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the epigraphic clues on cemetery tombstones, building pediments and Anzac memorials
and the material artefacts in private ownership. Some older residents remember
snatches of nineteenth century Italian songs (even though they speak no Italian
themselves) and can prepare Italian food of that era. These are some of the tantalising
and significant clues to the culturally shared understandings of the past ~ to the
cultural history of the region.
It has been possible to draw upon an extensive network of local contacts to
obtain interviews with descendants in the region, as well as to pursue Ballarat and
Melboume descendants who have continued to have a Daylesford interest. Few family
histories have been prepared prior to this study. One (Tomasetti, 1974) is of
outstanding value and raises questions applicable to other local family histories. There
are also several anecdotal accounts of Daylesford which make reference to its Italian
population.
Some of the architectural evidence used in the study is treated by Maguire
(1987) and Sagazio (1990). Other local sources (some previously untapped by
researchers) include the Daylesford Museum and Historical Society, the Daylesford
Shire Offices and the Daylesford Hospital, local newspapers and conventional
directories {Sands & Macdougall's). Through these sources a prosopographical
analysis is carried out, linking these records and providing a coherent account of the
fifteen families. Some of the families are Ticinese, whose ancestry can be traced
through Cheda's book (1979) or the subsequent work of Pagliaro (1991) and Gentilli
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