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community, especially the predominantly Catholic Irish, Even more muhicult-ral were
regular Friday night dances held each second week in the Hepbum Assembly Hall or
State School,'*" Entirely a local affair, business people brought along hems such as of
tea, milk and, in the case of the Vanzettas, bread, to donate to the supper, Italian
speakers often provided the music, their traditional concertinas, piano-accordions and
violins being called upon to play a variety of numbers, including some from the old
music halls of Great Britain, A curious mix of Anglo-Cekic and Swiss-Italian cultures,
the dances epitomised the ethnic make-up of Hepbum, Vera Howell, a child growing
up at the time, recalls her English speaking parents making bullboars and pasta dishes,
the popular foods of their friends.'**
Vera Howell's recollection suggests that, by the early twentieth century, the
ItaUan speakers were well integrated into the Anglo-Celtic community. Participating
on local councils or supporting various public associations with their time and labour,
they had eamed a respect as hard working and honest. When the time came for
Ferdinando to seek similar roles (his bakery having proven sufficiently prosperous to
allow leisure time), he was readily accepted on to the Daylesford Hospital Board and
the council of the Glenylon Shire (of which he would at one time serve as president).
He was also an honorary Justice of the Peace, another semi-official role which
symbolised the drift from peasant roots, and a member of the Hepbum Water Tmst, a
body he served for 40 years."*' He became one of the oldest members of the I.CO.F,,
serving for 73 years,"*"* While his children were students at the Hepbum State School
his active involvement in hs Parents' Association reflected the respect for
institutionalised leaming which had grovm with his years in Australia,
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