Seeing the heavily urbanised Hills District of Western Sydney today, it is hard to imagine it used to be nothing but scattered little villages. Yet, this is where an adventurous Greek farmer once lived until he was 101.
George Emanuel (also known as George Manuel) who reached Australia in 1811, appears to be the first documented Greek person to migrate permanently to the country. Originally from Corfu, he was a sailor on boats hunting for seals off Western Australia, then acquired land in what is now Castle Hill.
His story is now being told in a new SBS podcast series, , which hopes to document the first migrants from their communities.
Australia's 2021 Census found 27 per cent of the population was born overseas and almost half (48 per cent) have a parent born overseas.
George Emanuel's house was still standing in the 1970s. Source: Supplied
"According to the land documents that I have in my possession ... he was growing fruit and selling it at the Sydney markets," he said.
Vrasidas Karalis, chair of the Modern Greek Department at the University of Sydney, said Mr Emanuel "was one of the few non-English property owners that we found in that period in the colony". He characterised him as "a fortune-seeker".
Records show George remain unmarried until 1876 when he was aged 99.
"He knew that he was coming towards the end of his life," Mr Markos said. "He knew that he needed a carer and irrespective of whether that carer was taking advantage of him, it wasn't his prime concern."
A death notice in the NSW Cumberland Argus dated 26 October 1938. Credit: Neos Kosmos
Greek is the seventh most spoken language in the country, with almost 230,000 speakers.
Many of the first settlers from their countries arrived in Australia when the concept of nation-states was still in its infancy. A modern independent Greek state did not appear until 1822, more than a decade after Mr Emanuel came to Australia.
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Similar ambiguities were found with the first Korean migrant, whose country was a Japanese colony until long after his death, as well as the first Afghan migrant, who arrived when Afghanistan and Myanmar were grouped under the same umbrella terms.
Mr Emanuel died in 1878 and rests at the former Wesleyan Chapel in Cherrybrook in an unmarked grave.
Learn more about George Emanuel's life and other 'first' migrants to Australia by listening to the .
If you are aware of someone Greek who settled in Australia even earlier, or you know of the first migrant from any other community, please write to us at
