IHS Journal Are Those of the Contributors and Do Not Necessarily Reflect Those of the Italian Historical Society

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ITALIANHISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME11 , NO.2 JULY-DECEMBER2003

ISSN1321-3881

The editorial sub -committee for this edition was: Joan Campbell, Doug Campbell , Lorenzo Iozzi, Laura Mecca, Elsa Paulin

The Italian Historical Society Journal aims to provide, to those interested in the history of Australian-Italian communities, an outlet for the circu lation of news and reports, the exchange of information and the notification of future act ivities. We invite readers to contribute newsworthy artic les and short notes. Guidelines for contributors are available on applica tion.

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FRONTCOVER: A still from the film Love's Brother showing Ame lia Warner in the role of Rosetta who is about to embark on a long voyage. (See article by Jan Sardi, the director of the film, on page 33).

© COPYRIGHT2003 The text material in this Journal is copyright and remains the property of the individual authors. Where the author is not stated. copyright inquiries should be directed to the Italian Historical Society - Co.As.It. The photographs are copyright of the Italian Historical Society - Co.As.It unless otherwise stated. from 'terrone' to 'wog ': 'post ' colon ial contents perspectives on italian immigration into australia Dr Gerardo Papalia 2 introduction and background context to the italian diplomatic archives held at the italian historical society, melbourne Louis Green 12 building blocks of settlement: italians in the riverland, south australia Sara King and Desmond O'Conno r 24

Rolani Guido : a prisoner of war in gippsland Marian Scarlett 30 growing up italian and making movies Jan Sardi 33 from our archives: the origin of the italian language 38 italian historical society news 39 recent acquisitions 40 publications received 42 see back pages for guidelines for contributors & acknowledgements from 'terrone'to 'wog': 'post' colonialperspectives on italian immigrationinto australia GERARDOPAPALIA WAS BORN IN AUSTRALIAhis 'liberation' of the South had been with OF ITALIANPARENTS WHO MIGRATEDIN It~ substantia l political, military and financial THE 1950S. IN 1994 HE WON AN ITALIAN support. British interests played a leading role in Italian unification seen as a counterweight GOVERNMENTSCHOLARSHIP TOSTUDY AT THE to French designs in the Mediterranean. The UNIVERSITYOFPAVIA WHERE HE IS PRESENTLYdenigration of the Bourbon regime in the TEACHINGENGLISH . IN 1996HE WORKED FOR dominant media of the time provided the THE ITALIANHISTORICAL SOCIETY INDEXING necessary ethical support for Garibaldi's mission and constituted the founding justification of AND TRANSLATINGDOCUMENTS FROM THE 2 ITALIANDIPLOMATIC ARCHIVE COL LECTION.IN 'Italian' unification. 2003 HE RECEIVEDHIS PHDFROM LA TROBE In reality, despite the difficult cond itions of its poor, UNIVERSITY.THE TITLE OF HIS RESEARCH WAS the Bourbon regime was neither irredeemably RELATIONSBETWEEN ITALY AND AUSTRALIAcorrupt nor impenetrable to progress. Under its DURINGTHE ITALO-ETHIOPIAN CONFLICT 1935- policies, a modest start towards industrialisation 1936.CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE had already occurred, and few know that it was the first Italian state to construct a railway line POST-COLONIALTHEORY AS APPLIED TO ITALIAN (Naples-Portici). It expressed a florid intellectual HISTORYAND EMIGRATION, ITALO-AUSTRALIAN and political life in spite of setbacks resulting from LITERATUREAND WORKSBOTH FICTION ANO Bourbon repression after the 1848 revolution. by NON-FICTIONWRITTEN IN ENGLISHON ITALY. Its economy was stable and product ive and its DR GERARDOGERARDO MAY BE CONTACTEDBY E-MAILON finances sound. 3 PAPALIA [email protected] The hopes raised by Garibaldi's campaign among the southern peasantry for land The Italian presence in Australia has been owners hip were quickly destroyed. In seen in a wide variety of ways, but rarely from constitu tional, lega l, administrative and military the point of view of post-co lonial discourse. As terms Italy had not really been 'unified' , Italian unification in 1861 represents the starting but rather had been ·occupied' by an all point for Italian mass emigration, the best way to central ising Piedmontese state. Not surpr isingly, approach the issue is to beg in by reconstructing the overriding prior ities of the new Italian traditional views of Italian history and culture. government were principa lly to industria lise the northern Italian economy. According ly, the new Italian unificatio n has generally been hailed regime quickly stipulated agreements with the as a positive step towards nationhood by large southern landowners (latifond isti), thereby a country which had hitherto been simply frustrat ing peasant asp irations. This , together described as a 'geographica l expression'. The with increases in taxation, not to mention the standard narrative traces Garibaldi's steps forced de-industria lisation of the southern from the embarkation of the 'One Thousand' at economy, led to a general armed insurrection Quarto in Liguria and his landing in Marsala, which went under the name 'Brigantagg io.' Sicily to 'liberate' the South. His campaign is To quell it, martial law was declared and the as celebrated as the man himself, described Piedmontese army sent to the South ended up as the 'Hero of Two Worlds'. Indeed, he is one number ing 120,000. It resorted to notorious of the few Italian political and military figures 'co unterinsurgency' tactics similar to those of the in modern history that the English speak ing United States in Vietnam. The death toll, almost world can relate to, not least because of his exclusively among civilians , was to reach almost penchant for things British, like the red shirts his 270,000 . While the military's losses were much men famously sported. The existing Bourbon lower - abo ut 23,000 - this was still more than all regime he so deftly helped to bring down had casualties sustained by the Piedmontese army in been described by none other than British P.M. the wars for the unificat ion of Italy. The def initive Gladstone himse lf, as 'the negation of God repression of brigandry was to confirm the large erected into a system of government.' 1 landowners as the ruling class of the south in alliance with northern industria l interests. 4 In fact , unification really meant the military occupat ion of the rest of Italy by the Kingdom The industrialisation of the North could not occur of Savoy (Piedmont) . Until his departure for without 'squeezing' the only productive sector of Marsala, Garibaldi had basically served his the economy, agriculture. In southern Italy this 'revolutionary' career at the service of the was the principa l source of income and export British governmen t in South America. Moreover, earnings. Taxation was increased particularly on

1 Gladstone , W.E .. Letter to the Earl of Aberdeen on the State of Naples, 1851. 2 See: McLean , David, ·Garibaldi in Uruguay: a reputation reconsidered ' English Historical Rev iew, April 1998. Also: Various Authors, La Storia proibita: Quando i Piemontesi invasero ii Sud, Controcorrente, Naples , 2001, British strategic interests , pp. 129-152. 3 Petrusewicz, M., 'Before the Southern Question: Native ideas on Backwardness and Remedies in the Kingdom of Two ITALIAN Sicilies, 1815-1849' in Schneider, J. (ed) Italy's Southern Question. Orientalism in One Country , Berg, 1998 , New York. pp . i HISTORICAL 27-49 . Alianeflo, C. , La conquista de/ Sud. II Risorgimento nelf'ftalia meridionale, Rusconi Editore Milan, 1972 .. p.109 . i SOCIETY 4 La Stor,a Proibita. pp. 153-166: Villari, R .. Storia Contemporanea, Vol. 3, Laterza, Bari 1982. pp.241-242 , Procacci, G., 21JOURNAL Storia degli ltaliani, Vol. 2 Laterza Bari 1998.pp.391-2. FROM 'TERRONE' TO 'WOG': 'POST' COLONIAL PERSPECTIVESON ITALIAN IMMIGRAllON INTO AUSTRALIA

domestic consumption (for example the infamous and the South. Initially emig ration was opposed Mill Tax was introduced in 1869), and after a by governments to keep rural labour costs low period of trade liberalisation, heavy protectionism in favour of southern landowners . However, was adopted (1878). Before unification, the the situation rapidly became exp losive. Policy southern Italian economy had been the most was forced to change, emigration began to be viable in Italy in export terms: it had the biggest seen as a positive solution to social problems merchant marine fleet in the Mediterranean after arising particula rly in the South. Crime would be the British with its agricu ltural products being sold reduced and emigrants would send back much throughout Europe and as far afield as Russia and needed foreign cash to help their fami lies left at the United States. Reaction to Italian protectionism home. This money helped to redress the trade by importing countries meant that southern Italian imbala nce due to protectionism , buoyed the products were no longer welcome. Under these interna l market and ended up in banks which pressures and unfavourable world markets, the financed industrialisation. 8 southern economy collapsed and the whole agricultural economy of Italy was placed under Up to 27 million Italians eventually emigrated severe strain. 5 after Unification , although about half of this number returned. The regions most affected The political 'benefits' of unification were also were: Piedmont, Veneto, Marche, Abruzzo­ meagre: Italy's new 'citizens' obta ined only Molise, Campania , Basilicata , Calabria and limited suffrage. Suffrage was regu lated by Sicily (ranging between 1.6% and 3.3 % of erstwhile Piedmontese laws; it was 'extended' the tota l population per annum!). However, from 400 000 in 1861 to 2 million in 1882 out of a emigration from the North tended to be seasonal total pop ulation of about 22 million and exc luded towards nearby European countr ies (consistently non-landowners and the illiterate, a higher around 80% of the total) whereas in the South it proport ion of whom lived in the South. 6 was predomina ntly transocean ic (over 90% of the total went to the Americas) and was much As with the mirage of universa l suffrage, for more permanent in character. 9 the newly annexed South, promises of free pub lic educa tion also brough t mixed blessings . For the purposes of our analys is, the significant Although substantial resources were expended aspects of this 'unificat ion' process were the in this area, the national educational system cultural repercussions. As mentioned above, the imposed Tuscan Italian as the only accepted 'backwa rdness' of rural areas and particular ly med ium of communication. Just as Italy had not the South had been emphasised as a way of been unified democratica lly, so publ ic education just ifying occupation. Following 'unificat ion' could not but reinforce the class-based nature intellectua ls seeking to ·comprehend' the of the newly forged 'national' society. Tuscan reasons for the apparent inability of the South Italian was spoken only by a very small cultural to follow in the wake of the North led to the elite. Even the architect of Italian unification, formu lation of the concept of 'la questione Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, prime minister meridionale ' whe re the situation of the southern at the service of the king of Savoy, preferred provinces was described as being intrinsically to speak French rather than Italian. Moreover, backward and signif icantly as 'immutable' or publ ic educa tion was estab lished first in the static, that is, incapab le of self-imp rovement North and only later in the South. Illiteracy (in other words southern Italians had been ranged from 75% to 90%. 7 These factors 'essential ised', ie.: attributed enduring and conspired principally to push co llective action immutab le characteristics). 10 beyond the realms of actual ity, leaving open only individualist ic opt ions for self improvement. Given that 'positivism' was the ascendan t sc ientific ideology at the time it is not surprising The post-unification system had thus left many that scientists sought 'objective ' criter ia to rural Italians with little scope for progress. explain why 'la questione meridionale ' did not Economic advancement had been rendered appear to be amenable to self-improveme nt. impossible by government polic ies. Political A leading exponent of Italian positivist science participation was blocked by the very limited was Cesare Lombroso , a northern Italian suffrage and military law. Public and intellectual criminal anthropo logist who looked for and discourse and the education system further found physica l characte ristics among southern marginalised the poor. As with education, huge Italians which he believed explained their investment in publ ic transpo rt networks also laziness and proc livity to crime (based on his brought social upheaval and hardship, for measurements of the skulls of slain brigands). emigration began to take on the form of a mass Lombroso's school of criminal anthropo logy exodus in the 1880s, particularly from rural areas would subsequent ly have a lasting influence

5 Petrusewic z, M., 'The Demise of latifondismo ', in: The New History of the Italian South, Lumley R., and Morris , J., (eds) University of Exeter Press , 199 7. Procacci, p.390 . Storia Proi bi ta: pp.51-59 . 6 Villari pp. 242-243 , 295-6. 7 Villari , p. 294 . 8 Villari , p. 294, Storia Proibita: pp.167-172. 9 For the statistics: Sori , E., L'Emigrazione ltali ana dall'Unita al/a seconda guerra mondiale , II Mulino, Bologna, 1979. p.20; ITALIAN Audenino , P., L'Emigr azione italiana , Fenice 2000 , Mil an 1994, pp .18-29; Gabaccia , D., Italy 's Many Diasporas , University Washington Press, 2000 , p.4, which gives the figu re of Italian emigrants as 25 million. HISTORICAL 10 Moe, N. , 'The Emergence of the Southern Question in Villari, Franchett i, and Sonnino ', in Schneider J. , (e d) Italy's SOCIETY 'Southern Question , Berg, Oxford, Ne w York, 1998, pp. 51- 76. JOURNAL 3 FROM 'TERRONE'TO 'WOG': 'POST' COLONIAL PERSPECTIVES ON ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO AUSTRALIA

both within Italy and abroad in its construction of and classify Italian immigrants , transm itting the 'la questione meridionale '. 11 notion that southern Italians were predisposed to delinquency and deprav ity. In part icular, this In reality, as we have seen, the so-called ~oloured United States' perceptions of Italian irredeemable 'backwardness' of the South immigration where the vast majority of southern and rural areas in Italy was an artefact of Italian migrants went. On witnessing the arrival unification, a colonial process recognised by of prevalently southern Italian immig rants , prescient minds even as it occurred. It was a pub lic op inion there was roused to the point cultural mythology or 'discourse' that served where immigration was drastica lly restricted the dominating classes . Much of the Sardinian in 1924. For years immig ration offic ials in the Italian political philosopher Antonio Gramsci's USA kept separate statistics tor southern and work on subalternity defined as the cultural northern Italians. 13 submission of the oppressed to dom inating narratives regarding their own reality and lives, In turn, US opin ion influenced Australian was based on his analysis of unification and perceptions both popula r and academ ic. The its nefarious impac t on the lower classes in most signif icant works on Italian immigration southern Italy. 12 published by Australian 'experts ' of the time all reproduce this dichotomy of undesirable An instrument characteris ing subalternity was , as southern Italians as opposed to northern ones . we have seen, 'essentialisation' . However, many Here, racial characte ristics such as (des irable of those imposed upon in this manner did not and progressive) blondeness were mistakenly always accept these imposed discourses. The attributed exclusively to northern Italians and reaction to the collective existential crisis (also (undesira ble and backward) darkness equa lly in the physical sense of the word) of Italy's South wrong ly to southern Italians. 14 and rural areas was the fundamenta l trigger for emigration . Emigration continued to be an option Almost since Federation in 1901, the newly even when the hardship it caused both materially founded Australian Commonwea lth had and culturally emerged in all its attendant 'protec ted' its almost exclusively Anglo -Celtic contradictions. Emigration beckoned as the only society behind walls of the 'White Australia' real solution and continued to attract the most policy. This policy was intended to bar energetic and enterprising elements. Indeed, it is immigration from any nation not cons idered common opinion amongst Italian emigrants that 'European', with a preference for the British they represent the best of their breed. A famous and Northern Europeans. Before the Second song of emig ration, almost the 'national' anthem World War, Italian immigran ts had numbe red of Calabria, is Calabria Mia, in which the refrain about 33,000. This was a small number when states: 'Tutti u megghiu figghi s'indiiru': or: 'All the compa red to emigration to the USA, but best of your children have depar ted' . already culturally significant because it quickly became the largest non-English speaking group If we are to look at emigration from the point such that their presence aroused oppos ition of view of its protagonists, it was considered in Australian society, ever fearful of 'foreign an investment or to use current economic invasion' . terminology , a 'business plan'. In fact , it was not the poorest that emigrated , but those that could The racial status of Italians, some of whom spare enough accumulated capita l to make an were seen as not being really white, nor quite investment considered a certain source of future black , was cast into doubt. Pseudo-scienti fic economic well being. Individual part icipation ideas of Italy as being divided into a 'Nordic ' was general ly one small piece of a much greater or 'Alpine' north and 'African' south were flow. In the immediate this has been termed current in Austral ian scient ific opinion until well 'chain migration ' or to use another expression: beyond the end of the Second World War. One 'word of mouth investment'. should remember that the cultural construct of 'whiteness' at the time was a defining aspect However, the subalternity to which Italian of 'Austra lianness '. Inevitably this ideology emigrants had been subjected in their informed the app lication of the White Austral ia homeland could not end with their departure. policy. Moreover, it cont inued to cond ition its To begin with, all emigrants start and often appl icat ion throughout the 1950s and 1960s to finish their lives in a 'subordinate' position. the extent that Italians dee med as being of a Moreover, the Italian government also advised 'dub ious' racial co louring were not perm itted to foreign elites as to how they shou ld receive enter Australia. By the time those procedures

11 Gibson M., 'Biology or Environmen t ? Race and Southern "Deviancy" in the w ritings of Italian Crim inologists , 1880 - 1920' in: Schneider J., ibid. pp. 99 -115. 12 As the Italian writer and political journa list Giuseppe Prezzolini once pointed out: 'L'ltalia si divide in due part i; una europea , che arriva all'incirca a Ro,na e una africana o bafcanica che va da Roma in giU. L'ltalia africana o balcanica e la co lonia dell'ltalia eu ropea' . (Prezzolini, G., Ca dice de /la vita italia na Vascello Editore Firenze 1993 , p. 21. Gram s ci , A. , La Qu es tion e Me rid iona le, Riuniti Edi tore Ro me, 1969, Franco De Felice and Valen tino Parla to (eds). Storia Pr oibita: op c it pp . 159 -160. Villari, on Pasqual e Villari, p. 246 . 13 On the Unit ed States s e e: Gambino. R., Blood of My Blood, Picas ser ies 2003 (197 4) Toronto, pp . 84- 5. Stella G., ITALIAN L'Or da, Rizz o li, (2 002), in partic. App endix 1. HISTORICAL 14 Regarding US influence on A us tralia : Fer ry T.A. , Report of the Royal Commi ssi on Appointed to Inquire in to an d Rep ort on the Socia l and Eco nomic Effec t of Increase in Number of Aliens in North Que en sland , Government Printer Brisbane, SOCIETY Brisbane, 1925; Lyng J. , N on -Bri tish er s in Austra lia, M acmilla n & Me lb ourne Univers ity Pre ss, Melbourne, 1935 (1927) : Pyk e 4 IJOU RNAL N .O .P., 'An Out line His tory of Italian Immigration in to Austra lia ', Au stralia n Quarte rly, XX 13 (Sept. 19 48), pp . 99 - 109 FROM 'TERRONE'TO 'WOG': 'POST' COLONIALP ERSPECTIVESON ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO AUSTRALIA

were abandoned, the bulk of Italian immigration However, the poor huddled masses of defeat to Australia was over. These ideas continued found it hard to believe in this 'Liberation' and to have currency in mainstream pub lic and saw only ruins. One should cons ider that in the political opinion until recent times, if not to this immed iate post war years there was widespread very dayl 15 disaffection with the new government. Collective protests, particu larly in the South, again centred The vast majority of Italian immigration into on the objective of occupying land held by Australia mostly took place after the Second absentee aristocrats. As had happened after World War. Total numbers were eventually to Unification , many of these protests were reach 250,000. This meant that this immigration brutal ly repressed by police with many deaths wave had been conditioned by another set of occur ring (for example at Melissa in Calabria in particular historical circumstances. Italy had 1949). Subalternity had not disappeared, and entered the war agains t Great Britain and France economic condit ions were dire, once again in June 1940 on the side of Nazi Germany. particularly in rural areas and in the South. In many ways this choice derived from the Fascist regime's pursu it, albeit in an extreme So once aga in, emigration beckoned as form, of the Italian state's traditional policy of the only solution. Those that departed for southward expansion into the Medite rranean Australia broug ht with their meagre material a which had previously led Mussolini's government baggage rich with family histories of previous to definitively pacify Libyan resistance (with transmigrations, mainly to the United States. horrendous loss of life, akin to what had In addit ion, they had burning memories of occurred some years earlier in southern Italy), September 8, and the humiliation that had not to mention the conques t of Ethiopia in 1935- ensued . In effect, they had no homeland, 6 (once again with enormous loss of life among excep ting their village, friends and family. They the civilian population), using the previously could not identify with the re-nascent Italian conquered Italian colonies of Eritrea and state. The 1940s and 1950s when the majority Somalia as springboards. left Italy, were the years of sepa ratism, led in Sicily by the notorious bandit Salvatore Giuliano, When the Italian Government signed the and of the annexation of the erstwhile eastern Armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943, Italian provinces by Yugoslavia . The very reality Italian unity collapsed not only in its institutions, of emig ration spelt admission of defeat. adm inistration and army but particularly in legitimacy. Indeed, the whole edifice behind its Not surpris ingly, the Australians who witnessed geopo litical thrust had disappeared now it had the arriva l of the first wave of Italian immigrants in effect become a vassal state. Unification had subsc ribed to this narrative of submissio n: the truly been undone and with it the 'Piedmontese' Italians were the defeated, the humiliated . If structure of the state. The country was they had come to Austra lia, it was because of occupied in the North by the German army their defeat and hence the only way forwa rd and administered there by what remained of was for them to assimilate into the local culture , the Fascist party as a vassal regime called the which had demonstrated its utter supe riority. Republic of Salo. In the South the 'legitimate' Add this to the peasant background of many government, which was still under the Savoy migrants , their illiteracy in Tuscan Italian and monarchy, cont inued an adminis tration of long memories of oppression by the powerfu l. sorts under Allied control. In the confusion , In his autobiog rap hy Unde r Another Sky: The families were divided. Disbanded soldiers, left life and sent iments of an Italian emigrant , without orders, tried to return home in perilous Carmelo Caruso , from Sicily, recou nts his circumstances. In some areas, particu larly in the experiences in Queens land where many Italians North, where Italian partisans ope rated , confl ict found grue lling employment in the sugar-cane took on a fratricidal aspect. Almost every Italian fields . He relates how assignmen t of virgin emigrant who arrived in Austra lia after the war land there followed a precise pecking order of can relate the disorientat ion that he or she felt on victory: the best lots went to the Austral ian born, that day. then succe ssively to the British, the Maltese, the Greeks, the Germans and only last to the Eventually, by siding with the Allies and by ltalians.16 strenuous resistance against the occupying German forces by the partisans, Italian polity Opinions of how to 'class ify' Italians scientifically gradually and partially reacquired some sort did not remain enclosed within ivory towered of legitimacy which has conso lidated into the academia. They strongly permeated publ ic mythology of 'Liberazione' from Fascism. On debate and perceptions in Australia, as the strength of this narrative, the modern Italian witnessed in the best seller They're A Weird repub lic was forged and founded. Indeed , Mob which sold over half a million copies and the Day of Liberation is still celebrated in Italy was even made into a film starring northern as a public holiday on Apr il 25. Symbolically, Italian actor Walter Chiari in 1966. Published as it coincides with Australia's celebration of its an ostensib ly autobiogr aphical novel, They're war dead, many of whom fell agains t the same a Weird Mob ushered in the era of post-war enemy. Australian cu ltural assertiveness. The narrator ITALIAN· 15 Pugliese, J., ·Race as a Category Crisis : Whiteness and the Topical Assignation of Race' in Social Setn iotics , vol. 12, No. HISTORICAL 2, 2002, pp . 154-166. SOCIETY 1 16 Caruso, C., Under Another Sky: The life and sentiments of an Italian emigrant, Congedo Editore. 1999. JOURNAL5 FROM 'TERRONE'TO 'WOG': 'POST' COLONIAL PERSPECTIVES ON ITAUAN IMMIGRATION INTO AUSIBAUA

RIGHTCarmelo Caruso German mistreatment to the point of risking his life for the sake of maintaining faith to his principles. Following the war he spent time as ,a POW in Great Britain. On arrival in Austra lia he worked for the local counc il on road-works for over 30 years despite being a shoemaker by trade. He took out Austra lian citizenship very early into his residence in Austral ia. Now a pensioner , his hobby is playing lawn bow ls. One day, he recounted (itself significant for being considered a story worth telling) how one of his Ang lo-Australian competitors made a mistake and assigned him fewer points than he had effectively scored. When I asked him whether he protested , he simply replied: 'What's the use? Remember, it's their country. ,. ITALIANCULTURE INAUSTRALIA . ., It is impor tant to try to comprehend the state of mind of the immigrant on touching Austral ian shores. He or she had spent at least a month at sea, a passage cost ing many the worth of l~A!~~ their entire inheritance and more. All literature written by immigrants recounts this leap from 116 Carif.aelothe known to the unknown as a constant 4"V CARUSO leitmotif. In the mythology of the Mediter ranean, change was represented by the god Janus, and author, posing as a blonde northern Italian the two faced doorkeeper. To pass under his migrant , cal led himse lf Nino Culotta. In this work, gaze was a moment of truth when one had southern Italians are dep icted caricatur ishly abandoned one's previous life and identity but primitive and violent, needful of salvation by had not yet acqui red a new one. Any passage the baptism of beer and fisticuffs , abandon ing was considered a moment of vulnerab ility their knives and wine. Both works end with an when the slightest unexpected influence appeal to the 'New Australians' as they were could bring about unp redictable or even fatal then called, to assimilate until their own culture consequences . Loss of one's identity was not was totally extinguished. The real author's name, the least of these risks. Not coinc idental ly, after however, was John O'Grady. His work served to the arrival of Christianity, the Church placed further confound publ ic awareness regarding saints at the gates of cities which Janus once the reality of immigrat ion and reinforced public guarded to ward off evil. views of the suba lternity of (particularly southern 17 European) migrants. According to some models of the diaspor ic experience (as for example those of critic Homi The weight of this conventiona l wisdom has Bhabha), the newly arrived immigrant inhab its cond itioned perceptions to this day. Indeed , a frontier land whe re his/her past and future such is the hegemony of this narrative that mingle, where habitua l modes of though t are many southern Italians themselves and their no longer valid but where the future is as yet descendants have (albei t with misgiving) unclear. Disorientation is inevitab le. Long held adopted it as their own 'identity.' Current beliefs and ideals are challenged by this new 'multicultural' debates and the 'celebration of reality and accommodat ion, with all the pain that derision' as witnessed in the self attribution by this can cause, is inevitable. In terms of Italy's immigrants and their offspring of the term 'wog' and recent history, on an individua l level, immigrat ion the use of 'wogness' are direct descendants of this was like a new but more trauma tic unification 1 process (see for example the interesting polemics and reflections in: www.wog.com.au). In so far Accord ing to these theories, identity ceases to be as 'wogness' is accepted uncritically or taken for binary, that is, 'US' as against 'THEM' but change granted as the defining narrative of one's identity, becomes inevitab le both for the guests as for the we witness 'de-centering' or the adoption of other hosts. The host culture has to confront presences widely held prejudices as a definition of self. that do not belong to its cultural history or expectat ions. Alternatively, these 'unhomely' To give one an idea of the impact of this presences may constitute unwelcome reminders ideological order on the minds of migrants, I of long repressed memories or identities. Hence can cite the example of a relative of mine, now the initial push towards assimilation by the host in his eighties, who emigrated into Australia in society, as if to overcome this cha llenge to the early 1950s. My cousin lived through the war consolidated or not-so-consolidated identities. as a soldier, was capt ured by the Germans after September 8, 1943, and was forced to work The immig rant can react to assimilationist ITALIAN on the Atlantic Wall. During this time he defied practices in a variety of ways as diverse as HISTORICAL SOCIETY 6 JOURNAL 17 O'Grady, J. (alias Nino Culotta), They're A Weir d Mob, Ure Press, Sydn ey , 1957 . FROM'TERRONE' TO 'WOG': 'POST' COLONIALPERSPECT IVESON ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTOA USTRALIA

there are individuals . However, for convenience , posta l worker: 'Addressee Deceased'. Moreover, I have grouped them into two extremes: either return could be socially impossib le: it would rejection of the new reality and therefore often only be accepted if in material triumph . entrenchment behind what one constructs as Few ever returned from Australia in triumph. the essential features of one's own identity, or alternative ly acceptance of change and reject ion The crossing and recrossing of boundaries of one's own heritage as inferior, outdated, which some critics have emphasised in the shameful, in other words ·accommodation'. Of estab lishment of a diasporic identity, were not course, both these narratives coexist, for one possible because of material circumstances cannot completely exclude outside influences, in the case of Italian immigration to Australia just as one cannot totally abandon one's origins . which was substantial ly unidirec tional, materially, Mixed in with this process are tact ics like culturally and psycho logica lly. The only mimicry and ambivalence, noted in countries variation to this rule was in the extent to which with a history of colo nialism, as a means of the immigrants themselves created their own coping with overwhelming hegemonic force both little homeland within domest ic walls. However, econom ic and cultural. Hence many migrants this homeland was fabricated with crystall ised have worn two faces: one for the 'Anglo ­ memories and inhabited with behaviour patterns Australian' external reality and the other for their deriving from what they had left. Not surprisingly , immed iate family and friends. These processes these models are remarkably tenacious. can be perpetuated in their offsp ring with even more marked characteristics. However, this it not to argue that no change (crystallisation) or only entrenchmen t In general, hostility, discrimination or rejection ensued. The other option was acceptance or of dialogue by the host society leads to greater accommoda tion. Particularly the very young , degrees of entrenchment. In these cases, for the single male immigrants, often with uncerta in reasons outlined above , the Italian immigrant (or repressed} memories of their orig in would would not emphasise his or her national origins, assimilate rapidly and jettison any cla im to the but rather those of family, village, province and 'old' country. Marriage among this group often at the most, region. The language spoken would occurred either with women of non Italian origin be the so-cal led 'dialect' rather than Tuscan or like minded women of an Italian background. Italian. Social events would remain within the circle of those familiar with this language. This is The generat ions born in Australia would made possible by the fact that immigration is a perpetuate this trend towards accommodation mass phenomenon, not an individualistic option, as their hold on their forebears' past would and this was particu larly so in the Australian be even more tenuous. They would either metropol is. uncritically reflect their parents' crystallised views or adopt local Ang lo-Australian The immigrant may not be aware that in Italy perspect ives on their own culture in a form of the values and trad itions (and even the dialect) decent ring. he/she is preserving have been subjec ted to the ebbs and flows of history, hegemonic However, among a voca l minority resistance processes in economy and culture. They may also emerged. Sometimes this took the form of have disappeared or become unrecognisable. del iberate celebration of diversity as contrasting Even when faced by evidence that things have identity practices were highlighted to underscore changed in his home country the immigrant difference. A number of Austra lian born ltalo­ may still react by reaffirming that his/her mode Australians would conscious ly reinvest in modes of being is the 'real' way of being Italian to of behaviour belonging to their forebears . For avoid disorien tation or identity crisis. Thus he example , some would deliberately cultivate or she may oppose and reject other ways of vegetables in their front gardens to make a interpreting his or her identity. This process is statement about their own non-assimilated universal and has been termed 'ethnic drift' by identities. On the surface this appeared to be sociolog ists. a simple imitation of their parents ' behaviou r, but in essence , it was a radica l reaffirmation However, one should realise what the of difference, a rejection of assimilationist technological parameters of this phenomenon pressures. This process goes under the name of were for Italian immigrants of the time. Telephone 're-inscr iption'. But it can take many forms and calls were either impossib le or inordinately is almost universal among the ltalo-Australian expensive. The flow of information in the media cultures. was a trickle compa red to today. The same applied to travel back to Italy. Communication Indeed, in almost all cases, whether in terms of was also made difficult because the villages accommodat ion or entrenchmen t, some type of and towns most migrants departed from were 're-inscr iption' did occur. For the first generation in themselves subject to diaspora with the of immigrants, objects and habits belonging consequent breakdown of kinship structures and to their past life could assume the iconic value solidarity networks. To give one a measure of this of an identity practice . Perhaps the very same existential cond ition, the writer mentioned above, objects or habits would no longer have currency Caruso, discovered that his father had taken ill in Italy. For their offsp ring, relics of past life in ITALIAN and died only when a letter he sent home came Italy, mytholog ies, or concrete objects such HISTORICAL back to him carrying the following lacon ic words as tools or old photographs could acquire SOCIETY written by the laboured hand of an anonymous meanings which they had never had for their JOURNAL 7 FROM 'TERRONE°TO -WOO': 'POST' COLONIAL PERSPECTIVESON ITALIAN IMMIGRATIONINTO AUSTRALIA

parents. This process is evidenced particularly limited by the politically conse rvative or cynical in the perform ing arts such as theatre. In one ('qualu nquismo') opin ions of many Italian example , a film made by an ltalo-Australian immigrants. It should be remembered that theatrical company, Broccoli Productions, emigrat ion remains an individ ualistic choice if reinterpreted the story of the famous Calabr ian not an individualistic phenomenon. However, a bandit Musolino as if it had taken place in politica lly very conservat ive and pro-Catholic today's Australian bush. Musolino's story has movement did arise under the guidance of the many points in common with Ned Kelly's. In son of Sicilian immigrants, Roberto Santamaria the case of actual objects, an old photograph In the 1950s it was instrumental in splitting the of a woman together with her friends sitting in Labour Movement and politica l Labor Party. the town square will simply mean memories thus prolong ing the Liberal (conse rvative for the person portrayed, but for her children it government) of Australia ultimately until 1972. can signify an alternative (possib le or yearned In both these cases we witness evolution on the for) mode of living one's social life and leisure part of the host society to accommodate the new very different from the anonymous metropol itan arrivals. 18 streetscape immigration has accustomed them to. Re-inscription here represents a conc iliation Other less evident facto rs encouraging of their parents' past/present with the actual accommodat ion also operated: the fact that reality the Austra lian born generation was many Italians hailed from a partially pre-cap italist experiencing. It can also be construed as a mode of production and were producers rather form of coping or resistance against the other than consumers meant that common ground 'essentialising' narratives imposed on their could be found with other immigrants from a like own identities by the hegemonic host cu lture. background. Other affinities could be similarity From another perspect ive, re-inscription can of language , as with Spanish speakers , or of also represent a form of accommodation common cultural matrix, as with other peoples between two unreconci led discourses, the one of the Mediterranean area. Hence, exchange hegemon ic, the other subaltern. and the adoptio n of different ways of doing things. This has been particu larly important The issue of accommodation deserves further in gardening and food preparation , for which reflection. Even in the case of the most extreme the Italians in Australia are justly renowned. entrenchment , accommodation is inevitable, if Just as this knowledge has been transmitted only in terms of the life led outside the home, to others, so have ltalo-Austral ian families particularly the workplace. Only in particular appropriated other pract ices (for example , instances (within larger cities) were ltalo­ Greek dips frequently feature on ltalo-Australian Australians able to recreate a 'funct ioning' tables). Sometimes the Australian born would totalising milieu of ltalianness in Australia. This encourage such change. In other cases, the would particular ly be the case of non-working cultura l divers ity already present among the and non-studying immigrants. However, this Italian immigrat ion, as for example with the did not exempt them from the trend towards Calabrian community, would find or discove r crysta llisation and isolation from their country of natural affinities with others, particu larly the departure due to technologica l limitations. Here, Greek diaspora. All of these factors could lead entrenchment can be construed as a negative to exchange along pathways which did not form of accommodation by creating a homeland follow hegemon ic unidirectionalism or forced which , being deprived of contac t with Italy and assimilation on the basis of a preco nceived with 'ch ronologica l' evolution, cou ld only be a model. simulacrum . We are dea ling here with consensua l exchange , But this was a rarity; much more often dialogue and comprehension made possible by accommodation would occur along lines of the diasporic reality of Australia. Nevertheless, exchange or in dialogue with sectors of the host I believe we can affirm it to have formed part society. In the case of Italians in Australia, an of the accommodation dynamic. I could term important factor was the Catholic Church, well this 'horizontal multicultura lism' as opposed entrenched in society as a different narrative to the 'multicu lturalism' later preached by the of 'Australianness' as opposed to British views. Austra lian elite in the 1970s which celebrated Traditionally the Catholic Church had often 'cultu ral diversity' only in so far as it was been oppositiona l not establ ishmentarian, and amenable to fruition by the hegemon ic elite needless to say Irish influence was traditionally which attributed to itself the facu lty to pick and strong. The socialising aspects of religion choose among those aspects of the diaspor ic brought Italians into a wider community which inheritance which best suited its purposes and softened the impact of margina lisation, despite tastes. the different traditions which characterised it. Accommodation also occurred with the Similarly, but to a much lesser extent , political hegemonic reality, but along pathways implying parties would welcome Italians, particular ly negotiation and not blanket adoption . A case those of the extreme left, like the Communist in point is re-inscription of local prac tices to Party. With some notable except ions (the cane accommodate them with the cultural reality of ITALIAN fields of north Queensla nd) their impact was the immigrant. For examp le, many Australian HISTORICAL SOCIETY 18 On the Italians in the cane fields and the Communist Party of Australia see: Papa lia, G., Peasant Rebels in the Canefields. 8 JOURNAL CIRC, Carlton 1985. FROM TERRONE' TO ·woo·:'POS T' COLONIAL PERSPECTIVESON ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO AUSTRALIA ------

front gardens are decorated with elves writing of literature is less accessible to the TOPVincenzo Palermo tend ingthe and gnomes made of painted cement. The many because of linguistic barr iers deriving vegetable patch inthe b ackyard ofh is Italians adopted stone lions, if they were from from the suba ltern origin of the immigrants. homeat 9 Tuppell Place East Keilor.1977. MIDDLE Giovanni(John ) Cicero, son Veneto, or eagles if they were from Abruzzo. The lives of immigrants have often been very of Rosarioand G iuseppaC iceroin the hard in prac tical terms and contained little or Instead of placing these artefacts in the backyardof the family homein Bowen garde n, they festoon the front fence , another no leisure. Only as migrants have retired has StreetR ichmond,1 965. typical ly Australian feature to reaffirm identity, there been a flourishing of ltalo-Australian BOTTOM Biagio Cuce in thebackyard or acco rding to some, to warn off cultura l literature. Then there is cultural elitist prejud ice of hishome in Ascol S treet, AscotV ale. assimilators. Similarly, the name of the village to contend with, particular ly among 'native' Notethe vege tablesand vi nescovering of origin is disp layed in ceramic or wrought iron critics who will ghettoise this production by they ard,as wel l asthe la rgezu cchini across the front wall of houses, just as British labe lling it as 'ethnic ' as if 'mainstream· were fruit heldby M r.Cuce , c1985. immigrants were wont to do. Likewise, whereas the backya rd is an Austral ian recreatio nal institution where sports are playe d , many Italians (like other immigrants) transformed it into a vegetable ga rden . Traditionally, Italians in Italy would never have a backyard or frontyard garden for that matter, rather, they would have a vegeta ble garden located in the coun tryside adjacent to urban areas . In back yard gardens Italians would sow plants never seen in Austra lia often after their seeds had been smugg led in unde r the noses of vigi lant customs officers. But next to them plants and vegetables never seen in Italy were also sown, particularly decorative ones.

These changes could affect members of the local Anglo-Austral ian commun ity as well. Backyard exchange is part of commun ity or suburban life in Australia and the Italians brought skills and abilities with them that were much appreciated by neighbou rs. even in such simple matters as grow ing vege tables, producing tomato sauce or pressing wine. Likewise, the backyard BBQ was readily incorporated into the Italian Australia n life as opposed to the count ry BBQ ('grigliata') common in Italy. Such activ ity represents a form of accommodation to the new reality and the creation of a culture which is hybrid because it reflects the unprecedented needs and desires of those who created it. In so doing it has allowed the immigrants and indeed their offsp ring to find a sense of belonging , thus establ ishing an authentic culture neither 'Italian' nor Anglo - Australian. It has also enriched the cult ural awareness of the host society.

A significan t aspect of this is language: to accommodate the new reality around them. immigrants adapted English words to Italian. particularly to describe objects or grasp concepts which did not exist in their experience of Italy. Nearly always, the Italian dialect spoken was the starting linguistic parameter for transformation . Hence, 'fenza' for fence. 'tramba ' for tram. 'becca iarda' for backyard. Alternatively words were adopted from the Italian because they sounded similar to the English: 'carro' for car, or 'fattoria' for factory. This constitutes a fundamenta l form of approp riation and belong ing. Many of these words have even travelled bac k to Italy with the returning diaspora of recent years. such that the term 'fenza' is today commonly used in Calabria to descr ibe a 'fence ' and is used as an alternative in the local ITALIAN dialect to the Tuscan Italian 'recinto'. HISTORICAL The recent 'discovery' of an ltalo-Austra lian SOCIETY literature is only one further case in point. The JOURNAL9 FROM 'TERRONE'TO 'WOO': 'POST COLONIAL PERSPECTIVESO N ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO AUSTRALIA

something other than 'ethnic'. Similar discourses a universal ly attributed status of subalternity can also be found among the few Italian critics throug h the elaboration of a divergent narrative. who are aware of the Italian literature of the Neverthe less, its success ultimately depe nds diaspora. These will emphasise 'universality' •on the ab ility to transmit these signif iers to the and 'competence' at the expense of agency 'ignor ant' or unaware reader. Otherwise , its true and authenticity. Therefore, recognition of one's mean ing remains confined within the ambit of work as literature remains a difficult task for the Italian culture of immigra tion. The extent to the immigrant author, because it can upset which these sign ifiers travel beyond this socia l ruling constitutive shibboleths of the cultural context to impinge upon the awareness of the establishment both in the host country and wider community also indica tes the degree to the country of origin . Similar comment can be which true 'multicultural' conscio usness has passed for the pictorial arts.19 emerged in Austral ia.

Many of the 'cult ural' themes of the Italian Later Pino Bosi's collection, the derogatory diaspora in Australia reflect the enormous 'essentia lising ' attitude of a university educate d effort made to comprehend the new reality, English speak ing Italian immigrant is held both in terms of its natural and metropol itan up for ridicu le. This immigrant relates to an wildernesses whose prominent character istics anti-immig rant, Anglo-Australian , ex-mayor can appear to be both superf iciality and that peasant Italians are accustomed to living alienation. A good example of how this theme is together with animals. Inadvertently, in his elaborated comes from a well known Australian desire to distance himself from his less 'civilised' writer of Italian orig in, Pino Bosi, and is taken compatriots , the 'educated' Italian ends up from his collection of stories grouped under the der iding the common Australian habit of keeping title Australia Cane. In one ep isode , a freshly pets within the home. The author 's likely intention arrived immigran t named Giovanni knocks on a is to deliberately undersco re the doub le irony of door to ask for direct ions to his brothe r's house this situation. At the same time there is a play on only to have it slammed in his face by a little old the soc ial and political hierarchy that prod uced lady who also pulls her dog into the safety of the cultural subalternity among peasan t Italians the house. Exasperated he bursts out: 'Australia motivating their emigration in the first place . In a Cane ... Tengono dentro le bes tie e lasciano certa in sense the circle is closed when Giovanni fuori i cristiani!' Apart from the general readily responds to the provocation by claiming his accessible meaning that an Italian immigra nt equal if not superior status by highlighting the was lower in dign ity than a dog (there is also a value of his ach ievements and abilities: pun on the word 'cane' meaning dog in Italian), the incisiveness of this remark depends on "You prefer empty words but this soil needs a sign ifiers deriving from a specifical ly Italian spade's point and homes need bricks. You want cultural context: 'Cristiani' translated from people like him?" standard Italian literally means «Christians» "Watch your words", Antonio Cocozza tried to interject. "You to your hoe and I to my profession." (be lievers in or followers of Christ). Howevef, "Denigrating your countrymen to make a good in a number of Italian dialects (both northern impression , is that your profession?" and southern) it means 'people' as opposed "I have a university degree" retorted Antonio to 'animals'. In other words: 'These Australians Cocozza trying harder to blend into the circle of 20 keep people out and animals inl' onlookers surround ing them as he pulled out a visiting card. But Giovanni was resolute: What would have been the 'normally' fearful "I'm a graduate too, you know. I have a degree in reactions of an elderly person in another context are sugar cane and I have already placed a deposit on interpreted here as an assault on one's dignity as a the shop for when I graduate in fruitology like my person. This interpreta tion emerges because the mate Gerolamo ". 21 purpose of the story is to reveal more about the overa ll dynamic in which immigration occurred Much of the irony is not evident in the English than illustrating the behaviour of the partic ipants. translation (for example the play on 'canna' or Italians were seen in derogatory terms by so sugar cane echoing the expression 'povero in called 'mainstream' Australian society, and canna ' an equ ivalent to 'dirt poor'), and many a this contempt was inevitably and percept ibly reader will stop at the humour and not look any imposed on them. Hence, the tale is emblemat ic further. Yet. Giovann i's spurious attribut ion of of the desire to contrast what is perceived as academic termi nology to pract ical act ivities is a

19 For exampfe the belittling criticism of being ·ethnic' has also been JeveJ/ed at one of Australia's lead ing writers on the immigrant experience , Pino Bosi. See Rando, G., 'Pino Bosi and the Piccolo Mondo of the ltalo-Austrafian Community' in Altreitalie n.18 luglio-dicembre 1998, pp. 4-12. Other examples of ltalo-Australian writers include: novelists Antonio Casella of Perth and Venero Armanno from Brisbane (Sicilian origin), Rosa Cappiello from Sydney (Campanian origin) , and the first generation poet. Luigi Strano from Mount Wilson (Calabrian origin). On Ca/abrian au thors see: Rando , G., 'Dai monti de/la Calabria ai grattacieli dell'Australia. Scr;ttori e poeti calabroaustraliani' in La Questione merid ionale, Cosenza . Anno 1, no. 2. 2003. 20 Rando ibid, on Bosi. P. Australia Cane (1971) p. 5. 21 Original in Italian: 'Voi volete le belle chiacchere ma la terra vuole la punta de/la zappa e le case vogliono mattoni. Gente come lui volete?' 'B adate a parlar bene' cerco d 'interrompere Antonio Cocozza. 'Voi zappate e io faccio la mia professione. · ITALIAN 'Spar/are dei connazionali per farvi be/lo, e questa la vostra professione?' HISTORICAL 'lo sono dottore' ribatte Antonio Cocozza confondendosi sempre piU nel circolo di curiosi che andavano pressandofi, e cav6 da un taschino un biglietto da visita. Ma Giovanni continua ad incalzare: SOCIETY 'Anch'io sono dottore, lo sapete? lo sono dottore in canna e ho gi8 messo la caparra per ii negozio. per quando diventerO 10,JOURNAL dotto re in fruttologia, come compare Gerolamo ... ' (Bosi, ibid . 1971, p, 157) FROM 'TERRONE' TO 'WOG': 'POST' COLONIALPERSPECT IVES ON ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO AUSTRALIA

form of 're-inscription' of 'Italian' concepts with Likewise, on arriving in Australia, the host society new ones, better suited to the Australian context. imposed upon immigrants a similar subordinate Indeed, it reflects the noted Australian prejudice status. This time their cultural subalternity was in favour of the phys ical as opposed to the 'coloured' by constructs of desirable whiteness and mental virtues. Immigrant Giovanni has learnt denigrated blackness. Australia was meant to be how to assim ilate better than his supposedly a 'white' country well into the 1960s. Immigrants more intellectually aware co untryman, who may not conforming to the standard were forced to have not realised he was indirectly snubbing his adopt coping strategies to maintain psychological Austral ian interlocutor. Giovanni is able to speak viability in the midst of assimilationist models directly in the language of the co lonising Anglo­ which instructed them to abandon their own sense Australian ethos as a pioneer nation and thereby of sell and identity. Once again the new arrivals part icipate in the narrative of 'developme nt' as were 'essentialised.' Hence, immigrants were opposed to an essentialised 'wilderness'. In faced with the option between entrenchment or contrast, the intellectual Italian reflects the typical accommodation, or more often a mix of the two, superior ity comp lex of the Italian educated ranging from mimicry and ambivalence to wholesale classes, a characteristic of the colonial legacy we abandonment of any attempt at sell definition when dealt with in the first part of this essay. the prejudice of the surrounding society became too strong to resist. Reactions and resistance, It is worthwhile noting, however, that the however, did arise. Some would embrace the attitude of this so-called 'in tellectual ' Italian 'wog' label decentring their own elaboration of sell immigran t is a parody of what in Italy is by attempting to convert a negative image into a seen as true intelligence. There are many statement/celebration of identity. Others, particularly proverbs in Italian which dis tinguish between the generations born in Australia, would purposely intelligence and educat ion, warning that the reproduce practices and behaviour patterns two are not necessa rily synonymous. True taken from their immigrant forebears as a way of intellectual aptitude has always been a quality reaffirming difference and rejecting assimilation. pr ized by Italians. Nevertheless, educat ion is This was part of the 're-inscription' process: new also seen as a vital ingred ient for success in meanings were given to old things and modes of life. Accord ingly, Italian immigrants strong ly being to deepen accommodation with the new encouraged their offspring to study to 'get reality not in the direction of submission to the ahead' in their new country. greater Anglo-Australian narrative but rather as a form of negotiation or exchange. This last observation represents a useful antidote to the celebra tion of derision informing the This form of 'horizontal' multiculturalism could 'wogness' debate . While it is true many Italian occur among immigran t groups or between immigrants became fruiterers to the point that it these and the host soc iety when both part ies has became an Australian cultural stereotype, this were willing to quest ion accepted ways and is more a reflection of their ability to adapt and modes of conce iving each other's identit ies. assimilate in Australia's culture than any inherent This is opposed to 'vert ical' multiculturalism, 'essential' quality as Italians. Likewise, care should where the elite decides wh ich pract ices and be taken when one attirms one's identity in terms habits are to have currency and accep tance or of the dominating narratives of the host society be 'chic' and which others do not. Channels for such as the 'colonisation' of the 'wilderness'. The this process of accommodation ranged from extent to which immigrants uncritical ly adop t this 'over the fence' backyard exchange or proximity, and other 'local' perspectives reflects their deg ree to cultural affin ity, to the Catho lic Church and of 'de-centredness ', and herein lie the limits of the po litica l movements both of the Left and Right. cultural work of many immigrant Australians on the Examp les abound in popular architectu re as well diasporic experience. as in practices such as gardening or cook ing.

To conclude, the 'postcolonial' story of Italian Other cu ltural ac tivities placed under the label immigrat ion into this coun try cannot be divorced of 'a rts' reflec t the same tens ions and conf licts from the profoundly unjust manner in which the among competing nar rat ives . At times certain Italian elite forced millions to find their only path wo rks may purport to reaffirm difference and towards salvation through emigrat ion. The legacy dignity unaware that they are fa lling bac k into of the subordinate position occupied by the vast the same ideological 'decent red' trap. majority of Italian emigrants, however, was harde r to overcome than material poverty. Economic, The way forward lies in the willingness to 'unpack' political and cul tural subordination led to the discourses that essentialise 'the other'. In other creat ion of a condi tion of suba lternity which words, realising how much of what appears to be deprived the poor of the capacity or 'agency' to 'conventional wisdom' with regard to concepts exp ress their own history and identities on their of 'the other' is in reality a produc t of the faculty own terms. Rather, they we re forced to adopt held by some in society to put 'the other' in his/her or tolerate a negat ive self image, an ident ity place. 'The other' thus loses the freedom to define imposed on them by the intellectua l classes at his or her identity or worth and is stripped of the service of the elite. They were forced into recognit ion both in terms of what he/she was and a static representa tion without any recognition is but also in terms of what he/she could become. of their desire or ability to change were it not True openness means having the ability to ITALIAN for outside intervention ('essentialisa tion') . This change one's own views of self and being open HISTORICAL image further justified their subordinate status to cha llenges on those grounds by 'the other '. SOCIETY and motivated their exploitati on. JOURNAL 11 introductionand background contextto the italiandiplomatic archivesheld at the italian historicalsociety, melbourne by LOUISGREEN, FORMERLY READER IN HISTORYwas natural that he should ask the advice in this LOUISGREEN AT MONASHUNIVERSITY , IS A SPECIALISTIN •matter of Hambro whom he trusted and who had ITALIANLATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCEthe contacts in Britain to be ab le to report on the reliability and other qualities of leading citizens HISTORY, HAVINGPUBLISHED SEVERAL WORKS and businessmen in its colonies . The man ON THAT SUBJECT, INCLUDINGCHRONICLE Hambro proposed as eminently fitted to be an INTOHISTORY, CASTRUCCIO CASTRACANI AND honorary consul-general in Sydney was Stuart LUCCAUNDER MANY MASTERS. IN 1995, HE Alexander Donaldson , a merchant, pastora list WASCOMMISSIONED TOPRODUCE A REGISTER po litician and head of a firm which had a branch OF THE CORRESPONDENCEOF THE ITALIAN in London with which his bank had had dealings . CONSULATESIN AUSTRALIAFROM THEIR The history of Sardinian and effectively therefore ESTABLISHMENTUNTIL THE CAPITAL OF A UNITED of Italian consula r representation in Australia ITALYWAS MOVED TO ROME IN 1870.THIS WORK thus began with the appo intment of a Scotsman WASPART OF A LARGERPROJECT UNDER TAKEN recommended by a Jew who had no knowledge BYTHE ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOC IETYTO COPY of Italian and, so far as one can tell, little familiarity with conditions in Italy. To Cavour, ON MICROFILMAND CATALOGUEALL THE however, such disabilities do not appear to have CORRESPONDENCEBETWEEN THE ITALIAN been important: he himself preferred to write in CONSULATESIN AUSTRALIA AND THE MINISTRY French which was, in any case, the language OFFOREIGN AFFAIRS IN ITALYFOR THE YEARS used in Sardinian diplomatic correspondence ; 1855TO 1947,APPROXIMATELY 9,000 LETTERSand the number of Sardinian subjects in New ANDDOCUMENTS IN ALL , THEORIGINA LS OF South Wales was not thought to be large enough to require the presence in Sydney of a consul WHICHARE HOUSED INROME. CORRESPONDENCE capable of commun icating with them in their COVERINGTHE LATER PERIOD WAS CATALOGUED own vernacular. Donaldson was asked in the BYGERARDO PAPALIA IN COLLABORATIONWITH commission which conferred his office on him, LOUISGREEN. THE ARTICLE PRINTED HERE WAS to nominate honorary vice-consu ls in Melbourne, INTENDEDTO BETHE INTRODUCTION TO THE New Zealand and Hobart and to choose a REGISTERCOVERING THE EARLY PERIOD. SINCE chancellor to assist him in discharging his responsibilities. The person he proposed for this THISIS NOWTO APPEAR NOT IN BOOKFORM latter post was P.A. Dutruc , Reader in French at BUTAS A RESOURCEAVAILABLE THROUGH THE the recently established University of Sydney, ITALIANHISTORICAL SOCIETY , TOBE ACCESSED who was selected, one suspects, because of BY COMPUTER, THISINTRODUCTION IS BEING his command of the language employed by ISSUEDSEPARATELY ASA COMPANIONTOTHAT the Sardinian Foreign Ministry. His installation in this posit ion was, however, to have more DATABASE WHICH WILL ENABLE RESEARCHERS significance than first intended beca use, in April TOACCESS THE COLLECTION AND READ BOTH 1856, Donaldson became Premier of New South THEREG ISTERAND COP IES OFTHE ORIGINAL Wa les, and, consequently resigning his office CORRESPONDENCEONCOMPUTER . of consu l-genera l, appointed Dutruc to act as his successor. But the latter, being doubtless fully engaged in carrying out his academic When Camillo Cavour, Chief Minister and duties, gave little attention to consu lar business, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdo m of writing few dispatches and eventually, in 1859, Sardinia, dec ided to establish a consular post handing over his post to a local businessman, for his state in the Australian colonies, he acted James Edwin Graham, who, having been born as anyone might do today who wants to find of English parents near Dieppe, appears to have someone suitable to act as his agent in a foreign had some knowledge of French. country - he consulted his banker. Charles Joachr im Hambro was a member of a Jewish However chequered the initiation of Sardinian family which had first become prominent in the consular representation in Sydney was, by financ ial world because of its loans to the Danish reason of these shifts and changes of person nel, crown and then by reason of the success of it was less disastrous than the first efforts made the branch of the bank it set up in London. In to set up a vice-consulate. The secretary­ 1851, when the Kingdom of Sardinia needed genera l of the Sardinian Foreign Ministry, had to borrow large sums of money to repay debts written to Donaldson stating that Fabrizio incurred in the recent war against Austria and to Fabiani, 'a young man of ample means and meet the cost of the indemn ities demanded of estimable in every respect', had expressed the it at the conc lusion of those hostilities, Hambro wish to be made vice-consul in Melbourne since was one of those to whom Cavour had recourse this would give him the standing he needed to to fulfil! these obligat ions; and thereafter a establish himself in that city. Donaldson had close relationship develope d between the accep ted this recommendat ion and Fabiani i Piedmontese aristocrat and the cosmopo litan had duly sailed for Australia on the Goffredo i ITALIAN Jew who served him partly as banker and partly Mameli commande d by Nino Bixio, arriving IHISTORICAL as financia l advisor and confidan t. In 1855, early in 1856 in Sydney where he received his · SOCIETY when the issue of choosin g a representative letters patent as vice-co nsul. Soon after he 121JOURNAL for the Sardinian monarchy in Australia arose, it reached Melbourne, however, on 27th March , it INTRODUCTIONA NO BACKGROUNDCONTEXT TO THE ITALIAN DIPLOMATIC ARCHIVES HELD AT THE ITALIAN HISTORICALSOCIE:lY, MELBOURNE

became clear to members of the Piedmontese duly approved, the greater importance of that community there that he had left Italy with no city being at the same time recognized by the money at all, had not paid his passage on the elevation of the diplomatic post in it to the rank Goffredo Mameli and expected to derive some of an honorary consulate Until his return to profit from his office by, in effect, selling the post Victoria on 21st September 1860, the business of his chance llor and act ing successor after his of this was conducted by his subordinates in departure to whomever offered him most tor it. Graham Brothers.· On assuming control of it Rescued from the dingy lodg ing house in which at the beginning of October of that year, he he had taken a room after disembark ing, he was took de livery from Dardanelli who had in turn set up in more affluent quarters by his fellow been given them by Passmore of the seals, nationals, only for it soon to be discovered he books and documents which had originally could not pay his rent. Eventually, he extricated been brought from Sydney by Fabiani for the himself from this predicament by appointing a then vice-consulate . Shortly afterwards, the local businessma n, Richard Adolph Passmore, position of the Sydney agency of the Kingdom as his chancel lor in return for an agreement by of Sardinia was regularized, on James Graham's the latter to pay his debts and by obtaining from recommendation, by the official appo intment Bixio a loan enabling him to return to Europe of James Edwin Graham as consul there with as a steerage passenger on the Kent under effect from 20th January 1861. This endorsed an assumed name in return tor an undertaking his tenure of a post in which he had acted since that he or his family would meet the cost of his 1859 and also conf irmed its effective down­ fare to and from Melbourne when he was back grading since Donaldson's resignation, from a in Italy. On the eve of his departure , he wrote consulate-general to a consulate . Hencefor th, to the Sardinian Foreign Ministry cla iming he the orig inal arrangement by which the vice ­ had urgent business to attend to at home and consulates in the Australasian co lonies were to nominating Passmore as his chance llor and be dependencies of the office of the Sardinian acting vice-consu l in his absence . representat ive in Sydney was replaced by one which divided responsib ility between a Sydney After this unprom ising beginning to its attempts consulate which had jurisdict ion over New to secure consu lar representation in the two South Wales and Queensland , and Melbourne, largest Austra lian colonies, the government with responsib ility for Victoria , South Australia, of the Kingdom of Sardinia seems tempo rarily Tasmania and later New Zealand . to have lost interest in them, But, late in 1858, Cavour once again had recourse to Hambro In accordance with this demarcation, consu lar in an effort to find a suitab le successor to the delegates or agents were appointed, in the delinquent Fabiani whose choice of Passmore course of 1861 and 1862, who were under the as his replacement the Sardinian Foreign supervision of these two major consular posts, Ministry was not prepared to recognize. It would namely George Alfred Bartleet in Adelaide and appear that what prompted this initiative were Charles McArthur in Launceston , who were the representations of Bartolommeo Dardanelli, subject to Melbourne , and John Rayden Bingle a Piedmontese businessman who had an office in Newcas tle and George Harris in Brisbane, in Flinders Lane, Melbourne , and who had who were subject to Sydney. At the same time, been asking for some time, to have himself of course, as from 20th March 1861 when Victor appointed Sardinian vice-consul there, having in Emmanuel II ado pted the title of King of Italy, all particu lar, leapt to the defence of the ga llantry these consulates and such consular agencies as of the Sardinian contingent sent to the Crimean had been authorized by that date ceased to be War when this had been called into question Sardinian and became Italian. in the Victorian parliament and press in 1855. Hambro, however, cla imed that his inquiries Of the two consu lates representing the newly had revealed that Dardanelli was a man of no proc laimed nation of Italy, that in Melbourne was financial substance and suggested instead initially to run more smoothly than that in Sydney. that the position of Sardinian representativ e in James Graham was a person of considerab le Melbourne should go to James Graham who, stature in his commun ity who made an effort though unrelated to his namesake James Edwin to pursue the many inquiries made of him Graham, then about to become in effect act ing concerning members of the growing number consul in Sydney, was, like the latter, a former of Italian citizens who had been attracted to assoc iate of Donaldson, James Graham , in Victoria by its gold rushes even though he did tact , had orig inally come to Victoria when it not know their language. James Edwin Graham, was still the Port Phillip district as Donaldson's by contrast, seems during the tenure of his agent there, but had later set up his own firm office , to have been distracted by his plans to of Graham Brothers. In 1859, when the cho ice establish himself elsewhere, first in the newly of a new Sardinian consul in Melbourne was founded colony of Queens land and then in New being considered, he was on a visit to Britain Zealand in which he was to settle permanent ly and hence accessib le to Hambro through the in 1863. During his absences from Sydney, he London branch of Donaldlson's business which entrusted the care of his office to a person who he used as his posta l address and presumab ly was regarded with some distrust both in that also for the commercial dealings he was city and by the Italian Foreign Ministry and its engaged in. subordinates. This was Giovanni Carlo Asselin ITALIAN who, at Graham's insistence, was made vice­ HISTORICAL Desp ite his absence from Melbourne, his consul in August 1861. Asselin had been born SOCIETY choice as the Sardinian representative there in Naples and, according to his own testimony, JOURNAL 13 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND CONTEXTTO THE ITALIAN DIPLOMATICARCHIVES HELD AT THE ITALIANH ISTORICALSOC IETY. MELBOURNE

had been obliged to leave there because of his Sicilies to be handed over to the office now participation in revolutionary act ivity in Rome in represent ing a united Italy in that colony. Sentis, 1848. He had gone initially to New Caledon ia however, was not prepared to do this to Asse lin where he became involved with a French woman • mGraham's absence and instead wrote, on 8th who was to claim to be his wife (although he Septembe r 1861, direct ly to Bettino Ricas ili, then denied this to have been the case) , by whom the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to acqua int he had two children and whom he abandoned him with the situation in Sydney and asking him when he left for Sydney. In the latter city, he for his instructions in the light of it. Eventually, appears to have led a financially precarious on 20th March 1862, the consula r records existence, being declared a bankrupt on 8th held by Sentis were delivered to Graham who June 1861, working as a poulterer in New had by then returned. The matter was thus Town, and then teaching French and Drawing resolved but not before the whole issue of the in a schoo l, though dressing very shabbily. appropriateness of the personnel of the Italian Despite his perceived unsuitability for any kind consulate in Sydney had become one involving of consular office , he was nevertheless a man the new national government in Turin as well as of conside rable energy and abi lity and James its representat ives in Australia Edwin Graham clearly found him indispensable because his own lack of knowledge of Italian The documen ts given by Sentis to Graham left him with the need to have someone to assist reveal that the former's seven year tenure of the him with a command of that language. Assel in, post of consul of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for his part , obviously leapt at the opportunity in New South Wales had been charac terized by of acquir ing some vestige of social status by a minimal level of activity. Its archive contained throwing himself with enthusiasm into the work a handful of letters and circulars from Canafa , of the consulate , writing an extens ive report on the Neopo litan Minister of Foreign Affairs, a commerc ial activ ity in New South Wales and letter to the captai n in charge of the port of attending to the welfare of Italian cit izens on that Sydney and no fewer than six letters relating colony. to the confidence man who was to defraud Asselin of £20 with his bogus prom issory note, It is diff icult to determine from the records doubtless repo rting that person's arrest and whether he was a misgu ided ideal ist who was trial. From these records however, it is also a victim of his own generosity, or a person poss ible to discover the identity of the consular of shadier assoc iations, but one thing that is agents appointed by Sentis in other Austra lian striking about the Italians whom he cla ims to cities, namely William Lempr iere in Melbourne, have helped in his vice-consu lar capacity, is Jules Lalouette in Adelaide and William Boys that they were frequently men who, for some in Hobart. Accord ing to Asse lin, there had also reason or other, had fallen foul of the law. One of been in the period before the unificat ion of Italy these received a pardon, as a result of Asselin's a representative in Sydney of the Grand-duchy intervent ion, after being condemned to ten years of Tuscany, who had , however, left Austra lia imprisonment , another after being convicted and and about whom , or the locat ion of his papers, given a three year sentence for fraud. (The nothing was known. latter, on his release, had given his benefactor a promissory note for the sum of £20 advanced to him, redeemab le by what eventua lly turned On the eve of his departure from Sydney, James out to be a non-existent payee!) A third, whom Edwin Graham , in Septembe r 1863, nominated a Asselin repo rted he was trying to have acquitted lawyer, William Deane, as his acting successor , on the grounds of insanity, was charged with promp ted to this cho ice , perhaps , by the raping his landlady 's six year old daughter. difficulties associa ted with making Asseli n a consul, but also by the latter's claim that he Asselin's position in Sydney and the reputat ion too, was plann ing to leave New South Wales. of the Italian consulate there by reason of his Deane's appo intment was not to meet with association with it was made more problemat ical approva l by the Italian authorities who were, by reason of the attitude to him of the French however, prepared to leave him temporari ly in consul, Louis Sentis, who had in 1854, under cha rge of their Sydney office until the whole instructions from Napo leon Ill , undertaken question of who should be entrusted with it also to represent in the Austra lian colonies the cou ld be further examined . It seems at this government of the south of Italy, then known as point that the Foreign Ministry came finally to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. As an offic ial of recognize the des irabi lity of having somewhere the French state, Sentis wou ld doubtless have in Australia a consula te staffed with caree r been aware of the plight of Asselin's alleged diplomats. In view of the distribut ion of Italian wife in New Caledonia, who was later to be subjects in the count ry which was strongly repatriated to France; while his role as custodian biased towards Victoria, the logica l place to of the interests of the Neapo litan monarchy in estab lish such a post was Melbo urne and on Aust ralia can hardly have made him look with 27th February 1864 , a letter was accordingly favour on someone who had left its territories as written to James Graham, the honorary consul in a political exile. What rendered Sentis' hostility that city, to inform him that he would be replace d particula rly injurious at this point in time to the by Giuseppe Biagi as soon as the latter cou ld : ITALIAN consulate in New South Wales of the new Italian make the journey to Australia together with ,HISTORICAL nation was that , once Napo leon Ill recogni zed Carlo Cussu, his vice-consu l designate . Biag i ISOCIETY its legitimacy, it was necessa ry for the consula r and Cossu did not in fact arrive in Victoria until 14!J OURNAL archives of the forme r Kingdom of the Two 13th July 1865. From the follow ing day they INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUNDCONTEXT TO THE ITALIAN DIPLOMATICARCHIVES HELD AT THE ITALIANH ISTORICAL SOCIETY,MELBOUR NE

proceeded with energy to put the adm inistration togethe r with a partner, Charles Bundy, an of the consu late on a more professional basis. Englishman familiar with South America , was to import large qualities of plants from that continent These two career offic ials seem to have taken to grow in northern Australia, where they would some time to settle into their new residence , be cultivated by migrants sent from Europe in thus delaying Biagi's visit to Sydney to enable disused Italian frigates! It was in the pursuit of him to report on the situation there. But on this latter project that Asselin eventually sailed Christmas Day he was finally able to offer the from Sydney in May 1866 in a ship called the Foreign Ministry his advice on what was to be Garibaldi, bound for Cobija, on the coast of what done concerning the provis ion of satisfactory is now Chile, but was then Bolivia. The records representat ion in New South Wales for the Italian at present available to us do not indicate what governmen t. He recommended against happened when he got there, or whether it was confirming, as consul, William Deane whom he his intention to proceed with this extraordinary considered not to have the requis ite stand ing in enterprise which appears, in the end, to have his community for such an office. Biagi likewise come to nothing , or merely to exploit it as King dismissed the claims of Ottavio Levy Montefiore seems to intimate, to escape from his creditors in who had been sugges ted as a possible New South Wales. successor to Graham , because of his youth, relatively modest means and lack of a firm From the point of view of the Italian consulate association with his much wealthier, merchant in Sydney, the significant fact was that he had banker brother, Jacob Levy Montefiore, who was left the colony, enabling King in October 1866, Belgian consu l in Sydney and whom Sentis had to nominate as his successor as vice-consul, described as a suitable person also to be the Narciso Foldi, a Milanese of solid connections Italian consul there. The man Biagi proposed, in Italy who practiced in Australia the sober in place of these two aspirants to the Sydney profession of book-keeper. post, was George King , a businessman and friend of Jacob Montefiore who may have By the end of 1866, the consular posts been responsible for nominating him as an representing the Kingdom of Italy in both appropriate candidate for it. King who had been Melbourne and Sydney can be said to have born in Riga, of an English father and probably a been in capable hands, having, at least since Baltic-German mother, spoke fluent French and the beg inning of the previous year been German, and knew some Spanish, though no entrusted to reliable men who brought some Italian, a disadvantage which Biagi, however, did stability to their operations. At the beginn ing of not regard as crit ical because he considered, 1867, the Melbourne office was raised to the though almost certa inly without justificat ion, that rank of a consula te-general, thus giving it a pre­ the number of Italians in New South Wales was eminence in Australia, though its jurisdic tion too small for it to matter. still did not extend over the area covered by the Sydney one. Whatever the drawbacks of appointing yet another Englishman as honorary consu l in This deve lopment was a direct result of the Sydney who was not familiar with the language of establishment of consular agencies in New those whose interests he was meant to protect, Zealand at Auck land, Christchurch and Dunedin , there is no doubt that, in this case, it did serve all of which were placed under the cont rol of the to stabilize what had been previously a highly newly created Melbou rne consulate -gene ral. volatile situation in this office. Asselin, of course, The idea that there should be some Italian still nominally remained attached to it, but to dip lomatic represen tation in New Zealand King's relief was soon to leave of his own accord. had initially been suggested by a letter from During the period when James Edwin Graham Char les De Witt, the Belgian consul in Auck land and William Deane had been in charge of the who had written to communicate to the Italian Sydney mission, Asselin had taken advantage Foreign Ministry and to Napoleon Ill his plan for of his position as vice-consul to enter into reconcil ing the Pope to the surrender of Rome negotiations with the government of Queensland to the Kingdom of Italy through the provision of a which at that time was keen to encourage pension to him. He appears to have conceived immigration and welcomed suggestions that this ingenio us scheme in the hope that he might Italians might participate in this, particularly if be rewarded for it by being made Italian consu l they were 'agricultural labourers and shepherds' in Auckland. But Biagi , when he visited New or 'vine-dressers, gardeners and especially men Zealand, recommended against his appointment accustomed to the cultivation of cotton'. (This since he lived some distance from that city was, of course, during the American Civil War in Waikaki, leaving the adm inistration of his when it was hoped Australia might provide this Belgian consulate to Ernest Ludwig Buchholz last commodity, then in short supply due to those who, Biagi urged should instead be entrusted hostilities). These approaches to the authorities with the Italian consular agency in that part of in Brisbane had, according to King's later report the country. The recent gold rushes to the South on them, borne fruit by 1866 to the extent that Island of New Zealand which had drawn away Asselin was promised a large grant of land in from Victoria many Italian miners previous ly return for instituting an ambitious scheme by resident there also justified , in Biagi's view, the which 300-600 Italians would be brought out to creation of consular agenc ies in Christchurch ITALIAN Queensland to work in a sugar and silk industry and Dunedin which he believed should be HISTORICAL there. This plan was, once again acco rding to entrusted to Frederick Thompson and Edward SOCIETY King, associated with another by which Asselin, Cargi ll respectivel y, both of these being men JOURNAL15 INTRODUCTIONAND BACKGROUNDCONTEXT TO THE ITALIANDIPLOMATIC ARCHIVES HELID AT THE ITALIANHISTORICAL SOCIElY, MELBOURNE

LEFTTitle page to a folioof dis - patchesbetw een theItalian consulat e in Melbourneand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome, for theyear 1869 . RIGHTInternal lette r within theMinistry of ForeignAffairs, Ita ly,re gardingtrave l expensesfor CavaliereZunini , whowas consulfo r Italy in Australiaat !het ime. Dated23 August 1906. BELOWDispatch to Ministerof Foreign Affairs,Fl orence,from Giuseppe Biag i &~~ (MelbourneCons ulate):a timetableand fareschedu le for newsteamer services fromSydney to Southhampton, via ~/ -- Wellington,Panama, Co lon,St. T homas. Documentincludes fre ightcharges for thenew route. Dated 28 May 1866

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L_EFTItalian government internal letter fr omthe Ministry for Agriculture.Industry and Commerce tot he Ministry of Foreign 1•'"f Affairs, withreference to Italy's involvement in the forthcoming .,! ( InternationalExhibition , Melbourne(1 888). Dated11 September 1887. BELOWDispatch to Ministerof ForeginAffairs , Turin, from .IGRICOLTGl!A, INODS!R~E COMM!RtW JamesGraham (Melbourne Consulate), dated 25 August 1863: Grahamasks whether funds might be ava ilableto himto be dispensedascharity to destitute Italians in Victoria. Heis a DrvDltONllll U, governorof thehospital and of the benevo lentasylum into INOUSTRIA, COMIERCIO[ CREDrTO whichhe can there forear rangeto havesick and aged Italians St{t:or, ~ admittedbut he is alsoasked for help by others who do not . 1"' ••~"~.....,,,. GSj6" qualifyas inmates of theseinst itutions. f. '" ...... ,,191)9 -·-;:::-{~~~~..,. ,.,.._xv11 ---l · 106 ,.,(' g...,,,,.....,r.

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ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL17 INTRODUCTIONAND BACKGROUNDCON TEXTTO THE ITALIANDIPLOMATIC ARCHIVES HELD AT THE ITAUAN HISTORICALSOCIETY. MELBOURNE

RIGHT Dispatchto Ministerof Foreign to New Zealand as a result of the gold rushes . Affairs,Florence , fromGiuseppe Biagi l\iANIFESTO Dea ling with these was, however, rendered more (MelbourneConsulate) dated 27 Decem­ diff icult, at least before 1864, by the inabi lity to ber1 866:a printedlea flet(manifesto) • lind suitable men for consular posts who could ITALY has at length arriver] :it the s,q,remc in Italianand English , (in theoriginal) also speak the language of the Italian residen ts juncture which prnmi.-.;c.<\to cum1,lctc h er X atic,nal enclosedwith the dispatch asking for in these co lonies , as well as by the way of l11depeucfo11cc. The grc:i.t~r1,a.rt of her !;0118have contributionsto thesubscription for life of the Italian residents of most of these . soldierswounded in theItalian war of taken up arms with her G:tlla11t So\·ercign, in Read ing the early consula r records , one has independence. order to secure the n.n.lcntly desired rcco\·cry of the feeling that there must have been a 'black Venice. To swell tlJCarmy , number; of Vulun• hole' in Austra lia into which Italians who had leers have flocked to the stnn

for this, therefore, usually entailed protracted presence in the colony could not be ascertained negotiations , with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from such of their fellow nationals as were in in Italy approaching the Ministry for the Interior contact with the consulate. Earlier, in March which in turn contac ted the Prefect in the 1866, the census in South Australia had revealed province from which the proposed benefic iary that 35 Italians lived there, of whom only five of the repatriation had come to ask him to make were female. Biagi considered there were very inquiries as to whether that man's family cou ld few in Tasmania. In fact , the only one mentioned contr ibute to the cost of sending him home. In in the available sources was Ferdinando Riva, the meantime, of course , the destitute or sick a watchmaker who had lived in Charles Street, Italian and sometimes also his family had to Launceston , but who had taken out 'papers be supported in Melbourne or elsewhere in of denization ' in 1853 and died in 1860. He Australia. This was done either by depend ing on appea rs to have had some children by his Irish his fellow-nationals, the generosity of the consul wife; but it is doubtful whether they would have himself or, at the time when James Graham regarded themselves as Italian, even though held that position , on his chairmanship of the their father's relatives seem still to have done boards controlling hospitals or other charitable so because of unfounded rumours that he had institutions in which impover ished persons become fabulously wealthy. could be accommoda ted. This being so, it is little wonde r that Biaigi, in March 1869, wrote to There are no indicat ions as to the precise the Italian Foreign Ministry urging it to ask the sizes of the Italian communities in New South local authorities in the province of Sondrio to Wales and Queensland though it was generally discourage the migration to Austra lia of those understood that they were small and certainly who were not young, vigorous and equipped inferior in numbers to that in Victo ria. From with skills which might be in demand in that the consular records , however, it is possib le country. He made these remarks in describing to ident ify a few members of them, some of the plight of a forty-six year old straw hat whom, such as the musician, Cesare Cutolo maker from that region who had been induced and Marquis Girolamo Carandin i, were later to come to Victoria together with his wife, by to go to Melbourne. Others seem to have left reports circu lating in his village that it was easy Sydney for the New Zealand gold fields or to to make one's fortune there, but who had been move north to Queensland. There were some unemp loyed since his arrival because of a lack Italians, too, in mining settlements in New South of openings in the colony for someone practicing Wales, or in other parts of the country, one of his highly specialized craft and who therefore whom made good by marrying an heiress who needed to be repatriated. owned a large sheep station. Of those who were resident in Sydney, there was a docto r and As well as being asked by the relatives of some sailors who had come there in the hope Italian citizens who had come to Australia, to of finding work on ships but who had either provide information on the latter's whereabouts, fallen ill or encountered some other misfortune , consular offices had also sometimes to relay requiring them to be repatriated . As has already enquiries from such migrants concerning their been mentioned , there were also Italians who families, the members of which had not written were arrested for various crimes and who were to them for some time. Particular interest, in either imprisoned or deported . One who had some of these cases, centred on the poss ibility been in Queens land, at the time when it was still that parents , grandparents , uncles or aunts the Moreton Bay district , appears to have been might have died and left legacies. Inheritances murdered. generally created problems for potential heirs living a long distance from their orig inal homes: Because of the need for consu lar officials to authorizations were required to enable others act intervene when the subjects of the State they for them in the distr ibution of assets bequeathed represented were in distress or got into some in wills. These could be difficult to obta in from kind of trouble , the records they kept necessar ily men who moved around frequent ly and had no give a far more pessimistic impression of the fixed addresses . cond ition of Italians in the Austra lian colon ies than an object ive analysis might reveal. On the The Italian community in the Austra lian colonies , whole, those who prospered were less likely to and particu larly that in Victoria, tended to be have recourse to their consu lates than those a very dispe rsed one. This made it difficult to who needed help. Even so, one can accept as estimate its size with any accuracy. Giuseppe reasonably reliable the testimony of a percep tive Biagi, when he was appointed consul in observer such as Giusepp e Biagi who, in 1868, Melbourne, was given instructions to draw up a described the Italian community in Victoria as register of Italian subjects in the area under his being large ly made up of miners, agricultura l jurisdict ion, but he found that only a proportion laborers, tenant farmers , hotel keepe rs or small of them was willing to go to the trouble to be businessmen. He noted that few of them had recorded in this way. He therefore made up two become important merchan ts in Melbourne. lists, that of those who had registered and that One can add to this that those who attempted to of those who had not, but could neverthe less be do so do not appear to have fared particula rly identified as being resident in Victor ia. In March well. ltalo Raguzzi, a representat ive in Victoria 1860, he claimed the number of names on both of the firm of De Amicis of Genoa, was late in ITALIAN of these was 651. This total, however, exc luded 1867 brought to such a point by his 'melancho lic HISTORICAL Italians who had become British subjects and fixation with his business' that he went mad and SOCIETY those who could not be located because their was adm itted to the Melbourne lunatic asylum JOURNAL !19 INTRODUCTIONA ND BACKGROUND CONTEXTTO THE ITALIANDIPLOMATI C ARCHIVESHELD AT THE ITALIANHISTORICAL SOCIETY. M ELBOURNE

where he was joined at the end of the following in 1867. there was also to be the visit of the year by Bartholomeo Dardaneth who had for Italian naval corvette, Magenta, and the previous many years been engaged in mercanti le activity year the merchant vessel, Rosina. Even so, in the city and had once aspi red to be made the • communica tions by sea and particularly direct honorary vice -consul for Italy. ones, between Austra lia and Italy, were clearly tenuous, a circumstance which would have One firm which does seem to have flourished largely exp lained the need for exports from the was the marble warehouse set up by Luigi Veroli latter country to reach the former through trans­ of Volterna and Alessandro Martelli of Turin. The shipment by way of Britain second of these partners, however, was to sell out his share in this business, and, as a result, If mercantile activity d id not, in genera l, bring to experience rather more cheque red financial much prosperity to Italians in the Austral ian fortunes. Martelli was certainly one of the more colonies, one calling which rather surprisingly interesting of the Italians in Victoria in the 1860s. did prove lucrat ive to them was that of musician. An eng ineer and architect by profession , he had Mention has already been made of Cesare been an officer in the Army of the Kingdom of Cutolo, who taught singing in Sydney and later, Sardinia in the war against Austria in 1848 and until his death at the beginn ing of 1867, in then a member of the Sub-Alpine Parliament. Melbourne. Marquis Girolamo Carand ini who Catastrophic property specu lations in Turin had come out to Van Diemen's Land as early had, however, brought him to the verge of ruin as 1842 as a political exile , had managed to and he was compelled to flee from Piedmont support himself and his large family by virtue to avert a bankruptcy that would have had a of his musica l talents and even more, those of disastrous effect on his wife and ch ildren, the his wife , Marie , a Tasmanian of English origin latter of whom were, in fact , able to contract who was to become the leading soprano of her very distinguished marriages in the wake of generat ion on the Australian stage, and their his departure only because he had gone . (His daughters. On a humbler level, the girls and daughter as a consequence of this sacrifice was their parents from Vigg iano were able to make eventua lly to become a baroness). Having thus a good living as travel ling musicians touring left his family for his family's good, he came to the gold fields and other areas in provinc ial Victoria where , after his successful joint venture Victoria. When the Italian government legislated with Veroli he was drawn, by his adventurous to provide for the repatr iation of its young female but rash commercial instincts . to set himself up subjects involved in itinerant occupations on land near Lilydale to attempt to grow hemp , (doubtless in an effort to protect their virtue), mulberry trees and other crops , prompted Biagi was obliged to point out to it that its doubtless by the short book he had recently proposed law might be difficult to adm inister wr itten on the cultivation of silk worms and the because of the unwillingness of these girls to paper he had read to the local Agricultura l give up their incom e and way of life. Society on the mulberry tree. This project appears to have overstrained his resources and A more transient contr ibution to the musical he was later to abandon it to go to Fiji, where culture of Melbourne was made by Eugen io he lived, presumably as a planter, on the island Nocchi who taught singing there and , under of Koko, and where he acted from 1877 till his the name of Eugenio Bianchi, lived in a hotel death in 1898 as Italian consul in Levuka . One together with one of his pupils who passed for gathers from the records of that post that , having his wife, even though he had previous ly married his residence some 40 miles by water from another woman whom he had left in Italy. This that town, he did not carry out very effectively latter lady pursued him with her inquiries as to his dut ies as his country 's representat ive there his whereabouts , but he proved elusive. Leaving but was left in that position , partly because Melbourne early in 1862, he went on to Sydney of the influence and high social standing of and thence embarked on a vessel bou nd for his relatives in Italy and partly because of the California. At first, it was thought he had been unimportance of it within the Italian consula r shipw recked, but then it transpired he had in service. fact reached San Francisco where he and his supposed wife had sung with great success in It was to be a cont inual lament of Biagi and the an opera. other Italian consu ls and consu lar-agents in the Australian colonies that, despite the presence One of the surprising insights gleaned from a on the markets there of products of Italian origin , perusal of these early consular archives is the these were all brought in through Britain. It was importance of cultura l exchanges in the relations to be some time before part icipation by Italian between Italy and the Australian colonies (and firms in exhib itions and fairs in Australia cou ld most partic ularly Victoria) in the 1860s. Aside stimulate more direct trade between that country from the significance of the influence of Italians and Italy. Up to 1869, one of the reasons for on the teaching and performance of music and its effective absence was the rarity with which espec ially singing, there was the interchange of Italian vessels called at Austra lian ports. In books, seeds, natural history specimens, plaster 1865, Biagi claimed that only three had done casts of sculptures and various other objects so since 1856, namely the Goffredo Mameli, and even animals, between the two countr ies. A ITALIAN Lidia and Amalia. In fact, the records of the great deal of the credit for this can be attributed HISTORICAL consulate in Sydney disclose that, in 1862 two to Giuseppe Biagi, the first career diplomat to be SOCIETY others, the Petronilla and Aquila, had put into an Italian consu l in Melbourne who would appear 20 JOURNAL that city in the course of trade with China. Later, to have been a highly cultivated man with a lively INTRODUCTIONAND BACKGROUNDCONTEXT TO THE ITAUAND IPLOMATICARCHIVES HELD AT THE ITALIANHISTORICA L SOCIETY. MELBOURNE

interest in science, literature and scholarship. Graham to give him his published summaries Presumably a bache lor, he lived, thanks of colon ial statistics to send to Italy, while the doubtless to the good graces of his predecessor local Acc limatization Society had asked him to James Graham (who was president of that society make contact with similar bodies in that country in 1865) in the Melbourne Club where he would in the hope that seeds might be exchanged with have been very well placed to make and maintain them. In accordance with this latter proposal, contact with the most distinguished citizens in Ferdinand von Mueller, the government the colony. He enjoyed, of course, not only this botanist and director of the Botanic Gardens in advantage, but two other important ones. In the Melbourne had , in 1864, sent to his counterpart first instance, the Risorgimento had at that period in Palermo a packet of such seeds, the first of aroused, in Australia as in England , tremendous many he was to dispatch there. enthusiasm and sympathy for Italy and all things Italian. In the second place , there was at On taking over the administration of his this time, in Victoria a remarkable body of men consu late from Graham, Biagi thus found that determ ined to use some of the great wealth it the process of the exchange of plans of officia l der ived from the gold discoveries in the provision government publ ications had already begun , of cultural amenities appropriate to a civilized and he consequently set about vigorous ly community. Given that there were persons of encouraging and extending it. In doing so, prominence and influence in their society, an he established close relationships with some opportun ity was opened up for a collaboration lead ing figures in the colony. Foremost among between a new, confident, prosperous and these was Sir Redmond Barry, judge and expanding colony, eager to draw on the Chairman of the Trustees of the recently founde d intellectual and artistic patrimony of the old world, Public Library to which , at Biagi 's prompt ing, and the recently united Italian state, inspired the Italian governme nt was to donate numerous also by the pride generated by its recovered books. W.H. Archer became another close national independence , but conscious also of associate, involved not only in provid ing and the need to gain recognition and endorsement receiving from Italy various statistica l bulletins as a significan t European power. Biagi was to but also in suggesting that Victorian schools stress in his dispatches the enormous benef its, might bene fit from the use, in the teach ing accru ing in terms of the enhanced reputation of of design and drawing, from what he called Italy in Australia, of the cu ltural exchanges he 'models', by which one presumes he meant was arranging and of the provision, by the Italian plaster casts, which might be available from authorities, of the books, objects and seeds Italian academies . sought by the governments and institutions of its colonies. The most energet ic and generous, however, of Biagi's co llaborations, significantly in the The goodw ill left, especial ly in Victoria, towards provision of examples of Australian fauna and Italy was demonstrated by the generous flora, in the form of seeds , live plants, skins, response of its citizens to various appeals skeletons and even animals and birds, was to associated with the achievement of that be Ferdinand von Mueller who was also to ask country's independence and unification. In for reciprocal offerings by Italian institutions, 1861, there was a subsc ription to raise money particu larly of seeds for his botanic gardens. for a sword of honour to be presented as a This remarkable man was neverthe less not testimonial to Garibaldi. Later, in 1866, there alone , among the scientists of the Austra lian was another, to which both Italian and English colonies, in promoting such exchanges. migrants to the colony contributed to create Another was Frederick McCoy, a professor at a fund for the benefit of the soldiers wounded the University of Melbourne who insisted on in the military expeditions which had been keeping the Victor ian Museum of Natural History undertaken during the Risorgimento. Besides ensconced in his departmen t in opposition to the these appeals in favour of causes close ly linked efforts of those who wanted it moved to the fine with the attainment of national unity by Italy were building in the centre of the city which housed others to celebrate its cultura l achievements or the Public Library. About to become notorious to honour particular politica l figures, for instance for his oppos ition to Darwin's theory of natura l that in 1867 for a monument to Raphael in selection and often at odds with his students, Urbino or that in 1865 for the erection of a statue he was for all that a remarkab le collec tor and of Pellegrino Rossi in Carrara. an expert on Australian turtles and crustaceans of which he sent numerous specimens to It was in the climate engende red by popu lar Italy, together with fossil ized plants and bird , interest in Italy because of recent events that mammal skeletons and skins. A comparab le Biag i was able to promote co-operation in figure, in Sydney, was Gerard Krefft, curator of the cultural matters between his state and the Australian Museum there, an authority on snakes, commun ity in which he found himself. But he responsible for a standard work on the subject. was helped considerab ly in this by the initiative In Adelaide, there was yet another scientist of those in it who, having already established participating in exchanges with Italy, in his case the princ iple of exchange, or received or also of seeds, namely Richard Schomburgk , made donations in their dea lings with France director of the Botanic Gardens there. or Prussia, were eager also to include Italy in ITALIAN such collaborations . Even before Biagi's arrival, The exotic charac ter of Australia n plants and HISTORICAL W.M. Archer, Registrar-Genera l and governmen t animals and their relative unfamiliarity at this SOCIETY statistician in Victor ia, had approached James time in Europe created an opportunity for a JOURNAL 21 INTRODUCTIONAND BACKGROUNDCONTEXT TO THE ITALIAN DIPLOMATICARCHIVES HELD AT lliE ITALIAN HISTORICALSOCIETY. MELBOURNE

fruitful relationship between those naturalists levied by the post offices were higher for mail and the directors of museums, such as those and parce ls sent from Austra lia, than for postal in Florence, Milan and Turin, or of botanical artic les orig inating in Europe. He also frequently gardens, especia lly those of Florence, Venice, • ~amented delays in the arrival of the cases Genoa, Turin, Modena, Padua, Pisa, Siena, dispatched to him, which sometimes found their Cagliari, Naples and Palermo. It also enabled way to the wrong destinatio ns, were loaded on Ferdinand van Mueller to pay a singular steamers which broke down, or were simply left compliment to the King of Italy by sending, at wait ing for long periods at points of transit. In his own expense, kangaroos, emus and black the matter of posta l charges, he was slowly ab le swans for his menager ie. In return for these to make some headway, thanks to prolonged consignments of distinctively Australian forms negotiations , the intervention of the colonial of fauna and flora, requests were made, not governme nts themselves which arranged only for seeds, but also for stuffed animals, conferences to improve mail services to Europe, models of machinery and other such museum and the success in ironing out inconsistencies exhibits. When Sir Redmond Barry and his fellow in the distribution of costs of carrying letters and trustees of the Public Library dec ided to add an parcels between the Italian, British and various art gallery to the institution for which they had Australian post offices . When it came to sending respons ibility, the Italian consulate in Melbourne, boxes back to Italy, he was increasingly to undertook to act as an intermediary in obtaining resort, however, to the practice of asking those from the Ministry of Public Instruction in Florence he knew to be travelling back there to take these information on the availability of Murano glass with them in their luggage . and Umbrian maiolica which the trustees wished to acquire for their new collec tion. The plaster But this device which was presumab ly adopted casts which had been dispatched from Italy, at to save money could become fraught with Arche r's suggestion, for the teaching of art in problems of its own, as became evident in Victorian schools, were also to figure as exhibits 1869, when Girolamo Carand ini, the Cremonese in the lntercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne in marquis who had come out originally as a 1867 and may also have later been shown in the political-ex ile, was pardoned by the new Italian gallery recently attached to the Public Library. national governme nt, he dec ided to return home to reclaim his inheritance, embark ing Other influential men who were involved in the on the Great Britain, bound for Liverpoo l, excha nge of books and other publications on 7th October 1868. Biagi dec ided to take between Australia and Italy were the Victorian advantage of his depar ture by entrusting to him Minister and Secretary for Mines, G.F. Sullivan a trunk conta ining, together with seeds and and Brough Smyth, who provided statistics other artic les, a particu larly valuable biological on mining and mineral deposits in the colony, spec imen, the pelt and skeleton of a thylac ine or and the parliamentary librarian, James Smith. Tasmanian tiger (in other words of an animal William Foster Stawell, the Attorney-General, later to become extinct) , obta ined by Ferdinand in his capacity as President of the Deaf and van Mueller and intended for the Museum Dumb Institute, was to ask for a treatise from its of Physics and Natural History in Florence. Milanese coun terpart on new methods which Carandini duly took delivery of this and carried had been developed in Italy for the treatment it with him on a journey that took him, first to and training of deaf mutes. Inquiries were England and then to Paris which he reached in also transmitted from the local board of works, December and where he took up lodg ings in through the Italian consulate in Melbourne, the Hotel de Mayence in the Rue d'Amste rdam. concerning a new pneumat ic system for clearing While staying there, however, he fell sick, sewers which , it was said , had been tried out was nursed and looked after by the hotelier, in Milan; but information on this turned out Etasse. But having as a result of his illness to to be unavailable . Exchanges of records of remain in that establishment longer than he astronomica l and meteorological observations had expected , Carandin i ran out of money. were also proposed by G.B. Neumayer, the Once he had sufficient ly recovered to move, he founder of the observatory in Melbourne and resolved the problem this created by leaving head of the meteorological station there, and without paying his bill, abandoning in his room similar data was to be received from Holmes in his passport, luggage and the trunk with which Christchurch , in New Zealand. Biagi had entrusted him. Still unwell, he returned to Modena where he was to die in January 1870, The dispatch from Australia of so many boxes of gastric fever and inflammation of the lungs. In of seeds , scientific specimens, plants , animals, the meantime, Etasse wrote to the Italian Ministry books and other pub lications and the reciprocal of Foreign Affairs, hoping to trade the cases consignments from Italy of volumes intended addressed to it and Carand ini's passport and for the Victorian Public Library and for other trunks for the money owing to him. Its offic ials recipients , of various periodicals and bulletins , were not, however, prepared to meet what they as well as plaster-casts , glass , pottery, created considered to be the obligat ions of an ordinary considerable problems , given the somewhat citizen and limited themselves to complaining erratic communications between the two to Biagi at the irregulari ty of confiding boxes countries at that time. Biagi was to relay to his intended for them to private hands and asking tylinistry of Foreign Affairs, first in Turin and him whether he cou ld possibly arrange to have 1ITA LIAN replaced the contents of the lost trunk, evidently i HISTORICAL then in Florence, cont inual compla ints about SOCIETY the postal services on which he relied. He unaware of the singular rarity of what had 22I JOURNAL drew its attention to the anomaly that charges been packed into it. They also made solicitous ..

INTRODUCTIONA ND BACKGROUNDCO NTEXTTO THE ITALJAN DIPLOMATIC ARCHIVES HELD AT THE ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MELBOURNE

inquiries as to the welfare and means of support post, replacing him with Reginald Cobb, a more of Carand ini's family which had stayed in accommodating incumben t of that position who, Australia. This was a question to which Biagi however, knew no Italian. could give a reassuring reply since the marquis 's wife and eldest daughter were then engaged One of Biagi's successors, Luigi Marinacci, in a successful opera season and his young was to have similar difficulties in attempting children, looked after by their aunt, attended the to substitute George Harris who resigned as best schools in Melbourne. consular agent in Brisbane in 1876, with a William Finucane who had been born of British It was thus through this strange twist of parents in the Ionian Islands and therefore spoke circumstances that the Florentine Museum of Italian. Since Finucane worked for the Physics and Natural History was deprived of Department of Public Works, his appoin tment what otherwise might have become one of its was dependent on the approva l of the prize exhibits. This mischance only highlights, Queensland government which declined to give however, the remarkable achievements of the it, on the grounds that its employees should not Italian cons ulate and later consulate-general in owe alleg iance to a foreign power. Thus, another Melbourne in encouraging the establishment man, Barron Barnett had to be chosen to fill of close links between the governmen t it this office in Brisbane . Fortunately, the latter did represented and many of the leading citizens eventually make the effort to learn the language and institutions of Victoria, as well as the of those he represented . Such ded ication, development of a process of scientif ic and however, was unusual; only Frederick Wright, cultura l exchanges which were to enhance Italian consular agent in Adelaide between 1886 both the reputation of Italy in Australia and the and 1900, had a comparable fac ility in Italian knowledge of the natural history of the latter among the honorary appointees of British origin continent among learmed circles in Europe. who held such positions in the late nineteenth When it comes to cons idering how successful century. This being so, one can wonder at the the outposts of the Italian consular services in ineffect iveness in attending to the needs of the the Australian colonies were in safeguard ing the communities ostens ibly under their care . When interests of the migrants under their protection , Pasquale Corte, then Italian consul-general in one is left with a rather more mixed impression. Melbourne, visited Newcastle in 1898, he found a small group of subjects of his state there, a From the time that Biagi and Cossu took over handful of greengrocers , sailors, miners and the the Melbourne office charged with this duty, they owner of a small hotel. None of them, however, appear to have discharged it reasonably well , knew the locat ion of the office of their consular at least as their fellow-nationa ls in Victoria were agent , Alexander Brown, who had succeeded concerned. Elsewhere, there cont inued to be the J.R. Bingle in 1885. This situation was probably problem that honorary consuls and consular typica l of that in Australian cities other than agents could seldom speak Italian. The attempts Sydney and Melbourne. of Biagi and his successor to rectify this situation proved disheartening. When it was discovered The early history of Italian consular that there was resident in Christchurch , for representation was distinguished by the instance, an Englishman , Frederick Thompson , forg ing of links between the new nation which who had for thirteen years been British consul had emerged from the Risorgimento and the in Livorno , Biagi was delighted to propose the Australian colonies, particu larly in the field of appointment of a representative of his state cultural relations. These served to genera te a there who was fluent in its language. But this mutual respect between the two countries. More attribute of the consular agent-elect in that city migrants from Italy had come to Victoria than was combined with a singular stubbornness and to any other part of Australia and the interest sense of his own dignity. Having been British of those who had done so were reasonably consul in Livorno, Thompson flatly refused to well served , at least from 1864 onwards , by accept what he regarded as the inferior title of the career consu lar officials stationed there. consular agent. It was useless for Biagi to point But elsewhere considerable difficulty was out that, acco rding to the regulations of the exper ienced in finding men of the necessary Italian government , consuls and vice-consu ls ability and socia l status to hold positions of could hold office only in major posts and that consular rank who also knew Italian. The nature no indignity attached in these circumstances, of the migrant community was such that few to the position of consular agent. Thompson of its members had as yet the standing and remained obdurate and , by way of protest at the reliabi lity to discharge such offices and this rejection of his request to be accorded the rank probably meant that the welfare of their fellow­ to which he felt he was entitled , refused to carry nationals was frequently neglected because of out his duties until his wishes were granted. the absence among those represent ing them When he committed the cardinal bureaucratic in the colonies in which they lived, of persons sin of failing to submit a required financ ial report , who were easily accessible and with whom they Biagi was reluctantly obliged to relieve him of his cou ld readi ly communicate.

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL 123 buildingblocks of settlement:italians in the riverland,south australia SARA KING IS A POSTGRADUATE STUDENT IN returned soldiers on fruit blocks in the Riverland THEITALIAN SE CTIONOF FLINDERSUNI VERSITY, , and new irrigation areas were developed to ADELAIDE.FOR H ERP HOT HESISSHE IS EXAMINING cater for this growth. In the 1950s _and 1960s large numbe rs of migrants , especial ly Greeks THECONTRIBUTION TOAGR ICULTURE BYITALIANS and Italians, settled in the area, often buy ing b IN SOUTHAUSTRALIA. DESMOND O'CONNOR IS the blocks of retiring first world war soldier- y ASSOCIATEPROF ESSOROF ITALIAN AT FLINDERSsettle rs.5 Today the Riverland is among South SARAKING UNIVERSITY. HIS CURRENTMAJOR RESEARCH Australia 's strongest regiona l econom ies. The and INTEREST ISTHE HISTORY OF ITALIAN SETTLEMEN T wine industry is leading the way in this economic DESMONDO 'CONNORIN SOUTH AUSTRALIA boom , wi_th the Riverland now contr ibuting half · of SA's wine grape product ion, equa ting to more than one quarter of Australia's total prod uction. Concur rently, citrus exports have increased Waik e ri e markedly , as has the export of fresh stone fruit and vegetables. 6 According to the 2001 census, 252 persons in the Riverland were born in Italy and 1,025 claimed to have Italian ances try, amount ing to 2.5 percent of the popu lation. \Ninkie Renmark has the highest Italy-born popu lation (79), followed by Loxton-Waikerie (70), Berri (32) Loxton and Barmera (29). The larges t concentration of peop le with Italian ances try is in Renmark (266). The Riverland region is situated approx imately 200 km. north-east of Adela ide and consists of The South Australian census of 1891 shows that a strip of land on either side of the River Murray four Italy-born perso ns - probab ly the one fami ly, from the South Australian-Victorian border since they cons isted of two adults, one male and westwards to the town of Morgan. Covering one female , and two children - were present in more than 20,000 sq. km., it encompasses the coun ty of 'Hamley', which included newly­ the seven local government areas of Barmera, estab lished Renmark . Subsequent censuses do Berri, Loxton, Morgan, Paringa, Renmark and not record their presence, so they might have 1 Waikerie . The reg ion was first ident ified as been itinerants who at the time were journeying an area of primary product ion in 1887 when along the Murray from Mildura . It is only in the two Canadian brothers , George and William census of 1933 that the prese nce of Italians is Chaffey, were granted a licence to occupy recorded as a clear ly identifiab le settlemen t 101,700 hectares of land at Renmark in order to group in the area. The fact that there was an establish an irrigated horticu ltural scheme. By increase from no Italians in the Riverland at the 1900 a prosperous settlement had deve loped time of the 192 1 census to a total of 69 in 1933 in the area for the production of vines and fruit, (Waikerie 38, Berri 20, Loxton 9, Renmark 2) not and dur ing the 1890s Depression other 'village only mirrors the large increase in the number settlemen ts' were establ ished down river by the of Italian settlers in SA in the late 1920s (from South Austra lian Government to provide work for just 344 in 1921 to 1,489 in 1933) but is also an 2 the city-based unemployed. During the years indicat ion of the harsh reality of the Depression, between the foundat ion of the villages and World which compel led 55% of SA's Italians to look War 1 there was intense settlement , espec ially for work in rural areas of the State. 7 The newly­ around Waikerie, Loxton, Berri and Barmera , arrived Italians wande red South Australia taking as the area was opened up and increased in on horticultu ral work , mining, fishing and wood ­ 3 value. cutting. In the Riverland they found employment as grape picke rs, farmhands on fruit blocks, After World War 1, the SA Government made labourers with the SA Waterworks Depa rtment available new irrigation blocks at Renmark and as road construction workers for Waikerie and other localities in the Riverland area to contractors Tiller and Jacobs. 8 When work was assist the resettlement of more than a thousand scarce they went to Queensland to cut cane or returned soldiers. A similar scheme operated in laboured on the land in the Adela ide Hills where, New South Wales, where returned servicemen for examp le, the futu re SA Premier Thomas were offered blocks in Leeton and Griffith , in Playford was known to employ Italians in his the Murrumb idgee Irrigation Area.4 The per iod cherry orchard. Those who wished to settle on a after World War 2 saw further settlement of block in the Riverland were somet imes told that

1 Office of Loca l Governme n t, Dep t. of Immigration, Local Go vernment and Ethnic Affa irs , Aus tralian Regional Developments. 18. The River/and Experience, AG PS , Canberra, 198 9, p. 1. 2 Wilfred Prest (ed.) , The Wakefield Companion to South Australian His tory, Wakefield Press. Kent Town , 2001 , p. 29 9. 3 R.M. Gibb s. A H istory of So uth Aust ralia . From Co lonial Day s to the Present, Pea c ock Publications, Blackwood SA, 1984, p. 148-9. 4 Tito Cecilia, Un giar d ino nel des erto, Centro Studi Emi gr azione, Rome . 1993, p . 25; Rina Hu b er, Fr om pasta to pavlova. A ITALIAN compa rative study of Italian settler s in Sydney and Griffi th. University of Queensland Pres s , 1977 , p. 56. HISTORICAL 5 Office of Loc al Gove rnment, Dept. of Immig ration, Local Go vernment an d Ethnic Affa irs, Australian Regional Developm ent s. 18. The River/and Experience, p. 1. For a study of Italians and Greeks in Renmark see Graeme H ugo, SOCIETY ·Post - war se ttlem en t of Southern Europeans in Aus tralian rural areas: the case of Renmark, South Australia· . Australian 24 JOURNAL Geographical Stud ies, Vol. 13, No . 2, O ct obe r 1975, p . 169-8 1. BUILDING BLOCKS OF SETTLEMENT: ITALIANSIN THE RIVERlANO, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

they were not wan ted: Giuseppe Nussio and lolanda established a fruit growing and packing TOPL EFTN icola and Carmelina Giulio Brazzalotto , two Trevisani who obtained business. Desp ite the close prox imity of Loveday Ricciuto, Waikerie, 1986 Photo CourtesyT he River News. app roval in 1930 to lease a Riverla nd property internment camp just outside of Barmera, the BOTTOM LEFTR icciuto Road, Italians in the area were not interned during the from a soldier settler, encoun tered the prejudices Ramco, Waikerie, 2003. of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperia l war, althoug h they were cont inually mon itored. RIGHTWaik erie Centenary, League and of some Labor par liamentar ians Mrs De Vito remembers her fear when the February 1994. who in State parliament denounced the transfer military came to thei r house , confiscated their PhotoC ourtesy Rita De Vito. of the land to Southern Europeans who were not rad io and gun, and required them to report to 'of pure whi te blood '.9 the pol ice station every week. As pa rt of the wa r effort they sold their pumpk ins and oranges to Two Italians who left Waikerie in the 1930s the army.11 before eventually return ing to settle there were Joe De Vito and Nicola Ricc iuto. In 1937 they In the 1950s the new wave of post-wa r Italians went to Melbourne whe re they entered into a often trave lled to the Riverland for temporary par tnersh ip selling fruit and vegetables from a work , stopping only for the vintage or for the shop in Richmond. The business was successful fruit picking season in a calenda r of profitable but the outbreak of a polio ep idemic forced them year-round seaso nal work that took them as far to close their shop and return to Adelaide. 70 Before the outbreak of the war Joe De Vito returned to Waikerie where he and his wife

F T R R u I A T N s p G R 0 0 R T w I N G ProvidingWaikerie with a fast and efficientTransport Service to Adelaide and all MainlandStates .

Tfr.e :De'Vitoname fuis Geenconnected witfi. 'J,Jla~m for many years ana Cosymu£ famify arepf.easea to 6e assacuitea wi.tfi. '1VaiK,!lrie :sCentenary Cefc6rations

C. J. DEVITO Growingwith Waikerie

------· ------6 The River/and Development Corporation, Strategic Directions •for the River/and of SA, Berri. 2002 . 7 Graeme Hugo, 'Patterns and Processes of Italian Settlement in South Australia' in Desmond O'Connor and Antonio Comin, Proceedings of the First Conference on the Impact of Italians in South Australia, Italian Congress & Italian Discipline, The Flinders University of South Australia, 1993, p. 42. 8 Jean M. Nunn, History of Waikerie. Gateway to the River/and. The Waikerie Historical Society, Waikerie 1994, p. 261. 9 Desmond O'Connor. No need to be afraid. Italian settlers in South Australia between 1839 and the second world war, Wakefield Press, Kent Town SA, 1996, p. 97 . Sadly, and surprisingly, even in the 1970s negative opinions were still being expressed in relation to the presence of Southern Europeans in the River/and: 'The increasing number of Southern Europeans of peasant stock in the area could lead to a lowering of standards: they and their families are prepared to accept lower standards, and they are making little contribution to local community activities· (George Randall Woolmer, ITALIAN The Ba rmera Story. A History of Barmera and District, Barmera SA, Barmera Golden Jubilee Committee, 1973, p. 82). HISTORICALI 10 The River News, 3 September 1986, p. 5. SOCIETY· 11 Int erview w ith Rita and Jolanda De Vito, Waiker ie, 11 Nov. 2003, conducted by Sara King. JOURNAL;25 BUILDING BLOCKS OF SETTLEMENT: ITAUANS IN THE RIVERLAND. SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TOPThe H ellenicPrince. away as the cane fields of northe rn Queensland availab le , citrus cu ltivation, with which they BOTTOMThe firs t Riverland settlers or to Vic toria for asparagus cutt ing and tobacco were already very fam iliar. Eventua lly some of fromRossarno (Regg io Calabria), growing . In South Aus tralia groups of Italians these eight returned to Renmark w ith enoug h with certificatesco mmemorating 50 made up teams of pea-pickers and earned yearso f settlement,February 2002 . , money to purchase a fruit b loc k. One ended up Left to rightback Pasquale Catalano, good money harvesting crops in Port Pirie , Port • sponsor ing his whole family , his pa rents and Domenico Arruzzolo, Bruno Romeo, Germe in, Noarlunga , Myponga and Goolwa. twelve brothers and sisters, and later others DomenicoMic hele Albanese, Those who we re att racted back to the Riverland from Rosarno followed. Today they are a close ­ CarmeloA lbanese, Salvatore Zangari. used the cap ital earned from seasona l wor k to knit fam ily communi ty, suc h that the second In front:Sa m, sono f Domenico buy thei r own prope rties, often relatively cheap ly, generation members too have very ofte n c hosen SalvatoreA lbanese, Photo Courtesy from ex-so ldiers , as had happened in Gippsland a marr iage partner from among the grou p . Albanesefa mily. where a number of Veneti bought farms at low cost from soldiers who had been g iven land What is note worthy in this mig rat ion pattern is under the Close r Settlement Scheme. 12 tha t for many Italians who arrived as assis ted migrants in ea rly 1952 the Riverland and Cha in migra tion in the post-wa r yea rs has seen Mildura were the first hort ic ultural and farm ing the settlement of several village gro ups. In commun ities that they exp erienced in Aust ralia , Renmark there is a long chain of fami lies and and it was a p urely fortuitous encou nter, wh ich other paesani from the town of Rosarno in the depended on the ava ilab ility of seasona l wo rk province of Regg io Ca labria whose first links with at a time when Aus tralia was beg inni ng to enter the Riverland can be tra ced back to Febr uary a recess ion. The Commonwealth Employmen t 1952 when eight Italians from Rosarno , a shor t Serv ice off ice rs in Boneg illa knew full well that time after the ir arrival together in Melbourne on fru it p ic king was a tempora ry stop-gap meas ure the Hellenic Prince, were sent from Bonegilla that aimed to reduce the numbers that we re Migrant Camp to pick fruit in Renmark .13 bu ilding up in the migrant camp and to g ive the Although they subsequently trave lled to other impress ion that employment oppo rtunities were parts of Austral ia to work , this first impression availa b le.14 The hu ndreds of Italia ns who arrived of Renmark rema ined with them, as a place not on the Hellenic Prince on 24 January 1952 found un like thei r home town in Calabria on accoun t that, as assisted mig rants , they had no cho ice of the climate and the kind of agricu ltural work but to accep t the seaso nal wo rk on offer in the Riverland and elsewh ere. From this one ship alone a total of 387 Italians were placed in the 'River Districts ' of South Australia.15 The resu lting large numbers of Italians on the land at that time prompted Me lbou rne consu l Luca Daine lli to go to the Riverland and Mildu ra to see the situa tion for himse lf. In his report to Rome in March 1952 he listed the d istricts where Italians we re then engaged in seasona l work , and the ir numbers: Waiker ie 19; Barmer a 188 ; Berr i 189 ; Renmark 189; Mildur a 450. 16 Keen to show Rome that the new Assisted Migra tion Ag reemen t was a success , Dainelli spoke in g low ing terms of the worki ng conditions , the mutua l res pe ct show n by emp loyers and employees , and the 'very satisfactory' rate of pay of betw een nine and thirteen pounds per week award ed the picke rs. In his repo rt to Rome a day later he was more fort hright in ex press ing his conce rn for the emp loyment pros pects of the Italians at the end of the harvest and for thei r inevitab le 'des pondency and de moralisation' when future indiv idua l wo rk place ments might not be forthcom ing .17

The Italians, however , were willing to trav el and take on any jo b that was offered. Brun o Romeo , from Reggio Ca lab ria, was anot her of

12 Anna Davine. 'Pioneer Veneti in Gippsland and their role in the development of an Italian farming commun ity ', Italian Historical Society Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2, July -December 2002. pp. 20 and 25 . Closer Sett lement was a policy of settling land closely, so that in a normal season a holding was just large enough to support a fam ily comfortab ly. See Wilfred Prest (ed.). The Wakefiel d Companion to South Australian History. p . 111. 13 The eight were: Carmelo Albanese , Dornenico Michele Albanese, Domenico Salvatore Albanese, Domenico Arruzzolo , Salvatore B rilli, Pasquale Catalano, Pasquale Ferra ro and Pasquale La Rosa. 14 For the history of Bonegilla see Glenda Sluga, Bonegilla: A place of no /1ope , History Dept. , The University of Melbourne, 1988. 15 Information ob tained from database compiled by Desmo nd O 'Connor o f 38 ,000 Ita lians in South A ustralia 1946 - 1971, i ITALIAN Na tional Archi ves of Aus tralia Adelaide Office, Aliens Registration Cards, 0488 Boxes 1-3 . . HISTORICAL 16 Memorandum from Luca Dainelli, Italian Consulate , Melbourne, to Ministero degli Affari Ester i, Rorne , 3 M arch 1952 SOCIETY (Archivio Ce ntrale de/lo stato, Min istero de/ La voro e de/la Previdenza Sociale, Busta 473). 261 JOURNAL 17 Ibid ., Daine/Ii to MAE, Me lbourne , 4 March 1952. BUILDINGBLOCKS OF SETTLEMENT: ITAUANS IN THE RIVERLAND,SOUTH AUSTRALIA

those who arrived on the Hellenic Prince and find employment on the fruit block of a local land TOPBru no andAnt onio Romeo was sent first to Bonegilla and then to Barmera owner, George Fulwood.19 In Novembe r 1931, dryingapr icots, Lyrup, 1960.Ph oto in February 1952. At the end of the vintage he during the Depression , Cosmo De Vito decided courtesyRo meofami ly. MIDDLEWaiker ie Italian Community went to Queensland to cut cane , then returned to return to Italy, but his son Joe stayed on in Clubh all, Ramco, 2003. to the Riverland to pick grapes again , after Waikerie. Five years later Joe paid a brief visit BOTTOMJoh n andA rnoDe lla Zappa, which he spent six months in Victoria hunting home to marry lolanda Lepore from nearby Prata Waikerie,2003. rabbits , build ing fences and doing odd jobs di Principato Ultra (Avellino). The fruit growing on farms. He too believed that the Riverland and pack ing bus iness that Joe began to climate reminded him of Calabria , whereas Queensland , he though t, was too hot and Victoria too wet. 18 For six years he worked on a fruit block in Winkie , between Barmera and Berri, until, in 1959, he had saved enough money to buy his first block at Lyrup , east of Berri, where he grew stone fruits and grapes. Other Italians later settled in Lyrup and gradua lly created another very close communi ty, this time of migrants from the towns of Cervaro and Cassino in the province of Frosinone (Laz io): the Minchella, Recchia , Di Cerbo , Curtis , Franchitto and Valente families. These and other Italians from Cervaro had been the most successful itinerant pea-pickers of the 1950s and their wanderings throughout South Australia as a mic ro community in those years have resulted in the establishment of a broad network of relatives and paesan i who eventually chose to settle down , some in Lyrup and some in towns as far apart as Murray Bridge, Myponga and McLaren Vale.

Arguably the most well-known Italian names in Waikerie are the Della Zappa, De Vito and Ricciuto families. Giovanni Della Zappa arrived in Port Ade laide in 1927 from Cercino in the province of Sondrio (Lomba rdy) and was joined by his brother Domenico a year later. After doing some wood cutting in the Adelaide hills, they moved to Waikerie where they found labouring work on the roads and then on loca l blocks . In 1934 Giovanni was joined by his wife Domenica Bigiol li and their two sons Arno (9) and Nilo (7). Their first home was a Nissen hut with bags , painted white with lime, on the floor and ce iling. In 1939 the two brothers and their families moved to Queensland to the cane fields but when war broke out, fearful of be ing interned , Giovanni returned with his family to Waikerie where he obtained orchard work. After the war Giovanni, Domenico , Arno and other relatives reunited and bought land close to one another in Waikerie and grew cit rus and stone fruit. Today the Della Zappa famil ies own thousands of acres in the dist rict and have diversi fied into dairying, sheep farming and vegetables growing.

Giosue (Joe) De Vito also landed in Adela ide in 1927. Born in Tufo (province of Avell ino, Campania) he arrived as an unaccompa nied sixteen-year-old and met up with his father Cosmo (born 1886) who had arrived in Austral ia several years before and was at the time working for a Mr Stokes in Waiker ie. After a short time as a farm labourer on the outskirts of Ade laide Joe too moved to Waikerie where he managed to

ITALIAN 18 Int ervi ew with Bruno Rom eo cond uc ted by Sara King, Lyrup, 11 July 200 3. HISTORICAL 19 'J oe De Vito 1.1.11 - 29.5 .79', The Rive r Ne ws, 14 June 19 79, p. 8. SOCIETY JOURNAL 27 BUILDING BLOCKS OF SffiLEMENT: ITALIANS IN THE RIVERLAND. SOUTH AUSTRALIA

RIGHTPicking grapes at Waikerie, 1957.Rosa Gaeta and baby daughter Geralda,Antonio Fardone , Pietro Scalzi andAntonio Camerlengo. Photocourtesy Anna Camerlengo.

deve lop in Waikerie in the late 1930s expanded the 1980s Nicola handed over the running of the in the post-war years to includ e a major transport business to his son Murray, who is the father of service. While bring ing up six ch ildren Joe and Adela ide Crows footballer and 2003 Brownlow lolanda became active in the loca l community, Medal winner Mark Ricciuto . When Nicola died, raising funds for various charities, the local aged 93, in 2001 , Mark gave one of the eulogies , Catholic Church and the Waikerie Italian Club .20 which might well serve as a testimon ial to many Following Joe's dea th in 1979 the family 's large Italian migrant grandparen ts: business interests have been managed by sons Cosmo and Tony. Looking back at it now, Nonno taught us the most important parts of life. He taught us about respect .... He taught us to have a high work ethic ... Strength Equally well-known in Waikerie is the Ricciuto is something Nonno prided himself on. Nonno fami ly. The earliest settler Nico la Ricc iuto, like taught us to be generous ... He taught us to have a Giovann i Della Zappa and Joe De Vito, also good sense of humour. ... Nonno was a unique man. arrived in Ade laide in 1927 and like Joe De He was a man who at the age of 19 had the courage Vito he originated from Campania. Nicola, from to leave his homeland. A man who was prepared to Fragneto Monforte (province of Benevento) , work day and night to provide for his family. A man was 19 when he landed in South Austral ia who was always looking to give not to take. Nonno and began picking peas at Noarlunga south has been the perfect role model for us all.23 of Adelaide. 2 1 He took on other labouring jobs clearing scrub and picking fruit in the Adelaide Most of the first-generat ion Italians who settled hills and subsequently met Joe De Vito who in the River/and came from an agr icultu ral convinced him to go to Waikerie to pick grapes background in Italy. They either had had small during the vintage. Later, when Nicola heard mixed farms that were owned and run by the that there was good money to be made cutting family or they had been share-farmers or farm cane in Queensland, he travelled to the cane labou rers. Not having English language skills fields where on piece work he was able to earn meant that they had little choice in the kind of as much as three pounds a day. After returning emp loyment available to them in Australia. Many to Adelaide he left for a brief visit to Italy where chose the land as opposed to facto ry work he married lolanda De Vito's sister, Carmelina because of a strong desire to be away from Lepore. Joining up with Joe and lolanda De Vito, the city. As difficu lt as rural life could become, in 1937 Nicola and Carmelina embarked on their there was always an ingra ined love of the land short-lived business venture as greengroce rs in and of outdoor work . City living for these settle rs Richmon d, Victoria. Once more Nicola turned to was never seen as a satisfactory or sat isfying seasonal work in South Australia to earn a living alternative. At the same time, many can reca ll and now to suppo rt his wife and youn g family. It the imme diate hardship that they exper ienced was on ly in 1948 that he was able to afford his when they arrived in Aust ralia. In Italy they may first block of land, at Ramco, a small settlement not have had any money but they d id have a just outside of Waikerie. It was a rundown block roof over their heads and the support of their that nobody wanted but through hard work exten ded family nearby. By contrast, in the initial Nicola made it a successfu l enterpris e, whic h phase of their settleme nt in Australia often the enabled him in subseq uent years to purchase kind of work that they followed meant that they more land and to earn the respect of the local had to live where they cou ld, in the pickers' commun ity as a successfu l horticultu rist.22 in quarters , in sheds without floors, without any

ITALIAN 20 'lolanda celebrates 60 years in Australia ', The River News , 11 April 1996, p. 8. HISTORICAL 2 1 'September 1 marks historic occasion for Nick Ricciuto ', The River News , 3 September 1986, p. 5. SOCIETY 22 Ibid. 28 JOURNAL 23 Text of eulogy kindly supplied to Sara King by Carolyn Ricciuto . BUILDING BLOCKS OF SETTLEMENT: ITALIANS IN THE RIVERLAND,SOUTH AUSTRALIA electric ity, heating or coo ling. For some this have encouraged their chi ldren to acqu ire a was a grave step backwa rds from what they good education and find work away from the had known in Italy. Here in Australia they did land where day to day life is less diff icu lt and have money in their pockets, but in the words more financ ially secu re. By contrast , those of many they lived like animals - one family Italians who have handed on the ir property to lived in the back of a truck , another moved into the second and third genera tion have seen a rat-infested house, one woman was called a their holdings grow and have benefited from 'princess' because her husband had bought the expertise of the educated younger family them a caravan in which to live. Often the work members. Especia lly now that many new was demeaning and they were seen as peasant regu lations have been introduced and the workers, dirty and ragged in their work c lothes, know ledge of new techno log ies is inevita bly even if they came from fam iglie benestanti (wel l­ part of today's rural life, the second generation 's to-do fami lies) in their homeland. Their reso lve langu age skills and schooling have helped - or 'instinct ' as one informan t said - to succeed to keep the family business in step with new and go home with some money, or at least to developments . One informa nt in Waikerie said send money home to help the fam ily, was what that without the help of their son they may not kept them going. have cont inued on the land because today there are so many new things to learn. Many did not cons ider that they might live the rest of their lives in Aus tralia. The move to Finally, what can be said of the 'Italian Australia was seen as something that would community ' in the Riverland? It is, in fact, difficult help solve a short-term problem and as soon to talk of an 'Italian commun ity' because of the as they were able to return home they would. distance between individual towns, the lack But things turned out quite different ly. Some of time to spend on socia lising when work is a cite their greed , or the dogged determination to seven day a week commitment, and because of make as much money as possible, as something the diverse reg ional bac kgrounds of the Italians that kept them here: what was originally the in the area. There are close-kn it village and attractiveness of earning some money became regional groups but attempts to form all-inclusive a desire to save enough money to buy perhaps Italian Assoc iations have not been particu larly a motorbike and then a car or more land ... successful. In 1980 the Waikerie Italian so they wou ld stay another year to reach that Community Club was establ ished in the nearby goa l before returning home. In the meantime Ramco Institute build ing. The Club brought they would marry (loneliness was a very real together loca l Italians who wished to play bocce by-product of the long working hours and and have a venue for dances and di nners . In geograph ic isolation), then inev itably children 2001 it closed its doo rs due to lack of support. wou ld come along and 40 years later they were An Italian Club was also establ ished for a time still here. Over time some have been able to in Glossop but it too eventua lly c losed when continue to buy land, expand the ir holdings and community enth usiasm for the initiative wa ned . then eventually employ workers themselves. Such families now own very large holdings Ironical ly, if pa rt of an Italian Club 's function is and enjoy economic security and, in add ition, to help maintain the language and cu lture of its recognition and influence in the broader farming members and strengthen their attachment to community. Italy, this function is now bei ng performed in the River land by RAI International , whose satell ite Where previously the Italians in the Riverland radio and telev ision transmiss ions reach and are were engaged in a wide variety of agr icultural enjoye d by many of the age ing first generat ion pursu its , from vegetable growing to wheat and Italians. Furthermore , given the present-day sheep farming to viticu lture and the production improved economic ci rcumstances, some of the of citrus and stone fruit, in the last decade many retired and semi-retired Riverland Italians now have turned their blocks ma inly into vineyards , pay visits to their home town and, as tourists , because of the lucrative contracts that have to other parts of Italy that they had not seen been offered by the large wineries. Recent ly, before . It is also not uncommon for them to be however , prices have dropped, to the extent that visited here by friends and relatives from Italy. those who have not increased the ir property size All of these avenues help them to be informed of have found it difficu lt to compete . Some have happenings in the ir birthplace , especially events been upset to see a lifetime 's hard work amount of particular interest to them that affec t rural Italy, to very little , and this is especia lly the case when such as the severe drought that occurred in Italy the second generation has not been involved. in 2003 . The parents themselves in some instances

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL 29 RolaniGuido: a prisonerof war in gippsland MARIANSCARLETT GREW UP ON A DAIRYFARM the army and posted to Libya , an Italian colony, IN SOUTHGIPPSLAND. SHE COMPLETED HER for military service . Early in the war he was taken SECONDARYEDUCATION ATMETHODIST LADIES' prisoner by the English and deported to prisoner of war camps In various parts of North Africa COLLEGEBEFORE GRADUATING ASA BACHELOR• ' inclu ding Egypt , Libya , Algeria and Eritrea. These OFMUSIC FROM THE UNIVERSITY OFMELBOURNE. were uncertain , frightening times - hunger, few SHEHAS TAUGHT IN SECONDARYSCHOOLS , AND comforts and the fear of being killed were ever TRAVELLEDEXTENSIVELY INCLUDING A NUMBER present challenges. Eventually, he was sent on OFVISITS TO ITALY WHERE SHE HAS MET UP WITH the Queen Mary to Austra lia where , shortly after ROLANIGUIDO WHO IS THE SUBJECT OFTHIS ARTICLE. la nd1ng · he was dispatched to our farm as a labou rer. IN RECENTYEARS MARIAN HAS DEVOTED MUCH TIMETO RAISING FUNDS FOR CO-OPERATION IN THEDEVELOPMENT OF A SMALLCHARITABLE For a young man of 27, from Venice, to find he was placed on a farm and expected to work with by ORGANIZATIONTHAT BUILDS PRIMARY SCHOOLS cows, pigs and horses must have indeed been MARIANSCARLETT IN A REMOTEAREA OF BANGLADESH. a daun ting and fearfu l prospect . He was alone, amongst strangers and he didn't speak English. Rolani Guido arrived at our place as an Italian Fortunately , my paren ts were caring , sympathetic prisoner of war in March 1943. He lived and and imag inative peop le and before long a sense worked on our farm unti l the end of 1946. I of trust, mutual respect and genu ine friendship was not quite three when he arr ived and my had been formed . sister was six months old. It was to mark the beg inn ing of a beautiful and very special My mother, who was a very good , tradit ional friendsh ip which ended only with his death cook but with no knowle dge of Italian food in Venice last year . Sti ll, the memories and attempted , with somet imes hilarious results, to feelings of affection forged over more than half prepare meals she thoug ht Guido would be more a cen tury linger on. accustomed to. Her first efforts, however , must have been huge disappointments for him, for We lived on a dairy farm in South Gippsland and not only was this before the advent of hundreds Guido was billeted at our place to help my father of cookin g books, but ingredients suc h as olive with farm duties. For us it was wonderful , for it oil, garlic and Parmesan cheese were, quite meant my mother no longer needed to go to the simply, unknown in Kongwak in 1943. Her first dairy night and morn ing to help with the milking interpretat ion of pasta al pomodoro consisted of of the cows and during the day my father had spag hetti, Heinze tomato sauce and grated Kraft help with the end less and varied tasks of life on cheese! Her desserts and pastr ies, howeve r, the land. For Guido, however, it must have initially were renowned and years later when I would been quite another matter. laugh with him about her failures with the pasta, he, too would laugh but then loya lly always say He was born in Venice in June 1916 into a 'she was a very good cook , your mother' . comfortably established family. His childhoe:id was a happy one. In 1937 he was conscr ipted into More successfu l were the times singing around the pia no, for my mother had a beaut iful voice and so, too, did Gu ido and often at the end of the day or at wee kends they wou ld sing duets togethe r from opera and opere tta. And Christmas time was always memorable as our extended fam ily - uncles, aunts and cousins - would gather around the piano to sing the familiar caro ls, we in English and Guido in Italian. The last time I visited Venice, at my request Guido sang aga in to me 'Adeste Fide les' ... Such memories it brought back for bot h of us!

Frequent ly, on Sundays, my mother would drive Guido , dressed in his maroon POW uniform , to Korumburra - about 13 kilometres away - to attend mass at the Roman Catholic Church . These occasions, I can imag ine, were important for him as they were probab ly the only times he had a chance to talk with other Italians ( there were a few other POWs in the town but no pub lic transport linking the two places). Then, in the afternoon , my parents would attend the local Protestant Church while Guido looked after Anita and me.

ITALIAN Occasiona lly, and not surpr isingly, Guido wou ld HISTORICAL some days seem a little depressed and then my SOCIETY father wou ld suggest a change to the normal 30 JOURNAL rout ine - instead of go ing to the paddocks ROLANI GUIDO: A PRISONEROF WAR IN GIPPSLAND

OPPOSITEPAGE Gu ido in Libya (wearing white) LEFT Guidowi lh mypare nts, my sisterAni ta andme, 1944-45. RIGHT Guidow ithAn itaa nd Me, 1945.

fenc ing and cutting bracken with my father in whic h he told us that he was getting marr ied he would spend the day around the house 'to a very beaut iful girl called Emma'. We sent - mending, making things and playing with my back our congrat ulations and good wishes and sister and me. We adored him and spec ially then, regrettably , the correspondence ceased. loved these days and my parents said his spi rits But the address, Castello, Venezia had always we re always revived after such a break from sounded so musical and roma ntic to me that I the usual chores. One Ch ristmas he made us a never forgo t it and so, twenty years later when I small table and two little cha irs - possess ions was visit ing Europe for the first time I was ab le to we treasured and used long after we'd really locate the area and find the apartment whe re he outgrown them. Years later, my siste r's children and Emma and thei r daugh ter Orietta lived - in we re to use them too and hea r afresh the story the same area in wh ich he had grown up. of the man who made them . And what a welcome I rece ived - from Emma as Finally, the war ended and word came that Guido well as from Guido ! And how many questions was to report to camp and wa it there for the we asked and answered and how we laughed ship that wou ld take him back to Venice . It was and rem inisced about remembe red and half­ with very mixed emotions that we all said our remembered events . And in his desire to make goodbyes - after three and a half years Guido me feel at home he was at first appalled when was like part of our fam ily and he was uncertain Emma offered me tea with lemon - 'in Kongwa k of the work situation in Venice after the war. you always drank tea with milk' he said, and the Tragica lly, both his parents died whi le he was next day when we came to lunch he had Emma waiting for the boa t to take him home and then, searching in all the shops of Venice for white, shortly afterwards, my father unexpec tedly also sandwich bread wh ich was the only type he died, so our lives we re suddenly and irreparably wou ld have bee n offe red all those years ago in changed. It was an unsettl ing time for us all . Kongwak .

Initially we exc hanged many letters and I well The following year I spent a few memorable days remember our de light in those he sent us with them all in their apartment. It was a de lightfu l - always with some drawings 'for Anita and reversal of roles • I was the one who co uldn't Mar ian' • and our ch ild ish attempts to send some speak the language and they were the ones who drawings back to him. For a number of years , so gene rous ly entertained me. Guido took me too, my mothe r used to send ove r food parce ls to the Venice Bienna le, we walke d throug h the - tins of de licac ies she thou ght they would not little calli, stopped at bars for aper itifs, for coffees be able to get after the war - all caref ully packed and pastries and always returned home to the into a ca rdb oard box and then sew n up w ith delicious mea ls Emma prepared . ca lico. Being in Venice brought home to me just how ITALIAN Gradua lly, and und erstandably, the lonely and how utterly alien his days in Kongwak HISTORICAL correspondence lessene d; perhaps the last must have initially seemed - there were no bars in SOCIETY letter we recei ved from Guido was one in 1957 which to meet friends, no piazzas, no opera house JOURNAL !31 ROLANI GUIDO: A PRISONER OF WAR IN GIPPSLAND

RIGHTEmma, Mar ianand Guido outsidetheir apartment in Venice, 1993.P hotographsCourtesy Mar ian Scarlett.

or art gal leries, in fact, nowhere to go except for to know that afte r all the uncerta inties of the wa r ou r house and the wide open paddo cks . It says a years he had found contentment and happi ness lot about him that he adap ted to the simplici ty of back in his beloved Venice . our lifestyle with such grace and good humour. Sadly , last yea r I received a letter from Emma More rece ntly, my husband and I have twice to say that Guido had died at the age of 86. In visited Venice and on each occasion we that letter she wrote that he always talked of us have shared mea ls in restaurants and at their as though we we re anothe r part of his fam ily; apartment - joyous, delightful and very special certain ly he was a very special and much loved occas ions. It was obvious that Gu ido and Emma membe r of ours . were very happy tog ether and I was hea rtened

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 32 JOURNAL growingup italian by and making movies JANSARDI SCREENWRITERJAN SARDIWAS NOMINATED THE LONGAWAITED PIEIV F ILM FROM THE ACAOEMYAWARD IIOMINATEO SCREENWR ITER ANO PRODUCEROF "SHINE" FORAN A CADEMY AWARD FORHIS S CREENPLAY OFTHE OS CAR® WINNING FILMS HINE. HE HAS <.,1(1\'A..'t."\l ADA.\ ,f A~n:J..L\ nmrsr Gt\ll CL\ w,,n.l\11":R WRITTENMA NY OTHERAW ARD WINNINGFIL MS ANDTELE VISION DRAMAS. THEW ORLDPRE MIERE SEASONOF HISLATE ST WORKLOVE 'S BROTHER, wve~ WHICHS ARDIWRO TE AND DIRECTED, WILL BE BROTI-:IER RELEASEDIN CINEMASN ATIONALLY INAPR IL 2004. Producedbr Jane Scott IT STARSG IOVANNI RIBISIAN DADAM GA RCIA. Written and Directed by Jan Sardi

Apr il 26, 2001 was a very spec ial day for me. I had arrived at Capol iveri on the island of

Elba the day before with my wife Jani and my WORLDPREMIERE SEASON COMMENCES APRIL 1 2004 daughters Aleisha and Cassie. In so many ways it was a journey which had begun in the 1920s, as I tried to exp lain to him, the honour was all ABOVEmovie po sterof when my grandfathers (maternal and paterna l) mine. LovesBr other had each decided that the future for their respec tive families lay in Australia. As we stood together to have our photo taken , I thought about the events that had brought Arriving at the Comune di Capoliveri I was me here . Not just to the Island of Elba , but greeted by a brass band and a large party of to this point in my life. I had been a teacher local government representatives headed by ii briefly before making the break to become a Sindaco Ruggero Barbetti. We shook hands and screenwriter. I had written numerous feature films then much to the mayor's surprise, I informed and many hours of television drama over the last him that we were in fact related. My nonna twenty years. My first film Moving Out was about Norma was a Barbetti before she married Luigi Italians living in Australia. So too is my latest, the Donnini in the church of Santa Maria Assunta at romant ic comedy Love's Brother, a film project Capoliveri in 1911. I had written and nurtured for several years by that stage and one I would eventually direc t in Waiting in the pub lic gallery of the council 2003. I can see now that like my trip to Elba, chambe rs were more distant relatives of mine , Love's Brother is part of the same journey, one cousins (second, third and fourth), some of that started long before I was born. whom I had known in Australia over the years including Bruna and Aldo Giusti. Others were It was pure co incidence that both my just names I'd heard of, or faces I'd seen in grandfathers Manlio Sardi and Luigi Donnini faded photos when I was growing up in Carlton migra ted to Australia in the same year in 1927. in the 1950s and 1960s. And there were quite a They would have known each other no doubt, few faces I didn 't recognise. One in particular as paesani do in a small village like Capoliveri. caught my attention , a stocky man in his sixties Manlio would have bought bread from Luigi who or seventies , seated in the front row, his gaze ran the local bakery in the back of his small store fixed intently on me, eyes that were clearly trying near the piazza. The Donninis were bakers, a to reach me. Or were they? tradition Nonno Luigi would continue in Australia. The ceremony to make me an honorary citizen - Cittadino onorar io di Capol iveri - lasted an My mother Diva was seven months old when Luigi hour. There were many speeches , prayers and packed up the family of eight - five children, his a brilliant rendition of 'Advance Australia Fair' wife Norma and mother-in-law Serafina - and made by the local brass band followed by the Italian the long trek to Australia. By the time they arrived, National Anthem. It really was one of the very Manlio had been here for over eight months. Unlike special days in my life, made even more special Luigi, he left his wife Isabella behind in Capoliveri. by having my wife and children there with me. She was expecting their first child. These were Afterwards , there were many photos to be difficult times in Italy and the journey Manlio made taken and stories to be told as people gathered was a familiar one, a lonely one; the age-old quest around. That's when I saw him, standing of so many - to find a better life in a new country. patiently to one side , the old man who had not But any hopes he had of establishing himself taken his eyes off me during the ceremony. quickly in Australia and then sending for Isabella and their new son were dashed by the Great I went up and spoke to him in Italian. I thanked Depression. him for comi ng and asked his name. He took my hand and shook it firmly, and held it. He Life in Australia was much harder than anyone said he was Peppino Sardi, a first cousin to my could have imagined, especia lly in the sugar-cane grandfather , Manlio. He was born after Manlio plantations of far northern Queensland. It would had left Elba to come to Australia in 1927. As a be over nine years before Manlio and Isabella saw young man he had known Pietro Sardi, my great­ one another again, a reunion which took place at grandfather and had heard a lot about Manlio . the Tully railway station. It was the wet season and Nonno Manlio was the only one of a family of the line to lnnisfail had been cut off by floodwaters. ITALIAN three brothers and two sisters to have migrated. And so it was here, on the small platform, that my HISTORICAL I was the first member of that side of the fami ly father Gualberto, aged eight, met his father for the SOCIETY he had ever met. He said it was an honour but first time. The year was 1936. JOURNAL 33 GROWING UP ITALIAN AND MAKING MOVIES

TOPLEFT Luigi Donnini 's Grocer By this time my maternal grandfather Luigi had restaurants in Melbourne that were without Shop& Bakery,Lygon Street, Carlton. well and truly established himself in business in a doubt the beg innings of the fabulous and c1933. Lygon Street, Carlton. The photo of him standing diverse food culture that defines Melbourne to TOPR IGHTIsabella Sardi and her outside his grocer shop at 290 Lygon Street was • 'this day as the restaurant capital of Australia . sonGualberto Sardi in their hometown, Capoliveri[Livorno], in Italy.Manlio taken in the early thirties. Out the back was a Just around the corne r in Bourke Street was Sardileft his pregnant wife Isabella in continental bakery, of course. In later years, the Cate Florentino and The Italian Society and in Capoliveriin 1926lo migratelo Aus­ business - and family - would occupy the building at nearby Lonsdale Street was Ernesto Molina's traliaand he worked on the sugar-cane 324 Lygon Street, at the corner of UniversityStreet. Cate d'ltalia. The one thing all these restaurants planlationsof Queensland.It would be had in common, apart from their fine Italian eighlyears before she saw him again , Life for Italians living in the south of the continent cuisine was that they all purchased their bread a reunionwhich took place on a small was very different to that of those living in the from Luigi Donnini's Continental Bakery. railwayplatform in thefar north of harsh north. When the Australian Government Queensland. GualbertoSardi was only sevenin 1935when he met his f ather started interning Italians as enemy aliens in far Mario's was the biggest and most famous of all forthe first lime. This photograph northern Queensland, Manlio decided it was the Italian restaurants, mainly due to its terrific is inscribedby I sabellafor Manlio time to leave life on the cane fields behind. It was floorshows as well as the many famous peop le andreads: 'Anche lontano ricordati 1940 when Manlio, Isabella and Gualberto arrived it played host to over the years - Ava Gardner, sempredi noi, Gualbertoe Isabel la in Melbourne. But work for Manlio was scarce Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Vivien Leigh, [Evenfar away, always remember us, and so Gualberto, aged 13, supplemented Laurence Olivier, Claudio Villa and U.S. Private Gualbertoand Isabella]'. c1931 the family income working as a drink waiter at Leonski (the 'brown out murderer') were a few BOTTOM LuigiDonnini & family. 1930 Mario's restaurant in Exhibition Street. of the many well known mames to patronise the Mario's, established by Mario Vigano who made restaurant. My father Gualberto, or Albert as he his way to Australia via Canada after the First World War, was one of a number of fine Italian

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 34 JOURNAL GROWING UP ITALIAN AND MAKING MOVIES

cam e to be known, would eventual ly become The great thing about teachi ng at 'Saint Joe's' TOP LEFTPeppin o & JanSa rdi mait re d' of Maria's after the war. It was in the wa s the near one hundre d percent migrant BOTTOM LEFTM anlio, Isabella, post wa r years that many young men who pop ulation - Italians , Lebanese , Greeks , Turks Peter,J an, Diva & AlbertSa rdi, North Carlton 1956. arrive d from Italy in searc h of work were told to - such a diverse and pecu liar melting pot of MIDDLE Manlio, Isabellaand charac ters, c ultures, co nflicts and relationships. look up 'Sardi' at Maria's. As a consequence, Gualberto. lnnisfail, Queensland. 1938 dad trained hundreds of waite rs and coo ks As chall enging as it was to teach them, it was RIGHTII SindacoBarbe lti and Jan over the yea rs, many of whom went on to open equa lly enterta ining. Sardi. Elba - April 26,20 01. their own restauran ts, not just in Me lbourne but all over the coun try. It's a fact that anyone and By this stage, many Italians with their newfound , everyone in the restaurant ga me knew him one hard-earned prosperity were making the way or another. Even to this day I still bump into move out of the inner city to subur bs suc h restaurant owne rs and elderly former waiters as Doncaster. That phenomenon, plus the who started with dad in their first job after c harac ters and situations I encountered in migrating from Italy. my first teaching assignmen t struck me as a fasc inating idea for a film. And so I wrote Moving I was born in 1953 and together with my brother Out, a film made in 1982 , abou t two weeks in Peter spent a lot of time growing up in the the life of a young Austra lian Italian boy caught dining rooms and kitchens of Mario 's, and being between two cultures . Play ing the part of the treated to the Sunday night floors1"1ows. Albert rebellious young Gino was fourteen year old had marrie d my mother Diva in 1948 and, by the Vince Colos imo in his first act ing role. Vince was time I was born , the fam ily home was at 1038 a student of mine at Saint Joe 's, as we re near ly Drummond Street, North Ca rlton. Nonno Manlio all of the kids in Moving Out. and nonna Isabel la lived with us, while Luigi and Norma had settled in North Balwyn since By 1984, with more writing c red its to my name , 1946 , in a glorious old weatherboar d house on I quit teaching and started writing full-time. a massive block of land just dow n the road from Foreve r in search of good material , I decided the local cinema . Although the house has been that a story about the Italian exper ience in the replaced by a block of flats. the cinema is still cane fields loose ly based on my family histo ry there - a much improved comp lex - and now the might one day make a terrific and mov ing film: home of Palace Films , the Austra lian company as kids , my brother Peter and I grew up with owned and opera ted by the Zeccola fam ily. end less stories of life in the cane fields . Manlio and Isabe lla had sadly both died by this stage Like a lot of sons from Ital ian families living in as had Liugi and Norma . This only served to and around Carl ton , I went to Saint Joseph 's impress upon me the urgency to hear and Col lege in North Fitzroy. Ten years after I ieft record the story from the memo ries of those still there as a studen t, I returned in 1979 as a living. The re were many paesan i and friends in teacher of Drama and English. Although I didn 't Melbourne I knew but there we re even more still know it at the time , it was the first step in the living up North, and so that's whe re I headed. diffe rent course my life woul d take on a path that It was wh ile I was researching my cane fields wou ld eventually lead to the Academy Awards, story that someo ne told me of an inci dent my trip to Elba and most rece ntly to me wr iting involving two bro thers, how one had sent his and directing Love's Brot~er. brothe r's photo to help him find a wife in Italy.

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL3 5 GROWING UP ITALIAN AND MAKING MOVIES

THISPAGE AND OPPOSITE I later discovered that these kinds of ruses to those unexpected events in Life which mock scencesfrom the mov ie Love's were common during the 1950s, a time in the finest of intentions and often leave the best Bra/herdi rectedby Jan Sardi. Australia when young Italian men outnumbe red laid plans in tatters. It is a heart-warming tale Italian women by five to one . It struck me as • 'about simple folk, striving to find their place in a wonderful idea for a different kind of film, a baffl ing world, with nothing but hope in their a romantic comedy perhaps. And so, as is heart and a dream to guide them. often the case , over many years I jotted down character notes and story ideas , waiting for that Set in rural Austral ia and Italy in the 1950s, this mag ical moment when it would take off in my bitter-sweet comedy revolves around the story of imagination. In the meantime , I worked on othe r two brothers and the bride who - as Fate would ideas and screenplays, inc lud ing the film Shine. have it - arrives from Italy betrothed to one yet falls mad ly in love with the other. One of those ideas was to make a film about the origins of what is perhaps best described The Donnini brothers could not be more dissimilar: today as the 'espresso culture' or the 'cafe Gino is handsome, brash and impulsive; Ange lo, socie ty', and how it started in Melbourne back the older by a year, is staid, shy and conservative. in the 1950s with the arrival of the first esp resso While Gino looks to the future, all too willing to machines . I grew up in the middle of it after all. relinquish his ancestry, Ange lo looks to the past, In my mind it would be a celebration of 'La Dolce unable to let go of it. For Gino, marriage is an Vita', of what it means to be Italian, the co lour unmentionable word, the furthest thing from his and passion and age-old traditions that make mind, whereas for Ange lo it's all he can think the Italian way of life so rich and captivating. But about. But if they have one thing in common I knew it was just an idea, a backdrop if you will. however, it's their fierce loyalty to one another. What it needed was a story. Which is when the tale of the Italian brothers came rushing back to Suffering in silence after another attempt to obtain me. It was the hook I needed. I had my story. a bride has failed, the luckless Angelo dec ides to try one more time. But in a fit of heartache , LOVE'SBROTHER: LA STORIA instead of sending a photo of himself, he sends Love's Brother is a story about that strange and one of his more handsome brother Gino, hoping wonderfu l thing called Fate, the name we give to improve his chances in marriage .

I ; ITALIAN ! HISTORICAL I SOCIETY 36iJ OURNAL GROWING UP ITALIAN ANO MAKING MOVIES

When the begui ling, Mona-Lisa like Rosetta another's feelings . Remarkably in the end, all arrives in Australia from her small village in it takes is the power of love and a little bit of southern Italy, what she finds is that the Angelo magic to make them realise that destiny always who greets her at the docks is not the same has its way. Angelo as in the photograph. The Angelo whose image she has grown to love with the Love's Brother is a heart-warm ing tale in the help of her wonderful ly vivid imagina tion. vein of films like Moonstruck, Cinema Paradiso and // Postino - a simple story, beautifully told, While Rosetta's sense of adventure in com ing with endearing characters and a hint of magic . to a new country is dampened , her spirit and Above all, it's about the essential goodness imagination are not, trusting always that the of the human heart and its capacity to elevate destiny which brought her here has already and enrich that great mystery called Life. dec ided that Gino will be her husband. Two days after the citizenship ceremony on And one mustn't meddle with Destiny. Elba in 2001 , I was getting ready to leave and dec ided to walk the narrow streets of This poignant story of brotherly love unfolds Capo liveri one last time. As I did , I tried to against the backdrop of II Cale Latino, touching imagine my parents and grandparents doing the lives of everyone there. With its ever­ the same in another centu ry. In many ways it changing frescoes of the Mediterranean, the seemed like such a long time ago and in other sun, the moon and the stars, II Cale Latino is ways, it didn't. Nothing had really changed I like a jewel in a foreign sea, a sanctuary for the guess, which is the great thing abo ut Italy. It local Italians, a home away from home. Of the was in the piazza that I saw old Peppino again. colourful array of characters that come and go, I told him I was leaving but that I hoped to many are lost in the past, clinging to memories return one day soon. He smiled and looked at of a world that only exists in their minds. me with eyes that reminded me a little of my grandfathe r, and said ' you must' . But it is Rosetta, Angelo and Gino who drive the story as they struggle to try to resolve this awkward 'imbroglio' without hurting one

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL37 from our archives:theorigin of the italianlanguage THEFOLLOWING EXTRACT IS DRAWN FROM THE lectureradduce d many interesting proofs Again, he ITALIANHISTORICAL SOCIETY'S COLLECTION OF remarked, if the language had been a corruption of the NEWSPAPERCUTTINGS THE ARTICLE WE HAVE , ,Latini t would resemble it in it'sgrammatical structure , · whereas1t has no cases and no neutergender. I t has CHOSENDESCRIBES A LECTURE ON TH E ORIGIN articles, which the Latin has not; it has no distinction OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE DELIVEREDIN of active and passive verbs; the tenses differ,and so MELBOURNEBY FERNANDO GAGLIARDI AT do the adverbs; there are no interrogative particles THEA THENAEUMTHEATRE MELBOURNE IN 1881. corresponding with the Latin nun, an, and ne; the FERNANDOGAGLIARDI ISMOSTLY REMEMBERED FOR two negatives, instea_dof making an affirmative, TWOACHIEVEMENTS· HEPIONEERED SILKGROWING strengthen the negation;and t_heconstruction of the · two languages 1n altogether diverse. IN VICTORIAAND WAS LIBRARIAN OF THESTATE LIBRARYOF VICTORIA . IT IS INTERESTINGTONOTE As to the alleged influencesof the barbaric invasions THATTHE LECTURE WAS PRESENTED INITALIAN. upon the Latin language which is assumed to have been spoken by the common people, the lecturer ARGUSNEWSPAPER 11NOVEMBER 1881, P.10 asked, by what new phonetic law or by what new miracleof nature,could these tongues which A lecture on the origin of the Italian language was abounded and usually ended in consonants,so delivered in Italian yesterday afternoon, in the hall transformthe organs of the conquered people, and of the Athenaeum, by Dr. Ferdinand Gagliardi, to their methods of accentuation, as to cause them an invited audience, composed of his compatriots, to adopt a language abounding [with] constantly and of other persons interested in the study or the terminating vowels? Moreover, the very portions of literature of what Lord Byron calls erroneously, it Italy which were the centres of barbarto power would seem, "that soft bastard Latin." Dr. e~ownlow, namely, Lombardy and Rome, were not and are the vice chancellor of the University, occupied the not those in which the Italian language is now chair, and the Consuls General for Italy and the spoken most correctly and with the greatest United States were present on the platform. The purity; whereas it is so in Tuscany, and it was so number of persons present was only moderate,but in Sicily and Venice, where the barbaric influence they followed the lecturer not withstandinghis rapid was the weakest. Hence, argued the lecturer, delivery,with marked attention.The discourse was an Italian is the natural development of purely local exceedingly erudite one, and denoted the breadth elements. Out of them arose the rustic Latin, and and thoroughnessof the learned lecturer's grasp of out of them also sprang the noble language of his subject. Cicero and Tacitus,of Virgil and Horace; so that the Italian is not the offspring of a Latin mother, but both Of the various theories which prevail most widely derived their parentage from a common stock, and respecting the origin of the Italian language, grew together side by side; the one surviving the there are two which demand more particular wreck of the empire, and the other disappearing, attention. One, which was espoused by Muratori, as a spoken language, with the disappearance of Zeno, Fontanini and other distinguished writers, the governing and literate classes, among whom assumes that the language was formed by the it had - been in use. Nevertheless, Italian is not to corruption of the Latin admired words borrowed be considered as the survival of a provincial dialect from the idioms of the barbarians by whom the spoken by a minority of the people of the Peninsula, country was overrun after the downfall of the but as the creation of the various languages current Roman empire. The other asserts that the Italian in Italy even before the foundation of Rome; all of language is as old as the Latin, and that both were them belonging to the same family, each closely simultaneously used in Rome; the former by the resembling the other, and the whole of them common people and in ordinary conversation, cooperating with the rustic Latin in the formation and the latter by the literate classes, in writing of the classic Latin, and when this ceased to be and in public speaking; each language having it's cultivated, these primitive languages reappeared roots in the Japygian or aboriginal language of the in the literatureof the country, as they had been peninsula, the Etruscan and the Italic. This theory always maintained in conversation, and as they are was peremptorily rejected by the late Sir G.C. Lewis, still conserved in their fundamental elements by the who espoused the ideas of M.Raynard,which Dr. various dialects which were spoken in the days of Gagliardij ust as peremptorily discards. Dante, and continue to be so to this day, in different parts of Italy, while they assume their noblest garb in Tuscany,the centre of ancient Etruria, the most Before Rome had emerged from the narrow powerful and cultivated people of their epoch, boundaries of Latium, the lecturer says, there were as they were also the most numerous during the four languages principally spoken in Italy-the Greek, domination of the Mistress of the World. the Etruscan, the Celtic, and the Latin; all of them belonging to the lndoGermanic group of tonguca. Of these four, the last was the language of the The lecture was an exceedingly able one, and it's populace nor was it until about the Augustan age, philological illustrations were such as to interest when its structure had been refined and perfected, alike the classical scholar and the student of Italian, that it ceased to be so; but the elder form-the real denoting, as they did, a magistral knowledge as Italian-existedside by side with it, and continued well of the Latin language and literatureas of that I,TA LIAN to be the vernacular tongues. Nay, the Etruscan tongue which Leigh Hunt has pronounced to be the HISTORICAL Ombrian, and Oscan dialects of it were in use long most beautiful of all those that are now spoken in SOCIETY after the era of Augustus, nor did Italian at any time Europe. A vote of thanks to the lecturer was moved 38 JOURNAL cease to be spoken by the masses. Of this, the by Mr. James Smith, and carried by acclamation. italianhistorical societynews NEWIHS PUBLICATION Monthly evening meet ings are held at Casa BELOWSe nator RodKe mp (left) The Italian Historical Society is pleased to announce d'lta lia on the fourth Wednesday , with a Guest awardinga National Libraryo f that work is under way on a full-colour coffee table speaker being invited to talk on genealogica l and Australia Community HeritageGr ant to the curator of the Italian Historical book celebrat ing the Italian experience in Australia. related matters . Society, Lorenzo Iozzi. The book, which will feature images, oral histories, documen ts and objects selected from the IHS Reports of the group's act ivities are posted on the Collection, will be launched in 2005 to coincide with Sydney CoAslt website page www .coasit.org.au the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Society. for those unable to come to meetings . The bi-lingual pub lication, produced in collaboration with Melbourne University Publishing (MUP), will be Readers of the Italian Historica l Society Journal the culmination of a quarter century of collecting who have internet connect ion can receive monthly historical material. reports direct ly, by provid ing their email address to the chairman on dom inic [email protected]. None of this wou ld have been possible without the generosity of the Italian community and the COMMUNITYHERITAGE GRANT AWARDED TO IHS many donors who have lodged material with the The Italian Historical Society has received $8000 to Society. We are gratefu l that people cont inue to preserve heritage items with the assistance of the come forward with photographs and ephemera , 2003 Commun ity Heritage Grants, an Australia wide helping us to create a more complete picture of program to preserve documen tary heritage items. the history of Italian immigration in Australia. The grants were announced by Federal Minister We would like to thank the Depar tment of for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp at a Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous ceremony held at the National Library of Australia. Affairs , Canberra, and the Victorian Multicultural Commission for their financial support. Grants of up to $8 000 are awarded annual ly to community organisations such as museums , ITALIANFAMILY HISTORY GROUP IN SYDNEY libraries , archives and historical and genea logical The Italian Fami ly History Group operating from societ ies to preserve locally owned , but nationa lly CoAslt's Sydney office over the past two and sign if icant , documentary heritage mater ials a half years , has embarked on a number of inc luding letters , diar ies, maps, photographs, projects of interest to genealogists and historians , film/video and oral history recordings. the most important of which has been obtaining copies of official Italian registers of Births, Deaths The Society will use the award to digitise the and Marriages. Santospirito Collection (part of its col lection) , made up of the personal papers of welfare worker, To date 11 rolls of micro film reels have been Lena Santospirito, who was at the forefrontof welfare acquired and placed in the CoAs lt resource provision for Italian migrants during the post-war period. library at Casa d'ltalia , in Norton St. Leichhardt where Italian descendants and others can carry Senator Kemp said, "The Communi ty Heritage out research in trac ing their family ancesto rs. Grants program is a major national initiative because it represents a comm itment by The reels so far acquired relate to the Civil Australians to recording and conserv ing their records of the Aeolian Islands. Each reel local heritage. 2003 marks the 10th anniversary conta ins photographs of as many as 5000 pages of the program. In that time 295 projects have of records dating back to the 1830's. Funds received more than $ 1 million in fund ing." co llected will enable the organisation to acquire the full set of 50 reels of the Aeolian Islands which This year fifty community organisat ions we re have been copied some time ago by the Family awarded a total of $219 000 to preserve diverse History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ col lections that make up Austra lia's wealth of of Later Day Saints (Mormons) . These reels will documentary heritage. only be made available after strict comp liance to copyr ight restrictions. The program is jointly funded and supported by the Australian Government through the Mr Dominic Arrivolo, the Chairman of the group Department of Communications , Informat ion visited the Italian Historical Society in Melbourne Techno logy and the Arts , the Nat ional Library in July, and demonstrated the films and indicated of Austra lia , the National Archives of Austral ia, that this unique service was now availab le in the Austral ian Film Commission and the Sydney to all Italian genealog ists in Australia. A Department of Immigration and Multicultura l new special micro reading machine has also been and Indigenous Affairs. purchased and installed in the library. Jan Fullerton , Director-Genera l National Library The Italian Family History Group's success of Aust ralia said ," The Community Heritage Grant in this initial project was in large part due to program is one of the most comprehens ive annua l support offered wh ich included a grant from the initiatives that the Library is involved in. State Government of NSW, donations from the two Aeolian Associat ions as wel l as a number of 'Together with our partners we are able to work at individuals in Sydney. It is anticipated that this the community level where some of the most vitally ITALIAN project wou ld continue as demand increases by interesting material is located and where the most HISTORICAL the acqu iring of reels pertinent to other reg ions active work occurs, which is often undertaken by SOCIETY volunteers.' of Italy. JOURNAL39 recent acquisitions THEWORK OF THE ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY negat ives spanning over one hundred years of FORA NUMBEROF YEARS HAS CONCENTRATED IN hi story. Donors lodge original photog raphs with THEAREAS OF PRESERVATION , CATALOGUINGAND the IHS, which it in turn copies, preserves and , -catalogues. The orig inals are then returned to COLLECTING.SEVERAL IMPORTANT PROJECTS WERE the owners or depos ited at the State Library of BROUGHTTOFRUITION THIS YEAR , MOSTNOTABLY Victoria for long term preservation. With over THE REALISATIONOF ELECTRONICRETRI EVAL six thousand photographs fully catalogued , SYSTEMSFOR THE MAIN COMPONENTS OFTHE preserved, scanned and integrated into an IHSCOLLECTION: WENOW HAVE COMPREHENSIVE electronic database we now have not only an important resource on the history of Italian ELECTRONICDATABASES FORTHE PHOTOGRAPHIC imm igration but one which is easily access ible COLLECTION, THESANTOSPIR ITOCOL LECTION, THE to staff and researchers. It is gratifying to be at IHSLIBRARY AND THE DIPLOMATIC ARCHIVES. a point where we no longer have to process a huge back-log of photographs but rather are The Photographic Collection database is ab le to catalogue and preserve items as they perhaps the most significant as it is the are lodged by donors. culmination of four years work by staff members and volunteers. This collect ion consists of As a consequence of this work, the long term approximate ly 7000 photographs and 7000 preservationof the IHS Collection, a mission which

TOPLEFT Antonio Giordano in his capacityas supervisor atthe Ford Motor CompanyofAustralia, Broad meadows Plant, c1975.Antonio migrated to Australia fromSan Marco in Lamis, Puglia,in 1957.His f irstjobs were fruit pickingin Sheppartonand as a builder's labourerin Melbourne.In 1960 he beganwork with Ford. It wasto beh is lifel ongjob until re tirementfo rtyyears laterduring which he was appointed to theposi tionof supervisorof h is division.His two sons also fo llowedin hisfootsteps and were employed atthe sameplan t. TOPRIGHT Workmates Giuseppe Siracusa(left) and Michael Wall at StateElectricity Commission (SEC) , NewportPower Stat ion,1985 . Giuseppe emigratedfrom Sici ly in 1956. MIDDLEP ostcardphotograph of the shipApstralia of theLloyd T riestino Line.Postcards such as th is were issuedby the shipping company and madeavai lableto passengersduring thevoyage. Th is particular oneis post­ markedPort Said , Egypt[the first port of callafter leaving Italy] and was sent by GiuseppeSiracusa , oneof them igrant passengerstravelling from Italy to ~! Jt Australia.It is addressedand inscr ibed to hiswi fe,Maria , whoremained in Sic ­ -; ily andwould join him in Australia the followingyear. The inscription on the backof thepostcard reads: 'Tanti saluti Ar(,( e baci, a le miacara Mariucc ia, dal tuo affezionatissimoGiuseppe Siracusa. • ~ PortSaid, 30 Gennaio , 1956'. I ,,~ BOTTOMFriends and relatives of emi­ grantson the dock at Messinabidding farewell to theirloved ones. Photograph takenlrom the sh ip Australiaby one of thepassengers onboard . Among theemigrants on the ship - boundfor Australia- was Giuseppe Siracusa, who boughta copyof thisphotograph from thephotographe r.Dated 28 January, 1956.

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 40 JOURNAL RECENTACQUIS ITIONS

is undertaken in collaboration with the State Library of Giorgio Mangiamele, photographer and of Victoria, could be addressed since the State filmmaker is worth noting because, until recently, Library rely on our catalogue entries before they can the work of this important artist was represented incorporate IHS items into their own collection or in the IHS by only a few images; but the 'pictu re' system. The process of forwarding original material changed dramatically when the Mangiamele has thus commenced and IHS photographs and family donated many boxes of the filmmaker's their corresponding catalogue entries have been archives to the HIS. It consists of a large quantity incorporated into the State Library of Victoria of documentary and visual material pertaining to Picture Collection internet database. We would the film industry. encourage Society members to visit this website www.slv.vic.gov.au as an indication of how the The Italian Historical Society receives approximately historical images preserved at the Italian Historical five hundred photographs per year from donors Society are incorporated into mainstream history as well as other historical material such as oral and made available to the public. histories, documents and publications. The photographs reproduced here represent a small Donations may be small in quantity, such as the selection from the many recently donated to personal family photograph ; or large, such as the Society. They are intended to highlight the the archives of an individua l or an organisation. diversity of images incorporated into the IHS The recent donation of the personal archives Photographic Collection.

TOPC inemaPapers , filmmagaz ine, Australia, 1992featu ring anarticle on ~-- UI• w.,. W ~• •• .,. art l •I ...... ••~• oftr- •f..-•ffl•• • "••-«••" • _ ., __ _ thewo rk of Giorgio Mangiamele. .,,..... , • ...... ,r,'-- •- •n•• n1.. 1-••'>'-,.. BOTTOMLEFT A soccermatch .... ._ . -...... _~ ...... , .... ,___,,.... ,...... u- • beingp layedin thecourtyard of t he patronato(church) of SanFrancesco la •~ M•"-'•-1 • I• ..n• e r 1- -- •U- ""d•M • n~ll•'""''- w,..<♦. -•n•--dh-t•• ••~•••l•h...... ,,.,.,,.,••. in Venice,1953. Inc ludedis Giorgio '""'""i.,.11con1,atta(TfteC o •••-• , ::1.toll,!'JI, rn••-111>11'1), ,.,_,,..,.,,..,...,,c_,,;i.••~1.c,.,.11•,u•i - • l!I.,,_,.__ _ Penza(goa lkeeper,first on le ft}, who

O• epl ce ,.._ ..... el♦'• plo,,ee,1.._:., , ... ,t• , h•- -• "" "' ' wouldlater emig rateto Australia . On Pl•••ly .,.., • .,,. ... DY U•• 3.1'70 • - '110• ,,.,.,..., .,. ,,.,.,, Evan"'"' N•l • ll•n•h • v•"'""""'"" ••• -lloH< , ..., te♦ I lh• I Cl•T *•• his arrivalin J anuary 1956he went to V,eft,,.1 ...... ,.,.llm <• -•••-••"•• • C-p e1l\lo<,,.,0,a.,,._(• .. ...,.. , , Th•_,. 't"•Hll•• ,..,. ,., .. mo•l h Pll!I' M•n• • •- • I• '"' .,, _ _, ••• V>• ..... ,.,...... tc, BonegillaMig rantRecept ionCen tre •lyl• IM•nod•m•ho w•• • .., • .,,,.._,.ll-••- .., ~1• l>f>.. •"1C•• P .. • •I '"" " lll•<1ofl • ••" ,.., ..,,.,..,., i..--• ,,.. '-"••I•...,, ... , ., 1-.n• •• M•n 1&1- •• w•• • ..,,.,..,,h lm• • lf . wherehe stayed only s evendays before •- .. "' ,. .. ,,. +n :ui:r .. , M•"CI"'""'• •h••ll•<1,.,_ a,1• • ,.., c•"•""' ln c.,,.,.,., , IJl•lllo,IIM,nT_ .. .,,_.,. •••-"'•H•l•a..-t111•••"- •• ,.,._,.,_ ,,.,.n0m lt...... 1-, :;a.••::t.-••n :1.• 07 Mo •m•• "'"'"•• lf.l.Mcl1"' • "· He workedat var iousjobs inc lud­ .,.,..,..-M ..... ••1-•I• 111.n,..,.,...,.,. _._ "" • ,. ,...... w, •1 .. dlO"' A• •h

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL41 publicationsreceived THE FOLLOWINGPUBLICATIONS HAV E BEEN CELEBRAZIONE!: 75 YEARS OF EATING AND RECENTLYPURCHASED BY OR DONATEDTO DRINKING WITH THE DE BORTOLI FAMILY

THESOCIETY. THEY MAY N OTNECESSAR ILYBE • 11111CHAELHARDEN, HARD IE GRANT BOOKS, RECENTRELEASES BUT EVERY ATTEMPT ISMADE SOUTH YARRA, 2003. $60.00 TOACQU IREALL CURRENT PUBLICATIONS INTHE FIELDOF ITALIAN-AUSTRALIAN HISTORY. A beautifully presented coffee-tab le publication which traces the history of the De Bortoli family and its contribution to Australia's wine-making industry. BOOKSIN ITALIAN The story unfolds through powerfu l photograp hs from the family album which are interspersed with mouth watering recipes by chefs such as Lorenza RADICI EOLIANE: SANTAMARIA De' Medici , Antonio Carluccio, Stefano Manfredi ·- D'AUS TRALIA and Guy Grossi, to name a few. NINO RANDAZZO,EDIZION I DEL CENTROSTUDI , LIPARI. 2003. KINDLYDONA TED BY THE AUTHOR. Vittorio De Bortoli left war-ravaged Italy in the 1920s looking for a better life in Australia and settled in the Griffith district in New South Wales. He comes from generations of farmers and the farming skills Many books have been written about Bob handed down to him and in turn app lied to the Santamaria. This publica tion is written by a sun-drenched land of Griffith were to hold him native of the Aeolian Islands - the birthplace of in good stead. In 1928 he bought his first small Santamaria's parents - and is a mix of biography farm and with his wife Giuseppina began growing and a personal narrative. In the preface to the grapes which for a number of years he sold to local book Dr. Volpicelli, the current Italian Ambassador wine producers. It was his son Deen who gave the to Australia, states that 'Radic i Eoliane is a book company a tremendous boost with the production not only about Australian history, but the careful of world-class wines such as Noble One. It is quite reconstruction of a man's persona l life, an Italian, sad that Deen passed away a few days after he that is so much part of the Australian politica l life launched this wonde rful book. However, the De of the last sixty years'. Bortoli success story will continue in the hands of a number of capable descendants. BOOKSIN ENGLI SH

FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE BUSH: ITALIAN MIGRANTS WRITE HOME FROM AUSTRALIA, 1860-1962 ,

JACQUELINETE MPLETON,UN IVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIAP RESS, CRAWLEY, 2003. SPECIAL PRICE $44.00 (SEEENCLOSED ORDER FORM]. From1b, M OUNTAINS to 1b,BusH

The province of Sondrio was , in the late 19th jA.CQL:EllSE TDIPl .[TO~ century, the larges t single source of Australia's Italian immigration. Nearly two thirds of Australia's Italian immigrants were from the Sondrio province, with Valtellina contr ibuting nearly one half of the total of Italian immigrants. This interesting fact is how the late scholar and author, Jacqueline Templeton, introduces us to the exciting world she recreates in this new study. It is an exploration into the bonds of family and the cho ice of Australia as a destinat ion. EAGLEHAWK & DISTRICT PIONEER One hundred years of migration from Valtellina REGISTER: VOLUM E 4 - N-Q to Australia is sympathetically cap tured in this COMPILED BY ANNETTEO'DO NOHUE & BEV HANSON, extraord inary book and warmly covered using MAIDENG ULLY, VIC., 2003. $55.00 + P&P over 120 letters wr itten between 1860 and 1960 in correspondence between migran ts in Australia and their families in Valtellina. The Letters are This is the 4th register in the series, and continues the translated into English and reproduced in full for laborious work begun by the two authors a decade readers to ponder. ago. It covers the names of all the gold-seekers and their families who were attracted to the area due to the discovery of gold over 150 years ago. The register covers the entire Eaglehawk borough, which is known today as the larger Bendigo area. It meticulously ITALIAN records the names and details of the early miners such HISTORICAL as their date of birth, parents' names, marriage details, SOCIETY birth of children,name of ship and death notices. 42 JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

WE CAME WITH NOTHING: STORY OF THE BENDIGO INDEPEND ENT 1862-1865: WEST SALE MIGRAN T HOLDI NG CENTRE INQUESTS: BOOK 1

ANN SYNAN. LOOKUPS RESEARCH, SALE, 2002 . $35.00 COMPILED BY ANNETTE O'DO NOHUE, MAIDEN GULLY, VIC., 2003 . $40 .00

A captivating collection of oral histories from migrants who temporarily lived at the West Sale This is an exhaustive compilation of inquest records Migrant Holding Centre, after arriving in Australia and other documents as published in the Bendigo as displaced persons from war-torn Europe after Independent newspaper between the years 1862 World War Two. The book is predominantly a and 1865. The extracts include excerpts of births, story of the women and ch ildren who resided at deaths, marriages, inquests, murder, suicide, the Centre while their men folk worked in local obituaries,funerals and serious accidents.The entries industries in the Gipps land area. The books have been transcribed in the same format they were has won Information Victoria's 2003 Community originally typed 150 years earlier. It is an invaluable History Award source for family historians tracing their ancestors who were in the Bendigo area at that time.

UNDER ANOTHER SKY: THE LIFE AND SENTIMENTS OF AN ITALIAN EMIGRANT

CARMELO CARUSO , CONGEDO, GALATINA . 1999. KINDLY DONATED BY THE AUTHOR.

Carmelo Caruso's autobiography, published in Italian in 1998, is translated here by Prof. Gaetano Rando and Janine Dickinson. Caruso's life since his arrival in Australia in 1950 from Licodia Eubea, Sicily, is full of rich experiences and gives a very interesting insight into the post-war Italian community in Brisbane. Caruso worked as a correspondent for La Fiamma and // Globo newspapers for over 25 years. His contribution to the welfare of his community is remarkable.

GROSSI FLORENT INO: SECRETS AND RECIPES

GUY GROSSI & JAN MCGUINESS , PENGUIN, CAMBERWELL, 2003. S60.00

In another wonde rfully presented book, the AN ITALIAN EXPERIENCE authors portray the history of the site where Cale GHO S~ I Florentino stands in Bourke Street, Melbourne. MALCOLM WEBSTER, SELF-PUBLISHED, MELBOURNE FLORENTi r 0 1995 . KINDLY DONATED BY THE AUTHOR. Cate Florentino is one of the great landmarks of ',I ( Ill I', .::,-HI' ( ll'L', this city. It's story is beautifully told from its early beginnings as Melbourne's first licensed wine Readers of the IHS Journ al will recall that in bar to the latest phase of its history: the purchase our January-July 2003 issue we pub lished a of the restaurant in 1999 by Guy Grossi and its summarised personal account of the experiences subsequent name change to Grossi Florentino. of Malcolm Webster, an Australian Imperial This publication not only offers interesting reading Forces (A.1.F) soldier, who spent several years but some exquisite recipes which have helped to in northern Italy as a prisoner of war. In 1943 he make the restaurant famous. It is also a tribute escaped from an Italian work camp and spent to the distinguished career as a chef of Pietro the latter part of the War serving as a member Grossi, Guy's father, from whom Guy inherited all of the Italian Resistance Movement, combat ing his skills. An interesting adjunct to the book are the Nazi/Fascists. This is Webster's complete the anecdotes of some of the restaurants famous war-time biography which was initially intended patrons! for his immediate family but has acquired a wider appeal. It is an extraordinary story which honours the Australian POWs who lost their life in Italy.

ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL43 •' IHS Journalguidelines for contributors 1. The journal of the Italian Historical Society is 8. All material submitted for pub lication must be produced for a general readership. Preference accompanied by permission to pub lish and must will be given to articles which increase an meet copyright requirements. This includes both understanding of the history of Italian immigrants textual and illustrative materials. Unless otherwise and their descendants. stated, the author/s of the material provided will be credited with copyright. 2. The IHS Journal is published twice yearly. The deadline dates for articles for each issue are: 9. All articles should give sources and references where appropriate. These endnotes should // June issue: 30 Apri l be grouped at the end of the article and may // December issue: 30 October refer to sources or amplify material in the main body of the article. The reference numbers for 3. The IHS Journal accepts unsolicited articles endnotes should appear in the text at the end of but may decl ine publicat ion for various the sentences. reasons. Articles are equa lly welcome from both professional and amateur historians and writers. 10. The bib liographic style favoured for citing books, based on the Style Manual for authors, 4. The IHS Journal does not pay for contributions. editors and printers of the AGPS is: name of author, name of book in italics or underlined, 5. All materials submitted may be subject to name of publishe r, place of publication, year of ed iting. publication .

6. Articles should be normally submitted on a For citing journals: name of author, title of article, white A4 paper, typed with double spac ing. name of journal in italics or underlined, volume Contributors are also encouraged to submit work number and year, page number/s. on IBM compatible format. In general articles should not exceed 5000 words. 11. Contributors should retain copies of all materials submitted. Illustrative material will be 7. Artic les should be accompan ied by appropriate returned if requested. and clearly capt ioned illustrative material wherever possible. This may include good quality 12. Contributors should provide a very short illustration, maps, diagrams, or other materials personal description outlining current interests. such as advertisements , programs, etc. co ,~AS•IT ITALIANHISTORI CALSOCIETY ACKNOWLEDGESTHEGENEROUS SUPPORTOF:

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