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Morganti clans at Eastem Hill) ~ plant the crops, and attend to all matters . elated to
the farm. Each family member possessed the skills necessary to perform these tasks,
there being minimal specialisation of labour. Men, women and children knew how to
tend the crops, care for the animals and make and mend things economically; the
Morganti children were, for example, skilled as blacksmiths (cf above p, 74), If the
family owned a business, the family all helped to mn it, many of the thirteen Righetti
daughters being principal operators of their butter factory (cf above p. 124). The non-
specialisation of labour ~ a mechanism which enabled widows such as Margherita
Lafranchi and Giuseppa Vanina to assume the working roles of their husbands (cf
above pp, 169 «& 283) ~ together with a hamessing of family labour in production,
gave a new perspective on workplace organisation to the Australian community.
Prospering where some other immigrants failed, Italian speakers eamed increased
recognition for their survival skiUs ~ and helped lay the groundwork for a more
tolerant Australia.
Not settling into ghettos, where the stmcture of their family lives might have
gone unnoticed, the Italian speakers were also influential as business people. While
catering to their own needs as a distinct ethnic group ~ with, for example, hs own
macaroni factory (cf above p. 357) ~ they also traded wdth members of the Anglo-
Australian business community: Vincenzo Perini's business ledger at Spring Creek
Usted a number of Anglo-Celtic customers (cf above pp. 187-189) and, during the
1850s, the Pozzi brothers attracted English speakers to their store wdth a sign
advertising 'cider'. Through these business transactions, Anglo-Cehs were exposed to
the Italian speakers' dialects (Luigi Gervasoni at Yandoit kept all his business records
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