Gundagai, New South WaleS · ESt. 1902
120 Years of Australian History.
From a Kytherian refreshment room to a National Trust icon — the unbroken story of 142 Sheridan Street.
Discover
1902
Year Founded
120+
Years of History
3
Family Eras
1
Unbroken Legacy
CHAPTER ONE
1902 – 1915
In 1902, Kytherian immigrant Strati Notaras opened Stratee Notari's Refreshment Rooms in Gundagai, welcoming locals and travellers passing through town.
His story was part of a much larger wave of migration from the small Greek island of Kythera, whose people would have a remarkable influence on Australia's café culture. While little is known about Strati himself, the refreshment rooms he established marked the beginning of the Niagara's story.
Published in The Gundagai Independent in November 1907, this advertisement offers one of the earliest glimpses into Stratee Notari's Refreshment Rooms. The menu featured hot pies, fish, saveloys, ham, bacon and eggs, fresh and stewed oysters, sweets, along with tea, coffee and cocoa.
There were signs of a more refined offering, too. Hot pies arrived daily from Sydney’s A.B.C. Café, while serving fresh oysters in an inland town hundreds of kilometres from the coast was no small thing. Together, they give us a glimpse of the quality and variety Strati was offering his customers in 1907.
CHAPTER TWO
1916 – 1983
In 1916, after fourteen years at the helm, Strati Notaras sold his refreshment rooms to fellow Kytherians Jim (Dimitri) Castrission and his uncle Vic Castrission Snr.
Later family records identify Jim and Vic Snr as the new owners, while a contemporary advertisement published in the Gundagai Independent that July announced that “Jak Castrission & Co.” had purchased Strati Notari’s “old-established and well-conducted Refreshment Rooms”.
The change marked the beginning of the Castrission family’s long association with the business.
In the early 1920s, teenage brothers Jack and Vic Castrission made the journey from Kythera to Gundagai, joining their older brother Jim and uncle Vic Snr in the family café.
The brothers worked seven days a week, before and after school, while learning to speak English and finding their place in a new country. Neither could have known then that the Niagara would remain at the centre of their lives for more than 60 years, making Jack and Vic the longest-serving owners in the café’s history.
By 1923, newspaper advertisements were referring to the business as Castrission’s Marble Bar, offering customers “the best drinks and confectionery”.
The name reflected the changing style of Australian café culture, as marble bars, cool drinks, confectionery and refreshments became increasingly popular. In Gundagai, the advertisement gives us another glimpse of how the Castrission family’s business was developing during the early 1920s.
By 1928, newspaper advertisements were referring to the Castrission family’s business as the Niagara Café.
While the exact date the name was adopted remains unclear, 1928 is the earliest reference uncovered so far. A decade later, on 15 July 1938, “NIAGARA CAFE” was formally registered under the NSW Business Names Act 1934.
The original certificate of registration has survived among the Niagara’s archival collection, providing an official record of the café’s name and a tangible link to this period in its history. Dated 15 July 1938, it is one of the surviving pieces of early paperwork bearing the Niagara Café name.
In 1938, the Castrission family unveiled a dramatic new look for the Niagara, transforming it into one of the most striking hospitality spaces in regional New South Wales.
The redesign brought together curved windows, chrome, neon lighting, a fluted soda fountain, mirrored finishes and a bold black, silver and jade colour scheme. Overhead, a domed ceiling painted with the Southern Cross added one of the café’s most memorable features.
When the doors reopened in October, the transformation was so impressive that the local press called it “Australia’s Wonder Café”.
On a cold night in August 1942, Jack and Vic Castrission were closing the Niagara when a knock came at the door. Standing outside was Prime Minister John Curtin, accompanied by members of his cabinet and looking for a meal while travelling through Gundagai.
The brothers welcomed them inside, reopened the kitchen and served the group steak and eggs. It was a simple act of country hospitality during one of the most difficult periods in Australia’s wartime history — and became one of the Niagara’s most memorable stories.
A photograph from around 1949 captures Jack Castrission standing outside the Niagara in front of the Art Deco façade — the cream tiles, the chrome lettering, and the neon sign all visible. The image documents the building in its postwar prime and shows the next generation of the Castrission family taking their place beside the institution that bears their name.
In 1969, Jack and Vic Castrission celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Niagara Café, marking an important milestone in the family's long association with the business.
By then, the two brothers had spent most of their lives in Gundagai. What had begun as work in the family café when they arrived as teenagers had grown into decades behind the counter and deep connections with the town they now called home.
Three days before Christmas in 1975, disaster struck the Niagara Café when a fire tore through the building, leaving it badly damaged.
For Jack and Vic Castrission, who had spent much of their lives behind the counter, the fire threatened the family business and the distinctive Art Deco café that had stood since the 1938 transformation. Among the losses was one of the Niagara’s most memorable features — the domed ceiling painted with stars and the Southern Cross.
After the devastation of the 1975 fire, the Niagara Café was repaired and reopened in 1978.
Jack and Vic Castrission, by then well into their later years, returned to the business and once again welcomed customers through the doors. The reopening marked the return of a familiar Gundagai landmark after several years of uncertainty, with the Castrission brothers continuing the family’s place behind the counter.
CHAPTER THREE
1983 – 2021
In 1983, Jack and Vic Castrission sold the Niagara Café to Nick and Denise Loukissas, bringing more than six decades of Castrission family ownership to a close.
Nick and his wife Denise, together with their children Tony and Tina, became the next family behind the Niagara. Like the families before them, the Loukissas family was of Greek heritage, continuing the café’s long connection with Greek-Australian ownership.
On 12 August 1992, fifty years after Prime Minister John Curtin’s wartime visit, more than 100 people gathered at the Niagara for a special anniversary dinner.
Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe travelled to Gundagai for the occasion, which also attracted newspapers, radio stations and television crews. Jack and Vic Castrission were there to recount the story of that cold August night in 1942, when they opened the café after midnight and served Australia’s wartime Prime Minister.
In May 2001, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret stopped at the Niagara Café while returning to Sydney from Federation Centenary celebrations in Melbourne.
During the visit, owner Nick Loukissas took the couple into the kitchen, where they were photographed beside the bench where John Curtin’s late-night meal had been prepared in 1942. The Gundagai Independent reported on the occasion, describing Whitlam as “the latest in a long line of political figures to eat at the Niagara”.
In 2002, Tina Loukissas reflected on life at the Niagara, recalling the jukebox, spiders, milkshakes and the American influence that had long shaped the café.
By then, the Loukissas family had been behind the counter for almost two decades. Tina’s memories offer a glimpse into the character of the Niagara and the family who had made it part of their lives.
After 36 years behind the Niagara, the Loukissas family made the difficult decision to put the café on the market in 2019.
For Tina Loukissas, who had grown up around the café after her parents took over in 1983, the decision was an emotional one. After more than a century of Greek Australian family ownership, finding the right person to take on the Niagara mattered.
CHAPTER FOUR
2021 – 2023
After sitting on the market for around 18 months, the Niagara Café changed hands in March 2021.
The new owners had known the Niagara for decades from their travels between Sydney and Melbourne. When the opportunity arose to take it on themselves, they were drawn to the rarity of the café and the chance to preserve an important piece of Australian history.
After taking ownership of the Niagara, the new owners began the painstaking task of restoring the historic café.
Much of the original 1938 fit-out had survived, including the booths, counter and joinery, but decades of use, fire and water damage had taken their toll. Working with specialist trades, they set out to preserve what remained, recreate what had been lost and return the Niagara’s distinctive Art Deco character.
In June 2022, the doors of the Niagara Café opened once again following an extensive restoration, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the historic Gundagai café.
The reopening began with a soft launch in early June, initially serving coffee and sweets. For the first time in years, locals and travellers were once again able to step inside and experience the Niagara as a working café.
In May 2023, the restoration of the Niagara Café received the President’s Prize at the National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards, one of the event’s special honours. The project was also Highly Commended in the Conservation – Built Heritage category.
The award recognised the care taken to preserve the Niagara’s original 1938 Art Deco character while returning the historic café to everyday use. For It also acknowledged the local tradespeople and supporters who helped bring the restoration to life through the challenges of the COVID years.
