Marino Lucas

Marino Lucas/Marinos Lekatsas (1869?–1931) was a Greek–Australian businessman, originally residing in Greece and subsequently Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston, Australia.

Marino was involved in the construction industry and the operation of theatres. Marino and his brother Anthony JJ Lucas, were amongst the first Greeks in Melbourne who contributed significantly to advancing the causes of local Greeks but also the community in general.

Marinos Lekatsas was born to Ioannis (John) Lekatsas (a clergyman) and his wife Magdalene (née Palmos) in the small village of Exoghi, on the Greek island of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea. Ithaca is famed for the Homeric tales of Ulysses.

In 1886, Marinos left Ithaca shortly after his brother Anthony JJ Lucas. Their destination – Melbourne, Australia. In the 1932 obituary for Lucas that appeared in The Herald newspaper (now the Melbourne Herald Sun), reference was made to the fact that a relative of Marino's had visited the country and returned to Ithaca with tales of great potential in the distant land. This relative was most probably Andreas Lekatsas. Andreas Lekatsas had arrived in 1845, only 10 years after the foundation of Melbourne in 1835 by John Batman.

Odysseus was said by Homer to be the leader of the "Kefallinians", the literal interpretation of which is given as an explanation as to why modern inhabitants of the islands have a keen interest in travelling to other countries.

It is likely however that the primary reason for their emigration from the island was its somewhat unstable political situation during those times.

Ithaca had been under Venician control until defeat by Napoleon in 1797, when it transferred to French rule. The French were subsequently succeeded by the Russians and Turks in 1798. In 1809, Ithaca was then subject to English rule under the auspices of the "United States of the Ionian Islands" plan. It was thus governed by a Constitution imposed in 1817. During English occupation, the Ithacecians participated in the War of Independence of 1821, joining the Hellenic Revolutionary fleet against the Turks.

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