The blog has become an important way of sharing information about Veneto identity in Australia. The market gardeners who arrived in the 1920s have been a large focus of the blogs. In this blog you’ll have the opportunity to read some of the blogs written since 2019.
The feature photo is a wonderful image of the community of Veneto families who began living and working on the market gardens between the wars in the area they called ‘Lockleys’ and their extended network of family and friends. The photo was taken in the mid 1950s on one of the family market gardens and was supplied by Terry Mazzarolo nee Zampin.
Each of the families have been represented in biographies which you can read on the website where you can also access the oral history interviews and read transcripts of interviews. I’ve heard recently that it has been a positive experience for some relatives to listen to the interviews recorded with their loved ones who have since died. The photos are a great way to understand the interactions, daily life and special occasions in the lives of families. In this way the blog is an archive.
The National Library
In 2015, the National Library of Australia (NLA) added the Veneto market gardeners’ website to their digital collection of websites that have significant cultural value.
The NLA preserves the selected websites in its web archive called PANDORA – (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia) for the future and takes a screenshot each year.
The PANDORA web archive documents the history and culture of Australia and the Australian people. There is now a record of views of the Veneto market gardeners’ website taken each year for nine years.
You can see a screenshot that was taken for PANDORA on 12 April 2021:
Click here to access the PANDORA link to the website
SOME EXAMPLES OF BLOGS SINCE 2019
In January 2020, in a blog about the ways that Veneto families in Adelaide celebrated the beginning of a new year, excerpts from several oral history interviews provide insight into different people’s memories of the annual event at St Kilda:
Many guest bloggers have written about their families and their migration story.
For example, Christine Rebellato nee Mattiazzo wrote about her family’s Christmas customs in December 2021:
In her blog in May 2022, Aida Innocente reflected on her visit to her parents’ village, Caselle di Altivole:
In September 2023, Diana Panazzolo nee Santin wrote about her family’s food traditions:
The blogs open up the experiences of different families and the ways that they reflect on their Veneto heritage. In the next few months more guests will contribute stories about their families and their history of migration to Australia. Please let me know if you would like to add your family story to the archive on this website.
Madeleine Regan
2 June 2024