I'm a little younger than the subjects of this film (I started primary school in 1978) and I think I had it slightly easier, however the stories are very familiar. Thanks for putting this together, you've done a great job. Massive thanks and respect to the generations that left their homeland in search of a better life for their families.
Salve! My name is Valentino, 60 , from Sydney. I was born in Australia to Italian parents , Mamma Abruzzese, Papà Veneto, both now deceased (RIP) . My Papà came out in 1955 , Mamma in 1962 and I was born in ‘65. I can relate to everything here except the siblings, I’m an only child. Your video made me laugh and cry remembering all those times I had growing up. I just wanted to say thank you for making it , it was fantastic, grazie! My mamma was born in Casoli in 1928, then the family bought their own property and moved to Fara Filiorum Petri which are both not that far from Tocco da Casauria! 😊 Btw , I was allowed a dog! 😜 although we had chickens , ducks, rabbits etc. that all got eaten! 🤣
Every migrant from Italy have similar experiences, we all came with nothing, worked hard, no government assistance just sheer blood sweat and tears got us where we are today. We all became proud Australians and contributed as much as possible. Thank you Australia. From the Veneto region
A big thankyou to the many Italian immigrants especially my parents who had the courage to come to Australia with only a suitcase in hand, no language or support but a hell of a lot of sweat and determination. You helped make this country great and a safe place for us to grow up with many opportunities, forever grateful. God bless them all.
I am a child of Scottish and English migrants , they were given a ministry housing , in the street was Italians and Greeks . We all grew up together shared all our cultures, even to this day we are all family . 🐨💗
I thoroughly enjoyed this! What a gift you’ve given us. My mum came as a “war bride” she met my dad in Egypt, fell in love, married & came here! My mother spoke 7 languages!! Yet my nanna (Aussie) told her to leave all that “wog” stuff back “there!” It was only many years later that I found out about this. Naturally I wasn’t happy. Because of nanna, none of us had the benefit of hearing & learning anything other than English. What a miserable waste of the gifts my Mum had to give us. We did hear Mum speak either Greek, Bulgarian or French when talking to her parents (they’d come to Australia) who lived in Sydney where my aunt also lived. Both daughters married Australians. Mum would also use a hybrid language when speaking with my “aunt” who was actually a friend. It was a smattering of English, Greek, Bulgarian, French, Arabic, Italian & German moving seamlessly through them to find the “right word”. They arrived 28 December 1945 (I was born 7 years later on that date, today I turned 72). Tragically my Dad perished (also 3 other men) fighting a bushfire on 2 January 1958. Mum was now widowed with 8 children aged from 11 months to 12 years. Mum worked, kept a garden, chopped wood, cooked (oh how she cooked ♥️) made our clothes, worked 10am - 2pm x 5 days/week. We almost always had an extra 1-3 people at our dinner table. We never went without. Mum was the one who went without - she never ever complained. So, after all ⬆️ your film reignited so many wonderful memories. Thank you ♥️
Complimenti...reliving the past....and reminiscing!!!!How can we continue some of the past adventures....I am a part of Ascolta....we write stories about living here and including how the past has influenced our lives...I keep alive some traditions....esp.la passata and we do have fun and now the little ones ask about...passata day!!!!Also as 6yr old translater I translated the name Filomena as Mary because I did not want her to suffer because of her name! Thanks so much for all the shared memories....they will help the memories live on!!!!😊
Italian immigrants were not like country shopping freeloaders that came over these days who leech off welfare and do no work, Italians worked hard for a better life. respect.
Yes, while our parents worked hard to create a future for themselves and their children, they were still subjected to racism. We now have a responsibility not to repeat the same racism towards more recently arrived migrants.
Wonderful doco - brings back so many memories of family and cousins and the socialising - we were of modest means but wealthy in the love and experiences we shared - the saddest part over the years as I got older was seeing older relatives and parents pass away and that link they had to their generation
Thank you so much for making this awesome film, it’s wonderful to hear all those wonderful stories of growing up as first generation Australian. Stories that are so true to my heart. ❤️
Just finished watching the documentary , I don't have the words to describe how it made me feel. Other than at the moment i feel very emotional. I can sense the growing up Italian experience in every fibre in my being. The sound, smell, the movement, the language (dialect) and the strong prescence of my grandparents. Thank You for the documentary
That was brilliant and clearly a lot of work went into to it. Was such a great watch - I’d have been one of those Aussie kids willing to trade their lunch for an Italian lunch that’s for sure
Really enjoyed your video. I'm an Anglo-saxon Aussie and have always embraced our Italian communities and loved what you have brought to our way of life. Many thanks. P.S. without you all I would never have experienced a real handmade Italian grandma gnocci.
Beautiful!! Mum & dad from basilicta they came to Sydney story exactly the same. How I miss those days. Even though when growing up wanted to be an "Aussie" This documentary really pulled at my heart strings thank you very much & buon anno a tutti ❤
What a great document! It deserves to be collected by the Aust Film and Sound Archive, or the Museum of Immigration in Melbourne. I grew up in Australia in the 60s. My parents came out in mid 50s from Trieste. This film rang a lot of bells. Despite the regional variations among Italians themselves, our experiences as children of migrants seem to have been ubiquitously similar.
This documentary should win a prize. It's exceptional. Congratulations on the outstanding work put into this collection of recounts. I am so impressed by all your speakers.
Che bel film! I owe a huge amount to my grandfather who came over from a little village in the south of Italy called Pago Veiano. He created a great life here in South Australia for himself and brought his siblings and parents over some years later. I completely understand his reasons for leaving Italy, but after visiting the family that remained there 2 times in the past 2 years, I now understand why the culture remained in his heart and home. He was proud to call himself Italian, but he was as proud to be an Australian and have a life that only Australia could provide. Grazie per le storie. Buon lavoro 👍
Anni fa era un bel paese. Ora i politici sono ridicoli, i prezzi degli immobili sono fuori da ogni logica. (Sydney e Melbourne sono tra le prime 10 città più costose nel mondo). Costo della vita è assurdo, e alcune zone di Melbourne assomigliano a Mumbai e Bombay. Solo per citarne alcuni.
❤❤❤👏👏👏👏👏 bravo 👍 I loved this so much that I shared this with so many of my family and friends❤️❤️❤️❤️am sure they too will enjoy this production. Will there be more like this one? But of other immigrants and their journey over here. We are Chilean who flew out here, my parents paid their own way here and sold all their belongings in Chile. So we arrived in Sydney and they ended up going to work in King Valley in country Victoria, where the farms were run by Italians, so dad who had Sicilian ancestory, was able to get along well and mum learnt Italian! Hard life but the country was something mum and dad loved, after living in noisy Santiago which was like New York. I grew up with Italian kids, running around free to ride our bikes and then we could grab whatever fruit was growing, slice a watermelon into 4 pieces and share it. Am still in contact with them today! I loved the stories shared in this production but look forward to the next one❤️❤️❤️
I came across this video this evening I started listening to it. I really can relate to it. I am Canadian born in Canada in 1954 from immigrant parents from Italy. When I was growing up in Toronto we only had only Italian friends. I also remember that I could not speak English when I started school and the nuns kept me back. Your documentary is incredible. The Canadian and Australia Italian immigrants went through the same experience. We felt that we lived in two different worlds but we survived. Congratulations on your documentary.
Family, hardwork, resilience and humour that's why Italians have thrived since first arriving 60+ years ago. I heard no complaining or hinting about being a victim. Btw the women towards the end discussing high expections of children's behaviour when visiting people let me assure you that wasn't unique to Italians. I'm 5th generation Aussie of English background and had the same strict rules.
Great stories that most ethnics of that era can relate to. The picnic story I can so relate to - especially when we went to the beach but our grandparents didn't want us going in the water for fear of us drowning. Those were the simple days :)
I remember before school we used have expresso and egg with sugar, 'uovo misto'... we were always surrounded by family. I didn't understand much English until I went to school. I really wanted to be a Aussie, here I am 50+ and now I can truly appreciate the Italian culture. Sundays is my cooking day. It connects me to the old ways. Our pets were goats, rabbits, chickens, quals in the end we would eat It. . Lucky language - latin is great, you will understand Spanish, Portuguese, Mexican just adjust your hearing and you'll understand it, alot of words are similar. I am born in Australia but if you were to ask me what I am I would say I'm Italian. #calabrisellamia
As a kid I grew up in Collingwood, Fitzroy, Richmond and Northcote in the late 60s/70s. My Aunt owned the milkbar in Kent Street Richmond, it's also where my grandparents lived. I was a kid of Greek migrants and I thought that Greeks and Italians were the main ethnic groups in Australia. I was babysat by an Italian family so as a kid my 3rd language was English... Great days. Unfortunately my Italian is almost non existent nowadays, but I still order food like an Italian
Great Documentary. I was born in Scotland and we had a large Italian migration community who lived there. So I feel we had a lot in common and that is music. We call them Scots Italians. My late father in law was Polish. So I can relate to the pig and the veggies 😂 Thank you 👌🙏🏴🇦🇺
Tank you so much for this delightful film. My mum's family migrated from the Netherlands in 1951 when mum was 11 and she was basically Australianised before she met and married my dad. Dad was a career soldier, so we had little contact with either side of the family a lot of the time. My mum's older sister stayed on the Central Coast and almost totally divorced herself from a lot of her early life. My brother and I never learnt Dutch as a language or a culture, but we knew what Gouda and all those fancy, swanky cheeses- not the "Kraft Bluey" in the cardboard box on the shelf with the Vegemite- and funny delicatessen meats were twenty years before most of the rest of the country.
Just how good were our Italian migrants? They contributed so much and have risen to the top in every strata of society - law, health, politics and science.
Just finished watching. I’m not Italian, descendant of a convict, and thought this terrific. Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone, loved it. I am, however, married to a Romanian (2nd marriage), she recently sent me home from Adelaide to Sydney by plane with 20kgs of egg plant in my suitcase because it was a quarter the price of back home. So I’m not totally unexposed to the whole Latino thing. Would you like some more? No Sweetheart, I’m fine. Maybe some bread I made today? No babe I’m pretty full. How about some dessert? SWEETHEART, my love, I’ve had sufficient, really. Ok, ok have some cheese 🧀 then. Babe!!!
Thank you so much for this. My family emigrated in the 50's & I'm the first to be born in here in Australia. Seeing this reminds me of all those passed & the wonderful traditions we upheld. I'd forgotten what it was like growing up in Melbourne. A lot of racism
Oh my God so many testimonials from Australia Well me instead i'm naturalized Canadian citizen..came to Toronto Canada in 1967 From L' Aquila Abruzzo I vividly recall touching ground off the plane with my left foot and immediately touched with right foot an Italian pizzeria called Camarra where i worked as a waiter..my sister started to work after a couple of days at TD BANK..my kid brother was too young My parents worked hard to give us a great future And we all contributed to buy our first home.. Our bodies were in Canada ..our hearts 💕 in Italy but we continued the Italo - tradition.. Bell'Italia ..non ti dimenticheremo MAI !!❤ ROMEO 👏
I was born in Australian my parents migrated from Sicily. I recently was back there to visit family and I felt as though I had returned home. The older I get the more I feel my blood being drawn back to Sicily.
I'm first generation too. Lots of similar experiences in here with my family. Lucky for me I was last born so got more freedom as covered on here. 😂we had no leftovers 😂.
In South America, Italians arrived in the many millions pre and post world war 2 and didn't have to face the struggles of assimilating or feeling different like they did in Australia. In fact, they quickly integrated and were always made to feel more than welcomed. When my parents arrived from South America in the 70's (both of hispanic background), it was the Italians that gave them a helping hand in those early days when they needed a translator...something they were always very grateful of and never forgot.
My late husband was 9 when he arrived here in 1954., with his mum and 5 siblings. His dad arrived in 1952. On starting at primary school a few days later, he was told he would be called Jim, there were already quite a few kids named Guiseppe already there. For the rest of his life he was called Jim by some friends and family, others called him Joe, his parents called him Pepe.
Italian didn't come to Australia as "10 pound poms". They paid the full fair, got a job a few days after arriving, and didn't complain that the fish 'n' chips aren't the same as back home.
Both of my parents come here from Italy my dad came 5 years before my mum lift my mum pregnant with my sister then 4/12 years later both come here to Melbourne dad work very hard then I was born l to remember both of my parents worked very very hard With my cousin every weekend dancing laughing it was the best days ❤
Reminds me of a quote I once read whilst visiting Ellis Island, NY…..”I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: First, the streets weren’t paved with gold; second, they weren’t paved at all: and third, I was expected to pave them.” Respect to those who came before us to give us the opportunities that Australia had to offer. Their courage and sacrifice should be celebrated and never be forgotten.
My family arrived in Australia from Italy in 1970, Christmas eve, very hot days. My parents didn’t winge, they just tried cooling the fibro house down. My ex's parents-in-law arrived a year earlier from England and did nothing but winge about the rain in June.😂
GREAT SHOW YOU ARE ALL AUSSIES BUT WITH YOUR HEARTS STILL IIN Italy. My hubby come here in -956 from Trieste at 7 and a half years old he loved Australia some much he could not talk from ages then one day it just clicked .he was in grade two. .
My family came to Australia in 1956 from Germany. Going to school I became friends with an Italian boy named Mauro Spaccavento. He was called a wog and I was a kraut and a nazi. We were bullied and and harassed in the play ground but we survived. I always remember when he invited me to his home for dinner and I tasted authentic Italian home cooking. I became hooked on Italian food.
One of the most authentic comments I have read here. There were always undertones of racism towards immigrants until the next batch of immigrants arrived from elsewhere. "That's the way the cookie crumbles" in Australia. Moreover, Italians tended to shed most of their culture much earlier than Greeks and ages before the Chinese. Its a fact of life
My husband has German heritage and I have Sicilian heritage. We are both 1st generation Australians. When we "play argue" I call him Nazi and he calls me Mafiosa. That settles the argument quick smart. 😉😆
In the United States it was still like this for the second generation. My parents were the children of immigrants from Italy so I was second generation but your stories are totally familiar to me as I grew up the same way.
Born in 1968 in Oz to Italian parents. Mum always had a caffe latte for me first thing in the morning from when I was knee high. Lunch was two sandwiches, one mortadella and the other Vegemite. 😂
This reminds me of all the stories my father told me about when he and his teenage brothers came here on their own from Malta, in the 50s. They all came with nothing but a determination to work. They worked in factories and did all the overtime they were offered. Eventually they all ended up buying their own little bungalows and never did any of them get any government handouts.
So many parallels with my life at school. I could only speak Hungarian when I started. Rye bread salami sandwiches while the others had uncle Toby's muesli bars and potato chips. No netball. No extra curricular activities. Just church and Hungarian school on weekends 😂
In Montreal, Canada the Italians built houses in an Italianate style with lots of ornamental ironwork, white brick, and terrazzo...I suspect they did similar things in melbourne
Italians and other European migrants in Melbourne definitely had their preferred style when they built homes here - often very different to standard local architecture.
Interviewees were from or descendants of people from Tocco da Casauria, Musellaro, Castiglione e Casauria, Guardiagrele, Pescina. I’ve probably missed a few others.
Hi, can you tell me where in the film (time stamp)? Some photos are from my family albums but many were provided by the interviewees and are included immediately after or during their dialogue.
@@francoranieri-b1t I believe that photo came from Pia Marrone - I recognise her father in it but he's the only one who is familiar to me. I'll check and get back to you.
My family despite some racism said that coming to Australia was the best thing to happen to them. So much employment, education & opportunities to own a business & a home
Sick of this crap about them sacrificing. I’m a migrant. My parents despite not speaking English etc. managed to buy a house very quickly. That’s because it cost $35k. And there were heaps of them for sale. No auctions. No overbidding. No massive loans. Stacks of unskilled jobs all paying well. Believe you me. They had it MUCH easier than young people do today.
BrandOd You really must have drank a lot of brandy when you wrote this.. Please don't call the sacrifices of our parents "crap" it's a sin to say that..they really and enormously sacrificed and worked hard to get to where we are today! Also $ 35K back then would compare to over $ 2 million in today's 💲 currency..so it was a lot of money 🤑 when for example my dad was only making $ 90 dollars a week. Also I disagree when you say young people today have it hard ..??? No no back then with no knowledge of the language was hard! Today they have it easy. But they just don't want to work!!! They want everything handed and just walk with their phones on their faces !!
I agree with you all this crap about the kids of today not wanting to sacrifice is just nonsense people are misinformed in the 1950's it took double the average annual wage to buy a house today its more than 17 times the annual wage and that's in the statistics unfortunately Australia is no longer the land of opportunity and we have to state the way things are so let's stop bagging the youth and the new migrants they're not all welfare cheats .... We didn't like it when we we're disrespected🙏
Some guy shining shoes could buy a house after a will and did back then. With one good salary you could afford good house, wife kids car even maid that could help around house sometimes. The currency is worthless this days. You can kill yourself working and still don't move ahead
And now, we found that moving here has been ONE. MASSIVE. MISTAKE! And the true Italian identity will be lucky to survive ANYWHERE in Australia in the next 10 years!
Well, the Angloassimilationist legacy of Italian immigration is making that a near impossibility in 2024. It's designed to have Italians made like your cookie cutter Anglo style "true blue" Aussies that Pauline Hanson wanted over her neatly 30 year career!
My Dad migrated from Tuscany Italy in 1948, my Mum from Treviso Italy in 1956. They met, married in 1963 and raised their family in Western Sydney. They were fiercely proud of their Italian heritage and Australian nationality, equally, but they always supported Australia over Italy, in any international sporting event. I really loved that about them. Dad always said, “home is not where you were born but where you are prepared to die”. He loved Australia and chose her as his home but Italy would always be the mother whom bore him. Changing your passport doesn’t change your ethnicity and becoming one doesn’t mean that you have to forget the other. Most migrants have contributed greatly to Australian society and made this a better place for all. You ask when will we become Australians, we always thought we were, from the time our parents chose Australia as their home and raised the next generation of proud Australians.
To be a true new Australian is to fully assimilate and not just living in a Italian community. If u are born here you are Aussie stop dividing us vs them
We're Italian-Australians whether you or anyone else likes it or not. We decide our identity, no one else. Anglo-Australians are free to call themselves that but lf they just call themselves Australians, thats on them but they don't get to define others identity.🙂
We did assimilate, but it becomes difficult when you spend the first 20 years of your life trying to prove you are Australian but constantly being told you don't belong & never will
John Gabriel.Went to London a few years ago and lo and behold most of the Australians were all at Earls Court.Birds of a feather flock together.Soccer was frowned on and got the cane for having the soccer ball.Yes it took a while to integrate but we did in spite of the antagonism.
I lived in Brunswick in the late 1940s to 1955 on the corner of Victoria and burchet streets opposite the gospel hall church , an Italian family moved in to the house behind ours just the father and son , the boy ,Alphonso asked me could I teach his father English which I did for awhile ,they said the mother and a brother ,Tony would soon come to Australia too,Alphonso said to me you will like Tony he is your age about 10 ,Tony arrived and WW3 started between Tony and I , we did nothing but fight , there were always other Italian family’s there , it amused me the way the boys would dance and play all sorts of games together , they were a nice family , we moved away around 1954 I still go back to Brunswick now and then it was a great time and place to be a young boy 🙋🏼💜😀
The three main tracks were provided by a Melbourne based group called Siesta Cartel. Despite their name they mainly play their versions of Italian folk and other popular Italian songs.
I enjoyed this very much. My family came from Calabria to the USA...same exact stories. Italians are one of a kind. ❤❤❤❤❤
I'm a little younger than the subjects of this film (I started primary school in 1978) and I think I had it slightly easier, however the stories are very familiar.
Thanks for putting this together, you've done a great job.
Massive thanks and respect to the generations that left their homeland in search of a better life for their families.
Salve! My name is Valentino, 60 , from Sydney. I was born in Australia to Italian parents , Mamma Abruzzese, Papà Veneto, both now deceased (RIP) . My Papà came out in 1955 , Mamma in 1962 and I was born in ‘65. I can relate to everything here except the siblings, I’m an only child.
Your video made me laugh and cry remembering all those times I had growing up. I just wanted to say thank you for making it , it was fantastic, grazie!
My mamma was born in Casoli in 1928, then the family bought their own property and moved to Fara Filiorum Petri which are both not that far from Tocco da Casauria! 😊
Btw , I was allowed a dog! 😜 although we had chickens , ducks, rabbits etc. that all got eaten! 🤣
Hi Valentino, thank you for your comments.
Every migrant from Italy have similar experiences, we all came with nothing, worked hard, no government assistance just sheer blood sweat and tears got us where we are today. We all became proud Australians and contributed as much as possible. Thank you Australia. From the Veneto region
No chorus of complaint. Just getting on with sharing, working and assimilating. Pretty touching.
It was the same for many immigrants around that time. They just got on with it ❤
@ yes and no complaints or entitled
Forgetttt abouttt itt
Exactly right, not the third world forced immigration who do not care for Australia and do not work hard!!!!!!!!
A big thankyou to the many Italian immigrants especially my parents who had the courage to come to Australia with only a suitcase in hand, no language or support but a hell of a lot of sweat and determination. You helped make this country great and a safe place for us to grow up with many opportunities, forever grateful. God bless them all.
I am a child of Scottish and English migrants , they were given a ministry housing , in the street was Italians and Greeks . We all grew up together shared all our cultures, even to this day we are all family . 🐨💗
I thoroughly enjoyed this! What a gift you’ve given us. My mum came as a “war bride” she met my dad in Egypt, fell in love, married & came here! My mother spoke 7 languages!! Yet my nanna (Aussie) told her to leave all that “wog” stuff back “there!”
It was only many years later that I found out about this. Naturally I wasn’t happy. Because of nanna, none of us had the benefit of hearing & learning anything other than English. What a miserable waste of the gifts my Mum had to give us.
We did hear Mum speak either Greek, Bulgarian or French when talking to her parents (they’d come to Australia) who lived in Sydney where my aunt also lived. Both daughters married Australians. Mum would also use a hybrid language when speaking with my “aunt” who was actually a friend. It was a smattering of English, Greek, Bulgarian, French, Arabic, Italian & German moving seamlessly through them to find the “right word”.
They arrived 28 December 1945 (I was born 7 years later on that date, today I turned 72).
Tragically my Dad perished (also 3 other men) fighting a bushfire on 2 January 1958. Mum was now widowed with 8 children aged from 11 months to 12 years.
Mum worked, kept a garden, chopped wood, cooked (oh how she cooked ♥️) made our clothes, worked 10am - 2pm x 5 days/week. We almost always had an extra 1-3 people at our dinner table.
We never went without. Mum was the one who went without - she never ever complained.
So, after all ⬆️ your film reignited so many wonderful memories. Thank you ♥️
Complimenti...reliving the past....and reminiscing!!!!How can we continue some of the past adventures....I am a part of Ascolta....we write stories about living here and including how the past has influenced our lives...I keep alive some traditions....esp.la passata and we do have fun and now the little ones ask about...passata day!!!!Also as 6yr old translater I translated the name Filomena as Mary because I did not want her to suffer because of her name!
Thanks so much for all the shared memories....they will help the memories live on!!!!😊
How Great was this! So many memories for me. How I miss my childhood. I sitting here watching with tears in my eyes.
Yes it's hard when many of our relatives who emigrated have now passed. So miss my nonna & those family traditions
Italian immigrants were not like country shopping freeloaders that came over these days who leech off welfare and do no work, Italians worked hard for a better life. respect.
Yes, while our parents worked hard to create a future for themselves and their children, they were still subjected to racism. We now have a responsibility not to repeat the same racism towards more recently arrived migrants.
Non facciamo di tutta l'erba un fascio, di furbi ce ne erano anche allora.
Wonderful doco - brings back so many memories of family and cousins and the socialising - we were of modest means but wealthy in the love and experiences we shared - the saddest part over the years as I got older was seeing older relatives and parents pass away and that link they had to their generation
Thank you so much for making this awesome film, it’s wonderful to hear all those wonderful stories of growing up as first generation Australian. Stories that are so true to my heart. ❤️
Just finished watching the documentary , I don't have the words to describe how it made me feel. Other than at the moment i feel very emotional. I can sense the growing up Italian experience in every fibre in my being. The sound, smell, the movement, the language (dialect) and the strong prescence of my grandparents.
Thank You for the documentary
That was brilliant and clearly a lot of work went into to it. Was such a great watch - I’d have been one of those Aussie kids willing to trade their lunch for an Italian lunch that’s for sure
Really enjoyed your video. I'm an Anglo-saxon Aussie and have always embraced our Italian communities and loved what you have brought to our way of life. Many thanks. P.S. without you all I would never have experienced a real handmade Italian grandma gnocci.
If you spell it gnocchi (not gnocci) they taste better ! LoL 😂
@romeoriossi7419 lol.
Beautiful!! Mum & dad from basilicta they came to Sydney story exactly the same. How I miss those days. Even though when growing up wanted to be an "Aussie"
This documentary really pulled at my heart strings thank you very much & buon anno a tutti ❤
What a great document! It deserves to be collected by the Aust Film and Sound Archive, or the Museum of Immigration in Melbourne. I grew up in Australia in the 60s. My parents came out in mid 50s from Trieste. This film rang a lot of bells. Despite the regional variations among Italians themselves, our experiences as children of migrants seem to have been ubiquitously similar.
This documentary should win a prize. It's exceptional. Congratulations on the outstanding work put into this collection of recounts. I am so impressed by all your speakers.
Yes the interviewees were amazing - such great stories ...
@@annamarino-dz6vk is there an email where I can write to you please.
Credit to you as well for bringing it all together @@annamarino-dz6vk
Excellent video. Was like I was watching my experience of growing up.
What a wonderful piece of work. A heart touching documentary.
Che bel film! I owe a huge amount to my grandfather who came over from a little village in the south of Italy called Pago Veiano. He created a great life here in South Australia for himself and brought his siblings and parents over some years later. I completely understand his reasons for leaving Italy, but after visiting the family that remained there 2 times in the past 2 years, I now understand why the culture remained in his heart and home. He was proud to call himself Italian, but he was as proud to be an Australian and have a life that only Australia could provide. Grazie per le storie. Buon lavoro 👍
Anni fa era un bel paese. Ora i politici sono ridicoli, i prezzi degli immobili sono fuori da ogni logica. (Sydney e Melbourne sono tra le prime 10 città più costose nel mondo). Costo della vita è assurdo, e alcune zone di Melbourne assomigliano a Mumbai e Bombay. Solo per citarne alcuni.
Great film. Brought back memories of my childhood. Still traumatized from the picnic preparation and pack up
Took a week to prepare too 😂
Wow this is terrific, hearing the stories direct from the people involved. Well done Anna
❤❤❤👏👏👏👏👏 bravo 👍 I loved this so much that I shared this with so many of my family and friends❤️❤️❤️❤️am sure they too will enjoy this production. Will there be more like this one? But of other immigrants and their journey over here. We are Chilean who flew out here, my parents paid their own way here and sold all their belongings in Chile. So we arrived in Sydney and they ended up going to work in King Valley in country Victoria, where the farms were run by Italians, so dad who had Sicilian ancestory, was able to get along well and mum learnt Italian! Hard life but the country was something mum and dad loved, after living in noisy Santiago which was like New York. I grew up with Italian kids, running around free to ride our bikes and then we could grab whatever fruit was growing, slice a watermelon into 4 pieces and share it. Am still in contact with them today!
I loved the stories shared in this production but look forward to the next one❤️❤️❤️
Thanks for your lovely comments x
I came across this video this evening I started listening to it. I really can relate to it. I am Canadian born in Canada in 1954 from immigrant parents from Italy. When I was growing up in Toronto we only had only Italian friends. I also remember that I could not speak English when I started school and the nuns kept me back.
Your documentary is incredible. The Canadian and Australia Italian immigrants went through the same experience. We felt that we lived in two different worlds but we survived.
Congratulations on your documentary.
Family, hardwork, resilience and humour that's why Italians have thrived since first arriving 60+ years ago.
I heard no complaining or hinting about being a victim.
Btw the women towards the end discussing high expections of children's behaviour when visiting people let me assure you that wasn't unique to Italians. I'm 5th generation Aussie of English background and had the same strict rules.
Great stories that most ethnics of that era can relate to. The picnic story I can so relate to - especially when we went to the beach but our grandparents didn't want us going in the water for fear of us drowning. Those were the simple days :)
Yes,we can all identify x
What a brilliant trip down memory lane.
Thank you …. Let’s never forget the sacrifices our ancestors went through
I remember before school we used have expresso and egg with sugar, 'uovo misto'... we were always surrounded by family. I didn't understand much English until I went to school. I really wanted to be a Aussie, here I am 50+ and now I can truly appreciate the Italian culture. Sundays is my cooking day. It connects me to the old ways. Our pets were goats, rabbits, chickens, quals in the end we would eat It. . Lucky language - latin is great, you will understand Spanish, Portuguese, Mexican just adjust your hearing and you'll understand it, alot of words are similar. I am born in Australia but if you were to ask me what I am I would say I'm Italian. #calabrisellamia
Don't forget the slops when we soaked crusty chunks of bread in hot milk with sugar. It was my favourite snack at night
I very much enjoyed this documentary. ❤ Thankyou ... Grazie mile!!
As a kid I grew up in Collingwood, Fitzroy, Richmond and Northcote in the late 60s/70s. My Aunt owned the milkbar in Kent Street Richmond, it's also where my grandparents lived. I was a kid of Greek migrants and I thought that Greeks and Italians were the main ethnic groups in Australia. I was babysat by an Italian family so as a kid my 3rd language was English... Great days.
Unfortunately my Italian is almost non existent nowadays, but I still order food like an Italian
Great Documentary. I was born in Scotland and we had a large Italian migration community who lived there. So I feel we had a lot in common and that is music. We call them Scots Italians.
My late father in law was Polish. So I can relate to the pig and the veggies 😂
Thank you 👌🙏🏴🇦🇺
Tank you so much for this delightful film.
My mum's family migrated from the Netherlands in 1951 when mum was 11 and she was basically Australianised before she met and married my dad. Dad was a career soldier, so we had little contact with either side of the family a lot of the time.
My mum's older sister stayed on the Central Coast and almost totally divorced herself from a lot of her early life. My brother and I never learnt Dutch as a language or a culture, but we knew what Gouda and all those fancy, swanky cheeses- not the "Kraft Bluey" in the cardboard box on the shelf with the Vegemite- and funny delicatessen meats were twenty years before most of the rest of the country.
Very moving brought up so many emotions not all good but we survived ciao Angelo from Luciano
Just how good were our Italian migrants? They contributed so much and have risen to the top in every strata of society - law, health, politics and science.
Just finished watching. I’m not Italian, descendant of a convict, and thought this terrific. Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone, loved it. I am, however, married to a Romanian (2nd marriage), she recently sent me home from Adelaide to Sydney by plane with 20kgs of egg plant in my suitcase because it was a quarter the price of back home. So I’m not totally unexposed to the whole Latino thing. Would you like some more? No Sweetheart, I’m fine. Maybe some bread I made today? No babe I’m pretty full. How about some dessert? SWEETHEART, my love, I’ve had sufficient, really. Ok, ok have some cheese 🧀 then. Babe!!!
I was born 1990 to Serbian parents and I resonate my childhood with this so much.
I loved this, I grew up in South Africa in the sixties and seventies and it reminds me of my Italian friends there which was almost identical.
Thank you so much for this. My family emigrated in the 50's & I'm the first to be born in here in Australia. Seeing this reminds me of all those passed & the wonderful traditions we upheld. I'd forgotten what it was like growing up in Melbourne. A lot of racism
Kept ya tough
Oh my God so many testimonials from Australia
Well me instead i'm naturalized Canadian citizen..came to Toronto Canada in 1967
From L' Aquila Abruzzo
I vividly recall touching ground off the plane with my left foot and immediately touched with right foot an
Italian pizzeria called Camarra where i worked as a waiter..my sister started to work after a couple of days at TD BANK..my kid brother was too young
My parents worked hard to give us a great future
And we all contributed to buy our first home..
Our bodies were in Canada ..our hearts 💕 in Italy but we continued the Italo - tradition..
Bell'Italia ..non ti dimenticheremo MAI !!❤ ROMEO 👏
Most enjoyable. I grew up in South Africa and there are so many similarities. Grazie
Thanks for this. I really enjoyed it
Cara Anna, bel documentario brava!
Thankyou for this video it touched my heart.
I was born in Australian my parents migrated from Sicily. I recently was back there to visit family and I felt as though I had returned home. The older I get the more I feel my blood being drawn back to Sicily.
I'm first generation too. Lots of similar experiences in here with my family. Lucky for me I was last born so got more freedom as covered on here. 😂we had no leftovers 😂.
Lovely, thank you😊
Beautiful Film
In South America, Italians arrived in the many millions pre and post world war 2 and didn't have to face the struggles of assimilating or feeling different like they did in Australia. In fact, they quickly integrated and were always made to feel more than welcomed. When my parents arrived from South America in the 70's (both of hispanic background), it was the Italians that gave them a helping hand in those early days when they needed a translator...something they were always very grateful of and never forgot.
Loved watching this! ❤
👏 👏 👏
My late husband was 9 when he arrived here in 1954., with his mum and 5 siblings. His dad arrived in 1952. On starting at primary school a few days later, he was told he would be called Jim, there were already quite a few kids named Guiseppe already there. For the rest of his life he was called Jim by some friends and family, others called him Joe, his parents called him Pepe.
Italian didn't come to Australia as "10 pound poms". They paid the full fair, got a job a few days after arriving, and didn't complain that the fish 'n' chips aren't the same as back home.
How do you know they didn't complain about things? They complained alright but in Italian and with each other.
@@littleowlbooks8514 🤣
Both of my parents come here from Italy my dad came 5 years before my mum lift my mum pregnant with my sister then 4/12 years later both come here to Melbourne dad work very hard then I was born l to remember both of my parents worked very very hard
With my cousin every weekend dancing laughing it was the best days ❤
Reminds me of a quote I once read whilst visiting Ellis Island, NY…..”I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: First, the streets weren’t paved with gold; second, they weren’t paved at all: and third, I was expected to pave them.” Respect to those who came before us to give us the opportunities that Australia had to offer. Their courage and sacrifice should be celebrated and never be forgotten.
My family arrived in Australia from Italy in 1970, Christmas eve, very hot days. My parents didn’t winge, they just tried cooling the fibro house down. My ex's parents-in-law arrived a year earlier from England and did nothing but winge about the rain in June.😂
That's typical of the English & why they're referred to as Whinging Poms
GREAT SHOW YOU ARE ALL AUSSIES BUT WITH YOUR HEARTS STILL IIN Italy. My hubby come here in -956 from Trieste at 7 and a half years old he loved Australia some much he could not talk from ages then one day it just clicked .he was in grade two. .
Footscray to Sunbury was like going to the outback ... all for hot Ricotta
Loved those picnics
Yeah either at the park or a beach
My family came to Australia in 1956 from Germany. Going to school I became friends with an Italian boy named
Mauro Spaccavento. He was called a wog and I was a kraut and a nazi. We were bullied and and harassed in the play ground
but we survived. I always remember when he invited me to his home for dinner and I tasted authentic Italian home cooking.
I became hooked on Italian food.
One of the most authentic comments I have read here. There were always undertones of racism towards immigrants until the next batch of immigrants arrived from elsewhere. "That's the way the cookie crumbles" in Australia. Moreover, Italians tended to shed most of their culture much earlier than Greeks and ages before the Chinese. Its a fact of life
My husband has German heritage and I have Sicilian heritage. We are both 1st generation Australians. When we "play argue" I call him Nazi and he calls me Mafiosa. That settles the argument quick smart. 😉😆
We went to portsea...with trays of lasagna and snitzels..and so so much more....😮
In the United States it was still like this for the second generation. My parents were the children of immigrants from Italy so I was second generation but your stories are totally familiar to me as I grew up the same way.
Born in 1968 in Oz to Italian parents. Mum always had a caffe latte for me first thing in the morning from when I was knee high. Lunch was two sandwiches, one mortadella and the other Vegemite. 😂
Latte e cafe
Don't forget you'd either soak bread or a biscuit in your morning latte
This reminds me of all the stories my father told me about when he and his teenage brothers came here on their own from Malta, in the 50s. They all came with nothing but a determination to work. They worked in factories and did all the overtime they were offered. Eventually they all ended up buying their own little bungalows and never did any of them get any government handouts.
This is us too ..I so miss all that. 😢❤
So many parallels with my life at school. I could only speak Hungarian when I started. Rye bread salami sandwiches while the others had uncle Toby's muesli bars and potato chips. No netball. No extra curricular activities. Just church and Hungarian school on weekends 😂
In Montreal, Canada the Italians built houses in an Italianate style with lots of ornamental ironwork, white brick, and terrazzo...I suspect they did similar things in melbourne
Italians and other European migrants in Melbourne definitely had their preferred style when they built homes here - often very different to standard local architecture.
Are all the people interviewed in this wonderful documentary from Tocco da Casauria?
Interviewees were from or descendants of people from Tocco da Casauria, Musellaro, Castiglione e Casauria, Guardiagrele, Pescina. I’ve probably missed a few others.
My dad played the accordian...signing 😅
Anna can i get a copy of that group photo near the start of tge documentary? My uncle and aunty are in tge photo. What year was it taken?
Hi, can you tell me where in the film (time stamp)? Some photos are from my family albums but many were provided by the interviewees and are included immediately after or during their dialogue.
At 4.19
@@francoranieri-b1t I believe that photo came from Pia Marrone - I recognise her father in it but he's the only one who is familiar to me. I'll check and get back to you.
I have a copy and can send it to you.
@annamarino-dz6vk I'm not sure how my uncle knew to have been part of tge photo, so I'm curious.
Europeans have the work ethic and morals for a country like Australia, not middle eastern, Pakistan, Indian or African!!!!
i am not Italian , but did the same
Compare these wonderful families and people to the people Australia is importing now . 🤦♂️
My family despite some racism said that coming to Australia was the best thing to happen to them. So much employment, education & opportunities to own a business & a home
I visiti...never allowed to eat any of the food. The look dont move😂
I do remember the look.
Sick of this crap about them sacrificing. I’m a migrant. My parents despite not speaking English etc. managed to buy a house very quickly. That’s because it cost $35k. And there were heaps of them for sale. No auctions. No overbidding. No massive loans. Stacks of unskilled jobs all paying well. Believe you me. They had it MUCH easier than young people do today.
BrandOd
You really must have drank a lot of brandy when you wrote this..
Please don't call the sacrifices of our parents "crap" it's a sin to say that..they really and enormously sacrificed and worked hard to get to where we are today!
Also $ 35K back then would compare to over $ 2 million in today's 💲 currency..so it was a lot of money 🤑 when for example my dad was only making $ 90 dollars a week.
Also I disagree when you say young people today have it hard ..???
No no back then with no knowledge of the language was hard!
Today they have it easy.
But they just don't want to work!!!
They want everything handed and just walk with their phones on their faces !!
I agree with you all this crap about the kids of today not wanting to sacrifice is just nonsense people are misinformed in the 1950's it took double the average annual wage to buy a house today its more than 17 times the annual wage and that's in the statistics unfortunately Australia is no longer the land of opportunity and we have to state the way things are so let's stop bagging the youth and the new migrants they're not all welfare cheats ....
We didn't like it when we we're disrespected🙏
Some guy shining shoes could buy a house after a will and did back then. With one good salary you could afford good house, wife kids car even maid that could help around house sometimes. The currency is worthless this days. You can kill yourself working and still don't move ahead
And now, we found that moving here has been ONE. MASSIVE. MISTAKE! And the true Italian identity will be lucky to survive ANYWHERE in Australia in the next 10 years!
Our identity is what we uphold & pass on in our traditions
Well, the Angloassimilationist legacy of Italian immigration is making that a near impossibility in 2024. It's designed to have Italians made like your cookie cutter Anglo style "true blue" Aussies that Pauline Hanson wanted over her neatly 30 year career!
You don’t want to forget your background BUT WHEN WILL YOU BECOME AUSTRALIANS?
Why would you think that we’re not Australians?
They are true blue Australians - this was the land of the mixed mob - don’t let public servants and Karen groups divide us!
@@loulouedmo Only men call women Karens. Assertive women will not divide us
My Dad migrated from Tuscany Italy in 1948, my Mum from Treviso Italy in 1956. They met, married in 1963 and raised their family in Western Sydney. They were fiercely proud of their Italian heritage and Australian nationality, equally, but they always supported Australia over Italy, in any international sporting event. I really loved that about them. Dad always said, “home is not where you were born but where you are prepared to die”. He loved Australia and chose her as his home but Italy would always be the mother whom bore him. Changing your passport doesn’t change your ethnicity and becoming one doesn’t mean that you have to forget the other. Most migrants have contributed greatly to Australian society and made this a better place for all. You ask when will we become Australians, we always thought we were, from the time our parents chose Australia as their home and raised the next generation of proud Australians.
You have to have an Anglo surname, by birth or marriage, to be called "an Ozzie".
To be a true new Australian is to fully assimilate and not just living in a Italian community. If u are born here you are Aussie stop dividing us vs them
Italians have fully assimilated you fool. Australia is great because of the diversity.
We're Italian-Australians whether you or anyone else likes it or not. We decide our identity, no one else. Anglo-Australians are free to call themselves that but lf they just call themselves Australians, thats on them but they don't get to define others identity.🙂
Bla bla bla ......dont be like that English Australian 😀
We did assimilate, but it becomes difficult when you spend the first 20 years of your life trying to prove you are Australian but constantly being told you don't belong & never will
John Gabriel.Went to London a few years ago and lo and behold most of the Australians were all at Earls Court.Birds of a feather flock together.Soccer was frowned on and got the cane for having the soccer ball.Yes it took a while to integrate but we did in spite of the antagonism.
I lived in Brunswick in the late 1940s to 1955 on the corner of Victoria and burchet streets opposite the gospel hall church , an Italian family moved in to the house behind ours just the father and son , the boy ,Alphonso asked me could I teach his father English which I did for awhile ,they said the mother and a brother ,Tony would soon come to Australia too,Alphonso said to me you will like Tony he is your age about 10 ,Tony arrived and WW3 started between Tony and I , we did nothing but fight , there were always other Italian family’s there , it amused me the way the boys would dance and play all sorts of games together , they were a nice family , we moved away around 1954 I still go back to Brunswick now and then it was a great time and place to be a young boy 🙋🏼💜😀
Why is the music Spanish?
The three main tracks were provided by a Melbourne based group called Siesta Cartel. Despite their name they mainly play their versions of Italian folk and other popular Italian songs.
No thanks ,greed greed