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Despite the conflicts with competitors, Battista appears to have prospered weU
for a time opening, like the Pozzis, a second store at Deep Creek; it may have been
managed by his brothers Giuseppe and Serafino. Celestino was not involved in these
ventures, having at some stage moved to BaUarat. The Deep Creek store was not a
success, leading Alessandro Pozzi to boast:
il signer Righetti con tanta sua smania che aveva adesse fa mene di
prima, la gente nel suo store sene come le api in inverne; noi
abbiame travagliate di piu e sempre travagliereme di piu di
Righetti, anche in Deep Creek ha pertato via le storo e noi siamo
ancera la.
Through their letters the Pozzis (and other literate immigrants) were able to relieve the
finstrations of life on the goldfields and justify their business acumen vis-a-vis other
ItaUan-speaking settlers. Just as the statements of the time expressed ethnic and
cultural differences, these statements can be read as expressions of rivalry and
competition within the same ethnic and cultural grouping. Though not always an
accurate record of events, they are valuable for the way they expressed the emotions of
their authors at the time of writing. Certainly the Righetti and Pozzi families were not
in continual conflict, Battista often lending Alessandro the Ticinese newspapers which
he received from Someo.^^ It is also hard to imagine that the Righettis were not
present at La Festa della Madonna celebrations held each year at Pozzis' store in mid
August. When Alessandro wrote in 1856 that business failure had aged Righetti, it
seemed to contain a sympathetic note.^^
By May 1856, Battista had grown more worried about his poor profits and
expressed a desire to seU. Together with his brothers (who had continued to maintain
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