Category: 2022

This blog continues to cover the history of the Italian community
in the Myrtleford area.

Tobacco farms in the Myrtleford
The Italians in the Myrtleford area followed the example of Chinese migrants who developed tobacco and hops farms in the Ovens Valleys after the gold rush period. Large numbers of Italians arrived in the 1920s and worked on tobacco farms. Some were share farmers and some bought properties which were usually less than 20 hectares.

Like the settlement of the Veneto market gardeners at Lockleys, the men usually arrived first, and women followed once there was some security. Some men married by proxy. Families worked hard and women’s lives were busy with domestic duties and activities on the farm that included grading tobacco leaves for market. Children also had jobs on the farms. After the war a new wave of Italian migrants arrived in the area. The boom time for growing tobacco was from about 1950 to the late 1970s. By the mid-1990s the industry began to wind down and in 2006, tobacco production ended and about 138 farmers in the Myrtleford area were compensated.

The Club Savoy
In 1956 a couple from Calabria offered a venue in Myrtleford where Italians could gather, speak their first language and share food and social events.  At first, it operated as ‘Continental House’ on weekends and in 1960 it changed its name to Savoy Club and in 2014 changed again to Club Savoy. It was the first club in Victoria to be granted a liquor licence.

Today the Club is open seven days a week, hosts several social activities including the Savoy Ladies Group, a pensioner group and there is also a successful soccer club.

The Savoy Ladies Group – video
This group was founded in 1983 by a nun and a community nurse concerned that the women needed information regarding women’s health who observed that some Italian women were isolated on their farms. The group meets every fortnight at the Club Savoy. In 2014, a short video, “The Savoy Ladies Group,” was made to celebrate the Italian Australian women who are members of the group. They speak about the formation of the Club, their hard work on tobacco farms and their lives in the district. You can watch the video about the group who meet to socialise and maintain their heritage. Click here to view the 10-minute video: The Savoy Ladies Group

La Fiera
The Italian festival at Myrtleford began in 2009 and brings together Italians and other people in the wider community to enjoy activities including art and culture, food, wine, soccer and bocce challenges and a live chess match. the event is held in May each year. The circoli, Calabrese, Trentini, Trevisani and Vicentini, are involved in planning the event and offer provincial foods.

Other Italian groups that meet in Myrtleford

Trevisani nel Mondo di Myrtleford
The Trevisani nel Mondo of Myrtleford and District was established in the late 1970s. Members continue to meet regularly.

For more information about the Trevisani di Myrtleford & District, see the information and visual history compiled by the Veneto Club Melbourne: Myrtleford-Trevisani

In October 2005 about 200 members of the Trevisani nel Mondo from around Australia gathered in Myrtleford for their three-yearly convention. Two busloads of members from Adelaide attended and stayed in Bright. Terry Mazzarolo nee Zampin remembers the occasion and loved being in the area. The weekend before the convegno, the snow season had finished and the Adelaide group spent time at Mt Hotham. She said it reminded her of locations in the north-east of Italy.

Vicentini di Myrtleford
The Vicentini di Myrtleford was founded in 1982. The Association was involved in establishing the annual Italian festival, La Fiera. The Veneto Club Melbourne has produced a visual history of the circolo Vicentini nel mondo di Myrtleford. Click here: Vicentini nel mondo di Myrtleford

To buy a copy of “For a Better Life: The Story of Italian Migration to the Myrtleford District” by Chris McCracken, Joy Phillips and Roy Ward, on behalf of U3A Myrtleford & District Inc. please contact:
Jan Mock: u3amyrtleford@gmail.com

Madeleine Regan
14 August 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copies of the book about Italians in the Myrtleford area are available for $30.00 plus postage.
To buy a copy of “For a Better Life: The Story of Italian Migration to the Myrtleford District” by Chris McCracken, Joy Phillips and Roy Ward, on behalf of U3A Myrtleford & Districts Inc. please email:
Jan Mock: u3amyrtleford@gmail.com

 

Madeleine Regan
14 August 2022

In this blog I focus on the De Pieri and Corletto families who originated from the Veneto region. I’ve gathered the following information from Adelina Pavan nee De Pieri and Roberto De Pieri, the National Archives of Australia and a PhD thesis by
David Hugo about mica mines in the Harts Range, NT.[1]

Serafina De Pieri nee Corletto was born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1920. She was one of six children and both her father and grandfather had been shoemakers. The family also worked land. When she was 18 years old Serafina met her husband, Attilio De Pieri at a sagra or feast, and within a month they married and left for Australia. Serafina celebrated her 19^th birthday on the boat.

Attilio De Pieri was born in 1903 in Loreggia in the province of Padova. He migrated to Australia in 1927 and after a period of employment he went to work a mica mine in the Harts Range in the Northern Territory with other Veneto men. From about the 1930s to 1960 there were a series of mica mines run by Italians in the Harts Range located about 200 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs. Attilio was naturalised in 1937 and in 1939 he returned to Italy and one of the purposes of his visit was to find a suitable wife who would return with him to Australia.

 

 

After they arrived in Australia, Attilio and Serafina went to live in a camp at the Billy Hughes mine and when she was interviewed by David Hugo she recalled the first night which improved once Attilio organised goat skins for the floor of the tent. The goat skins provided basic comfort particularly when children were born. The communal kitchens and storerooms were built of stone. The family worked in a couple of different camps and Attilio bought shares in one of the mines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living conditions were primitive in the camps. There was no electricity or running water although there was a spring near the camp and after some time, vegetables were planted. Serafina recalled:

When we have the bore, the men put some garden, we have grown lettuce, beans, peas, cauliflower, cabbage – not much but whatever we can do. (De Pieri, TS92 12, p. 8 and p 188 in the thesis)

Adelina remembers that her father was able to grow watermelons in one camp because of access to water. She also recalls playing with the goats which were kept for milk and meat.

 

 

 

 

At one time Serafina was the only woman at the camp and she recalled in her interview that she did not see another white woman for seven months.

Serafina explained how she used her time on the camp:

. . . there was always plenty to do, you know, even though I was
there [Rex mine] on my own – the only woman. But I used to
cook for the men, there was about five men at the time, and I’d
prepare lunch and dinner, and make the bread. If I had any
spare time I ‘ d read or sew, so, you know – listen to the wireless.

(De Pieri TS92 12 p 6 – p202 of the thesis)

Attilio and Serafina returned to Adelaide for the birth of Adelina in 1942. Fred was born in 1944 and the family returned to Harts Ranges in 1945 with the two children. Attilio and Serafina lived and worked there until 1948 when the family returned to Adelaide. Roberto was born in 1950.

In Adelaide the De Pieri family lived in Currie Street in the west end of the city and Attilio worked from the front room of the house and repaired shoes. In 1948 Attilio sponsored his brother, Tullio and his wife Imelda who lived in Adelaide for about 20 years with their children, Anna and Luciano.

 

 

After leasing the house in Currie Street for ten years, Atillio and Serafina bought a house in Gilbert Street in the city in 1958. Attilio made this shop in the front room and he carried on selling and repairing shoes. He bought shoes from Slatters. In 1965 they moved to Malvern before they bought a house two years later at St Peters and enjoyed living in an area with more Italian people in the neighbourhood. Attilio died in 1973.

 

The Corletto family
Between 1939 when Serafina left Italy, and 1953, all members of her family migrated to Australia. They were sponsored by Serafina and Attilio and most of them stayed with the De Pieri family at Currie Street for the first months after arrival.

Teresina was the first to arrive  with her husband, Guerino Santinon, and daughter, Milvia, in December 1948. They flew on one of the first planes to bring Italians to Australia. They went to the mica mines for a brief period before returning to live in Adelaide.

Lino arrived August 1949, aged 27 years (married Drusilla Fighera in February 1954 who had arrived June 1951 aged 26 years)

Orfeo arrived May 1950, aged 20 years. He returned to Italy in 1957 to assist his father to sell the family property in Castelfranco Veneto. At that time, he married Gina Milani and they returned to live in Adelaide.

Umberto arrived September 1950, aged 24 years (in April 1952, he married Maria Anna Panozzo who had arrived as a 15-year-old in March 1949)

Serafino (aged 31 years) arrived July 1953 with his wife Norma (aged 26 years) with their child, Gabriella, aged 3 years.

Riccardo and Babilla Trentin, the parents of Serafina, Teresina, Lino, Orfeo, Umberto and Serafino, were the last members of the family to come to Australia. They arrived in March 1954 and went to live with Orfeo and his wife, Gina, at Hindmarsh.

Serafina and the Veneto Club
After Attilio died in 1973, Serafina became involved with the Veneto Club in Adelaide. At first she played bocce for the Club.

Then Serafina became involved with the Club through several roles including coordinating the Women’s Committee and managing the kitchen for the popular Sunday night family dinner dances. Serafina was the first woman to be elected to the Committee. She was a committee member for six years before she was elected as Vice-President in 1984.

She was Vice-President of the Veneto Club for four years – again the first woman to have held that position.

Serafina’s daughter, Adelina Pavan, remembers that her mother appreciated opportunities to offer her assistance because she loved mixing with people and she felt as though she was contributing to the growth of the Veneto Club in Adelaide.  As a result of her involvement, and in recognition of her voluntary work, Serafina was nominated for the award, ‘The South Australian Italian of the Year’ in 1988.

 

In 1995, Serafina was interviewed by David Hugo when he was researching for his PhD thesis on the Harts Range mica mines. She is quoted throughout the thesis and describes the operation of the mines and arrangements in the camps, relationships with Aboriginal men and women who assisted with work and the friendships with the miners and other Veneto women in the camps.

 

 

At that time in May 1995, Serafina’s daughter, Adelina and son, Fred, and other family members accompanied her to the site of the mines with David Hugo. Although not much was left at the camp site by that time, Serafina was able to point out the features and tell stories about her experience of being a young married woman living in remote Australia.

Serafina died in 2001 after a productive and happy life of 62 years in Australia.

Madeleine Regan
17 July 2022

All photos supplied by Adelina Pavan nee De Pieri and Roberto De Pieri.

[1] David Frederick Hugo, “Mica Mining at Harts Range, Central Australia, 1880s-1960: A Study of Ethnicity and the Impact of Isolation.” PhD thesis, Northern Territory University, 1995. https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/23680670/Thesis_CDU_6115_Hugo_D.pdf