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elapsed. The interwoven thematic chapters do not relate specifically to the family
histories immediately preceding nor following them; rather, they raise and reinforce
ideas common to all the 'racconti'.
The first thematic chapter, the Emigrants, describes the Colony of Victoria at
the time of the 1850s gold rush and, in particular, the area of Jim Crow to which the
Italian-speaking immigrants came. It defines the inmiigrant community as belonging to
two distinct groups ~ people from the northern regions of what was caUed Italy after
1870 and Swiss ~ who, despite their differing political allegiances, shared a similar
language and culture. The chapter outlines the particular set of circumstances which
persuaded the immigrants to leave their homelands and to choose Australia as their
destination, and suggests that many of the Itahan speakers were ill-equipped by their
experience of village culture to cope well with life on the goldfields.
Chapter 3, the second thematic chapter, describes in detail the travellers'
journey to the ports of Melbourne and Sydney, revealing the degree to which it was
made difficult by the travellers' own ignorance and poverty. It shows how the
travellers coped on first arrival and describes their journey overland to the goldfields.
It reveals how hardship and suffering, as well as the need to adapt to the changed
environment, made the journey a rite of passage, its transformative qualities a
preparation for settlement.
Chapter 5 describes the early experiences of the Italian speakers at Jim Crow ~
'the scouts', as social historian Robert Pascoe has labelled the first influx of irrmiigrants
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