203
At the Wittenoom Races the children were
treated to the merry-go-round, brought in
for the event. A photograph of a young Andrew Bonomi held by his dad, Mario, on the ride
suggests the enjoyment it gave the children and their parents too (see figure 101). Maria
Scali’s mother recalled that it was important to her husband that their children be happy.
Maria’s father would give his young daughter £1 [$2] to ride the merry-go-round, enough to
satisfy her for the entire day.
Four year old Fulvia Valvasori went to Wittenoom for six months in 1957 with her
parents, Lea and Egizio Guagnin. Fulvia is unsure of the source of her memories:
“I don’t
know if my memories are real memories or photo memory because
of the memory of the
photo and because she [her mother] says various things
”.
33
She spoke about the cake tin her
mother used to make her father’s favourite morning tea cake; playing with friends; getting
dirty; having
a doll called Jennie; and, having her hair so short that she looked like a boy.
Fulvia’s mother explained that her father took her to the only hairdresser in the town at the
time — a barber. The family has photographs of all these memories (see figures102 -104).
Birthdays were important events and many parents made them memorable occasions for
their children. The Guagnins’ photograph of four year old Fulvio Sterpini’s birthday party
surrounded by nearly a dozen other children of a similar age, including their daughter Fulvia,
demonstrates the efforts parents went to make life normal for their children
in the isolated
town (see figure 105).
As we discussed how children entertained themselves, Lidia Nellini touched upon
something about which many of the Wittenoom children no doubt wonder, but most did not
mention during my time with them:
I used to sit on the floor and play with the asbestos;
pulling it apart; used to have fun just threading it and
pulling the threads out. That makes me sad because I
think: “Is that doing me... Did that do me any harm?” But
the rest of it was probably quite pleasurable an
experience but not when I think what mum had to go
through. It couldn’t have been much fun for her.
34
Some children who played in the asbestos tailings have paid the price as adults. In 2002, as
a 13
year old, Daniel Martino witnessed his 42 year old father Michael’s painful death from
33
Interview with Fulvia Valvasori, Perth, October 2009.
34
Interview with Lidia Nellini, Perth, October 2009.
204
mesothelioma. Michael Martino had played in the asbestos tailings as a three year old in
1963 (see figure 106). Yet in 2010, Daniel would speak to me about his father’s death with
compassion and empathy. During my visit to his home two days earlier, nevertheless, he had
left the kitchen table unable to listen to his mother’s account of his father’s death from
asbestos-related disease. Daniel ended our conversation with “I wouldn’t like anyone to go
through what we’ve been through”.
35
His father’s absence still weighs heavily upon him.
Daniel celebrated his 21
st
birthday a few weeks later.
From Lidia Nellini’s account it is evident that the boarders played an
important role in
the children’s lives. She remembered the protection they offered her:
They were Dutch kids. They must have been teasing me.
I got really upset and I remember going home. I must
have been crying. Some of the men must have been
there and I told them and they said, “Oh, we’ll go and fix
them!” They were protecting me. Then I felt good
because I thought I’ve got the men on my side!!!!
The generosity of their boarders is something which Lidia still remembers. They would buy
Lidia and her brother, Alvaro, Christmas gifts, and every payday the
men put money in the
children’s moneyboxes.
“Mum said we bought our bedroom suites with the money we’d
saved.” The children were also taken in by the boarders’ humour:
I guess it was like any other place. In the end it’s always
sad… when you had to leave there for us as children…
for me… I had my cats up there and I didn’t want to leave
them. I remember that day we had to go I was very upset
for all those men were saying… “Wait till you go! We are
going to make polenta with those cats (laughing) of
yours!!!!”… It was really heart breaking to leave my poor
pussy cats up there with those men. I don’t know what
they did with them.
36
In Italian families children learned to help out from a young age. Five year old Maria
Scali was allowed a treat from Mario Sterpini’s Italian bar which sold
granita and soft drinks.
It was her reward for going to collect the family’s fresh bread each afternoon, as soon as it
had come out of the bakery’s oven. It was her mother’s way of teaching Maria about
assuming responsibility, as well as learning the importance of taking the made roads to
avoid
snakes, rather than taking shortcuts through the Spinifex. She was nine years old when her
family left Wittenoom at the end of 1957, because her father had become ill.
35
Interview with Daniel Martino, Perth, December 2010.
36
Interview with Lidia Nellini, Perth, October 2009.
