Download (14Mb) - VUIR - Victoria University

As expected, the Vanzettas were able to draw upon the resources of a large
Italian speakers' network. They had little difficultly finding work, Ferdinando writing
home in June 1889: 'lavoro ho trovato, non soltanto me ma anche gli altri, e subito
pochi giorni giunti in Australia'.^ Unlike the 'scouts' of the eariier generation, they
found people willing to give them work or to direct them to possible sources of
employment. Their income appears, however, to have been small and insufficient to
enable money to be sent back to their parents, Fernando writing in 1889:
Mi rincresce nen potervi presentemente soccorrervi, ma sappiate
care padre, che se i nostri interessi vanne bene e che Dio ne abbia
a denare sanita, per St. Martino in quelle che possiamo, da parte
nostra non manchereme. *"
Ferdinando apologised for his failure and suggested that it was only through the
intervention of God that the family's financial woes might be overcome. It was a
response which was perhaps typical of one with his religious beliefs, indicating, on the
face of it, a willingness to place his personal destiny in the hands of a divine force** ~
though it may also have been no more than the accepted idiom for communicating with
one's parents. It is also possible that Ferdinando concealed his tme income from his
parents in order to avoid the pressure to repatriate; although he expresses the desire to
retum home, 'ho troppo amore alia mia casa paterna sperando di rivederla ancora
un qualche giorno', it appears a vague hope rather than pressing need,*'^
At some stage the Vanzettas were attracted to gold mining, a photograph from
the period showdng Osvaldo with their water battery on Spring Creek at Hepbum.*'
They had either brought sufficient money to Australia to establish such an operation ~
another factor distinguishing them from the earlier 'scouts' ~ or had eamed it since
their arrival. Their mining associates, and evidence of the Vanzettas' rapid assimilation
395