Veneto market gardeners 1927

This is the first of two blogs about Italian boarding houses in Adelaide.

There is a long tradition of newly arrived Italian migrants finding their first accommodation in boarding houses owned by Italian families. This was the case in Australia and other countries such as America, Canada, Argentina and Brazil where Italians emigrated during the 19^th century.

In Melbourne in 1890s, Carlton was known as an area of boarding houses for Italians who, at the time, were mostly single men. In Lismore in northern New South Wales the numbers of Italian men grew through chain migration and boarding houses were the solution to accommodation problems after their arrival. In Port Pirie where many Molfettese lived, boarding houses were established as early as 1909.

Adelaide boarding houses for Italians in the 1920s-1930s

In a chapter of a book about veneti in Australia, Des O’Connor wrote about the boarding houses run by Italians in the west end of Adelaide from the 1920s. He explained that they were an important place for new migrants who were mostly single men to find their feet when they arrived. The boarding houses offered board and lodgings at a reasonable price and also had a family kind of atmosphere where people could speak Italian, eat Italian food, exchange news and in the first weeks find out about how to make a living in Australia.

In the late 1920s when the Veneto pioneer market gardeners arrived in Adelaide, unemployment had started to rise because of the Depression. Giovanni Amadio from the province of Ascoli Piceno in the Marche region arrived by himself in 1927 leaving behind his wife and child who joined him in 1932. After arriving in Adelaide, he stayed in a boarding house at 57 North Terrace. He recalled in his memoir that he lived with 47 other Italians and they were all unemployed.

Through the records of the National Archives of Australia, we know that many pioneers stayed in boarding houses in the west end of the city. Several of the Veneto men gave addresses in either Hindley Street or Currie Street. Lina Rismondo nee Marchioro was born in 1927 in a boarding house in Hindley Street. Her parents moved a few times when they found cheaper accommodation in other boarding houses before they went to their market garden on Frogmore Road.

In 1929, owners of three Italian boarding houses were named by the Adelaide City Council. Elizabeth Bazzica had a boarding house at 228 Hindley Street and Lorenzo Albino Dalla Valle and his wife Antonia Reato, both from Sovramonte, Belluno owned a boarding house and a grocery store at 264 Hindley Street. They catered especially for people who worked in the mines at Broken Hill where they had lived for some time. The third boarding house was at 213 Currie Street owned by Raymond Balestrin. Seven Veneto pioneer market gardeners gave that address in their landing papers between September 1927 and January 1928: Antonio, Isidoro and Giuseppe Ballestrin, Angelo Piovesan, Giovanni Santin, Secondo Tonellato and Silvano Zampin.

Networks formed in the boarding  houses

I believe it was through the networks in the boarding houses that the Veneto market gardeners met each other and spread the word that there was land could be leased to grow vegetables in the Lockleys area near the River Torrens. Not all the veneti knew each other before they came to Adelaide. But they would have come in contact with different veneti when they lived in the same boarding house or in another one close by in the west end of the city. By the end of the 1930s, there were eleven different market gardens in the Lockleys area run by veneti.

 

Information for this blog gathered from:

• Joe Amadio, An Immigrant’s Story (1997)
• Loretta Baldassar and Ros Pesman – From Paesani to Global Citizens: Veneto Migrants in Australia (2005)
• Desmond O’Connor – “No Need to be Afraid”: Italian Settlers in South Australia between 1839 and the Second World War (1996)
• Desmond O’Connor – “Club e Associazioni dei Veneti nel South Australia” in Segafreddo & O’Brien (eds.) Veneti d’Australia (2005).

For information in National Archives of Australia (NAA) records – you can look up the names of individuals and find digitised files for the Veneto market gardeners: Click here to access NAA.

Madeleine Regan
21 February 2021

 

On Saturday 16 January 2021, a group of about 40 people met in the Mater Christi hall at Seaton. They were relatives and friends of the Veneto market gardener families. The pioneers established their market gardens in the1930s in the area they used to call ‘Lockleys’ near the River Torrens now known as Kidman Park and Flinders Park.

This was the first gathering we had held since the Corona-19 pandemic. Representatives of eight pioneer families were present and enjoyed the slideshow of 250 photos of people in the Veneto market gardener community. Families have given permission to use the photos and you can view them in the Gallery section under each of the Pioneer families on the website.

It was lovely to see so many people of different ages. The eldest guest was Johnny Tormena aged 93 years and the youngest was 12-year-old, Clara Belperio who came with her 14-year-old sister, Madeline. They accompanied their grandparents, Lina and Lui Campagnaro. Madeline and Clara are great-granddaughters of Narciso and Maria Ballestrin. They were able to learn a little about the history of the community of the Veneto market gardeners and they also met up with Ballestrin relatives. Laura and Belinda Piovesan, daughters of Bruno and Graziella, were also present and spoke to me about their interest in family history. It was good to welcome Alessia Basso from the Next Gen group of the Veneto Club and members of Trevisani nel Mondo.

The focus of the formal part of the afternoon was the Veneto market gardeners’ website – what can be found on its family pages and how the website can be maintained in the future.

A special feature of the website is the opportunity to listen to the interviews recorded with members of the community who remembered life on the market gardens from the 1940s to the 1980s. Linda Zamperin nee Tonellato told the gathering that when one of her grandchildren said that she could remember what her nonno, Albert Tonellato looked like but was not able to remember his voice. Linda took her granddaughter to the computer and played the recording of the interview with Albert which had been recorded in 2008.

In his interview, Albert remembers what it was like in Italy before the family was reunited with his father, Secondo, in Adelaide in 1935. He also gives details of life on Frogmore Road, the market gardens, family life and holidays. If you listen to Albert’s interview, you could also hear the recording with Mary made on the same day in 2008. In addition, on the Tonellato family page, you’ll find interviews recorded with Lino Tonellato and Adrian Tonellato and Assunta Giovannini nee Tonellato. Sandra Conci nee Santin also shares information about her Tonellato grandparents in her interview which you’ll find on the Santin family page.

At the gathering, the participants assisted with identifying people in photographs. Christine Rebellato nee Mattiazzo had found some photos recently in her father’s collection and it was fun to listen to the many voices who joined in the processes of detecting who were the people in the photos.

Angelo Piovesan also presented to the gathering. He spoke about his appreciation of the website and what he has learned about the Veneto community of market gardeners through reading transcripts of interviews and blogs about different families. He explained that it has become like an archive of the history of the community and that it was important to maintain it into the future.

As usual the catering was wonderful! Thank you to everyone who brought food. Thanks also to the people who assisted with the arrangements, Anna Mechis, Marie Sloan and Kay Lochiel.

 

 

Variety makes the range of blogs more interesting and it would be great if more people could contribute blogs. This year you can expect to read a range of different blogs – about Veneto families – and I know that two people who will write about the customs of making wine and making salami. Please contact me if you would like to write a blog in 2021.

Madeleine Regan
All photos: courtesy Alex Bennett
24 January 2021