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about using their mother-tongue in public places than had been the case with
immigrants on the goldfields. Post-war children were ashamed to admit speaking
Italian in the home, and women were often handicapped in the stmggle to obtain work.
In later years, however, as Australians began to reaUse the value of immigrant language
skills in terms of intemational trade, these attitudes slowly changed. By the early
1970s Italians were insisting that their language or dialect be spoken at home and that
community language schools be established. Throughout the latter years of the
twentieth century, the number of students studying a language other than English
(LOTE) increased (96,5 per cent of government-mn secondary colleges in Victoria
provided a LOTE program in 1994)," and organisations such as the Comitato
Assistenza Italiani (COASIT) funded by the Italian Govemment, were introducing
Italian to large numbers of primary schools,"" Daylesford Secondary College
introduced Italian to hs curriculum in 1988,"*
Like the Italian-speaking settlers of Daylesford, Italian immigrants who arrived
at the end of the Second World War won the respect and approval of Australians
through their foods and restaurant life. Similar to the bullboar sausages and home­
made wine of Daylesford, food became a force for ethnic acceptance and social
change. The central Melboume suburb of Cariton, for example, grew lively with cafes
and delicatessens and developed into one of the most popular eating areas in the city.
Words like spumante (a sparkling vAne), focaccia (a type of bread made with olive oil)
and gelato (ice-cream) entered the English vocabulary and Australians leamed to cook
from traditiOiial Italian recipes. The ItaUans had established a way of life in Carlton
which was new, exching and attractive to Anglo-Australians,
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