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~ that people can survive the weakening of their identities without losing their
ethnicity, that change is going to happen, that no identity will remain the same and
that there is no culture or tradition which is immune from change.^^
Examining the experiences of the Italian-speaking settlers of Daylesford,
describing the modifications of their sense of identity, has several implications for
multicultural policy-making, notably in analysing the forces making for cultural
diversity and homogeneity. As this study shows, such forces occur, for example,
within family and social stmctures, pattems of work behaviour, language and the
design and location of houses. The Daylesford community demonstrates that family
customs and traditions are both strongly maintained and altered over time through the
need to associate (through business and marriage) with other cultures, mainly the Irish.
The rituals associated with food preparation and consumption feature prominently in
each of the following family histories, flinctioning as an important bonding force and as
a mechanism for reaching out to the Anglo-Celtic community. Language also emerges
as a mechanism which both bonds the immigrant community and facilitates integration
into the dominant Anglo-Celtic culture. In the design of their homes, maintenance of
traditional occupations and work practices, and the tendency to cluster in family
groupings, the immigrants can be seen to have attempted to translate a village culture
onto the Australian landscape. While such 'translations' served traditionalist ends,
they too eventually succumbed to the environmental, economic and social pressures of
radically changing circumstances.
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