Download (14Mb) - VUIR - Victoria University

B.ta ha finito un buco bono e subito ne ha trovato un altro',^^ but Battista soon
decided to exchange this wearisome activity for the more culturally familiar occupation
of store ovmership. Though his skills lay chiefly in dairy farming, Battista used his
savings, and perhaps some mining profits, to set up a smaU tent selling groceries in
Hepbum (on a site which later became Vanzettas' bakery) (ref figure 11).
In 1855 he had approached Stefano Pozzi's brother, Alessandro, suggesting
they open a store together but, when he was refused on the grounds that there were no
profits in such ventures, he had bought into the store with a member of the Padavani
family.^* Forming a second partnership a few months later with one Gioannini
(Giovannini?) Bonetti, by Febmary of the following year he was in competition with
the Pozzis who had opened another store 20 to 30 paces away. The Pozzi store being
more prosperous because of its home-made bread, Battista decided that he too would
need to include a bakery on his premises. Angering Leonardo Pozzi, who claimed
(applying a typically agrarian metaphor) that Battista was trying to 'farci laforca' ^'
(to play them false or put the pitchfork into them), he became more aware of the
rivalry that existed within the immigrant population. Battista proved a more
formidable competitor with his bread oven and was soon able to undercut Pozzis'
bread prices. This brought about another angry outburst from the Pozzis who labelled
Battista 'quella carogna di quel Righetti' ^* (that carrion of a Righetti). When a local
Italian baker also lowered his bread prices and was called 'maledetto ... piemontese '^'
(an accursed ... Piedmontese), it was an indication of how goldfields tension could not
only strain ethnic and cultural bonds but also give expression to existing ethnic and
cultural differences.
208