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to look after her grandmother.'*" (It had originally been intended that Margherita's
mother would retum to Australia with Olimpia but the elderly woman refused, stating
that she hated the country which had taken away her sons.) Olimpia agreed to go to
Ticmo but only on the condition that she be accompanied by her younger sister
Giuseppma, then nine years old. The arrangement revealed the strength of kinship
relationships and the sense of responsibility which existed within the extended family.
Margherita, left with five daughters aged between twelve and nineteen years to
maintain the family property, was conscious, perhaps for the first time, of the sacrifices
her own mother had made in allowing her to emigrate to Australia.
During the joumey to Switzerland Olimpia kept a journal'*^ which began with
their departure on a German ship from Melboume on 5 March 1902. Writing only in
EngUsh, she recorded brief stops at Adelaide and Fremantle which permitted views of
bustUng city life: like her ancestors, who had ventured little beyond the area of their
birth, these sights were new and exciting. Aboard ship the girls were treated to a diet
far richer than their normal peasant fare. Breakfast offered a choice of steak and
onions, boiled eggs, porridge, friend sausage meat, rice and cirmamon, or buns and
cheese and dinner, roast beef, boUed beef or German stew with potatoes, carrots and
cabbage. All of these details were recorded in the diary, perhaps revealing the
important role food played in the lives ~ or perhaps, simply reflecting that there was
not much else to write about. Also recorded in the diary was the threat from disease
the girls faced, the crew informing them that all dirty clothing would have to be burned
on their arrival at Genoa. No doubt, Olimpia and Giuseppina no doubt kept their
dresses as clean as possible. They had little money with which to buy the goods sold
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