Category: 2020

In 1984 Vittorio Marchioro and Angelina Marchioro recorded oral history interviews for the Migrant Oral History Project in Adelaide They are the only pioneers in the Veneto market gardener community whose voices have been preserved for the future. Their interviews are in the State Library of South Australia.

Vittorio was born 23 December 1906 in Malo in the province of Vicenza, 110 kilometres north west of Venice. In 1927 when he was 21, he migrated to Australia, sponsored by his brother Francesco who had arrived a year earlier with his wife and baby. Vittorio tried to find work but times were difficult for most people in Australia and if you were a migrant who did not speak English, it was even more challenging because of the widespread unemployment during the Depression. He had a few jobs including some concrete work with his brother’s brother-in-law and he worked in Rushworth in north-east Victoria cutting wood for which he received very little pay.

In 1934, Vittorio leased land with his brother and sister-in-law, Margherita on Frogmore Road near other Veneto men who were establishing market gardens. Vittorio and Margherita grew cabbages, cauliflower, potatoes, trombone and tomatoes while Francesco worked in the city with his brother-in-law. Vittorio said:

I … buy one horse, a plough, I got a little shed … to sleep in and [we had] 12 acres.

In 1937 when he was more established, Vittorio decided it was time to marry and he wrote to his sister in Malo and asked if she knew a young woman who might want to marry and live in Australia. Angelina (born 7 April 1914 in another unrelated Marchioro family), agreed with the idea. She married Vittorio by proxy in August 1937. In her interview Angelina recalls that within two days of arriving, she was working on the market garden taking down glasshouses at the end of January on a day of 37 degrees!

Vittorio and Angelina had two sons: Johnny was born in 1940 and Romano in 1942.

In 1948 the family moved from Frogmore Road to White Avenue, Lockleys, on the other side of the river and started a market garden where Vittorio and Angelina worked together until 1968. Johnny also assisted them until he married Eleonora Ottanelli in 1965 and they began to work their own market garden at Bolivar. Romano married Mirjana Stojanovic earlier in 1965. After a work accident his father-in-law invited Romano to work with him at the Barbeque Inn in Hindley Street in the city.

Although they worked hard, Vittorio and Angelina recalled the social life in the Veneto community of market gardeners in their interviews:

… a friend [had] a big truck, he picked up 15 people sitting in the truck [laughs]… Every first day of the year [we went] to Saint Kilda in a big truck, all the families and the children went to Saint Kilda, the beach. Every year for a long, long time …

It was important for Vittorio and Angelina to keep in touch with their relatives in Malo and Monte di Malo, and they visited four times. The first time was in 1961 and they stayed six months. Some relatives including Vittorio’s sister and nephew also visited Adelaide in the 1970s.

After they sold their property at Lockleys, Vittorio and Angelina worked with Johnny and Eleonora at Bolivar two days a week for 20 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Vittorio died in 1992, and Angelina in 2002.
Romano died on 20 March 2020.

The Marchioro families in Adelaide and in the province of Vicenza continue to keep close contact.

You can listen to interviews with Johnny and Romano on the Marchioro webpage.

Madeleine Regan
14 June 2020

La famiglia di Vittorio & Angelina Marchioro

Nel 1984 Vittorio e Angelina Marchioro hanno registrato la storia orale delle interviste per il Progetto per la storia social per il museo storico nel Adelaide. Loro sono i soli pionieri del Veneto nella comunità degli agricoltori che le voci sono state conservate per il futuro. Le loro interviste sono nella biblioteca statale del Sud Australia.

Vittorio è nato il 23 dicembere 1906 in Malo nella provincia di Vicenza circa 75 chilometri nor-ovest di Venezia. Nel 1927 quando aveva 21 anni, è stato sponsorizzato dal fratello Francesco che arrivò in Adelaide un anno prima di lui con sua moglie e la sua bambina.

Vittorio provò a cercare lavoro pero i tempi erano difficili per tutti. Se eri un immigrante che non sapeva parlare l’inglese, era più difficile trovare lavoro durante la depressione. Lui è stato fortunato ad avere parecchi lavori includendo lavoro col cemento con suo cognato e lavorare anche a Rushworth nord-est Victoria tagliando legno per pochi soldi.

Nel 1934 Vittorio affittò terreno con suo fratello e sua cognata, Margherita in Frogmore Road vicino dove altri veneti vivevano e lavoravano. Vittorio e Margherita coltivaravano cavoli, cavofiori, patate, zucca e pomodori mentre Francesco lavorava in città con suo cognato. Vittorio ricorda:

… ho comprato un cavallo, un aratro, una piccola capannone per dormire e avevamo 12 acri …

Nel 1937 quando si era sistemato lui decise che era tempo che si sposasse così scrisse a sua sorella e chiese se conosceva una giovane che volesse sposarsi e venire a vivere in Australia. Angelina Marchioro (nata il 7 aprile 1914) si mise d’accordo e sposò Vittorio in procura nel agosto 1937. Nella sua intervista Angelina ricorda che in due giorni di tempo dal suo arrivo lei aiutò Vittorio a smontare le serre alla fine di gennaio 1938 – e faceva 37 gradi!

Vittorio ed Angelina hanno avuto due figli maschi: Johnny è nato nel 1940 e Romano nel 1942.

Nel 1948 la famiglia si trasferì da Frogmore Road a White Avenue Lockleys dall’altra parte del fiume. Cominciarono un market garden dove la coppia lavorarono insieme fino al 1968. Johnny lavorò con i suoi genitori fino a quando si è sposato con Eleonora Ottanelli nel agosto del 1965. La giovane coppia iniziò la loro attività nel terreno a Bolivar nord di Adelaide. Romano sposò Mirjana Stojanovic nel 1965 anche. Dopo che Romano ebbe un incidente al lavoro, il suocero lo invitò a lavorare con lui al Barbeque Inn in città di Adelaide.

Sebbene lavorarono duro, nelle loro interviste, Vittorio e Angelina si ricordano della vita sociale nella comunità veneti degli agricoltori:

… un amico aveva un camion e prendeva circa 15 persone [risatina] … ogni anno, il primo di gennaio andavamo a Saint Kilda. Tutte le famiglie con i loro figli andavano alla spiaggia. Ogni anno per un lungo tempo …

Era importante per Vittorio ed Angelina di restare in contatto con i loro parenti a Malo e Monte di Malo. Sono andati in Italia quattro volte a visitarli. La prima volta era nel 1961 e rimasero sei mesi. Altri parenti di Vittorio e Angelina sono venuti a fare loro visita in Adelaide.

Dopo aver finito di lavorare a Lockleys, Vittorio e Angelina lavorarono con Johnny e Eleonora a Bolivar due giorni alla settimana per circa 20 anni.

Vittorio morì nel 1992 ed Angelina nel 2002.
Romano è morto il 20 marzo 2020.

Le famiglie Marchioro di Adelaide e della provincia di Vicenza continuano a mantenere stretti collegamenti.

 

Puoi ascoltare le interviste con Johnny e Romano sulla pagina web di Marchioro.

Grazie a Graziella Ledda per l’assistenza con la traduzione.

Madeleine Regan
14 June 2020.

This time, something a little different …
Guest writer, Francesco (Fran) Bonato  and I were in contact before I spent time researching in the Veneto region in 2018.  He writes about his family who are Veneto migrants – but not market gardeners.

Fran has been an architect for 40 years and founded the practice, Tectvs.*

From furniture to architecture

Attilio Clementino Bonato landed in Perth, Australia, in the summer of 1956. The son of a subsistence farmer, he was one of 10 siblings. And like many Italian migrants, he followed an older and a younger brother to Australia. Another brother and sister later; she eventually returned to Italy.

Tino, as he was known to his friends in Australia, was born on 3 September 1931, in Fossalta di Trebaseleghe about 25 kms north-west of Venice in the province of Padua in the Veneto. His ancestral origins were Sud-Tyrol, his father born in Borso del Grappa just above Bassano del Grappa at the foot of Monte Grappa. They moved down onto the plains following WWI when the Italians, more particularly the Alpini (his father was an Alpino), fought the Austrians.

Famously portrayed in Hemingway’s 1929 novel, A Farewell to Arms, halting the Austrian advance at Ponte Vecchio bridging the Brenta at Bassano del Grappa. The bridge is famous for a range of reasons, not least of which having been designed by Palladio in 1569 and another as one of the Veneto’s oldest surviving bars; Bar Nardini circa 1779.

But Tino’s story is not so common. Although like many from the Veneto, well in fact all of Italy, he came to Australia seeking that better life. He did not arrive here and work as a labourer or farmer (as his two brothers were then doing just out of Perth); he came to Australia as a furniture maker. And this too was no coincidence having met Bill Clark in Venice circa 1954, while Bill was on his ‘grand tour’. During his time in Venice they met in the workshop where Tino was working at that time. You see, Bill Clark was also a furniture maker.

Two years later, Tino arrived at the doorstep of Bill’s family home in Lockleys unannounced. A Saturday night, his wife answered the door and he handed her the business card Bill had given him in Venice two years earlier; he didn’t speak English nor she Italian. Bill recalled him immediately; in those days you remembered to whom you gave your business cards. They put him up in their lean-to and started work Monday morning. They found him a rental and two years later my mother, Ornella Marcon, arrived from the same home town, Fossalta. I was born a year later.

And so begins the story of my father’s influence, on me and my younger brother; we are both architects and practice together, along with a long-time school friend.

The relationship I had with my father in those early years had a lot to do with helping him make furniture; as soon as I was tall enough to see into the back of a drum sander he had me on the other side catching panels as they came out. Unlike many kids my age, who would be off to school and club sport of a Saturday morning, I could be found with my father at Bill’s factory, Carlton Manufacturing in Salisbury, performing some necessary task.

Eventually, this relationship went from student to collaborator and to making furniture together. I completed my architectural degree at the University of Adelaide in 1982 and founded Tectvs in 1989.  And this subsequently led to the ritorni or return visits.

Although my father passed away in 2007, I continue these ritorni to Italy, particularly the Veneto. They are more professional than personal, albeit having enabled all of the wider family to stay connected and make new and dear friends. They now too travel to Australia.

Francesco Bonato
2 June 2020

*Tectvs has worked across a range of  local, national and international projects.

 

A causa della situazione di Covid-19, non e’ stato possibile tradurre il blog in Italiano.

This is a guest post from Aida Innocente whose parents were well-known to the Veneto market gardeners in Adelaide.

My father Angelo Innocente arrived in Australia in June 1950. He was born in Caselle (PV Treviso) in 1921. His maternal uncle, Pietro Compostella, sponsored him.

Dad left behind my mother Elsa and their three year-old daughter, Mirella, with his family. Mum and Mirella arrived in November 1952. I was born in 1955. Dad lived in White Avenue, Lockleys from the beginning, and he and Mum only left five months before his death in February 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad initially worked at Peter Shearer’s on Port Road and then at Kelvinator’s. At night he worked for Harold Dare who owned a factory on White Avenue that made half-cases. Harold’s mother was Chinese and his father, Australian. His nephews lived next-door to my family in the early days.

After leaving Kelvinator’s, Dad worked for Harold full-time. When Dad decided to go into business with Emilio Loro, a Veneto from Loria, Harold lent him money to set up business – in competition with him!  My father always remained in contact with Harold even after he moved into a nursing home.

Dad and Emilio established AE (Angelo & Emilio) Case Company in the late ‘50s on Grange Road, Flinders Park on a property owned by the Berno family. The factory was an old shed. They made half-cases for packing tomatoes and crates for celery and made up to 1,000 half-cases a day. I loved going to the Grange Road property and I played in an abandoned house. In front of the house sprawled a glorious peppercorn tree. The smell of peppercorns always takes me back to this time.

The boxes were mainly made of pine. The pine logs came from the South East and Mount Compass. Dad often collected the logs from Mount Compass. He and Mum would often do this after tea. One night, Mirella and I sat on the front porch waiting for their return. The freeway hadn’t been built and the roads in the Adelaide hills were narrow and winding. They returned after midnight. Dad had run out of petrol!

Sometimes after school I went with Dad to Bolivar, Virginia, St Kilda to deliver boxes. One afternoon we stopped to inspect the pig Dad had bought from a client at Waterloo Corner for the yearly salami making. Checking on the pig’s growth was part of the ritual. Dad immediately recognised his chosen pig in a pen full of pigs! He was very particular about how the pig (never a sow) was reared and fed.

In the early ‘70s Dad and Milio built a factory on Azalea Drive Lockleys, on the Torrens. When Milio decided to leave, Mum became Dad’s new partner. They worked together till they retired in 1981. Carton boxes had arrived and Dad did not want to start again.

Mum and Dad’s good friend, Sila Bottin, worked with them for several years. The three often made deliveries after work. For dinner they would have a steak and onion sandwich from the food truck at the Cavan Hotel on Port Wakefield Road. The Cavan was referred to as the “Abattoz” (the Abattoirs was across the road). A beer always washed down the sandwich.

Over January and February in 1976, when I was 20, my parents visited family in Argentina, Brazil and Italy. Tomato season was over but the Mercuri on Findon Road had a celery crop to market. Sila and I made the celery crates and I got a learner’s licence to drive the truck to deliver them. My Santolo, Vittorio Marchioro sat next to me as the licensed driver!

My Dad had clients from all over Italy and other parts of Europe. As a child I remember these clients – Calabrians, Neapolitans, Bulgarians, Slavs, Greeks – dropping in to our home before Christmas to settle their accounts. Dad always made sure he had plenty of beer on hand. His clients brought fresh produce as gifts. I now look upon these Christmas visits as a great symbol of the meaning of Christmas – peace and harmony to all men of all lands and faiths.

Aida Innocente
3 May 2020

A causa della situazione di Covid-19, non è stato possibile tradurre il blog in italiano