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Having remained in Hepbum as a miner, on 7 December 1878 Battista Milesi
married Augusta Amelia Tuddin, the eldest daughter of Swedish couple Erich and
Carlotta Tuddin then resident in Bryces Flat near Daylesford.*' Bom only three years
before Battista had arrived in Australia, Augusta was eighteen years old at the time of
her marriage to the 32 year old Battista. Their wedding at Castlemaine marked one of
the few occasions in which ItaUan speakers married outside their own or the
Anglo-Celtic national groups although a shared Roman Catholic background appears
to have facilitated the union. The couple settled at Spring Creek where Battista was
reminded of his homeland: orUy a short distance from San Giovanni Bianco along the
Brembana Valley lies the village of San Pellegrino famed, like Spring Creek, for its
mineral spas. The Milesis produced their first child Battista in 1879 and a second son
Giuseppe one year later on 6 January. The witness to Giuseppe's birth was a Mrs
Respini, Augusta apparently accepting the friendship of, and being accepted by,
members of the Italian-speaking community. With few Swedes on the goldfields,
Augusta perhaps enjoyed the warmth and protection of this large immigrant group.
The Milesis raised thirteen children, Giacomina arriving on 9 January 1881.
The other offspring, in order of arrival, were Veronica, Antonio, Frank, Amelia
Augustine, May Josephine, Elena Martha, John Hepbum, Margherita and Angelo. The
preponderance of ItaUan names suggests Battista's determination to maintain strong
emotional links with his homeland. Hepburn's name (also selected for one of the
Perinis' sons) is possibly of locative derivation, suggesting the Milesi's contentment
wdth their new homeland. Battista's application for British citizenship on 19 January
1898 ^" was, however, more Ukely prompted by his desire for a govemment pension
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