Ikarians in South Australia, 1900-1945

Author: Yianni Cartledge

Greek islands | South Australia | 20th century | European history | Australasian & Pacific history | 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 | Migration, immigration & emigration | Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies

Published on 13^th January 2026 by Anthem Press in the United Kingdom as part of the 'Anthem Studies in Mediterranean History' series.

Hardback | 196 pages
161mm x 236mm x 20mm | 448g

This book looks at a little-researched diaspora, originating on the Greek Aegean Island of Ikaria. Ikaria, being a small, isolated island, close to the Turkish coast, had a long and independent history, with periods of autonomy, including the short-lived Free State of Ikaria in 1912, which was the outcome of the Ikarian Revolution against the Ottoman Empire. Ikarians remained quite insular until the nineteenth century, when they began emigrating to Ottoman port-cities and urban centres, as well as nearby Aegean islands. Eventually, they found themselves in growing hubs of migration such as Egypt and the United States. By 1910, the first Ikarians had arrived in Port Pirie, South Australia, beginning a long tradition of Ikarian migration and settlement in the state. This book explores the Ikarians in South Australia between 1900 and 1945 – an under-researched period, and a contrast from most studies on Greeks in Australia, which have focused on the mass migration post-World War II and post-Greek Civil War. The book positions itself around four key themes: emigration, settlement, community building and integration, with ideas such as localism and identity being explored as facets within those themes.