Date of birth: 25 January 1928
Arrived in Australia: 28 November 1958
Occupation: Spray Painter, Housewife, Machinist
I went to school until I was twelve years old, I did form one. Then I stopped because dad was an invalid. He had worked for many years in the mines – he even went to America but the mines caused dust to settle on his lungs and he always suffered from bronchitis and couldn’t work any more, so I stopped going to school and went to work. At first I worked in the fields and then when I turned fourteen I went to work in a little factory there, a wood work factory and in this way I was happy to be able to bring something home to mum. Then the war came and they had to close down.
When the war was over I went to work in another factory, a furniture factory. I painted, it’s what they call here spray painting. I worked there until I was almost thirty years old when I came out here.
You know what it’s like. I worked so much and I never had any money. To have nothing! I had a friend who was married here in Australia and she used to write to me, and told me, ‘You Cristina, you can do so many things, if you come here, you’ll have a little money over.’ And so I was attracted and she sponsored me out. God, breaking away was terrible, poor mum. My father said, ‘I won’t see you again’. Mum said, ‘Come back’, you know, ‘Come back’. ‘Yes, yes I’ll be back, in two years mum, I’ll be back in two years time’.
This is a long time ago. I would have been fourteen, fifteen years old. On Sundays we would go on bike excursions in the mountains to gather wild flowers. The wild flower has a particular perfume and on these occasions we would bring home these bouquets and you’d put them on the table and they would scent these minute kitchens. That’s how we used to spend our Sundays.
This is Mt. Cengio. We used to find rhododendrons here. This mountain has very few plants on it. Peiople used to say that, during the 1915-1918 war in Italy, when the Austrians were advancing, a group of Italian grenadiers threw themselves down from this huge rock onto the valley below. They jumped some three, four thousand fee, they all chose death rather than give themselves up to the Austrians. There is a plaque there now, there’s a block like a marble column. I believe they have also built a little church there now.
They are great memories.
Asiago is a nice little town, at one time there were many outlying wards but now it has become one united little city. Now it has some 20,000 inhabitants. Asiago had a couple of industries but it is known mainly for its cheese.
There’s a huge war memorial also. When the King, [Vittorio Emanuele III], and the Duce, [Benito Mussolini], came to inaugurate this monument they labelled the city, ‘the highest and the brightest city in Italy’.
Asiago is a tourist town because it is at 1,000 metres above sea level and is surrounded by many pine trees. The pine forest is good for your health because it emits resin. In winter there is lots of snow and the skiing attracts many tourists.
In winter it was very cold, the temperature would drop to 20, 25, 30 degrees below zero, but then we were young we didn’t feel the cold. Now that I am old, and here, there’s no snow, I’m always cold.
In my town – it would have been many years ago, I can’t remember the date but it’s written on a stone, there was a great plague epidemic. The story that was passed down through the years says that in front of this church a large hole was dug and all the plague victims were thrown in. So as not to spread the disease, since it was contagious, they used to cover them with lime. The church is just before you enter the first forest just outside the town. So every year, they had a great rogation with the procession, mass, we’d sing hymns and we’d just spend the day like that. The event is called the great Asiago Rogation and they call the place the Lazaretto.
Since this event always falls on the Saturday before the Ascension, when we were young you’d have someone decorate an egg and offer it to the boy you liked best, you’d also exchange the eggs with friends. If you wanted them to be decorated well, there was a woman in town, a painter, who’d decorate them with a rock climber or two hearts, you know, or something romantic or something sporty or whatever you wanted to express.
When I arrive dhere, oh the desolation. I had no one except this friend. I went to school for a while to learn English and that’s where I met my husband. It was then that life, the suffering became bearable.
I started work in February I think it was, I was a spray painter in a factory in Brunswick. I worked there until my third child was born, then I wstopped because I was soon pregnant again with the fourth and I didn’t return to work until he started school. In the Brunswick local newspaper, The Sentinel, I saw that they were advertising part-time work at Kortex. For two years I’d take the child to school but then when the oldest girl was old enough to take charge of the younger ones I went back to full time work. That was ten years ago and I’m still there.
I returned to Italy fifteen years after my arrival and again two years ago. It was lovely. I had that desire to stay with mum. That was the best holiday of my life. I spent all my time with mum. Now she’s gone, poor thing. Even if I did want to return to settle now, the enthusiasm is gone. I think my life now is here, in Australia with my children.
Source: ‘1985. Brunswick City Council. For a better life we came’. Collected and edited by the Brunswick Oral History Project. Copies available for lending and sale at Moreland City Libraries (Brunswick) ph 9389 8600. Images taken after 1955 are available in the print publication. Original images available in exhibition boxes in storage at Brunswick Library.