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Italians were involved in that experience [gold digging] but not ^s
miners, they were smarter, and they were just thinking that you could
ensure your fiiture more probably by providing the necessary support
services more than just going and digging for gold.^'
Along with theu large Italian-speaking community, some businessmen were also able
to draw upon contacts made during the 'scouting' years to trade wdth the EngUsh
speakers. Coinciding with the decision to open shops and businesses was a growth in
the stability of tovmships in the Daylesford region, the contribution of the Italian
speakers to economic diversity being an essential part of the community-building
process.
In 1859, the municipality of Daylesford was formed and in 1863 it became a
borough. The shopping centre moved to Vincent Street and over the next few years
the population increased ten-fold. Among the most numerous businesses which the
Italian speakers opened ~ and which combined their interests in the both the food and
hospitality industries ~ were hotels and wine bars. Along with applications for British
citizenship from those wishing to purchase land came those from men wanting liquor
Ucences (for which British citizenship was also a prerequisite). Many Italian speakers
found the liquor trade attractive, especially the Ticinesi with a tradition in such
ventures. The Swiss had been pioneers of the hotel trade both within and outside their
country, ix being a Valaisan from one of the southem cantons like Ticino who first
opened a hotel in Paris to which he gave the name The Ritz.^* Likewise, many Italians
found the hotel trade attractive and were soon established in businesses in the Jim
Crow district. Carlo Traversi, who came to Australia from the Swiss village of Cevio,
reinvested profits eamed in 1854 land sales in the hotel trade. He buih a dancing hall
in Daylesford and ran his ovm orchestra (ref figure 9). In Spring Creek Dr Rossetti,
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