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produced ten children, two dying as infants and one as a man of 36 years. Remaining
at home were five sons, Alessandro, Stefano, Leonardo, Giuseppe and Celestino, and
two daughters, Carolina and Annamaria (the youngest). By the time of Alessandro's
departure for Australia in 1853, his father was also dead and his mother an elderly
woman. The Valle Maggia has a mgged terrain, which a friend in 1906 described as
'wild and romantic and beautiful beyond description'. It combined towering mountain
peaks, huge precipices, sparkling cascades and, in places, a luxuriant growth of trees,
shmbs and grass. The Pozzi home in Giumaglio was surrounded by a well-kept garden
with flowers, vegetables and vines, the latter trailing along stone posts three metres
high. Inside was a grand old 'dining room with four very old pictures ... [and a] fine
old fire place six feet six inches wide'. On one wall was a large oil painting which
portrayed Mrs Pozzi seated and holding an open book. On her fingers she wore two
dress rings and her black hair was held back in a net. In Stefano's bedroom, which
was also decorated with family portraits, was a wooden carved bedstead constmcted in
1657: the room had been the boy's birthplace. There was a strong presence of the
Catholic Church in the village, with a church building to the rear of the Pozzi property
and another two nearby. It was this picture of GiumagUo, with its peasant houses,
large gardens, and picturesque views which the Pozzi boys brought with them to
Australia and which they tried to recapture in the areas they settled.
By 1853, Giumaglio was in serious economic difficulty. For centuries an area
of low economic growth, its people had sought work in nearby countries to
supplement their farming incomes: in 1850, the seasonal migration rate had stood at
four per cent. When the Austrian govemment imposed its border blockade with
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