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Figure 67: Rosa and Mario Tamburri and their other family members at
the Wittenoom Races. Photo courtesy Rosa Tamburri.
Figure 68: Rosa Tamburri with her brother while working in the
Italian bar. Photo courtesy Rosa Tamburri.
164
She prepared the men’s breakfast of coffee, bacon and eggs, as well as their lunch. From
Perth, she ordered salami and mortadella to make their sandwiches and wine and other
Italian foods, which the weekly truck delivered. They wanted for nothing. The bakery supplied
fresh bread and the General Store was there for any other needs. She cooked a meal at
midday for the men who worked afternoon shift and again, in the evening for the others and
her family. She described one particularly typical Tuscan meal she prepared (see figure 69):
I would cook the way I had always cooked in Italy…..I
wouldn’t make ‘
pasta al forno’
42
because in Tuscany it
isn’t done…..I used to make broth. I even made them the
tortellini
43
… even at Wittenoom… with meat… I had the
machine… I had brought it from Italy… They had never
eaten them.
44
Then she washed and ironed. The men’s clothing came back thick with asbestos, which she
first of all soaked in the copper. With no washing machine, she then used two troughs to
wash their clothes. There was never much time to relax. She was either doing washing and
cooking for the men or looking after her children. Occasionally, the family did go out. These
were occasions which Valentina relished (see figure 70).
Nazzarena Mirandola also established a boarding house because she wanted to stay
home with her daughters (see figures 71 - 73). Her husband earned good money as a
carpenter, but having boarders helped them to save more money, and since she was already
cooking, it seemed like a good idea. She had seven men boarding in her home. Some were
married men with a family back in Italy, others were single. They came from all over Italy:
Sicily, Abruzzo, Calabria and the Valtellina area. During our conversation, she remembered
one of the younger single men, Angelo. He helped her a great deal and her daughters
became attached to him. Other families recounted similar experiences where boarders
played a role in caring for the children. Several of the children, now adults, still recall their
boarders’ generosity. Nazzarena’s boarders had all come to make money, because,
especially in the south of Italy, there was no available work, she told me. During the day, she
cooked for them, made their beds, washed and ironed their clothes. At that time, Nazzarena
42
This dish is more commonly known as lasagne or lasagna.
43
These are made with pasta which is cut into crescent shapes, folded over a filling of meat and then
boiled and eaten with a broth or a tomato sauce.
44
Interview with Valentina Giannasi, Perth, October 2009.
165
owned one of the first washing machines at Wittenoom. To supplement the food available at
the store, her boarders went hunting for kangaroo and wandering cattle from the local
stations. By the 1960s some families, including Nazzarena’s, had acquired a freezer to store
their kill.
When there was time, the women, irrespective of their nationality, met and formed
friendships. The stories of Lina Tagliaferri, Cecilia Bonomi (until she set up her own boarding
house), Lea Guagnin and Nazzarena Mirandola illustrate how the women spent their free
time. With the arrival of Cecilia Bonomi from Italy in 1953, she and Lina Tagliaferri kept each
other company. Their conversation centred round their lives before coming to Australia and
about this new country, Australia. Their thinking reflected the expectation placed upon
women of their generation. “Così ormai sono qua i nostri mariti. Dobbiamo stare anche noi.
La vita è così. Siamo sposati.”
45
Lea Guagnin and her four year old daughter spent time with
neighbours. One popular topic of conversation for the women was dressmaking. Lea’s
daughter was always beautifully dressed, as was Lea, because Lea’s mother and sister,
living in Perth, sewed their clothes. The ladies, upon seeing Fulvia’s lovely dresses, thought
that Lea could sew and asked if she would sew for them. “I told them that I could sew [long
pause]... a button!” (see figures 74 & 75).
46
Nazzarena Mirandola mentioned her love of
sewing. In her spare time, she sewed her family’s clothes.
In contrast to the other Italian women who came to join their husbands or other
family, Venera Uculano had come to Wittenoom unaccompanied. In addition to her day job,
Venera did volunteer work with the Country Women’s Association and the Good Neighbour
Council. She organized the translation of information posters in the main languages spoken
in Wittenoom and between 1963 and 1966 taught English to new arrivals. She was also the
initiator of many of the social activities.
45
Our husbands are here. We have to live here too. Life is like this now. We are married. Interview
with Cecilia Bonomi, Bullsbrook, October 2009.
46
Interview with Lea Guagnin, Perth, October 2009.
166
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