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sin. Along with a common faith, the Italian speakers shared a similar social
background of poverty and deprivation with the English and Irish settlers, Gaetano
Tomasetti and his Irish wife Kate having been closely bonded in this way. Sometimes
these marriages which crossed ethnic boundaries invited criticism, especially from
wealthy citizens who considered the penniless Italian speakers a demeaning choice. It
might, however, have been a criticism rooted more in financial insecurity than ethnic
prejudice, not surprising in the uncertain climate of the goldfields. Despite Margherita
Lafranchi once asserting that the landless sons of Irishmen would make unsuitable
husbands for her daughters, (cf above p, 169), in the absence of more suhable partners
from Italy or Ticino, the Italian speakers continued to many into the Anglo-Celtic
community.
Many of the marriages during this period occurred between men of middle age
and women of much younger years, one reason being the length of time needed to
attain financial security. Because men had often reached their mid 30s before they
were able to support a family ~ by which time their female contemporaries had already
married ~ their choice was limited to the younger women. It may be recalled, for
example, that Loretta Gaggioni (nee Maddalena) and Elisabetta Righetti (nee Perinoni)
were thirteen and fourteen years old respectively at the time of their marriages. It is
possible that in Australia marriages such as these were arranged by the family
members, translating a popular viUage tradition. Often they were successful as they
fiilfiUed the expectations of both partners, the female gaining Ufelong financial security
and the male a fit and able helpmate capable of bearing many children. The marriages
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