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An examination of the Licensing Register for the 1860s suggests that one of
Antonio's earliest activities at Eastem Hill was as a publican, an application for a hotel
licence being received on 15 April 1864.** As family descendants had no knowledge of
such a venture, however, this appUcation may not have been successful.*' It is more
likely that Antonio began to farm the land while continuing to mine for gold. By 1867,
he was joined by another member of his immediate family, his younger brother Battista,
who had departed for the goldfields of New Zealand in 1862 before transferring to
Australia; the three Caligaris had presumably been in contact during these years,
informing one another of the opportunities in the spirit of the 'scouts' (see earlier
section). By 1870 Antonio was living in Daylesford where he made application to the
Lands Department to purchase land at Eastem Hill** (ref figure 13). He requested a
relatively small plot, like his compatriots needing only eight to twenty hectares to farm
effectively. The area's other Italian-speaking settlers ~ Giorgi, Morganti, Tomasetti -
had acquired blocks of similar size, all on the cheaper northem side of the road toward
Eastem HiU.
Within two years of his land purchase Antonio had married. After eleven years
in the Colony, during which time he had made contact with many in the Irish
community, he chose seventeen year old Mary Ann Lucas to be his wife, the ceremony
taking place on 4 December 1872 at Daylesford.*' Bom in Tasmania, Mary Ann had
at some stage moved wdth her parents to Victoria, where they had opened a store.
Twelve years her senior (evidence of the time it had taken to attain some financial
security) Antoruo gave his principal occupation as miner and his address as Deep
Creek.^" The couple's first child was bom one year later, on 13 November, and named
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