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their minds to the search for gold. Purchasing a licence and the necessary tools,
Alessandro's mining knowledge was initially limited to his experiences of planting flax
in Ticino.^" He had little success and, finding the work extremely strenuous, retumed
to Melboume where he found employment with a group of Ticinese stonemasons.
Included among the groups was Giovanni Palla, who had arrived in Australia in 1851;
when Palla retumed to Ticino in 1854, Alessandro bought his share in a stone quarry.
Despite the difficulties earning an income, Alessandro was impressed with the
Australian countryside which he described as beautiful and health-promoting; the
vegetables and plants were green and flourishing and grew far more vigorously than
any he had seen back home. He considered work plentiful for those who spoke
English and was hopeful of a secure future. He wrote encouraging letters to his
brother Stefano, inviting him to join him on the goldfields.
By 1854, the numbers of people leaving Ticino had begun to peak. Due partly
to the travel assistance being provided by the village councils, and also to the
aggressive marketing strategies of the shipping companies, who had set up their
agencies in the larger centres of Ticino and Italy, many more men were considering
their future in the Colony. Stefano, who had gone to school until he was seventeen
years old and then completed a four year apprenticeship in the watchmaking trade, was
encouraged that he would find work in Australia. After serving six months in 1854 in
the watchmaker's school in Geneva, he set off to join his brother. He departed from
Liverpool on 14 May 1854, aboard the Carpentaria, and arrived at Port Phillip on
1 August, 1854." The vessel, which took three and a half months to complete its
joumey, carried a total of 139 Ticinesi ~ one of the largest shipments to arrive during
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