Veneto market gardeners 1927

In this blog guest writer, Rosa Parletta, writes about the origins of her family in the province of Treviso in the Veneto region. Her story begins with her grandparents.

My name is Rosa Parletta. My maiden name was Rosa Balestrin and I was born in 1947. My father was Giovanni Battista Pacifico Balestrin (Ballestrin). Giovanni or Chico was born in Amparo, Sao Paolo, Brazil of Italian parents, 11th August 1898.

As the story goes Giovanni’s parents were betrothed to other partners, however they were in love with each other and eloped together to Brazil, were married, and Giovanni was born. Giovanni and his parents and his sister Elena returned to Italy once their extended family accepted his parents’ marriage.

Giovanni grew up around Spineda di Riese Pio X, Treviso, Veneto, Italy. Giovanni served in the Italian military infantry from 1914 to 1918. He never spoke much about the war and was very reluctant to answer any questions about the war other than to say that it was a horrific time.

Giovanni married Anna Maria Zanon in 1924 and they had three children, Elisa, Bruno, and Anna Maria. Giovanni’s wife Anna Maria died a couple of days after giving birth to baby Anna Maria, probably due to birth complications. My mother Romilda “Orlinda” Pierina Zanon was born on 8^th July 1909 in Spineda. In 1932 Giovanni married Orlinda, and together they had 11 children, Rina, Ada, Tony, Rita, Nora, Mary, Fred, Jean, Bruna, Rosa and John. The last 7 children were born in Australia because in 1935 Giovanni, Orlinda and their children emigrated to Australia on board the ship “Esquilino”. The family, including Giovanni’s first three children, arrived in Fremantle, and then travelled to Port Pirie and from there they travelled to Adelaide by bus. The bus trip was bumpy and rough and all they could see out the window was desolate outback bushland. When Giovanni arrived in Australia he said, “he had a wife, seven children and 4 pounds in his pocket”.

Giovanni’s father and siblings had already emigrated to Australia [interestingly in Australia the family spelt BaLestrin with one “L” instead of two “LL” BaLLestrin]. So, on arrival in Adelaide, Giovanni and Orlinda and their family were met by Giovanni’s brothers and sisters who lived in Currie Street. Giovanni’s father also lived in Australia, however he passed away while Giovanni was on the boat journey from Italy to Australia.

Giovanni’s sisters had a boarding house in the city, mainly for Italian immigrant men who mainly came to Australia first and once settled, were followed by their family a few years later once the men acquired enough money to pay their family’s voyage and to buy a house.

After a while, Giovanni moved to Campbelltown and lived on Stradbroke Road in an old house owned by a Greek man called Lazarus. I don’t remember his surname but his son or daughter, I think, still live on the same property although it has all been subdivided now.

Giovanni worked in a quarry breaking rocks with a big mallet all day and on weekends he would work anywhere he could get extra money. A gentleman name Mr Fox owned a property with orange orchards opposite Maryvale Road Athelstone and dad often worked for him. Giovanni would pick up the fruit that had dropped off the trees on the ground and take them home to the family. Giovanni used to say that if Mr Fox saw him take fruit home that had dropped on the floor, he would make him throw it away because he wanted Giovanni to buy the fruit. Giovanni said that times were very tough for Italian immigrants with a lot of racism at that time.

Years later Giovanni and family moved to Gilbert Street, Newton, off Montacute Road, and worked as a market gardener on land owned by the Spezzano family. Giovanni kept working and eventually had enough money to buy 5 acres of land on Callana Avenue Rostrevor, or it may have been called Rostrevor Park at that time. Giovanni worked the market garden on Callana Avenue and built a timber framed house on the land and he worked and lived and raised his family there until his death in 1974.

Giovanni did not have any glasshouses on his land. The most common vegetables he grew were spring onions, radishes, parsley, spinach. He also grew smaller amounts of carrots, onions, watermelon, rockmelons, and beans. Giovanni had a Clydesdale horse called Duchess who would plough the ground with him, until eventually, Giovanni could afford to buy a tractor which made market gardening a bit easier. Most of the produce Giovanni grew were sold at the East End market in the city. He also purchased a Bedford truck to transport the vegetables to the city. Sometimes he would sell his vegetables to people known as commission agents and they would take the produce, sell it, and keep a percentage of the money for their work.

My mother Orlinda worked very hard, both in the garden and at home. To supplement their income, Giovanni would sponsor young men from Italy to come to Australia. These gentlemen would live with our family at Callana avenue until they found their own accommodation. So, mum had lots of cooking and washing to do as well as garden work.

Dad had lots of daughters and I think he had the idea that when one of his daughters was of marrying age, he would sponsor some young men from his village in Italy for the purpose and hope that they would be suitable for his daughters and it worked as few of my sisters married these ‘boarders’ from Italy that lived with them.

My mother died in 1960 and that was a big blow to all of us. In 1964 dad subdivided the land at Callana avenue and used the money to buy 10 acres at Waterloo Corner, Salisbury. Giovanni built a house and sheds at Waterloo Corner and one of my sisters and her family lived there until she passed away. It was exhausting for Giovanni and the children travelling every day from Callana Avenue to Waterloo Corner to work but eventually we got accustomed to it.

In 1967 or 1969 Giovanni returned to Italy to visit one of his daughters who married in Australia, only to then immigrate to Italy to live with her in-laws – Jean is still there in Spineda to this day.

My brothers John and Fred continued to work the land at Waterloo Corner. Giovanni died in 1974 aged 75 years old. John retired at the end of 2021. Today, John, Rosa, Bruna, and Mary are living in Australia and Jean lives in Italy.

Our family home at Callana Avenue was eventually demolished around 2001. My son recycled some of the jarrah wooden floor joists and floorboards and made a table and coffee table as family keepsakes.

 

Rosa Parletta (nee Balestrin)
8 May 2022

 

 

In Part 2 of her blog, Irene Zampin writes about her experience of school, training and working life in Italy after she went to live in Italy with her parents and brother in 1967.

As I already mentioned in Part 1, it was rather hard for me to get used to the new way of living in Italy. We arrived in Riese Pio X in June 1967 and immediately went to live in our uncle’s house. My uncle owned a bakery and

fortunately was well off and that meant that he had a toilet in the house.
Certainly, it was a shock for me since I had never seen a Turkish toilet and did not know how to deal with it but the choice was that or the stable! What I really enjoyed during my stay there was those hot bread rolls with Nutella that my aunt would prepare for me.

It didn’t take me long to make friends since I immediately got along with my cousins who were around my age and since everybody knew everyone in the village, in a short time I met other cousins and friends that lived nearby. They were all very nice to me and most curious to know how it was in America (that’s how they use to call Australia). Riese wasn’t a big town in those days and most of the old people were farmers. The children of my age would attend the compulsory schooling and then go to work since there still was poverty in some families.

As days went by, I realized that Italy wasn’t what I imagined and that life here was absolutely different from Australia. The girls of my age were much more free and would go out by themselves without having problems with their parents whilst I had to beg them and then explain all my movements. My parents were surprised to see the rapid evolution in Italy and found it hard to adjust to the Italian way of living. This caused me lots of tears and loneliness.

I became a problem for my parents. My brother, Dennis, who was 10 years old, immediately settled in but what could Irene do?  To know English was a great advantage for me because it was needed for business in those years, 1960/1970 and not many people spoke it correctly. The problem was: my Italian. I had no real experience with the Italian language. I spoke a mixture of Veneto dialect with Italianized English words in between. What a mess!  Every town in Italy has their dialect and it could completely change in every region so you need to know Italian, especially for business with other countries.

After we arrived I immediately started to have private Italian lessons for the few months before school. The term began in September and I was enrolled in 2^nd year at Riese Secondary School for a few months and then passed into 3^rd year at the end of the school year.

I used to go to school by foot whilst my brother could easily get a ride on a cart pulled by a donkey; certainly not suitable for a young teenager as I was! This year was so embarrassing for me since I was 2 years older than my classmates and I looked bigger since I was rather tall and chubby. They often made fun of me and I had to put up with their teasing. It was certainly a sad period for me and at 15 years old, life seemed to be most miserable. Certainly, this school was nothing like St. Joseph’s: no nuns, no marching, no tuck shop, no close friends, etc. But fortunately there was no milk break!

Finally, school ended in June 1968 – yet I still needed to improve my Italian and reluctantly I had to continue my studies for another three years (1968 to 1971) at Castelfranco Veneto, at the “Besta” Secretary Institute.

To reach the school I used to catch a bus with my Canadian friend who was also attending the same course. All the way along we loved chatting in English and this made us feel smarter. My classmates loved my Italian with an English accent and often would imitate me in a friendly way. It was worthwhile being my friend as I was valuable to them since I often corrected their English homework.

I was doing well with my school subjects but still my Italian wasn’t enough good. More than once I had to write my Italian tests in English because my teacher had the doubt whether it was a question of language or ignorance.  Fortunately, the problem was then resolved by our headmaster who was also our English teacher. At this point, I must say that during these three years I received a lot of help and passed my Italian tests satisfactorily.

Even if these extra years of study were tough, at the end they helped me to find a good job as an interpreter at Simmel Spa situated in Castelfranco Veneto. The principle manufacture was track chains and other parts necessary for tractors, such as Caterpillar, John Deere, etc. These were mostly exported to the USA, Canada, Germany, and other countries.

I enjoyed my job for 29 years and had the chance to meet other international people. Just a small anecdote: In 1976 I was pregnant with my first child and guess who replaced me when I was on maternity leave? Elizabeth Pastro, another Australian friend who had been born in Adelaide, and whose parents had returned to live in Riese in 1969. Elizabeth also worked in the same factory for many years and it was thanks to our English that we were both employed for a long time.

 

The hard part of my early time in Italy was to talk about my problems and feelings. I thought none of my friends could understand since they were all Italian native-born. When writing to my sister I often had the instinct to tell her how I really felt here but then I could imagine how she also felt without her family nearby and I didn’t want to create problems for her.  I must say that I cried a lot over Australia and it took me years to go beyond this homesickness.

Still now, people understand that I’m not an Italian native because of my English accent. Well, I am proud that I still remain an Australian citizen.

Irene Zampin
17 April 2022

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Easter greetings to you all! The next blog will be published on 8 May 2022.

 

In this blog, and the next one, Irene Zampin writes about her memories of school years in Adelaide and in Italy after her parents returned to live in Riese Pio X in 1967. Irene’s parents had a market garden on Valetta Road. Today Irene lives in Caselle di Altivole with her husband, Giuliano Berdusco. Their children and families live close to them.

Even if sixty years have quickly passed by, I still remember some events that occurred at St. Joseph’s Primary, Captain Cook Avenue, Flinders Park where most of the Italian market gardeners’ children attended school.

I often used to get up early in the morning so I could participate at Mass celebrated in Flinders Park parish church. My intention was to save African babies. This meant that our teacher would put a small black coloured baby doll on a board where my name was aligned with the names of other students. The more baby dolls we could put on the board the better we would be. Unfortunately, I often used to faint during Mass since I never had breakfast before attending Mass which was either at 7:00 or 7:30 am.

I remember walking to school, and on the way, I used to pass by Tony Mercurio’s home where his mother would sometimes call me in and invite me to have breakfast with her children. What a nice fragrance of heaps of toasted bread. Delicious with butter and then dipped in a cup of milk with coffee. On our way to school, besides Tony and his sister Grace, the Girolamo kids joined us.

I still haven’t forgotten that disgusting milk that we had to drink during recess time. It was in a triangular cardboard container that certainly had gone bad since it was in the sun all morning. I still don’t drink milk (if not in a cup of cappuccino) since that time in my childhood.

Certainly, lunch time for the Italian children was either salami, tuna, egg or fritz sandwiches. Rarely did we buy those delicious vegetable pasties or meat pies from the tuck shop.  During recess I remember playing Pigeon Toe, All Over, Red Rover, Telephone, Blind Man’s Bluff etc.

Beside our school lessons we also had to clean our classrooms and rather well or else, Sister Perpetua (who doesn’t remember her?) would test her bamboo duster on our knuckles.

I think that my school mates also remember sweet Sister Luke, ready to encourage us. Our Saturday basketball games were also most enjoyable especially when we used to win against the other teams that came from the other part of the town and that we considered “snobs”.

On our way back home from school, it was a pleasure to pick up some of those huge carrots from the heaps that Mr. Zerrella would line up near the road ready for the market. Certainly, he wasn’t that happy. A stop at Adami’s delicatessen was usual. Those delicious kitchen buns and cream buns are still in my mind. (Unfortunately, they were hard to find on my trip back to Australia in 1999/2000).

The trip by bus to St. Joseph’s High School at Hindmarsh sometimes wasn’t so pleasant for some of us Italians since other Australian students used to make fun of us. Besides this, we all had to be on alert if we saw a prefect nearby whose task was to supervise the student’s behavior and if their uniform was not complete with hat/beret and gloves, she would refer them to the school principal. Our school principal was Sister Anne, most severe. I still remember the music she used to put on the disc player when we had to march into the classrooms. First whistle: get ready, second whistle: in line, third whistle: march in.

What I enjoyed at High School was Sports Day under Mrs. Walker’s leadership, which wasn’t that easy. At those events our mothers used to sell bright red toffee apples, slices of marshmallow and chocolate crackles. What surprises we would find in those small packages during the raffle!

Unforgettable were the concerts. Days and days of singing rehearsals and finally the concert where we were all dressed up like princesses with white gowns and glittery crowns on our heads. Unforgettable and wonderful years.

1967 was my last year of school and I was rather melancholic since I knew that I had to leave for Italy. It would have been hard for me to forget the girls with whom I had laughed and enjoyed my school days.  I would certainly have missed them all.

My father had taken the decision to return to Italy in 1966, after he was hospitalized and realized then that he couldn’t get along with his English.  Even if his heart was always tied to Italy, it was tough for both my parents since my sister Teresa had in the meantime got married to Louie Mazzarolo.

In May 1967, my parents, Nico and Delia Zampin, my brother Dennis and I left for Italy leaving my sister Teresa in Australia.  During my trip I had a good time on the “Achille Lauro” and didn’t have the time to think of what I was going forward to.

It didn’t take me long to understand how much I missed my sister and my friends and what a hard time I was going forward to in Italy. At that stage I felt very unhappy and lonely and realized that my school years were not yet over due to the difficulties I met with the language and with the new environment. Therefore, I had to deal with more years of school studies in Italy and I longed for the years I passed in Australia.

 

All photos provided by Irene.

Irene Zampin
3 April 2022