Download (14Mb) - VUIR - Victoria University

As the business grew and it became necessary to acquire additional milk for
processing, local farmers, like the Sartoris, contributed their produce to the Righetti
farm. Elvezia, a butter named after a family member, won prizes in Melboume and
markets overseas.^'* Eventually the Righetti family moved into a new home built with
stone from its own local quarry. This home was extended in the 1880s with the
addition of a new two-storey section but, unlike the earlier house which had been
constmcted from irregularly shaped stones in a style similar to Locamo, this section
comprised large, evenly sized sandstone blocks. It also incorporated decorative pillars,
elegant pressed iron ceUings and wrought ironwork on the balcony, making a shift
away from the purely functional peasant home to one more telling of the Righettis'
greater financial security. The ground floor of the home comprised a three-roomed
Uving and cooking area, while upstairs were five bedrooms. In another outward show
of the family's mcreased wealth, land was endowed to the Yandoit community for the
erection of a CathoUc Church (which Battista is also believed to have helped design
and build).^* Several Italian-speaking families donated land for similar purposes, as
wiU be seen in later chapters.
Despite the prosperity of their farm, the Righettis pursued a self-sufficient life­
style similar to the Sartoris. Perhaps conscious of their recent escape from poverty,
they planted crops and orchards and erected workshops for food preparation and
buUding repairs. The similar life-style of the Italian speakers at Yandoit led to a
sharing of interests and leisure pattems, one of the more popular relaxation activities
being bocce, an ItaUan form of bowls traditionally played on a sand, clay or grass
surface, with baUs made from metal, wood or stone. Examples of hand crafted
125