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a nearby viUage. In the case of those men who had arrived one or two decades after the
1850s, marriages occurred wdth the daughters of such families, the previous Gaggioni
story having provided an example. An ItaUan-speaking wdfe from a distant village was
apparently no more desirable to the settlers than one from a different country.
The women arriving from northem Italy or Ticino were, however, extremely
few in number. In the early years ~ from 1854 to 1856 ~ only three females arrived
from Ticino, wdth similar low numbers from Italy,' By 1901, the rates had begun to
increase, but remained low. The following table shows migratory rates for Ticinese
women compared with males from 1871 to 1901: "*
year
1871
1881
1891
1901
female
54
59
162
236
male
718
888
1555
1289
total for Victoria
772
947
1717
1525
As most of these women were either married or betrothed, little hope remained for the
single settlers of finding an ItaUan-speaking wife. Only about 30 Ticinesi in Australia,
in fact, married from within their village grouping and it is likely the situation varied
littie for the Italians,* The remainder chose partners from the Irish or English
communities, a shared Roman Catholic background promising broadly similar values
and moral code:
Most of the Ticinesi were deeply religious and in the absence of girls
from Ticino, married Irish or English CathoUc giris: 97 brides had Irish
sumames or given names, and 81 had likely English sumames, 6
presumably Scottish sumames.
While many Italian speakers considered marriage outside one's ethnic or social group
to be traitorous, most regarded marriage outside one's religion as unforgivable, even a
370