Antonios Manolis has been resting in peace for 140 years in Picton, a village 100 km southwest of Sydney.
He arrived in Sydney with six other compatriots on 7 August 1829 as a convict, having been permanently exiled by the British authorities.
Antonios Manolis, Damianos Ninis, Georgios Vasilakis, Gikas Voulgaris, Georgios Laritsos, Nikolaos Papandreas and Konstantinos Strompolis were convicted of piracy. But according to historical accounts, they had actually prevented the British from supplying Ottomans with weapons.
According to Kate Holmes, vice-president of Historical Society of Picton, Antonios Manolis was the captain of 'Herakles' which attacked British ship 'Alceste' on 29 July 1827, which was headed from Malta to Alexandria, Egypt.
A little later, the British ship 'Gannet' sailing in Crete, captured the Greek sailors and led them to Malta.
There, they were brought to trial and under controversial circumstances, were sentenced for piracy, first to death, which was later commuted to life in prison.
They were sent with other convicts to Australia and they arrived in Sydney on 27 August 1829.
The Greek sailors who were illiterate and didn't know much English worked as farmworkers for landowners.
People must have respected him because very often someone who does not have a family in the area does not necessarily have a headstone. But for him they put a big marble headstone in his memory.
Manolis, who is recorded at the time as Antonios Manless, worked as a viticulturist.
In fact, with Nikolaos Papandreas, they were for at least two years on estates of the Macarthur family in an area where the church of St John in Parramatta stands today, but also in Camden.
Viticulturist and author James Busby, widely known as the "father of Australian wine", refers to the two Greeks in his "Manual of Practical Viticulture" written in 1830.
In 1831, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Mitchell noted: "Greek pirates at work training vines …according to the method of their country."
After Greece became independent and the Greek state was established, the legality of the trial of the seven Greeks and their sentencing were questioned.
In 1834, the seven sailors were pardoned, five of whom, at the expense of the Greek state, returned to their homeland two years later.
Antonios Manolis and Gikas Voulgaris, however, preferred to stay in Australia.
Manolis worked as a gardener and died on 22 September 1880, at the age of 76.
Gikas Voulgaris, who lived in Braidwood, became an Australian citizen in 1861 and changed his name to Ginger.
He married a young Irishwoman, Mary Lyons, and had ten children and 52 grandchildren.
Πλάνο του δήμου που εμφανίζει το όνομα του Αντώνη Μανώλη στα δύο κτήματα που είχε στην κατοχή του ο Έλληνας ναυτικός Source: Picton Historical Society
A failed marriage
According to documents, Antonios Manolis had married Elizabeth Corey in the Catholic Church of St Bede's in Appin in 1843. Together they had a son, James.
Not much is known about either Manolis' wife or his son.
Kate Holmes, vice president of the Picton Historical Society, describes the marriage as anything but happy.
"We are not quite sure when he came to live in Picton. We know that he got married in 1843 and that there was a problem in the correct record of his name. He allegedly had a son, but we do not know much about him and his wife Elizabeth, because it seems that the two did not have a happy marriage. He must have lived in Picton and in 1852 bought two plots of land on Hill Street and Upper Picton for eight pounds. He lived there until the end of his life in 1880."
In January 1864, the wife of the Greek pioneer filed a lawsuit against him for desertion, but the matter may have been dropped as neither side appeared in court.
The troubled life of Antonios' son
A special mention is made in the records about Manolis' son James.
In January 1864, there were reports that James Manless (according to the documents) was at Mrs Mary Jane Hamilton's house, with Hamilton's daughter and another female guest waking up to the noises of a man who tried to enter their home.
Another witness said the young man was drinking all night at Gatty's Hotel.
James was convicted of "disturbing the peace" and held for several weeks in prison before being released.
Another report about the son of the Greek sailor is recorded in August 1866, when he was drunk and convicted of "obscenity".
However, his case was postponed as it was impossible to locate him.
Ο τάφος του Αντώνη Μανώλη στο χωριό του Picton στη Νέα Νότια Ουαλία Source: SBS Greek
The first Greek to become a British citizen
In 1854, Antonios Manolis became the first Greek to become a British citizen in Australia, while in 1860 he was registered in the Camden electoral register under the surname Manlis.
It was not until 1870, ten years before his death, that his name appeared correctly in the official documents of the time.
Antonios Manolis passed away on 22 September 1880. His body was found by George Bell, possibly one of his employees.
According to historian Kate Holmes, he must have been a very well-liked person, as a headstone was placed on his grave although he had no relatives.
"People must have respected him because very often someone who does not have a family in the area does not necessarily have a headstone. But for him they put a big marble headstone in his memory," Ms Holmes said.
Malonis' headstone has the following words inscribed on it:
In a strange land, the stranger finds a grave.
Far from his home beyond the rolling wave
These words are attributed to a local, Henry Hooke, who liked poetry and may have worked for the Greek.
Manolis-The landowner
The land Antonios Manolis owned was acquired by a neighbour, Henry James, who died in 1921.
After the death of his widow in 1957, it was bought by EW Wilkinson and six years later sold to Mr and Mrs TR Hawkins, in whose possession it remained until 1999.
In fact, Glenys Hawkins was the one who contacted historian Bruce Knox in 1982 regarding the life of the Greek pioneer.
However, diplomat Hugh Gilchrist, Ambassador to Greece, was the one who, having come in contact with Bruce Knox, had known more about the story of Antonios Manolis.
Στο οικόπεδο αυτό βρισκόταν το κτήμα του πρώτου Έλληνα στην Αυστραλία, Αντώνη Μανώλη Source: Picton Historical Society
An article in the Canberra Historical Journal in March 1977 referred to the 'two pirates' who remained in Australia.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, another article, this time in the local newspaper Picton Post, aroused the interest of the Greek community.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, earlier this year, honoured Manolis to mark the beginning of events for the celebration of 200 years of Greece's Independence Revolution.
