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Many ItaUan speakers eamed the respect of their community through their
business achievements: at Spring Creek the (previously mentioned) Lucinis, operators
of a large pasta factory; Fabrizio Crippa, owner of a quite substantial vineyard and
Lombard-style home {Parma Housef^ and hoteliers Luigi RoUeri and Griuseppe
Rossetti (who was also a doctor and had worked with the Righettis in Hepbum)
became important tovm identities. Theu increased wealth (which eased much of the
burden of family responsibility) and leisure time allowed them to participate more fully
in community activities. One of Vincenzo's earliest steps into public life concemed the
naturally occurring mineral waters around Spring Creek which he, and several other
Italian speakers, considered were being neglected. In the 1850s, Francesco Rossetti
had raised the problem with the local community but it was not until some years later
that the ItaUan speakers set up a committee to deal with the problem. Calling itself
The Committee EstabUshed for the Mineral Springs of Hepbum, the original
membership included Dr Severino Guscetti (whose story will be told in a later
chapter), Fabrizio Crippa, one member of the Lucini family, Michele Bedolla,
Francesco Rotanzi and Vincenzo Perini, all of whom were local townsfolk.^' The
group met on a regular basis at the ItaUan Society's reading room located at Michele
BedoUa's Hotel in Spring Creek (ref figure 10). Indicating a sizeable presence of
educated immigrants, Bedolla, who had emigrated from Russo in Ticino in 1855, had
set up the room to provide a venue for borrowing Italian books and newspapers;
presumably members of the group contributed reading matter received from their
families in Ticino and Italy. BedoUa later became a Justice of the Peace and a
counciUor m the Mt Franklin shire,^" the experience of assisting his compatriots (as it
had for Vincenzo) soon finding expression in a community concem.
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