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Italian speakers, thus, had the power ~ either intentionally or unintentionally ~ to
weaken the cultural bonds between father and child. This was not, however, the
experience of most goldfields' fanuUes and children grew up in an atmosphere which
recognised their Swiss, Italian, Irish or other ethnic roots. Their Uves were a rich blend
of languages, culinary habits, customs and beliefs, all bringing a multicultural face to
Australia ~ long before the emergence of muUicuhuralism as it is understood by
Australians at the end of the twentieth century. The opportunity was there for all
immigrant families to maintain ~ albeit in different contexts ~ valuable aspects of their
culture while, at the same time, respond to the needs and pressures of a new
environment.
As noted, the transmission of the Italian speakers' culture was most strongly
preserved wdthin its endogamous marriages, Caterina Rodoni, on her first day of
school at age six, (reportedly) spoke only the dialect of her Swiss parents (cf above p,
414), Margherita Lafranchi sang Swiss lullabies to her children which remain part of
the family's ethnic heritage today (cf above pp, 167-168). It was, however, in the
maintenance of a traditional life-style, wdth pattems of communal cooperation based on
kinship and vUlage bonds, that the Italian speakers demonstrated their greatest
commitment to their ethnic ties. Utilising the family unit in production, and relying
upon an interaction of the resources of land, family and home ~ the triangle which
formed the basis of peasant social stmcture (cf above p, 27) ~ the Italian speakers
buih the foundations of their new life in Australia, Their small and often inhosphable
blocks of land were farmed to provide a self-sufficient life-style and their homes were
of immensely practical design.
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