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(no direct relation to the Lafranchi famUy in this study). The immigrants had fled the
perils of their own homelands to be confronted by another peculiar to hot and dry
continents. Many vineyards around Hepbum were destroyed thereby accelerating the
decline of the local wine industry afflicted by phyUoxera during the previous decade.
Despite the loss of liveUhood that the fire caused to many people, ironically it
proved a bonus for the Perinis. Theu* hotel, which had suffered some fire damage but
was fully operational soon after the event, attracted cUents tumed away from other
destroyed businesses. Workmen employed to carry out repairs were also
accommodated at Perinis'. When Bellinzona's ovmer Battista Borsa redirected his
cUents and workmen to their hotel ~ inspired perhaps by ties of friendship and ethnicity
- the Perinis were surprised by how well they coped with accommodation on a large
scale and decided to continue in the guest-house business permanently. Battista Borsa
had arrived in Australia in 1852, from the city of BelUnzona (hence the name of the
guest-house) one of only five Ticinesi to arrive in those early years. He had mined for
a time and then opened a butcher shop at Forest Creek, advertising his goods in the
local newspaper in Italian.'** He set up a brewery in Daylesford in the 1860s (ref
figure 9) ~ the Italian speakers apparently influential in developing Australian's beer as
well as wdne tastes ~ and later established his guest-house Bellinzona at Spring Creek
which proved to be one of many then becoming popular in the Daylesford region.
Tourism had became Daylesford's major industry by the early years of the
1900s, creating a huge demand for accommodation. Thanks partly to the work of the
Mineral Springs Committee, the spa waters of Hepbum Springs (which was the name
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