Introduction Ada (De Munari) Choat

ByIntroduction Ada (De Munari) Choat A generation has almost passed, that of the early Italian immigrants in the Innisfail area, beginning in 1895 and extending to about 1938 ie just before World War II. In this book we have recorded the stories of a small number of those early Italians. This is not an exhaustive history of early Italians or early Innisfail, rather we hope to show how they fitted in and adapted to the society they found, how they contributed to Innisfail and the Johnstone Shire, and how they and their descendants benefited from such a momentous journey to such a different land, climate and culture. Prior to European settlement, the Johnstone shire was home to the Ma:Mu people, comprising five clans, each with a distinct culture and legends, but having a common language.1 European settlement in Innisfail dates from 1880 (H.G. Scheu a cedar-cutter and J.N. Stamp on his settlement Stockton, and T.H.Fitzgerald on his sugar plantation at Innisfail Estate), with Fitzgerald regarded as the founder of the sugar industry in the district and thus the township of Geraldton named in 1883 and renamed Innisfail in 1910.2 Surrounding districts were quickly opened up for farming and timber-getting. Meanwhile the township(s) offered opportunities to merchants, prominent among whom were Chinese from the Palmer River Goldfields. In 1884 Cristofero (Christie) Palmerston Carandini, whose father was Italian, cut a track from Innisfail through to the tablelands beyond which became the Palmerston Highway and the Atherton Tablelands.3 However the history of Italians in Innisfail really begins with Basilio Dalla Vecchia. Basilio had arrived on the Jumna, a vessel chartered by the Queensland Government in 1891 to bring the Italian settlers selected by Townsville businessman Mr. C.V. Fraire, a naturalised Australian from Piedmont in Italy. Of the 335 on board 113 went to Macknade in the Herbert River district while 153 went to the Burdekin district and the remaining 69 to Bundaberg.4 From Macknade a group came north to Innisfail: first Basilio Dalla Vecchia and family, followed by Antonio Davanzo (married to Maria Dalla Vecchia) and later, Giusto Basso. Ignazio Pavan (married to Maddalena Dalla Vecchia) joined them still later. Another early arrival was Lorenzo Pensini, who bought land in the Goondi Mill area in 1895, although he did not live in the area until 1913.5 From then until the mid-thirties a steady stream of Italians arrived in the Johnstone Shire. Most of these immigrants were helped either by Basilio and his son Carlo (Charlie) or by Mr. Rizzo who owned a boarding house in town. Before 1924 Italians arriving in the Innisfail district had to disembark at Mourilyan Harbour then walk to Mourilyan to be put up for the night by a local farmer in his barracks. After 1924 with a rail service through to Cairns they would usually get off the train at the Innisfail sta- tion and spend the first night at Rizzo’s boarding house. If not sponsored and supplied work by a rela- tive they would then end up working for the Dalla Vecchias or being directed by them to a place where they could find work. Most of these early Italians were escaping poverty and the early rise of Fascism. Some of them may have been war-weary after the 1914-1918 War. Some may simply have been adventurous travellers. For all these the end of open immigration to the USA. would have meant that they had to go either to South Africa, Argentina, or Australia, and many chose Australia. All of them were undoubtedly looking for a better life for themselves and their children and many wished to help their parents at home by remitting small amounts of money on a regular basis. ~ viii ~ Common threads running through the stories are arriving virtually penniless ,working extremely hard, saving to buy a farm or business as quickly as possible ,the disbelief and shock at internment, and the eventual success of most. Whilst assimilating relatively quickly they also kept alive distinctive aspects of their culture such as language, music, and diet. They found many kind and tolerant Australians but unfortunately some prejudice as well. Those who worked on farms had difficulties because of the 75/25% British Employment Rule. By the forties, many Italians owned farms or were self-employed businessmen, (eg builders (Campi, Romano), delicatessens (Saraceni, Oliveri, Magnanini), boarding houses (Rizzo, Brunello), grocers (Pensini, Lo Giudice), pharmacists (Torre, Lagana), butchers (Bandiera), a spaghetti factory (Danesi), bus service (Cali), sawmill (Romano), cabinet-maker (Gagno), dressmaker (Nunziatina Puccini) and doctors, including De Luca, Bianchi, Cargiulo, Piscitelli and Rigano. Grocers Sorbello, Lo Giudice, and Pensini and a baker (Rolesi) served the large Italian population of the Mourilyan area, while Mr. and Mrs Scuderi ran a milk-bar on one side of their house and an important shoe and saddle and bridle repair business on the other side. Mr Ferrucio Guerra ran the Italian Club.At the southern end of the shire, in the small town of Silkwood, well-known examples were Vadala's grocery store, Speziali's Bus service and Cartage, and the Maria Creek Brickworks (Tarditi Bros.). Today we have a vibrant community of different cultures in Innisfail and the Johnstone Shire, which has arisen naturally over the years and forms an harmonious whole in which Italians and their descendants have played a large role. Unfortunately for reasons of space we could not include a story from every early Italian immigrant and hope that descendants of all Italians (and of other immigrants) will recognize in these stories elements of their own parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents lives. We hope that this volume will stimulate the publication of further immigrant’s stories. 1 Personal communication,Victor Maund, Innisfail. 2 J.W.McRobbie,“Innisfail: It’s History in Brief”, Innisfail Centenary Celebrations Committee, 1973. 3 “Christie Palmerston”. Eacham Historical Society, 1985. p 4.Also see Paul Savage. Christie Palmerston, Explorer. Records of North Queensland History No 2, James Cook University, 1989. 4 Galassi, Ferrando.“Sotto La Croce Del Sud – Under the Southern Cross:The Jumna Immigrants of 1891”.Townsville, James Cook University, 1991, pp 75-116.Also see Ilma Martinuzzi O’Brien, "Italian Pioneers",The Australian People:An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins, General Editor Dr James Jupp,Angus and Robertson, 1988, second revised edition, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp 489-490. 5 Douglass,William A. From Italy to Ingham: Italians in North Queensland. Brisbane: Queensland University press, 1995. Italian Pioneers in the Innisfail District ~ ix ~ a Pictorial History of Early I talian Sett lement in the Innisfail District ~ 1 ~ The BeginningBeginning of of the the Twentieth Twentieth Century Century Italian settlement in the Johnstone River district started to become important at the beginning of the twentieth century.The early settlers came from only a few specific parts of Italy, and the culture of the communities they formed was shaped by their different regional traditions. The first significant migration flows to the district were from the Veneto and Sicily, and they were soon joined by people from Piedmont, Lombardy and Friuli. Before long there was also a significant group from the Island of Elba and other parts of Tuscany. During the 1920s the numbers of new settlers expanded greatly, and the Innisfail area became one of the major Italian-origin areas in Australia, with settlers from most parts of Italy. In Mourilyan the Dalla Vecchias were the first family of Italians, being settled before 1905.They were joined by other Venetians from Halifax who were Jumna pioneers, the Davanzo, Basso and Filippi families, and later the Pavans. Maria Dalla Vecchia,who married Antonio Davanzo, a fellow Lorenzo Pensini, 1866 – 1950.The first recorded Italian Jumna pioneer, is here photographed circa 1900 with her four farming activity was in the Goondi mill area, where daughters, from left Lucy (obscured), later married to Sam Lorenzo Pensini with Giuseppe Bassanelli and Lorenzo Arcidiacono, Matilda married to Marino Tarrone and then Cocchetti leased land, although Pensini did not live in the Giuseppe Solinas, Letizia who married Luigi Martinuzzi, district until some years later. and Chiara (partly obscured) who married Peter Martinuzzi. Photo courtesy of Iole Arici. Photo courtesy of Ilma Martinuzzi O’Brien family collection. One of the first Sicilian cane cutting gangs in the north, photographed in 1907 near Gordonvale. Many of the cutters settled in the Innisfail area. Cutters are, standing: Giuseppe Riso, Pancrazio Pagano, Carmelo Di Blasi, Cateno Perrone, Buzzuro and cook unknown; Front row are: Salvatore Pagano, Salvatore Arcidiacono, Rocco Perrone. Photo courtesy of Pancrazio Risitano. ~ 2 ~ Settlers came from Friuli before World War I,among them Enrico Croatto on the right with other early cutters. Photo courtesy of Rina Cali. Cooking for the gang working on Gregorio Sciacca’s and Mick La Spina’s farm were sisters Emilia and Luigia Fremondi (later married to Luigi Pensini and Adolfo Lissa). Cutters were from left Salvatore Vasta,Angelo Spoto the ganger (who always wore a fob watch), Giovanni Lizzio, the farmer Gregorio Sciacca (without a cane knife) and his brother Giuseppe Sciacca. Photo courtesy of Iole Arici and the Italian Historical Society. ~ 3 ~ Early I talian Sett lement Building a aCommunity Community In the early days community life was more centred around the smaller townships such as Mourilyan, Silkwood, Daradgee, South Johnstone or Mena Creek than it is today. Local venues were the school, the church once it was built, hotels and clubs such as the Italian Progressive Club in Mourilyan and the Mourilyan School of Arts and Paronella Park, to name only some.

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