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Madonna del Sasso at Locamo, a reminder to the people of Ticino that the saint had
watched over their families.*^
Belief m the goodness of the saints was also a comfort when a family member
died, especially a young member. In 1885, the Morgantis' eldest daughter Maria Eliza
passed away at only nineteen years of age. Elizabeth, as she had then come to be
known (though within the family she may still have been referred to as Maria Eliza),
had earUer left home to marry Pasquale Brocco, an Italian speaker from Sementina in
Ticino. Several second generation Ticinesi chose Italian-speaking partners, continuing
a tradition which had existed in the viUages of their parents.*^ Pasquale, who had
emigrated to Australia at around thirteen years of age and had become a miner, was
left with two small children in his care. Several years later and, at only 28 years of age,
the eldest Morganti son Maurizio died: while a high mortality rate might be assumed
to have characterised peasant life, transfer to Australia was unable to shield the
Morgantis from the poor hygiene and lack of medical knowledge of the nineteenth
century.
While the loss of the children brought great sadness, the death of Maurizio one
year later could have threatened the very survival of the family. Dying suddenly, at 58
years of age, Maurizio left his young wife with several children for whom to care and a
farm to mn: the youngest child, Henry, was under seven. A family stmcture, however,
which encouraged the men, women and children to each be knowledgeable about the
workings of the home and farm, especially since the men would often be absent from
the farm in search of work, protected the Morgantis from financial min. With little
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