Sam Maroulis arrived in Australia from Greece on a Wednesday in 1970 and started work the very next day.
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Now four-and-half-decades later he is a successful businessman and he said he owes it all to the support of the Hunter community, and in particular his home town of Kurri.
The co-owner of Kurri Seafood, Mr. Maroulis celebrated his 60th birthday on Friday surrounded by his family and friends.
He was just 15-years-old when he immigrated to Australia with his parents and five younger siblings, leaving the Greek Island of Kefalonia.
After a harrowing month spent on a boat with over 1000 fellow European immigrants, he said that he didn’t understand at the time why his family had to leave their home.
“I cried every day on that boat,” he said.
“I spoke as much English as you do Greek and as a young man, it all didn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Mr. Maroulis landed his first job at a café on Newcastle’s Hunter Street and said that the biggest learning experience was dealing with the customers.
He would go on to work in a number of restaurants throughout Newcastle, before a business venture with brother Paul would lead him to Kurri.
Together they opened the family business Kurri Seafood in 1988 and haven’t looked back since.
“Kurri and the Hunter Valley are the best kept secret in Australia,” he said.
“I would not be where I am today without the support of my family and this wonderful community.
“It means everything to me.”
Mr. Maroulis has also managed to achieve his lifelong dream of restoring his family’s Greek home in Kefalonia – something that he said he always promised himself he would do.
Returning every year with his wife Lee, the luxurious Greek villa now boasts everything that his family and friends could ever need when visiting.
But despite this, he said he still calls Australia home.
“I have travelled the world, but there is nowhere I would rather be than here,” he said.
“Kurri is my home and as nice as it is to travel, we are just so blessed here in Australia.
“And my life has been far more satisfying after being so warmly accepted and supported by the local community.
“I look forward to many more years of that.”