Museo Italiano Launch 3 October 2010 Justice GT Pagone, President, Co.As.It.

• Premier, the Honourable M.P. • The Honourable James Merlino, Minister assisting the Premier on Multicultural Affairs • Dr Marco Matacotta Cordella, Italian Consul General • Mr Ted Baillieu, Leader of the Victorian opposition and of the Victorian Liberal National • Mr George Lekakis, Victorian Multicultural Commission • Mr Giancarlo Martini‐Piovano AO. CEO, Co.As.It. • Distinguished guests • Ladies and Gentlemen

May I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

It is particularly important today should begin with such a acknowledgment to the traditional custodians as we gather in anticipation of the Premier officially opening ’s first museum dedicated to the celebration of Italian‐Australian history and culture.

The traditional custodian’s connection with the land upon which we are gathered is long and is important for us to remember. The connection between this precinct and the Italian Australian community is more recent and comparatively shorter. It is also important and important that it be celebrated in a community that justifiably prides itself on being multicultural, diverse and accepting of differences. In 2007, the then Premier of , Mr , announced that funds would be made available under the Cultural Precinct Enhancement Fund which identified Lygon Street as one of the three cultural precincts.

Expressions of interests were called and Co.As.It. submitted an application to establish a “Heritage Centre” within its premises.

This was a natural extension of the Co.As.It. Italian Historical Society which in the past 25 years has collected and documented the presence of Italians in Australia. Throughout this period, the Italian Historical Society has conducted 3 major exhibitions at the Museum: Victoria’s Italians, Australia’s Italians and Bridging Two Worlds – Jews and Italians in Carlton.

A detailed proposal for the establishment of a “Museo Italiano” was submitted in 2009 to the Victorian Multicultural Commission and funding of $1.45m was approved.

In addition to the material already available in the Italian Historical Society, approximately 200 people were involved with further donations of memorabilia and their stories to the Museo Italiano.

The exhibition takes you on a journey. Using the Italian presence in Carlton as a basis, the Museo Italiano portrays the story of the first generation of Italian immigrants beginning in the 1900s and their experiences in the new country.

We hope that the Museo will enhance the understanding of the migrant experience, arouse the interest of the visitors and result in further contributions to the history of Italian migration.

We congratulate the Victorian government for this initiative, and are both grateful and proud that the Italian Australian community can celebrate and showcase some small part of its role in shaping and defining the Australian community. We are particularly pleased that the museum is physically located in this precinct which still carries the traces of our community and which many here present will vividly remember as a place of their youth.

The museum tells only a small part of one relatively recent group of custodians of the land. Our story like that of others, can proudly be told as part of the story that makes Australia, and this precinct, what it is today. The story is unique but it shares that uniqueness with that of others who have made Australia their home and who together make Australia what it will become.