I came away by myself and came back in three

In this blog, the focus is on another significant older member
of the Veneto community in Adelaide, Mario Montin.

The image above shows Mario and Anita Montin in Caselle di Altivole in 1969, when Mario made his first return visit.

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Mario Montin was 19 years old when he saw his first banana in May 1960. He was on board the ship, ‘Oceania’, in the Suez Canal travelling to Australia – a destination that Mario had not expected. He had planned to migrate to Canada where two uncles were living but this was not possible because of government restrictions on migration at the time. However, the priest at Caselle di Altivole had advised his parishioners that Australia was open for new migrants and this information led Mario and some friends to decide that they would go to Australia.

 Family background

Mario Alessandro Montin was born on 26 August 1939 in Caselle the eldest surviving child of Pietro Montin and Antonietta Piovesan.

The Montin family lived in a large household with Mario’s grandparents – a contadino family who owned a few fields or campi where they grew olives, wheat, corn and hay for their four milking cows. The family raised chickens and had a donkey for transport.

 

His father was a shoemaker and family members helped out in the fields. His mother’s father was a bricklayer and a ‘Mr Fixit’, a man who could fix anything.

Growing up in Caselle

Mario, like most of the young people in his village, was able to attend school for six years.

 

The war seriously affected the daily lives of people in Caselle and men like his father had been called up to serve in the Army. Mario was old enough to remember the fear when his uncle Nino was taken away for several days by German soldiers at the end of the war.

 

 

At the age of 14 years, Mario began work in a shoe factory and cycled the six kilometres to Caerano San Marco. He sold shoes at different local markets such as Valdobbiadne, Feltre and Belluno and he also repaired shoes at home. He was resourceful and used his skills also to cut men’s hair on weekends.

The Montin family was close and when he wasn’t working, Mario enjoyed spending time with his grandparents, parents and siblings. He also played bocce and cards with friends and relatives. As a young man, Mario spent almost all his free time in Caselle.

 The decision to migrate

Mario remembers that the economy was very bad and that many were living in poverty. Migrating to a better place seemed like the only choice. If not Canada, then Australia would do.

At the time, Mario thought he would leave for three or four years, work hard to send money back to his parents and return to live in Caselle. A further reason for his decision to migrate was because he did not agree with compulsory military service required of young adult males who were called up at the age of 21. He knew young men who had been conscripted, and Mario did not want to go through that experience.

 Leaving home, leaving Caselle…

Mario made the arrangements with the Australian Government in Trieste where he was required to undergo a medical examination and he paid a deposit for the voyage at the travel agency in Castelfranco. His parents were sad about his departure – they had already said goodbye to members of Mario’s extended family who had migrated to Canada and America.  He was 20 years old when he left in 1960.

The prospect of the trip was exciting for Mario and his 3 friends who travelled by bus to Genoa, about 400 kilometres away. Mario remembered that they sang – they were looking forward to the adventure of a long ship voyage and a new life in Australia. However, Mario’s mood changed at the port because he realised the seriousness of his decision and the separation from his family and life in Caselle– “I was very sad, and the tears set in.”

 First years in Adelaide

He was sponsored by Bruno Tessari who was married to Bianca Piovesan, a relative of Mario’s mother. They were from Caselle and had settled in Adelaide during the early 1950s and they met him when he arrived in Adelaide. While he had the security of the Tessaris, Mario experienced the challenges of a new independence because he had enjoyed the ease and comfort of living in a large loving family household in Caselle.

First impressions

Mario was very disappointed when he first saw Adelaide in June 1960 – “I arrived on a Sunday morning about 10:00 am and there were no people. It was empty.” This was a huge contrast with Caselle. He spent the first year living with his Tessari relatives in Walkerville and then moved into a boarding house in Hackney run by the De Pieri family from Castelfranco Veneto. He enjoyed living there with other young Italian men.

 Working life

He began working for Albert Del Fabbro, a cement/terrazzo contractor, on houses in the suburbs of Adelaide. He then worked for other smaller sub-contractors for about four years and even took his first plane flight to Ceduna when there was a job there.

 

For the first year or so, he sent most of his money to his uncle Nino in Canada who had lent Mario the money to buy his passage to Australia. After repaying the debt, he sent most of his earnings to his parents except saving to buy a second-hand car. He kept strong ties to the family through letters back and forth, and his mother wrote monthly.

 Social life

In the first years, Mario enjoyed playing darts at the Hackney Hotel with other Veneti, including Lino Gatto from Caselle who had arrived in 1961. Mario and his friends went to the Fogolar Furlan Club to a Saturday night dance and to play bocce on Sundays.

Meeting Luigina Rech

Mario had worked and lived in Adelaide for four years and had bought a deposit for his ticket back to Italy. However, his direction in life changed when he attended one of the dances at the Fogolar Furlan Club, and he became interested in a young woman, Luigina Rech, who had been born in Adelaide, also paid attention to Mario.

When Luigina received an invitation to the 21^st birthday party of her cousin, Silvano Rossetto, she decided to ask Mario to accompany her, and this led to an eight-month courtship before they married on 5^th June 1965. Mario looked back on their decision to marry and stated that it was very important that Luigina’s family had come from Biadene, only six kilometres from Caselle. There was a sense of familiarity because they came from the same province and spoke the same dialect – and he wrote to his parents and said that she came from “a good family.”

Mario invited all the families who had migrated from Caselle to the wedding reception at the Italian Club in the City of Adelaide.

In the image above, Mario and Luigina are seated in the middle, Luigina with a white hat, ready to leave the reception.

 Marriage and family

After their marriage Mario and Luigina lived in a couple of rooms in a house at Rose Park owned by Luigina’s parents where they lived for seven years until they moved into a house built by Luigina’s parents in 1972.  They still live there today.

Mario and Luigina enjoyed a full social life and mixed with half a dozen Veneto couples and Mario continued to play bocce at the Fogolar Furlan Club and for the Veneto Club after it was established in 1972.

Anita Maria was born in 1967 and Peter Anthony, in 1972.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mario’s working life changed when he was employed by his brother-in-law, Giordano Rossetto, at Pasta d’Oro at Norwood and at the winery, Valle D’Oro at Mclaren Vale for 4 years before he started a business, with a partner, John Breda, SA Olive Oil at Flinders Park. They bought olives from Melbourne and processed and packed the oil. Mario delivered the oil to restaurants around Adelaide and really enjoyed opportunities to interact with people. He worked there until his retirement in about 2005.

Connections to Italy

Mario has continued to hold a strong connection to Caselle through the 66 years since he arrived in Adelaide. He has always kept in touch with the family – at first, through letters, and later with telephone calls especially at Easter and Christmas.

After nine years, Mario and Luigina made a first visit to Italy with Anita who turned two years when they were there for three and a half months in 1969. Mario remembers the emotion of his return visit: “I came away by myself and came back in three.” Everything seemed strange – his youngest sister, Rita, had only been five years old when he left.

 

 

They made other visits to Caselle with Anita and Peter, and the last time that Mario and Luigina went together was in 2024. They have also visited Mario’s sister and brother and families in Canada.

 

 

Mario’s mother, Antonietta, who was in her late 60s in 1980, stayed in Adelaide with the family for several months.

In the photo above, Antonietta sits between her two sons, Marcello on the left and Mario on the right.

Four generations of the Montin family

The following photo of Mario with his mother, son and grandson was taken in Castelfranco Veneto in the province of Treviso during a family visit to Italy.

 Involvement with the Veneto community in Adelaide

For many years Mario has maintained interest in two community organisations in Adelaide. He joined the Veneto Club in the early 1970s – “All my friends were there – we could all go to the same place and speak dialect.” He played bocce and represented the Club in Sydney.

Mario has also been a member of  the Trevisani nel Mondo since its establishment in Adelaide in 1982. He has been President for many years. He enjoys the planning of, and participation in, the annual events that attract several hundred people with connections to the province of Treviso.

In retirement…

Mario enjoys spending time with friends and relatives as well as being part of the Trevisani nel Mondo. He feels very connected to his heritage – “Italia is in my heart.” His children and grandchildren share Mario and Luigina’s strong sense of belonging to the Veneto region.

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Mario Montin, Luigina Montin nee Rech, Peter Montin, Anita Montin, Amanda Rossetto, Madeleine Regan
8 February 2026

All Montin photos provided by the family.