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not establish a medical practice but instead set up a store and bakery (as noted
previously). Dr Pagnamenta from Ticino's Sonogno, who had arrived only one week
after Severmo, joined the hundreds of Italian-speaking immigrants in the hunt for gold.
The arrival of these representatives of the professional classes nevertheless aroused the
suspicion and resentment of many of their 'peasant' compatriots, who feared being
exploited. Aquilino Righetti (whose family featured eariier) expressed the view in 1855
that:
Fra gli awenturieri di lucre figuravano non solo gli agricoltori e
pasteri, ma una schiera di awecati, dettori, ingegneri e poeta, tutti
si recavano in Australia, nen gia col proposito di scavare Tore, ma
cell' intenzione di pelare in altre modo quel pochi fortuniti che
I'avrebbere trovate.**
Similar hostility greeted Dr Guscetti when he arrived on the goldfields because his
political involvement was widely recognised.
[I]eri arrivarone parecchi dei nostri ticinesi con Guscetti ... Di
queste Guscetti cosa diavele vuel fare qui, non si potrebbe mai
dire, il mene di cavagna pud essere il piu fortunate, ma
generalmente questo succede a colore che usano badile e
zappone.**
wrote Alessandro Pozzi, (see eariier section), stUl tormented by his own decision to
leave his homeland and suspicious of the doctor's intentions.
The hostUity towards the professional classes was sometimes expressed as
criticism that they were physically and psychologically Ul-equipped to survive
Australia's harsh conditions. When Pagnamenta gave up mining for dairy farming, for
example, he was labelled by Alessandro Pozzi '// signor dottore delle zucche' (the
doctor of marrows).*' Though the comment followed a personal argument, it ridiculed
the doctor's attempts to master peasant skills. Similariy, Dr Rossetti was labeUed
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