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Selection Acts, which had been introduced not long after his arrival m Australia (cf
above pp. 299-300), had facUitated these purchases, selectors being able to lease a
piece of land until they had eamed the right, and paid the rent for a sufficient length of
time, to acquire it freehold. Pietro and Loretta lived for a time in their small hut at
Hepburn, where their first child Virginia (registered Emelia) was bom in 1878, but
after a year were able to move into a new and larger house which Pietro had built on
the main road (ref figure 11). Erected from the local stone, and named Gordevio,^"^ it
was a two-storey house built in typical Ticinese style.
In constmcting his home, Pietro first dug a cellar, the same proportions as the
future rooms above. He selected rocks from along the nearby creek, assembling them
in random-mbble fashion (typical of the vernacular traditions of northem Italy) and
joining them with a mud mortar. The home was given a brick chimney, small windows
and a steep gable roof, the last feature being common among alpine homes. The
stonework in the ceUar was excellently crafted, comprising cavities for the placement
of lamps or for the religious effigies which families would entmst to watch over their
produce.** One wall contained a full-length slit ~ possibly for ventilation ~ and,
because the ground sloped down to the creek, there were two barred windows at the
rear. Leading dovm to the cellar were superb stone steps wdde enough for a
double-door entrance. The rooms above the cellar, and the first-storey rooms, were
buih on adzed iron bark or box logs supporting the floor joists and flooring. There
were no intemal walls, the outer walls being fiiUy load-bearing.
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