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Download (14Mb) - VUIR - Victoria University

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the gold msh (ref figure 7). It did not feature any settiement at Daylesford, the only<br />

place mentioned being the station of Edward Parker, the Protector of Aborigines, near<br />

Mt Franklin. It is possible the Italian speakers felt sympathy for Australia's natives<br />

who had been dispossessed of their land: like the aborigines, they too had been forced<br />

to surrender the land to which they felt closely bonded. The route to the goldfields<br />

took the traveUers coming from Melboume through the Black Forest from Gisbome to<br />

(what later became) Glenlyon. On the Daylesford to Malmsbury road seventeen hotels<br />

vied for the custom of the passerby. One English speaker, making the joumey at the<br />

same time as the Italians and Ticinesi, recorded the following in his diary in April 1857:<br />

The first night we stopped in Keilor and had the misfortune to put up at<br />

a house infested with bugs. My dear wife getting no rest that night.<br />

The next night stopped at Carlsmhe. We were more fortunate and got<br />

very good accommodation. Weather very cold frosty. On the<br />

following night camped out on the banks of the 'Loddon'. Rather<br />

rough country to travel. Next day my wife walked most of the time,<br />

being afraid to ride as we had some nasty side-lings.'**<br />

Also to be recalled is Stefano Pozzi's description of his tedious and uncomfortable<br />

joumey. Nearing the goldfields, the travellers were, however, hopeful that here, at<br />

last, their dreams of wealth would be fulfilled.<br />

The joumey from their viUages to the mines at Jim Crow had taken the Italian<br />

speakers almost 200 days. Within that time they had suffered the pain of leaving their<br />

villages, had felt alienated and afraid and had undergone enormous discomfort and<br />

emotional strain. They had been forced to adapt to new languages and cultures and to<br />

question their traditional values. In retrospect, the Italian speakers would view their<br />

joumey to Australia as a testing ground which had prepared them for a future life in<br />

Australia. Though changed in many ways, the immigrants had not tumed their backs<br />

108

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