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almost twice its size. He also drew upon the carpentering skills common to many of
the Italian-speaking immigrants to buih a number of useful fumiture items, including a
handmade dresser, some simple chairs and a wooden sofa wdth a covered seat,*'
Caterina bore a further eight children at Elevated Plains, their names having a mixture
of ItaUan and Anglo-Celtic forms, Marina was bom in 1897, Albert in 1902 (who
survived only eighteen months) and Jack some time later. In 1903 or 1904, when
Caterina was pregnant with her sixth child, Isidoro retumed to Biasca^" to visit his
ageing parents (again indicative of the family's economic stability). It was almost 20
years since they had been together. During his absence Caterina gave birth to another
daughter (1904), whom she named Amelia Myrtle, Four more children, Frank, Plirmy,
Alan and Andrew, were bom after Isidoro's retum, bringing the number of livmg
offspring to nine. The younger children attended the local Hepbum school and the
older ones, Ellen, Caterina (Katie) and Charlie, the school at Shepherds Flat.^* Leila
Gaggioni (see Gaggioni section), who also attended the Hepbum school, was able in
her old age to recall the Rodoni children, especially Marina, with whom she shared the
same birthdate. Describing her as 'a fat Uttle thing [who] used to give me a hiding', it
seems that no love was lost between these two second generation immigrants,^'^
The immigrant community in the early twentieth century was, nevertheless, still
a distinct cultural unit retaining significant vestiges of its own language and traditional
ways. When Caterina, the Rodonis' second eldest daughter, enrolled for school at age
six, she was (reportedly) unable to speak a word of English.^ Her parents, despite
Caterina having attended an Australian school, conversed in their Biascan dialect and it
was only later, when Isidoro felt confident with English, that it became the language of
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