Farewell to a Lonsdale Street Icon: The sweet legacy of Melbourne’s ‘International Cakes’
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
If walls could talk, International Cakes (To Diethnes), located in the heart of Melbourne, would tell endless stories of the Greeks who first arrived in Australia, the families they built, and how they evolved in the country they would come to call home.
There is hardly anyone in Melbourne, or beyond, who hasn’t heard of the iconic Greek pastry shop. For fifty-five years, it has welcomed generations of Greeks—and many others—into its warm
space on Lonsdale Street, where the “heart” of Greece once beat.
Now, with its imminent closure, an important chapter of the Greek community comes to an end, leaving behind a world of memories.
Across the street, where Queen Victoria Hospital once stood, thousands of Greek children were born. Fathers and relatives eagerly awaited the new arrivals at the welcoming pastry shop owned by Vasilis Batzogiannis (Bill Batz) and Manolis Yovanoglou.
Right next to International Cakes were the offices of Neos Kosmos, where staff lined up daily for their morning coffee. It was here that Bill heard first-hand news from Greece and the local Greek community.
Even our own editor-in-chief, Sotiris Hatzimanolis, once worked alongside Bill on weekends as a student, forging a friendship that endures to this day.
It felt only natural, Bill says, to choose Neos Kosmos to say goodbye to his loyal customers and share the news that the beloved shop would be closing its doors for good at the end of the month.
While the neighborhood around the Greek pastry shop transformed—50 to 60 Greek businesses relocated to other areas—International Cakes remained a constant for over half a century, with the same owners offering sweet flavors and warm hospitality reminiscent of Greece.
“We have customers from all over. People who’ve known us for years pop-in every day. Most of the Greeks, thousands that is, were born here, across the road, at Queen Victoria Hospital. These kids -now grown up- all remember and love this place. They come in so respectfully and still call me ‘theio.’ They love the shop for its history,” Bill says with emotion.
“Greece was here.”
“I loved this place from the first moment because of its Greek element. It was like being back home. Greece was here!” Bill says, reflecting on the early years when Lonsdale Street was filled with Greeks.”
“I’ve always stayed Greek. I never really became Australian. I loved the Greeks, my people. In fifty-five years, we never had an incident. The Greeks are a proud people and the best customers you can have.”
In those days, “you’d only hear Greek spoken, inside the shop and out. It was something else. Now there aren’t many Greeks left here.”
Recalling the early decades, he says, “Everything happened right here. The protests about Macedonia, the rallies for Cyprus were huge. This was the starting point for everything. The festivals were wild! In those early years, it was so busy you could barely step outside the door.”
There were many Greek kafenia around at the time, Bill continues.
“The Greeks, a lot of them still single then, lived around here. They were our daily customers, and they became our friends. They loved the shop and would walk in at all times. They seemed to gravitate here, because it was their shop… a place for Greeks.”
Neos Kosmos was right next to us, in this alley, Bill points out. “Every morning the staff were here for coffee, walking in and out. We’d hear the news first-hand from Mourikis, from when Dimitris Gogos was around. All the people from Neos Kosmos hung out here. There’s so much history in this place.”
At that time, the street was also home to many travel agencies.
“Back then, there was no internet, so Greeks would come here to book their tickets to Greece every year. There were many travel agencies, as well as other businesses—accountants, lawyers—about 50 to 60 Greek businesses on this street.”
The Greek businesses started leaving the city center around 30 years ago.
“From the ’90s onwards. Rents went up, and the Greek population started to spread out. It wasn’t as easy to come into the city. They used to come to town just for coffee, but now you have to cross the freeway, find time, find parking. As the Greeks moved further out of Melbourne, the businesses followed, and you could see that Greek Australians were becoming more integrated into the Australian environment.”
International Cakes was always family-run.
“The whole family loves this business. When we sit down to eat at home, we talk about sweets.”
His children worked there too. “My two daughters at times, but my business partner’s son still works here. I’ve had a business partner for 45 years, Manolis Yovanoglou! Manolis and I got along well. To secure our business, we bought the building so no one could move us. We worked as long as we wanted, and about 4-5 years ago, we sold the building to retire. Then the pandemic hit, which kept us here a few more years.”
“But even now, it is with a heavy heart I’m leaving this place,” Bill admits. “I feel like I’m disappointing so many people. I’ve told some of my Australian customers, and they say how much they’ll miss this place. They ask me, ‘Where are you going?’
“There are many people who come every day, people from the past, not only Greeks but also Australians, who walk into the shop as if it were their home.”
“I told myself ‘either I succeed or I die’!”
Bill Batz, originally from Katerini, Greece, was just 21 when he first set foot in International Cakes.
“I was working at Myer as a pastry chef and at the same time here at International Cakes, until 1973, when I became a partner in the shop, where I still am today.”
His dream was always to own his own business. That is, from when he was a child, 13-years-old, learning the art of pastry-making in Katerini, where he grew up.
“I was 100% confident in my hands and about my craft. I also learned how to make Australian sweets working at Myer for three years because I thought there might not always be work in Greek shops.”
Though his original plan was to stay in Australia for five years and return to Greece, 55 years have passed.
But he never regretted staying. “I love this country. I think it’s the best country in the world, for me.”
“I wanted to have my own business and work at my own pace without a boss over my head. Many people have worked here, Greeks and other nationalities, and they’ve always been respectful. I respected my staff too. I had my own way of running the shop. I loved this place, this job, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
When he first arrived in Melbourne at 18, he worked in Yarraville for a couple of years “with a wonderful Greek pastry chef from Siatista, George Malamas.
“He helped me, taught me about Australian culture and how the system works.”
Bill wasn’t afraid of hard work. “I didn’t come to Australia to eat, drink, and have a good time. I wanted to progress, like all Greeks. I worked seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day, and I told myself, ‘Either I succeed or I die!’”
“I knew I had to sacrifice some things. You can’t achieve anything without sacrificing time. But you need to have goodwill, to lay a strong foundation, and understand it’s not about the money. In the end, it’s the love for the shop that stands out, not the money you make.”
“I connected here with the early Greeks, who were just arriving from Greece. We had an appreciation for each other. They kept coming to the shop for me, and I loved them.”
When Bill sometimes visits the cemetery and sees the names of people he once knew, “What can I tell you? It breaks my heart. They were such sweet, beautiful people. Maybe the Greek community is changing, but the Greek spirit is strong. You see it even in the younger generations, thanks to Greek schools, festivals, and the church. It will be a long time before the Greek presence fades from Melbourne,” he says, referring also to the Greek Community of Melbourne, which has always supported him, and the work they do for Hellenism.
“I’m going to miss this place. I’ll miss the people—not just the Greeks, but my Australian customers too. I’ve done everything I wanted to do, given as much as I could, and I have nothing left to say but ‘Thank you’ to my customers for all their support. My customers are the sweetest people in the world.”
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
