John Peters
Place Unknown, most probably 1870's

Believed to be the second 'free' Greek male settler in Australia. His Greek name is unknown; though his Greek Christian name is thought to have possibly been Ioannis or Iakoumis. This portrait was found amongst his personal papers, and his descendants consider it to be of him. John arrived during either the mid or late 1830s. Probably a native of the island of Samos, in December 1841, he married 14 year old Sarah McCue from Dublin, at St. John's Church, Parramatta, and towards the end of the 1850s Peters was employed as a 'boatman', probably on the Parramatta River, or perhaps even on a coastal vessel. He later worked as a shepherd on the Bedervale property, near Braidwood, NSW, and then became a gold prospector at nearby Little River. He died in Sydney in 1887 and is buried in Rockwood Cemetery.

Photo courtesy R. Nichols