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in political affairs, at one time hosting meetings of the Hepbum Democratic Club in
their home.*" They were committed to the welfare of their countrymen, lending
money and other forms of assistance to those in need.
Drawing upon their connections wdthin the Italian-speaking community, Leila
and Clara later began working in some of the locally Swiss-owned guest-houses,
initially employed after school and on Saturdays, then later full-time. Performing the
roles of kitchen-maid (cleaning and emptying the 'slops'), chamber-maid or
nurse-maid, they were employed at various times at Perinis' Locamo, Borsas'
Bellinzona and RoUeris' Hotel,** At some stage Clara left Hepbum to assume an
office job wdth CoUins Booksellers, a newly formed company in Melboume. In 1918,
she was joined there by her 21 year old sister Leila. The some year her mother and
fourteen year old brother Ray moved to Sydney, where Josephine and Loretta (jnr) had
set up as milliners in 1904. The land title for Gordevio was transferred to John
Gaggioni, who sold it in 1924 for 200 pounds.*^
Loretta remained in Sydney until her death in 1950 at 89 years of age. Her son
Ray set up his own riding school, changing his name to Jolly for business reasons.*' In
Hepbum, Virginia raised seven children, the last of whom was named Loretta
Maddalena, a gesture which preserved both the christian and maiden names of her
matemal grandmother. This child and two of her brothers are the only descendants of
the Gaggioni family still living in Hepbum. Leila Gaggioni remained with the CoUins
company in Melboume all her Ufe, renting a home in Kew after the war ^nd marrying
in 1935. In 1991, she became a resident of a Melboume home for the aged where she
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