126
large sums of money, which some squandered on gambling and drinking. As they adapted,
they also attempted to inject a sense of normality and humour into their daily lives.
Notwithstanding the sense of community which many participants recalled, class distinctions
were apparent.
There were two community hubs. There was the Settlement for the executives built
by CSR, one kilometre from the picturesque Wittenoom Gorge, not far from the mine and
mill. Tony Martino remembers there were eight or nine houses in the settlement.
70
I asked
him to compare the Settlement with the Wittenoom Township:
They were like slum places [the houses in town]…..[The
settlement] was like Dalkeith…..you know it? The
Settlement homes were there from day one… big
homes…..luxury homes… very spacious… There was a
board meeting home… to entertain the “big nobs” from
interstate and overseas. Lots of facilities: the best of the
best.
71
Dalkeith, he explained, is one of Perth’s wealthier suburbs, whereas the Wittenoom
Township was comparable to Balga, a working class suburb of Perth. The
workers and their
families, on the other hand, lived in the township, eleven kilometres away (see figure 44).
The Western Australian Housing Commission had built the
family homes, while the company
had built the Settlement for the executives and the single men’s quarters, which came to be
known as “Death Row”. From available photographs and the men’s stories, the single men’s
accommodation changed
from tents to tin sheds and, eventually, dormitory style
accommodation (see figure 45).
In 1949, board and lodgings in the town’s single men’s hut was 35 shillings per week
[$3.50] (see figures 46 & 47).
72
Several participants compared their living conditions to a
chicken coop or a
baracca.
73
“Ever seen a chicken shed in your back yard”?, Giacomo
Bevacqua asked me. I described the one my father had built in our back yard in 1960. “Tin
roof... exactly like your chicken shed... you sleeping in this. So, just imagine 40 or 50 degrees
outside... My God... Oh my God!” His voice trailed off: “Oh, my God!” Arturo Della Maddalena
70
There were actually thirteen according to ABA Limited records. Motley Rice Plaintiff’s Exhibit no.
10554: The ABA Story (1963), Chapter 1.
71
Interview with Tony and Gina Martino, Perth, November 2010.
72
Motley Rice Plaintiff’s Exhibit no. 10151: Australian Workers’ Union Hearing, 9 June 1949, p. 74.
73
shed
127
described a similar scene: “
Erano quattro mura e una lamiera...
noi in Italia ci mettevamo le
galline e il maiale”.
74
To
keep cool in the hut at night, Bevacqua recalled wetting the floor
which became muddy as he rolled in it. Ezio Belintende would get up in the middle of the
night to turn the mattress over once it had become wet with his perspiration. According to the
workers who arrived in the 1950s, there were no furnishings in the single men’s quarters.
These had to be purchased from the General Store. To save money many used the
ammunition boxes to construct makeshift chairs, tables and beds.
The family homes, made of asbestos, comprised of two or three bedrooms, with three
verandas. Climbing plants were trained over the verandas to keep the house cool (see figure
48).Tony Martino described the Coolgardie safe with its timber frame, wire, Spinifex and
piped
water dripping from the top, as a fan blew air through it, which was also used to cool
the family home. To save money, families too used ammunition boxes to create their own
makeshift furniture; the more skilful husbands created storage cupboards for their wives from
off cuts left by the company’s carpenters. In the garden, to keep down
the red dust, the
company tipped a truckload of asbestos tailings, free of charge. “Just imagine your kids? My
daughter used to play over there, in the dust”, Giacomo Bevacqua recalled.
75
Italians and
other migrants established vegetable gardens and flower beds; the local stone was used to
create edges for the gardens, or to build paths and fountains.
By the time of the Martino family’s arrival in 1963, rather than having to buy
necessary household
items from the General Store, the company was supplying them to
workers free of charge, according to Tony Martino. One of Martino’s many jobs was to
distribute the items.
In my time they had a big warehouse with beds, double,
single, bunks, baby high chairs, everything which you
need in the house…all the essential items…pans, pots,
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
