George Hatzimihail outside the Hotel Alice Springs
Lambi, Kos, Greece, 1990

George's father, Alex Hatzimihail, settled in Alice Springs in 1956. The rest of the family followed from the island of Kos in 1959. In 1980 George migrated back to Kos. As tourism was booming, he commenced building the Hotel Alice Springs.

'I'm Greek alright. But it is very difficult to grow up as a Greek in Alice Springs... I had no experience with Greeks - what they were like...in Kos...felt like I was a Greek, but a foreigner in my own land... I could feel the chill in my back that someone was talking about me on the side of the street... I thought to myself "Here we go again. I'm a foreigner in Australia, and now I come back to where I was born, and I'm a foreigner here! What the hell, am I a Greek or Australian?" So, sometimes it can be difficult, even in Greece, being both sides... I think Alice Springs is my homeland, and I treat the Greek language as my second language. I'm a Greek, don't make any mistake about that. I bring my kids up as Greek. But I treat Australia as my homeland up to this day.'

Photo by Effy Alexakis