sons of the Reverend Father Theo of Kousounari on Kythera, were the benefactors.)

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