Jacqueline Bawtree

BRISBANE ITALIAN PORTRAIT | IN ASSOCIATION WITH ITALIAN WEEK 2014

An exploration of stories from members of Brisbane’s Italian community and families who settled in Australia during the 20th century.  The images explore the impact their heritage and the immigrant experience of their extended family has had on their personal and vocational lives.  Conducted in association with Italian Week 2014 and exhibited at the Sofitel Hotel Written stories for each subject were also included in an Italian Week website collection in 2014. Excerpts below. Full stories available on request.

Growing up in North Queensland, Salvatore’s mother Ellena was a seamstress, his father a baker by day a watchmaker by night. Seeing his Italian Australian parent’s working at their crafts meant Salvatore knew it was an acceptable career path to make and create independently. On leaving school he wanted to become a commercial artist however his deeply traditional father wouldn’t allow him to leave home unless he was married and the course he wanted to do was 2000 kilometres away in Brisbane. Instead he commenced a local apprenticeship to become a cabinet maker. Halfway through his training, the family moved to Brisbane. Completing his apprenticeship, he went on to teach his craft, while continuing his studies towards a Bachelor of Arts. He eventually became a senior lecturer in design at the Queensland College of Arts. Now a respected ceramic artist he has explored an interest between the built environment and history. Salvatore’s exemplary art practice today sees him working primarily in three-dimensional pieces with materials including a return to his cabinetmaker roots with timber.

Da: la Sicilia

Dominique’s father Vincent boarded the ship ‘Aurelia’ on a thirty-five day voyage to Australia at the age of 20 in 1961, in the hope that that emigration might provide better opportunities. Disembarking in Melbourne where he found his first job , it was on a visit to Brisbane for a friends wedding that he met his Australian wife at the old dance hall, Cloudland.

Dominque visited Italy for the first time at the age of three with her family. At the farm of her uncle she first remembers seeing the process of pigs being butchered and meat prepared. It was the start point of a lifelong fascination with simple, fresh food. While the family visited again throughout her childhood, it was a trip to Sicily while on her gap year after high school, when she felt a distinct connection with her Italian roots. She remembers watching the cutting of pigs for the bleed and the process of using every part of the animal. From the kitchen’s of her Zia and Nonna she picked vegetables, collected eggs, rolled the polpette, stirred the pasta and arranged the fruits. She recalls the abundance and generosity of the tables, from those with so little, yet willing to share everything. Dominique continues to share her love of Italian food through her cooking and food tours back to her father’s homeland.

Da: la Sicilia

When Carmela was 18 she met Vincenzo di Maggio at Carnevale. He was a little older than her at 25. They quickly fell in love and wanted to marry but the families weren’t supportive. So they ran away and eloped. When they returned to their town, they had to be married in a church to make things right.

Carmela was six months pregnant with her first daughter when she flew from Italy to Australia on Air India, as she and Vincenzo sought better opportunities. The journey took three days. By day Vincenzo worked on the Queensland railway system, looking after the signalling relay. By night and on the weekends, along with Carmela, they began to develop a small business, manufacturing timber lamp stands under their first home in Brunswick Street in The Valley, before moving to a bigger home in New Farm. Carmela became involved in events like ‘Miss Primavera’, a beauty contest to raise money for other new arrivals from Italy. She and Vincenzo spoke no English; day-to-day life was their only language school.

Their lamps proved so popular that they went on to build a factory in Fortitude Valley, employing 20 staff and attracting key customers like Myer, David Jones, Waltons, and Olsen & Goodchap.

Da: la Sicilia

Both of Robert’s grandfathers, left their respective homes in the Abruzzo to seek new opportunities for their families. They were unknown to each other as they came from different towns. Travelling ahead of their families by seas, they came armed with nothing more than optimism and an unstoppable work ethic. They both found work on the Roma Street train tunnel before moving to the north Queensland cane fields to continue to grow their savings so they could bring their families out to Australia.

Family tradition still runs strong through the three generations of Robert Cavalluci’s family. Every Monday night he and his two brothers with their wives and children, still gather at his mother’s home to share a meal together. And each year, when tomatoes are abundant, the extended family gathers together for giorno di passata di pomodoro - tomato day - where they make passatta to last them until the next season. They no longer pick the tomatoes themselves but order them in from the growing regions. Their methods have modernised with devices such as the tomato crusher, but they maintain the core skills and traditions inherent to a rich family history.

Da: Il Abruzzo

Luigi’s father, Ivo, arrived in Australia at the age of 20. He began working in manufacturing, working seven days a week and doing two jobs. Four years after arriving he met 17 year old Antonietta - a seamstress - who had arrived in Australia with her family at the age of 12.

They married and opened a butcher’s shop: Ivo bringing with him the salami techniques his father had taught him. They began making salami, hanging it in the laundry to dry, the only space available in their small home. As the reputation of their salami grew, they were approached by an investor - Signor Lago. The business expanded to 40 staff but after a holiday to Queensland with their young family they decided to move north and sold the business. In 1966 they opened what would become the also popular Borgo Smallgoods in Holland Park in 1966 which his son Luigi now owns and runs.

Luigi regularly returns to Italy where his elderly Zio and Zia continue to live and work on the farm that his father grew up on in the region of Veneto in north Eastern Italy. Luigi admires the functionality of subsistence farming: how one pig can be the traditional protein source for a family for a whole year thanks to the different ways of curing the meat. From the freshest option eaten first - the sausage - to the cacciatore, the salami, the pancetta and the prosciutto.

Da: il Veneto

When Elio’s family moved to Australia from Calabria in the early 1970s, his father - Sebastiano - brought with him experience in earthmoving and guaranteed work in Brisbane. The family was originally from Sicily but had followed Sebastiano around Italy depending on where he found work. For nine year old Elio, this seemed to be just another move, the difference this time being that it involved a plane and a long flight, with many fuel stops along the way.

Elio recalls arriving at Brisbane Airpot in suits, ties and jackets, having left Italy in the cooler days of early Spring. Sweltering under all these layers after landing in a tropical Queensland autumn, they were met by cousins in shirts, shorts and flip flops.

At the age of 22 he made his first trip back to Italy since the family had emigrated in 1973. Planning to be away six weeks, he finally returned after nine months with ideas for a retail store, inspired by the Italian street style he had seen. Elio opened his flagship store - Elio Moda - in the Wintergarden in 1988. It has since relocated to Elizabeth Street.

Elio considers what you wear should not be about fashion and fads, but about creating personal style as an act of self-expression.

Da: la Sicilia