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join in as everyone toasted bread over the fire to eat whh thick wedges of Isidoro's
home-made cheese. The Rodoni 'pot nights', which often concluded with shouts of
addio, viva and buonanotte, were thus occasions bringing ItaUan and English speakers
together and providing opportunities for cultural exchange.
It was by aU reports a happy life for the Rodoni family, Isidoro supplementing
the family income wdth contract work as an assistant road maker for the shire council."*^
As he and Caterina grew older, they moved out of their home at Elevated Plains and
into a cottage at the north end of Hepbum. They leased their home to their son
Charlie, who also inherited the family money and property after Isidoro's death in
1952. Most of the Rodoni children remained in the district after both their parents had
died, Charlie and his sister Caterina living at Elevated Plains and Andrew moving only
a short distance away to Basalt. Amelia settled in Daylesford (where she was still
living in the 1890s) while other siblings moved to Muskvale.'*" The Tinetti property at
Shepherds Flat, which the Rodonis had occupied in the early years of their marriage,
remained in the hands of the Tinetti family until 1936. In later years it was converted
to a lavender farm, the new owner, Carol White, naming it Lavandula 'because it
sounded ItaUan'.'**
The Rodoni story concludes this history of fifteen ItaUan-speaking families who
settied in Victoria during the colonial period. Together the stories paint a vivid picture
of Italian-speaking settlement over more than a century. The interwoven thematic
chapters, which deal with the reasons for the immigrants' departure from their
homelands, the joumey to the goldfields, the early 'scouting' and more settled
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