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HOME AND FAMILY
As suggested in preceding chapters, for the overwhelming majority of Italian-
speaking men who had decided to settie in Australia, the need for female
companionship became a pressing concem. Denied the emotional support of wives,
mothers, sisters or fiances, they longed to be reunited with their families. Married men
had spent many years away from their family homes and many bachelors, aged now
into their mid 20s or 30s, wanted a wife and children of their own. They had also
reached a level of financial security sufficient to provide for a family. This chapter will
examine the family Ufe of the Italian speakers: their marriages, their homes and the
raising of their children. It will note the extent to which the settlers attempted to
reconstmct their European life-styles in Australia while at the same time recognising
that their decision to remain in the Colony with a family involved a commitment to an
'Australian' way of life.
When the married male immigrants realised what little hope remained for a
retum to their homelands, many wrote to their wives instmcting them to join them in
the Colony. Some were able to retum to Europe to accompany their wives on the
journey but most could only afford the single fare. Many of the reunions between
husband and wife occurred after a separation of six or seven years during which time
brothers or sisters had died, children had been bom and property had been bought and
sold. Many marriages did not survive the years of separation with couples eventually
losing interest in one another. In some cases, the men had actually emigr?ted to
Australia in order to escape unhappy unions, remarrying again Ulegally in AustraUa,
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