|
Figure 84: Extract from the Wittenoom General Cemetery Register. Those highlighted in
yellow are children's graves. Courtesy of Lorraine Thomas.
178
Romances blossomed from initial encounters in the work place, through chance meetings
among neighbouring families or after the introduction to a brother’s work mate. Sometimes
the interest which had sparked the romance went unnoticed until the decision to marry was
announced by the couple. Rosa Tamburri recalled that her sister, Julie D’Uva (the family was
from the Molise region) met her future husband (from Sondrio, in Lombardy) in Wittenoom,
where both worked in the Single Men’s mess. Venera Uculano mentioned that several
female teachers married men they had met in Wittenoom. Venera, too, would meet her
partner, Umberto Favero, there.
57
There were also instances of de facto relationships.
58
Inevitably, the higher proportion of young males in the Wittenoom population without partners
resulted in visits to the town prostitute. Valentina Giannasi mentioned one fellow, Enrico.
59
He was a good man she recalled but like some of the men who had come out very young to
work at Wittenoom, he had been caught up in the drinking and gambling. “He gambled on the
horses, and when he wanted a woman, he gave her $100.”
Dealing with the Gambling and Drinking
The accounts of the Italian women confirm that gambling and drinking were widespread.
Nonetheless their presence hindered, to some extent, the peer pressure among the men to
participate in these activities on a regular basis. Married men would fall prey as readily as the
single ones. With a wife present in Wittenoom, there was the possibility that a man could
curtail those activities.
Valentina Giannasi’s husband liked a drink and cigarettes. She used the small
monthly sum of compensation from an injury he had sustained during his time in France to
57
Both Venera and Umberto were interviewed for various newspaper articles both in and outside of
Australia during their many years in the town. Coatney, C., (1997), 'Outback Outcasts',
The Christian
Science Monitor, Monday, May 5th. Schmitt, H., (1990), 'Town of Death', Women's Day, October 2.
Schmitt, H., (1990), 'Wittenoom',
The West Australian, Saturday September 8, sec. Big Weekend.
Schmitt, H., (1983), 'At 78, Ruby is defying gloom... while Vera counts her many blessings',
The West
Australian, August 12, sec. West Women.
58
Interview with Lea Guagnin, Perth, September 2010. The instance Lea recalled finally ended in
marriage for the couple at Wittenoom.
59
Pseudonym. Interview with Valentina Giannasi, Perth, October 2009.
179
pay for them. Valentina managed the family’s finances and made sure the bulk of her
husband’s pay went to the bank to pay for the home they were purchasing in Perth.
Nazzarena Mirandola recalled that in her boarding house there were always four or
five men present because they worked different shifts. In a disapproving tone, Nazzarena
continued: “They gambled. They played cards... of every type”. It was for this reason that
Nazzarena wanted to leave Wittenoom, for even her husband had started to participate. She
was happy for him to work because they were sending money back to their family in Italy, but
she was not prepared to see their resources squandered in that fashion. She felt for the
“young boys” (as she called them) for they were as young as 18 years of age, and even
younger by some accounts. Nazzarena could not stand to see them lose their money after
they had worked so hard and were breathing in that dust. “There was nothing else to do and
families would get together and gamble – Italians, Germans – they were from everywhere up
there”, she explained.
60
For Lina Tagliaferri and her husband Giuseppe, it was possible to save for their
home because according to Lina there was not much entertainment. The only attraction Lina
mentioned was the hotel. She asked: “Who goes to the pub”?
61
The wives of the mine
personnel may have, but she certainly did not. “In eight years I never went”, she said. Nor did
her husband frequent the hotel. He had beer at home, if he wanted a drink, she told me. In
contrast, the account of Valentina Giannasi suggests that the weekend visit to the Fortescue
Hotel was an outing for the whole family. Valentina did not like beer — she and the children
usually had a lemon squash — but she loved being a part of these gatherings. The hotel was
one of the places where people of all nationalities could catch up socially, in what became a
tightly-knit community.
60
Interview with Nazzarena Mirandola, Italy, November 2008.
61
Who goes to the pub?
180
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
