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Melboume and Sydney through a network of friends. Arrangements such as this,
which took their produce beyond the local region, increased the dissemination of Swiss
Italian culture into the broader Australian community.
The items thus produced, and their means of production, provide valuable
insights into the material and social constmction of a particular life-style among the
ItaUan speakers at and near Daylesford. Consideration of such factors is particularly
important for discussing the past of non-literate individuals, providing what Hobsbawm
refers to as the 'view from below'.^'* Given hs social importance to the Italian-
speaking settlers of Daylesford, attention to food and food preparation illustrates key
aspects of life not obvious in the usual literary sources of historical investigation.
Some detaUs of the cheese-making process have been handed down through
the generations of the Lafranchi family, becoming for the descendants a precious link
with their past.^* The milk was first boiled in a copper for sterilisation, rennet tablets
were added as a curdUng agent (in the early days rennet was possibly obtained directly
from the calf s stomach lining) and the curdled milk strained in a cheese cloth. The
curd was then placed into a cheese-press and the finished cheeses laid out in the cellar
for curing. The cellar, which traditionally housed the foods consumed by peasant
families, thus gained additional significance for the Lafranchis as part of their
commercial enterprise. Easily understood processes such as cheese and butter-making
involved the whole family since simple tasks, Uke setting out huge dishes of mUk each
night and skimming off the cream in the morning, could be performed by the children.
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