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- before shifting to Daylesford and leaving his son Robert to take over the business.
During this period, he was faced wdth the death of his wdfe Mary*^ who, like a number
of unmigrant women, had spent her final days in a lunatic asylum, after falUng victim to
the difficulties of life in a newly estabUshed colony. She was buried in the Daylesford
Cemetery along with her two children who had died in infancy. Four years later, when
he was apparently living back in Hepbum, Giuseppe also died. The following article
which appeared in the local paper a few days after his death drew attention to the
generosity he had showm to other ItaUan speakers throughout his life:
He was a leading spirit, both as a business man and also among his
countrymen, as an hotel keeper and baker, and I have often heard it
remarked of the assistance he bestowed upon those that were tunnelling
and doing dead work prospecting for gold; many times at a loss to
himself*'
Giuseppe was buried along wdth his wife and children at Daylesford, in a grave which
continues to be maintained by family descendants: it is evidence of the strong kinship
bonds which continued to link the generations.
The only brother remaining in Australia, Serafino moved his plant in the early
1900s into the tovmship of Heywood and ran bush miUs consisting of eight logging
teams. He employed a number of staff, which might be interpreted as removed from
his 'peasant' traditions, though his employment of fellow immigrants from the Valle
Maggia, Uke Joe Pedrazzi,*"* might be seen as reinforcing traditional connections and
networks. Though the sons may have helped in the business, it was no longer possible
for the Righettis to operate solely as a family concem. The sending of the younger
children to a coUege in Hamilton also revealed the high regard the family held for their
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