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Arriving in the Colony as peasant farmers, labourers and tradesmen, most of
the Italian speakers hoped to find work in the bustling cities of Geelong and
Melboume. Only a handful were from the professional classes, such as teachers and
doctors. For several reasons, which shall soon be examined, these hopes of finding
work were soon destroyed and the immigrants joined the waves of miners on the way
to the Jim Crow goldfields. Mining had never been a part of their history and they
soon found that both lack of experience and capital were to lead to them to
disappointment and failure. An alpine existence had also ill-prepared them for life on
the goldfields. Within the stmcture of village life, mles and customs were laid down
for every important moment of existence. As Fumagalli corrunents, 'The village
constituted the framework within which all peasant activity had followed the rhythm of
the seasons for centuries'.'*^ It was in many respects a vastly different world which the
immigrants entered in the 1850s and, in the chapter which follows, where the lives of
two families who emigrated to Australia in 1852 are detailed, it will become apparent
what an alien and hostile world it could be.
The decision to emigrate to Australia resulted, then, from many factors: harsh
living conditions accentuated by environmental and political circumstances; a tradition
of emigration to foreign lands in search of work; a successful propaganda campaign
waged by shipping companies; the offer of loans to assist travel and the enticement of
easy wealth in the goldfields. All of these factors contributed to the belief that life
would be better in Australia. In the excitement and anticipation of the future, little
thought appears to have been given to the fate of the remaining villagers: to the
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