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ITALIAN IMMIGRATION:
INTERVIEW TO GIUSEPPINA (PINA) CALABRO
by
Alessia Fornasier
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In the 20th century many Europeans
left their countries to go overseas because in Europe
life was very difficult, they couldn’t find a job or if they had
one, the pay was very low and they couldn’t support their families,
which were often very large.
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Alessia
Fornasier with Ms Giuseppina Calabro |
Many of these Europeans went to Australia, because this land was still not much inhabited and it was very rich
in natural resources, like gold and coal.
During my stay in Australia I was hosted by a family with an Italian background; in fact Peter,
the father of Amy, my host student, was born in an Italian family,
which came to Australia in the
fifties.
In my Australian days I had the
pleasure of making an interview to Pina, Peter’s mum, and she told
me very interesting stories about her immigration there and about
her Italian memories (her Italian is still perfect) |
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-When did you come to
Australia?
I came to Australia in 1956 from St. Antonio, a little town in
Sicily. My husband Sebastiano came here in 1955 and the year after I
followed him with my children.
- How did you come here?
We left Messina with a ship, the Toscanelli, it was not very big but it was
comfortable, it was full of people who were leaving Italy,
most of them forever.
- How long did the travel last?
It lasted 1 month, much more than today.
-Why have you left Italy?
In Italy the situation was really
bad, there wasn’t enough money to survive; Mussolini promised us a
lot of things but he didn’t keep them; he promised a pension to
old people but they didn’t have it, for instance my father had to
make the best he could, he sold the fruit, like oranges and locust,
of our plants to get some money or he bought some tree trunks and he
cut them to have firewood. So the only way we had to survive was
emigrating.
-How was Australia at your arrival?
Australia was less inhabited than today; there weren’t so many
immigrants, at least in Moe. My first impression of this country was
that here everything was so big, much bigger than in Italy;
for
example, houses were (and still are) very far from one another; at
the beginning it was quite strange, but then you get used to it.
-Were there many Italians?
No, at least in Moe there weren’t but there were many immigrants
coming from other parts of the world, especially Greeks.
-Did Australians respect
immigrants?
Yes, they did! They were very kind
with us, they didn’t laugh at us, even if we weren’t able to
explain things in English, they tried to understand us.
-And now, are Australians
respectful?
Yes, they are…immigrants are considered like real Australians,
there aren’t any differences between us.
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-How was with English? Did you
learn it immediately?
No; I learnt it after a few years, maybe because I didn’t go
out a lot, I used to stay at home with the children and so I didn’t
have the chance to learn it: when I was at the supermarket I tried
to make me understood when I had to ask for something, I used to
wave my hands about…!
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"Nonna"
Pina Calabro and her grandchildren Amy and Simon |
I have to admit that still today my English
is not very fluent… it’s difficult to learn a new language when
you are not very young.
-Do you feel Italian or
Australian?
I feel Italian: Italy is my land; I was born and grew up there! Even if there wasn’t
money Italy was really very beautiful.
-What do you remember of Italy?
Almost everything… Sicily was so beautiful and everything there was
great, even fruit had a different taste, and of course I remember my
family!
-Do you like living in
Australia?
Yes,
I do…I got used to living here! I have a good pension and the
services for the person, for instance Public Health, are better than
in Italy .
-Have you ever been back to Italy?
I went there 25 years ago, I went
to meet my family and my husband’s family, and I have still nieces
and nephews there.
-Has Italy changed?
Now there are too many people, streets are always so crowded…
-Would you like to go back to Italy and live there?
Um…. if my husband was still here I’d like to: maybe not for
living there, because here there is my family, but at least to make
a journey there!
Thank you very much for the interview and
for being so kind…
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Foto: © Nicoletta
Galante 2004 |
AUSTRALIAN CREATURES,
BOTH
GREAT AND SMALL
by Chiara Piazza
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Fauna
in
Australia
is vary varied and fascinating because it is different from the rest
of the world. As a matter of fact, Australia was the first continent
to part from the Pangea block, and
thanks to its isolation, a
particular kind of mammal, the marsupial, has developed and taken many different forms, both great and small.
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A
grey kangaroo
and family... |
Marsupials
don’t have placentas, and their offspring grow inside their pouch
and they drink milk from their mother inside the pouch.
The
most important marsupial, which has become a symbol of
Australia, is
of course the kangaroo; they come in many sizes and they can be
brown, reddish or grey.
The most common are the Grey Kangaroo and
the Red Kangaroo. They jump everywhere, they have very long legs and
feet and they live in the bush but near the houses too.
Another
typical Australian animal is the Koala. Koalas look like small bears
and they have grey fur on their back and on their limbs and white
fur on their chest.
They have very small eyes and a big nose and
they eat only eucalyptus leaves. They are very lazy and slow and
they sleep 20 hours a day because their food is not very energetic.
Other marsupials are the Possums, some of which are endangered. They
live in the eucalypt forest and are nocturnal: they sleep during the
day and are active at night. |
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If
you hear something running on your roof at night in Australia,
it is a possum! They
have a long tail to hold on trees and they eat fruits, berries and
leaves. They are very small and they look like squirrels.
Two
of the strangest Australian animal are the Echidna and the Platypus.
Both are monotremes; although they lay eggs, the babies born from
the eggs grow in the pouch and are fed on milk produced by glands
inside the pouch. Echidnas are covered with spines that are used as
a protection from predators: they look like porcupines. Platypuses,
instead, are very difficult to see and they are really weird
creatures.
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They look a bit like small beavers, they live in the
water and are very good swimmers; they eat seaweeds and crustaceans
and they look for food on the bottom of the water with their soft
bill. The
Dingo is a different animal, and it looks like a dog.
Dingoes are
not marsupials, and strictly speaking they are not really
“native” animals: they were brought to
Australia
by the Aborigines between 3,500 and 6,000 years ago and then grew
savage; dingoes are predators and often hunt in packs.
They are
light brown in colour and have a long thick tail.
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Dingo
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Crimson
Rosella |
Bird
life is extremely interesting in Australia,
especially the many colourful species of parrots and cockatoos, such
as Rosellas, Kingparrots, Galahs and Black or Sulphur-crested
Cockatoos. Kingparrots are green, blue and red and they eat seeds
and bugs like the other parrots.
Galahs are white with a pink chest
and head, Black Cockatoos are completely black, while Sulphur-crested
Cockatoos are white with a yellow crest.
Parrots make their nests in
the high-rise mounds of termites or on trees and their nests are
so solid that many creatures move in to cohabit. They have a tough,
sturdy beak with which to crack nuts and seeds.
Another
typical Australian bird is the Kookaburra, known as laughing bird;
there are also many species of Magpies, which are different from the
European ones: they haven’t a white chest but a white head with a
white back and black chest.
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There
are many birds of prey as well, such as the majestic wedge-tailed eagle,
owls and the weird frogmouth.
In
Australia
there are also lots of reptiles, including crocodiles and giant
lizards. The mother lizard lays her eggs in the sand and nine months
later when the eggs are ready to hatch she comes back to them and
the baby lizards emerge.
Other reptiles that are very frequent in this land are snakes. Eight
snakes out of ten live in Australia,
and there are both venomous snakes (some of them mortal!) and not
venomous ones.
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The majestic wedge-tailed eagle
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After dealing with these “bities”, let us deal with
amusing and nice animals: penguins.
In
Australia
you can find the Fairy penguins, which are the world’s smallest
penguins; they are black and white and after a long day in the sea
looking for food, each night at sunset they come ashore to their
burrows. |
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Along the coast you can also see seals, especially fur seal.
They
are grey and they look for food in the sea like penguins and they
eat fish, shellfish and seaweeds.
The range of Australian animals is really wide, and in my short
essay I have been able to write about only a few of them.
As
a conclusion, I’d like to add that there are many differences
between Australian and Italian attitude towards animals, and I am
convinced that in
Australia
people show more respect for animals than in Italy.
Many houses have a bird feeding station and parrots and the other
birds come to eat. Australians aren’t afraid of bugs or spiders,
even if they are very big, black and furry or of snakes, because
they are used to living in contact with them. |
Huntsman
spiders are common guests
in Australian houses.
Despite their
size,
they are shy and harmless
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Another
difference is that there are lots of fields full of cattle and sheep
and these animals live free in their pastures, near the horses. From
this point of view, Australia
looks a bit like
Ireland
.
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Foto: © Nicoletta
Galante 2004 |
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Foto: © Nicoletta
Galante 2004 |
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SUMMER
AIR
REMINDS
ME OF...
di
Morena Battilana
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I’m
packing my bags in silence, I am locked in my room. I do not want to
talk. I do not want to go back home. These fabulous fifteen days in
Australia
have really flown… Cruel time has made them slide on my skin, as
if a tepid wind had caressed for a moment my face. And now there is
nothing more….
With
all my clothes, my shoes and my souvenirs in my hands I look at that
bag with worry and I ask myself how I can put everything inside it.
And overall, I am tormented by the thought of not leaving anything
behind…
Some tears descend on my cheeks, which automatically become black
because of the mascara that incessantly trickles. I try to calm down
and to be reassured, telling myself that I will come back in this
wonderful land, that one day I will find again all the friends I
have met here. But this is not enough. Tears and sighs still keep me
company in that room by now empty, in which only a little bit of
light comes in through the half-closed curtains.
A short time later Mark comes into my room. He tells me that I have
to hurry up, because our farewell dinner will begin in five minutes.
So, after the last look at the room and with the last sigh on my
lips, I close my bag and I quickly get ready.
Once
I am in the restaurant where our party is, my mood stabilizes a
little bit. Seeing us all in that place fills my heart with joy and
I stop thinking that the day after I am leaving..
I have fun. I get near my schoolfellows and my new Australian
friends: we chat, we laugh, we take a lot of photos. I look about
me, I am sure none is missing, and instead… What a bitter surprise!
Where is he?? I thought tonight he would come too… But after a
short time of trepidation and fear the door of the restaurant opens
and behind Irene and Janis who are coming in, I see him, Chris,
handsome, with the smile that can melt my soul. His eyes hide, as
they always do, behind his long, blondish, ruffled hair. I intensely
gaze at him, because I want him to perceive me, I want him to say
hello to me, looking in my eyes. I come closer to him, I touch his
arm, lightly. “Hi, how are you?” I ask him. He shifts his hair
with a decided nod of his head and he smiles piercing me softly with
his immensely empty and big and blue eyes. Suddenly happiness
assails me and I forget for a moment that tomorrow I am leaving.
So, we all sit at the table; I am next to him, so I can breath his
fresh smell. Dinner goes on in the perfect way: laughs, wine, photos.
The atmosphere is a fire of
happiness and joy; no worries for the day after. When we
finish to eat, we all move to the pool-room of the restaurant, where
there is a juke-box and we have fun with it, choosing the happiest
and most danceable songs. Joking and dancing together is good fun.
A short time later I do not see Chris anymore. I ask his sister
where he has gone, but nobody knows. So I try to come back to the
room where we had dinner, which has changed into a pub with a
bandstand, on which some local singers are performing. And he is
there, all alone, sitting at one of the nearest tables and he
observes and studies the singers and the guitar players. I sit down
near him, because here I feel more at ease than in the pool-room. I
love live music and here I am in syntony with the world. The bands
pass by one after the other and most of them play songs of famous
groups. Sometimes an innocent tear comes down from my eyes, because
some of these songs are very poignant, but all in all the only thing
I can really realize is the perfect harmony that surrounds Chris and
me.
Then
all the others join us and the evening slowly ends there, all
together, singing the songs which we know and chatting quietly.
At
midnight
the bands stop playing and so a touch of sadness appears on our
faces, because we realize that it is time to say goodbye, to go home
to have a good sleep before tomorrow’s long flight. But just
becoming sad is not enough: I fall into an unbridled pain, because I
just do not want to say goodbye to everybody, or, to tell the plain
truth, to say goodbye to Chris. But surprises are not finished:
Janis and Chris ask me if I want to go to their home for the last
time, so we can be together a little bit more. In a moment I am on
cloud nine: I still have some time to spend with him, before telling
him goodbye for ever.
And
so I am at their home, in the garden. Their mum makes some toasts
with Nutella for us. We sit down in a circle: nobody knows what to
say, we are worried we might say something too sad and consequently
cause a fit of crying. So Chris goes to his bedroom and my eyes
follow him. On one hand I am enormously worried that he has gone to
sleep, on the other hand terribly hopeful to see him come back out
with his guitar in his hands. My eyes get worked up when I see him
coming, my hands are sweaty and eager to caress his ruffled hair, my
heart beats at the rhythm of the world and of the universe. I sigh,
sad, gripped by the desire of telling him what I feel. But I cannot.
He
starts playing. And… oh God, his hands are so young and pure, and
how they touch lightly that guitar! They caress those strings, which
are like spider webs that shine under the dew of a marine dawn; they
intone notes plunged in a moon made of honey, suffering and torn;
they create an unbreathable atmosphere, inundated by a million salty
and acid and penetrating tears. He can surely melt salt and blood
with his fingers and his guitar.
He plays with his head bowed, hair in front of the eyes. But from
time to time he glances and he gazes at my face, maybe searching for
approval for the song he is playing. He has wonderful and big and…
empty eyes. They are empty because they are cosy and ready to be
filled by my pain, so that my sad soul can go a little bit into them
and be purified. And at that time I smile. And I am mirrored in
those eyes and I would like to swim inside them. But I cannot. And I
realize in that instant that I have lost myself in his eyes, that I
feel in love with him and that an entire life is not enough to
forget how I felt in that moment, stunned and lost in two eyes, as
sweet and inviting as the sea.
I
feel like crying. But Irene, who perceives it, takes my arm, and she
drags me on the big trampoline in the middle of Chris and Janis’
garden. She throws me on it and then she dives on it too, and like
two totally crazy girls we start jumping and bouncing, splitting our
sides laughing, being silly. We are dead sad, but we try to do
everything possible not to think of how bad we feel. Chris and Janis
come there too, and trying to calm our crazy exhilaration, they lie
down next to us on the trampoline. Irene and I are out of breath
because of the effort of the leaps; and the instant of silence in
which we remain motionless listening to our breaths, to our
exploding hearts, to our being alive is wonderful. With a soft
movement Chris comes next to me. I turn toward him, I want to
capture his sweet look again. But he shows no signs of looking at
me, as if he feels guilty, as if he knew that he has made me fall in
love with him. But as a compensation he comes closer to me, he rests
his head on my shoulder, in such a way that I can smell the scent of
his hair. And this is the moment when we are no more on the
trampoline, no more in the garden, no more in
Australia
.
We are simply in another world, in a dimension without borders,
sounds or colours. Unforgivable moment.
If
I could only express a wish, a dream, I would like to sleep there
with him, to lie down on clouds, to look at him into his eyes for
hours and hours, to caress his hair listening to some songs we like,
provided they are very sweet. I would like the music to tenderly
wraps us in a spiral of pleasant pain.
In
that moment Angus, Janis’ dog, arrives and his owner gives a
little yell when she sees that comic and pretty puppy. The
atmosphere breaks off, I return with my feet on the ground. I let
Chris stand up to return to his guitar, and I silently turn round on
one side, full of questions, tears and thoughts. The notes slowly
keep on sliding on me, and I shiver and I don’t believe that
tomorrow everything will be finished. I do not want to go away. I do
not want to leave that boy who has remained engraved on me like a
very painful and unforgettable mark. I want to stay there and cry
again under the moon, laying on the trampoline with him, in his
garden, under the cool of the birch that shines, under that
unbelievable Australian starry sky. The sky of
Australia
…
so huge and full of stars… why are there more stars??? I want all
those stars too; rather, to tell the truth, I would like to have
only that unique little star with brilliant eyes who is in front of
me and plays.
Suddenly
Mark attracts my attention, saying: “The taxi is coming, hurry
up!”. Oh my God, no… I cannot, I really cannot go away. I
explode in a crisis of pain. I look at Chris and I make him
understand, even if he would rather not, that I have fallen in that
acuminated and grim trap which is love. He does not know what to say,
what to answer to my demand of help. He cannot return my look. He
lowers his eyes.
“Everything is over, for ever” I think “What a stupid mug I am,
how could I think that he cares for me and that…”. But in that
moment Chris intones that last song that says:
Summer
air reminds me of all the feelings of your love,
And what it was like when we were together,
Walking all along the beach, you were never far from my reach,
And you held me through the stormy weather,
And I wanna fall in love tonight,
And I remember when you said "everything's gonna be alright"
Laying in the summer grass, you told me not to talk so fast,
As I told you how I feel,
You made me feel right at home,
You told me I was not alone and you knew just how I feel,
I know we talked about it, I just can't get around it,
I just want one more night with you,
October air reminds me of all the seasons of your love,
And what it was like when we were together
The smell of fall is everywhere and though it seems,
I just don't care, 'cause now you've gone away…
I
remain perfectly motionless, with lots of tears that run down my
face and destroy my eyes. Nothing could make me happier and more
distressed, gladder and gloomier. Nothing could be more beautiful
than that last song, sang and played by him, as last farewell.
I
stand up. I go out with Mark and I say goodbye with a wave of the
hand. I get into the taxi and we come back home….
Next
morning the time to go away is already there. I check again
everything, I close my bags and I take them into the car. Then we
drive away, to
Melbourne
airport. Last goodbyes with all our new, unforgettable Australian
friends make some tears running down… Lots of sadness and no will
to face such a long and hard journey to go back to
Italy
.
The plane takes off. We are flying. And then we are landing at
Venice airport. We are at home.
There
is something wrong. I feel extremely alone and empty and… I do not
know. It is as if I lack something.
And
in that instant I understand: I have left my little heart full of
scars over there in
Australia
.
Maybe one day I will go there again to get it back….
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Foto: © Nicoletta
Galante 2004 |
SEZIONE
IN CORSO DI REALIZZAZIONE!
WORK IN PROGRESS! |
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