The first confirmed Greeks to step foot on Australian soil were a group of seven sailors from Hydra who were transported to New South Wales to serve a sentence for piracy that was given to them by a British naval court.
They arrived in Australia on August 27, 1829. The sailors were convicted in Malta on charges of piracy and were eventually pardoned, but two decided to stay and settle.
In 1837 they all received Absolute Pardons and the Imperial Government agreed to cover the cost of their passage back to England so they could return to Greece. Two of them Antonis Manolis and Gkikas Voulgaris remained in the colony while the other five men Georgios Vasilakis, Georgios Laritsos, Damianos Ninis, Nikolaos Papandreas and Konstantinos Strombolis returned to Greece.
Although some argue that there were a few more Greeks who arrived to Australia before this date, the first confirmed arrivals are these seven men that came aboard the “Hercules,” captained by Athenian, Antonis Manolis.
