§ Making a Republic
The Rebuild: 1945-48
- The remnants of the ‘Resistance Movement’which had been more concerned with settling internal feuds were to be repurposed with it being given the mantle of victimhood.
- The South remained in a time warp; landowners and the Mafia represented an inter-generational status quo.
- Britain or the US limited their interest in Italy to preventing Communism from taking root.
- Fascism remained just below the surface. A purge was likely to cause even more damage to the political balance.
- Search for a Constitution; the Monarchy had been badly tainted with cowardice. Still, the South voted for a Constitutional Monarchy.
- The trouble with Sicily willingly joining a Democracy was that even the Fascists could not bring the Mafia to heel. Post-war, the Mafia continued its ties to landowners, together threatening separation. All did not auger well for a unified legislative agenda, effectively, fascist laws continued to prevail.
- Communist leader, Togliatti steps lightly to avoid the fiasco of the ’20s and 30’s. His objective was to balance the influence of the Church. Materialism was proving to be a handicap to the Communist appeal to the average voter. Stalin’s appeal to Italians was shattered by Khrushchev in 1956.
- Christian Democrats tiptoe about the electorate on the issue of its connection with the Vatican whilst promoting Catholic values.
- Capitalism was given a boost from cheap hydropower, cheap labour and the ‘Marshall Plan’. The makings of the virtual one-party state.
1950s
- The Christian Democrats realise the need to broaden their voter base to include industry, finance leaders and middle classes. They needed to break free of the whims of incoming Popes and account for the growing secularism.
- The Communists have similar predilections to voter mix, but resistance violently exhibited by the Mafia, is cause for the initiative to end in bloodshed.
- Money for votes emboldens the Mafia to work a system of clientelism to deliver ‘voter blocks’.
- Oral history merged with the formation of cooperatives in Calabria.
- Christian Democrats became de facto barons from their administering of pyramid-style introductory programs.
Moving Pictures Script
Cosi Famigliari (Family Matters)
- Memoirs of the Simonetti -Attisani, Simonetti -Grillo and Simonetti De Rocca and Simonetti -Farina based on oral history.
- Summing up Michele’s and Maria Concetta’s calling to become our Father and Mother.
- Sketch of who’s who at the end of the war, Simonetti males being called up for military service.
- Layout of the land: ‘Pontana’and ‘Farco’ Labouring on the farms was a commute each day; localities’ scenic descriptives integrate the family members’ way of life.
- Marriages and inheritances to support growing families. Factual narrative citation: Edward C Banfield.[1]
- Produce from the land supports families’ economic development.
- Agricultural techniques and crops grown on the farms.
- Francavilla’s ancient past, its contemporary place in Calabria and immigrant exports to Australia and the USA.
- Life decisions play out in acrimonious family politics.
- Our homes, bases for daily life, descriptors of hygiene limitations, construction, preserving foodstuffs for the winter and slaughtering a pig for making salamis and other small goods.
Francavilla Virtual 3D Fold-out
- Poetic-influenced memoirs about the town of my childhood; introduction based on poet John Keats’ poem ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’.
- Oral history narratives about the people of Francavilla are cross-checked against Google Earth App.
- What the impact of the death of my maternal grandfather at an early age had on his family with me in the mix.
- Wood fired oven was the centre for baking all the family’s breads and pastries; techniques and products narrated.
- The donkey was a key asset from ancient times to post-war Calabria.
- Nanna Maria’s home set snuggly in ancient ‘Pendina’ hub, is the starting point for a walk through Francavilla’s upslope.
- Abandoned homes begin to deteriorate posing hazards to us children.
- Commercial productivity based on artisans providing services to the townsfolk.
- Post-war children born, need to be fitted into work routines and contend with dangers posed by snakes. Some ad hoc daycare needs are provided by neighbours with mixed blessings.
- Simonetti brothers reunited post-war, attempting to scale up crop production. They lease farmlands around the district. Crops were sold to wholesaler merchants from major towns.
- Labour contractors used for cultivation by oxen stay overnight in straw huts. Day labourers were employed to cultivate crops by hoe.
- Childhood memories of interaction with farm workings, and playing in irrigation channels. Descriptor narrative of wheat harvest and mechanised threshing by visiting tractor-thresher team rotating service providers.
One Child’s Playground
- Memoir narration focussed on my time spent on the two farms owned by the Simonetti–Attisani family.
- Fragrances from plants and fruit trees set the pleasantries for a child of those times. Rustic meals prepared in the shade of the pergola and the straw huts linger on to be compared to meals partaken in France.
- Artifacts of the war still in situ on one of the farms related to oral history of Allied bombings, landings and soldiers camping near the ‘Pontana’ farm.
- Near misadventure anecdote of the Simonetti crop scale-up, results in the child (me) being left behind at the end of the day’s hoeing. Mother and Father panic-stricken, return for their 3 YO left under a hazel bush.
- Family working through flax to linen production leaves a picturesque memoir of the stream and environs where the flax was being processed. Background to the small-scale industry using ‘spinning Jennies’ is mentioned in brief.
- A tired little boy at the end of the day on the farm receives assisted passage by the donkey carting its fodder.
- Interpretive opinion of the family living in the ’50s is to lead into the discourse based on research by Edward C Banfield.
- Childhood memories of escapades about Francavilla and environs: the fig tree spot, women’s washday at the stream, the frog hunt compared to a John Steinbeck[2] passage and pole vaulting. Girls acting the part of rumourmongers reflective of their parents in social discord within their community. Farther afield, children adventurously search for edibles in the scrub forest on the outskirts of the town. Snowfalls create opportunities for making glace treats with sweet wine. Working the clay to make a representation of the houses we lived in amidst the discourse of Giotto.
- Climatic conditions in Calabria compared to those prevalent in Cobram farming.
- Children fossicking amongst the cobblestones. Competitive games of hazelnuts need lead metal to add weight to the striker nut.
- Spinning top and the metal hoop games, wonders of physics.
- Children and grownups primordial search for bird hatchlings in buildings’ crevices to make meals out of them. Variations of this theme were comical attempts by children to snare birds. Descriptor for making a spring-loaded snare.
- Immigration separated our family, but those were times when there were few other options. Siblings compare fond memories of fireflies at the beach.
- Descriptors of Patron Saint and other ‘festas’ celebrated by the Francavilla.
- The nearby town of Vallelonga attracts pilgrims to the ‘Madonna del Monserrato’religious events. The Byzantine historical context is explored. Nanna Maria seeks a break in the seemingly bad luck afflicting the Attisani family. We set off as pilgrims for the grownups to offer prayers and for the child ‘me’, to bathe in the fanfare of the coloured ribbons associated with the festa.
- The Simonetti-Attisani family and Catholicism form the basis of our morality.
- Mother is my protector, let it be known! Mother crosses swords with a visitor who wished her son ‘death’ for being cute. The priest was forced to revisit his not including her son (me) in the handout of biscuits.
- Who’s who of the social network in ‘Pendina’,representatives of greater Calabria told through the oral history of our sister Caterina: Christmas nativity scene hunt for moss, rose petals for the Santa Maria delle GrazieMadonna ‘festa day’. Santa never visited our family home, evidence of scarcity but some bright spots are recalled.
- The celibacy edict by the Vatican is explored via an anecdote of our recollections of visits made by the priest on our cousin across the road from our home. Two lonely hearts finding solace!
§ Necessity Effects on Socio-Political Progress
My Social Say
- Experiential based opinion of our being thought of as peasants by those, supposedly further up the social ladder. The peasant level was not stratified to differentiate those who owned land and those who did not.
- Vote to determine the fate of the Monarchy had the three Simonetti brothers on different political platforms.
- My childhood brush with politics was to attend a rally with Father at the ‘Piazza Michele Solari’.Father steers us away from the ‘free lunch’ offering laid out on tables inside a venue. Moving pictures playing political advertorials introduces me to the cinema experience.
- School age came and Father brought home a picture book and other items for my start in class. Reading was harder than it looked. Learning at school was enforced with liberal doses of the back of the hand to the ears area. Time spent at school in Italy is calculated by age and my departure in 1956.
- Girls and their wonderful differences made for reasons to explore further. Awareness is related via anecdotes of childhood naivete.
- Teacher punishment for apparent misdemeanours are circumstances in search of sympathy but eventually become reasons to change my life’s trajectory. The theme is followed up in later discourse.
- Mismatch of age and English skills hamper my settling into a learning regimen in Australia, eventually matched into the grade one class of 1956 in Cobram. An immigrant predecessor, Carmine Gattuso was not so fortunate and his father pulled him out of school.
- Works to have running water connected to the homes in Francavilla are probable benefits from the ‘US Marshall Plan’.
- Mother becomes a master haggler at the open-air market whilst I watch on ambivalently.
- Public transport in Francavilla is explored via and light-hearted anecdote of my looking for cigarette butts on a train. I had become separated from Mother and Father, despairing in another carriage. Images of Pinocchio being led astray are evoked to make the point of why I had taken off.
- The need to immigrate is explored from the Italian and Australian perspectives. Effectively there was an exchange of excess units of labour in Italy and a lack of the same in Australia. IMI units of labour were not paid for by Germany, they were by Australia.
- Visiting ancestral grave sites in Francavilla points to the death of a child at 2 years of age, we were born the same year, so that could have been me.
- Malaria continued as a health hazard in the 1950s because the same swamps where the ‘Bourbanists’ fought battles against the French in 1806 still prevailed. Homes were fumigated with DDT.
- Nanna Maria lost children due to their contracting The bitter memories came back to haunt us when I was afflicted by bacteria-causing diarrhoea. We were administered castor oil as a prophylactic against worms. Memoire of my being infested with worms relates to the precarious nature of health in Francavilla. Fun and games with needing to poo in a ceramic bowl sit down toilet.
Winging With the Social Pros
- What the Brits have historically thought of Italians is explored. Factual narrative citation: Writer Corrado Augias[3] refers to other historians to determine what makes ‘Italianises’and how the Simonetti – Attisani extended family may fit in.
- Why use the research by Edward Banfield and is explained. Even though the title given to the thematic research is quite confrontational, there are similarities between the interviews recorded and our oral history.
- Peer reviews by qualified writers including by Frank Cancian,[4] Emanuele Ferragina,[5] Thomas McCorkle[6] and Charles Haywood[7] are interpreted to qualify the research methods used by Banfield and the conclusions reached.
- Cannatelli and Simonetti’s oral history anecdotes about fish mongering comparisons with Banfield observations at Montegrano.
- Black market activities circumvent cigarette and salt taxes.
- The gentry class demand for respect in small towns, is compared to our oral history.
- Positioning the middle class to differentiate persons becoming professionals through education.
- Grassroots political development stratified by social class and education. The priest holds sway over the masses. Corruption creeps into a nation that can ill afford the pilfering of its GDP.
- Factual narrative citation: Plato’s ‘The Republic’formulae, are recipes for Aldous Huxley and George Orwell-type
- Law and order notes of our oral history are interwoven into the circumstances surrounding some of the people whom the Banfield team interviewed.
- Frank Cancian succinctly sums up The typical southern Italian peasant,then he goes on to critique Banfield’s research. He accepts in part Banfield’s conclusions but offers that there are gaps and limitations in the logic used to reach such conclusions. Cancian explores his hypothesis based on a conceptually two ‘world views’.
- The effect of education on social status and its, self-imposing limitations on graduates.
- The Southern Italian mindset to interpret current events such as corruption, superstition and becoming involved in the political process being founded in the family.
- Charles Haywood’s contemporaneous input brings attention to socialist Venezuela and the failed State of Somalia as being the result of bad cultural practices by the masses. Banfield’s past including being part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’adds considerable depth to understanding poverty.
- Haywood argues his points about “morality” from a legal perspective. Factual narrative citation: “Chesterton’s Fence”[8]. Discourse leads to having a robust base morality to be a lasting generational legacy. Evolution of the dowries and inheritances in different cultures and the pitfalls evident. A modern economy and a stable political system are critical to underwriting equity in opportunities. The current Western World has challenges to preventing it from becoming the new ‘Montegrano – Chiaromonte’.
- Applying Edward Banfield’s ‘predictive hypothesis’to the Simonetti-Attisani family. Factual narrative citation: Adam Smith’s ‘The Wealth of Nations’ to establish a base for ‘advantage’as a tradeable commodity; Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, Comte de Tocqueville’s ‘Democracy in America’,Manlio Rossi-Doria[9]
- Ferragina talks of the ‘white knight,’coming forth from benevolent ‘outsiders’; my own opinion was given in an earlier discourse.
- Ferragina jumps forward fifty years to point out that not much has changed in some parts of the South. He quotes another researcher who concludes Banfield’s hypothesis, in practical terms, is location limited to mountainous regions of the South.
- Banfield’s research is held up against similar conditions that prevailed in England in the 19th Century leading to transportation to Australia.
- Contrary to Banfield’s assertions, Michele Simonetti did change his perspective on life, even though it came through a period of adversity. My grandparents also strived to improve their lots in life by their purchase of land.
- Corrado Augias acknowledges the work of Robert Putnam and Tocqueville to make his point as to why the North was able to come together in a ‘civic sense’for the betterment of their communities.
- Sam Lopez and Bruno Cannatelli sum up with opinions of the Italians they left behind and being representative of the greater Italy.
§ Breaking Out
Via Nova Surface is Corrugated
- Historical snapshot of Italy’s economic development during the ’50s and entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 60’s.
- Differentiation begins to occur between the success of the North and cheap labour flowing in from the South.
- The political landscape being shaped by pulpit sermons, warning against the PCI. Rhetoric assisted by revelations of the Stalin purges.
- Fascists left in place post-1945, continued to influence public policy and threatened insurrection.
- Industrial infrastructure was poorly planned further hampered by corruption.
- A fresh look at the circumstances that influenced our father to immigrate. Small farms were commercially handicapped.
- The process for seeking to immigrate and Simonetti case study. Whether the decision to go to Australia was made in haste whilst waiting for acceptance to head for the USA, is analysed.
- The challenges which the Australian option entailed are explored.
- Australia’s historical immigration policies and how they were implemented in the ‘50s are summarised. An oral history of Giuseppe Cavallaro’s and Nicola Gattuso’s pre-war arrivals provides depth to the discourse about Australia’s chequered immigration history.
- Australia was ill-prepared to host immigrants making the breakout of war very difficult for resident Germans and Italians. The prospect of being interned caused Cristiano Spiller to head for Cobram. POWs arrive to fill labour gaps left by Aussies gone to war.
- Australia’s politicians see the need to populate but retain a British-preferred source. Brits begin to shy away from taking the Australia option.
- Italians need to contend with “L’atto di richiamo” Simonetti’s oral history provides a personal account. The scheme could be exploited by unscrupulous Italian residents.
- Assisted passage implemented by the government had its own set of misgivings; the Vogal story is telling of the poor planning.
- Father makes the journey narrated from oral history.
- What is Australia is explained using an introduction featuring Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and his portrayal of the ‘boosh’. Father and I crossing paths with Steele Rudd’s theme “On Our Selection” dramatized in the ‘Dad & Dave’radio series. Were these ‘squatters’ and ‘selectors’ the real Australians? Then there was ‘Bullocky Bill’ and the truth about a dog sitting on a tuckerbox.
- My childhood run-in with readings of Henry Lawson’s short stories leads to exploring his Bio to discover the Australian character. This is supplemented by the discourse of Andrew Barton’s “Banjo” Paterson writings.
- Several quotes from oral history sayings tell of what the immigrants believed they got themselves into.
- The Australian dialect immortalised by CJ Dennis standing alongside ‘Cockney’ bridges our Calabrian experience as newcomers. The dialogues of ‘The Bloke, Doreen’ and ‘Ginger Mick’ give wonderful insights into Anglo Aussies at the turn of the century.
- Donald Horne portrays an Australia undergoing restructuring post-WWII.
- Michele was part of a cohort of voluntary immigrants who paid their way. What did they get for the money?
Budging In With Pioneer Resolve
- Search for answers leads to new pioneers and how the events unfolded. Immigrant ships: ‘Surriento,‘Anna Salén’ Roma and Sydney’ were repurposed excess naval assets with intricate stories of their own. Factual narrative citation: Peter Plowman[10]
- The Vogels assisted passage sees them being housed at the Bonegilla Migrant Camp. Franz walks to Cobram. The Steve Vogel family and seniors remain in Austria and build their own modest home. A little more family strife prods discontent and decide it’s time to also move.
- Vogel’s exit from living in a mice-infested garage, and move to a two-bedroom dwelling with the bungalow.
- Father enters the cane cutter ‘Wild West’[11] of Far North Queensland. Immigrants were wholly distrusted by the old-guard Anglos.
- Vito Galati’s brief Bio leads into his story of a larger family making the journey to Mossman.
- Some civility was brought into Queensland’s itinerant population by the ‘1952 Workers Accommodation Acts’.
- Father makes progress; leading a cane cutter gang to make ‘top money’.
- Zio Pietro older than Father knew that his membership of the Communist Party excluded him from applying to immigrate to the US. Father and Zio’s idea to come together in Mossman, adds me to their shaky planning.
- Oral history narrates the events of the journey and arrival in Mossman. The time coincided with the events engulfing the Suez Canal underscored by the growing communist menace and Nasser expelling an ‘Egyptianized’ cohort ‘collectively known as the ‘mutamassiruns’.Follow up on earlier discourse of the Greek Spiliotacoploulos family being expelled. George will in the future become the next-door neighbour to Father and Mother.
- Memoirs narration of Zio and I made the journey aboard the ship ‘Surriento’.
Demands for Incremental Adjustment
- Vogels had settled into their home-building programs by the time Father arrived.
- The Italian ‘moda’ versus the Anglo’s short back ’n’ sides haircuts, and baggy pants are standout differences of the young men.
- What to do with a child of eight? Descriptive of my farm campus domain.
- Schooling and social interaction with other children is an uphill struggle. Other new life hurdles need to be resolved for a child’s welfare. Antonio Prestigiacomo shows the way by leaving for Melbourne, but that path does not suit us.
- Father worked his ‘ganger’ role to have his group make top $s. Andrea Rondinelli wants in, he also has a son with him.
- Times of merriment at Port Douglas pub amongst the cane cutters. End-of-season parties are distractions but begin missing my brother and sister. Friendlies at school were scarce and the ones causally encountered were too soon left behind.
- We were off to Tully to meet up with Andrea Rondinelli and his son for a short-term cane-cutting contract. Childhood boredom is alleviated by a game at the beer bottle dump site. The farm owner screams ‘blue murder’ making our grownups mad at us.
- Learning English by reading billboard slogans on train station platforms whilst spending an eternity waiting.
Far From White Picket Fences
- The metaphor for our social standing is the middle class is retrospectively adopted as a yardstick.
- The Vogels had already taken a few steps up the ladder against a backdrop of floods inundating Cobram and the Murray Valley. Cement brick homes lined Wondah Street to make the beginnings of ‘German Town’.
- Characters that will become significant in the future are introduced.
- We head for Melbourne by train; and an attempt is made to squat in sleeper carriages.
- The Australian work ethos formulated by Father and Zio of men along the rail lines leaning on their shovels. A little humour is told of Italians making themselves understood in broken English.
- Our journey’s pitstops: getting around Sydney and going to well-known actor ‘Totò’ movie.
- Lygon Street back then, Joe Rondinelli and my short stink in Melbourne staying at the “Carbone guest house”. We cross paths with the Prestigiacomo families; Father and Zio spend a little leisure time at ‘Café Gino’s playing cards and bocce.
- Father and Zio made the call to go to Cobram for the fruit-picking season. The hook-up with the Gattuso father-son team goes awry, need to play train tag between Seymour and
- Bernadette O’Sullivan[12] provides background to our abode to be; a repurposed dairy hut complete with its inhouse tree stump left in situ. Descriptor and imaginings of how the hut got to be located in the middle of the farm amidst a Bathurst burr patch. Tommaso Galati later dubbed the hut, the focal point of our pitiful existence, ‘corpo di guardia’.
- Characters relating to future discourses introduced. A descriptor of the farm includes a historical connection to tobacco crops.
- Stone fruit agriculture, harvesting and processing methods before bulk handling and sprinkler irrigation.
- What to do with a child in their midst needed resolving, labour bartering perhaps!
- I’m enrolled at St Joseph’s Catholic School for the start of the 1957 school year. Introduction of Monica Vogel (my wife-to-be) and Maria Kraljik (my girlfriend-to-be) for upcoming narratives of their involvement in my life.
- Bullying by a pair of cow cockie’s sons. Punishment by the Nun is mentioned for timeline purposes.
- The ambience of the school bus routine introduces children from the farming community.
- Family child nurturing practices observed led to the near-death of toddler Nick Gattuso Jr.
- My participation in the packing shed frenzied activities.
- The fresh fruit wholesale market corrupt practices are subliminal to the broader Mafia gaining momentum.
- Trek back to Mossman includes a stopover in Sydney. Father buys the iconic out-of-date Olympic Games T-shirt I wear to the Mossman show captured in a photo memento.
- I’m enrolled at the State School where the Galati children have already settled. Descriptors of classes including first encounters with aboriginal children and the difficulties they faced.
- Saturday nights were movie times, and by public demand westerns were usually screened to suit public demand.
- Vito Galati takes the boys to the Port Douglas pub. Anecdote of Father regretting not buying land there, but it was a matter of ‘having one’s cake and eating too’.
- Father sends money back to Italy to keep the plan for buying land afloat. The folly of the plan laid out by an arithmetic calculation of the discounted value of money over 57 years.
[1] The Moral Basis of a Backward Society Page 55
[2] Cannery Row
[3] The secrets of Italy’
[4] The Southern Italian Peasant: World View and Political Behaviour
Italian Peasant_1930 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6b29j30j
Journal Anthropological Quarterly, 34(1) ISSN 0003-5491 Author Cancian, F Publication Date 1961
[5] Dept. of Social Policy, University of Oxford, Barnett House ‘The Never-Ending Debate About The Moral Basis Of A Backward Society: Banfield and ‘Amoral Familism’
[6] University of Iowa
[7] Maximum Leader: ‘The Worthy House’; a right of centre, political commentary magazine
[8] The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood.
[9] Book: ‘Dieci anni di politica agraria nel Mezzogiorno’ 1958
[10] Australian Migrant Ships 1946 – 1977 used in this research.
[11] Source: Research Paper by Joanna Will; Remembering the Cane, 2009
[12] Life On a Dairy Farm In The 30s, (Website: Great Australian Story, 14 Dec 2014)