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Alessandro as a 24-year-old miner, he possibly having found employment on the
SpringdaUah mine, one of the more successfiil then operating in the Piggoreet region.
Originally settled in 1844 and named 'constant waters' by the aborigines, Piggoreet
had increased in size and population after the gold boom and had been unproved with
bridges, roads and footpaths. Alessandro and Helen remained in the area all their lives,
raising another five children, two of whom were given ItaUan names. FoUowing the
birth of Serafina came George Alexander, bom in 1868, Valentino in 1871, Edward
Vincent in 1873, Eliza Maddalena in 1877 and Elizabeth Emma in 1880 ~ the mixture
of their different ethnic backgrounds finding expression in the naming of their children.
Alessandro's mining activities remained the family's chief form of financial
support. On 31 October 1870, together with a group of ItaUan speakers including his
cousins Lorenzo and Abbondio, he leased an alluvial tenement of around three hectares
from the Table Land Co-operative Company at Piggoreet.^* The remaining partners ~
Luigi Campigli, Antonio Bonetti, Maurizio MartinelU, and Fedele Lafranchi ~ were all
from Maggia or nearby viUages and reflected the close village ties which had kept the
group together after sixteen years in the Colony. One year later, on July 8, the group
obtained water rights to sluice at Piggoreet, possibly working the diggings which they
had mined eight months before. Apart from his co-operation with Alessandro in this
venture, Uttie is knovm of Abbondio Quanchi. He had joined the mining partnership
(which then excluded Alessandro) in 1869 when it leased almost two hectares of a
mining tenement from the WilUam Tell General Mining company. (The name William
TeU would point to Swiss owners and indicate that some Italian speakers grew
sufficiently wealthy for such ventures.) This lease did not prove profitable, however.
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