On Sundays, his only day off, he visited supermarkets to raise money for the Greek community, with his two eldest, John and Maria, at his feet.

''He'd always say 'You guys race around', and we'd race around supermarkets and play,'' Maria Efkarpidis said. ''That's where I remember him, that's a place for me and my brother as well where we feel most at home, because that's where we grew up. The supermarkets, basically that's what our life was.''

When Mr Efkarpidis died in 2006, then chief minister Jon Stanhope said few individuals left a greater mark on the building of Canberra.

Ms Efkarpidis never experienced the early struggles, only the excitement, which often began watching him shave of a morning. She adored him.

At 10 she begged to go to work in the Southlands supermarket, and would jump out of bed at 5am and fall asleep on the job before noon.

''In Greece women would go out and work on the farm. My mum used to cut tobacco,'' Ms Efkarpidis said.

Her mother Sophia worried that her husband worked too hard as well as wanting to be involved in everything in the Greek community.

''My mum always had a saying, 'My king. My hero.' That's what she used to say to him, I think that's how we all feel about him.''

A stick-skinny child in Greece working three jobs, Theophilos, as he was known back then, would be the only one among children selling ice-cream at a fair who would return for more ice-cream after selling out.

Ms Efkarpidis' grandmother told her she would cut an egg in two, offering half to Tom, who was working, and dividing the other half in two for his younger brother and sister.

''My dad would say 'I'm not hungry, let him eat it', and go off to work.''

Ms Efkarpidis' childhood was vastly different, leaving her with memories of riding a bicycle to see a bull, ripping shorts and a shirt and spending nearly every waking hour outdoors.

With her younger sister Susie and brother John Ms Efkarpidis is developing Belconnen Markets into a mixed-use precinct with 300 apartments and geothermal and solar energy generation.

They envisage a community where families feel safe enough to let children enjoy the outdoors and where they can lead sustainable, healthy lifestyles.

Ms Efkarpidis said the younger generation had yet to step up in the Greek community.

''We've stepped up in the business sense for our parents, but we are not stepping up for our community, which is sad.''

A single mother, she has spent seven years on the Greek preschool committee, but her mother said she should wait until her children were older before getting more involved in the community.

''I'm taking my mum's advice on that for the time being, but I'd like to be part of the Greek community that my dad helped set up.

''We love being who we are and we love our heritage, but I think we've all stepped away, but we are not as keen to help as our parents were.''