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cooperativeness had formed the basis of peasant society, in AustraUa, Italian speakers
(and their offspring) had found a new survival mechanism in community
cooperativeness.
This cooperativeness had also strengthened within their own ethnic community,
wdth more formal support networks and services having evolved from the less
sophisticated ones of the mining years. Along with the macaroni factory, which
fulfilled their need for traditional foods, and the wine bars which supplied home-made
wine, by 1875 they had established an active Swiss and Italian Association in
Daylesford and, in Hepbum, an Italian reading society. The reading room, which gave
access to Italian newspapers and other reading matter, was recognition of a more
educated stratum within the immigrant community; Dr Guscetti, and other compatriots
who maintained an interest in the events and politics of their homeland, were able to
discuss issues and relax among friends. So too were the hotels and wine bars ovmed
by Italian speakers venues where compatriots could gather, play traditional card games
and talk in their ovm language. At weekends, Italian-speaking families came together
for regular bocce matches (cf for example p. 125), many having their own bocce
phches and handmade balls. Through these clubs and social activities, ItaUan speakers
reasserted their ethruc ties and the interests which defined them as a separate group on
the goldfields.
These ethnic ties remained strong, well into the twentieth century. Identifying
with a (possibly idealised) peasant past, few immigrants, despite their improved
financial circumstances, sought a higher education or professional career for their
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