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Pozzis wrote less optimistically to the family in Giumaglio but, despite the lack of
encouragement, a third member of the Pozzi family, Leonardo, arrived in Australia in
1855.
Leonardo, Alessandro's twin brother, had attended school in Ticino until he
was seventeen years old, then worked on the family goat farm. In 1851, when he was
21 years old, he had moved to Lausanne in the canton Vaud where he was engaged for
three years as an apprentice gunsmith. He later found employment with a Monsieur
Jaccard, a European orthopaedist in Lausanne, where he made instmments for the
treatment of bone deformities. Aimouncing his decision to emigrate to Australia,
Leonardo received little encouragement from his employer or his family, but, believing
he would be away only three years, gathered up 800 francs in savings and headed off
He travelled to Australia aboard the German vessel Agen Und Heinrich, which
departed Hamburg and reached its destination four months later. ^^ The 122 Ticinesi
passengers, including five Giumagliesi, were not treated well during the voyage as
many of the terms of their contract, especially those conditions regarding food, were
broken. Leonardo, who was able to assist the crew as an interpreter, in retum received
a few extra food rations. Despite the discomforts, there was a strong feeling of
comradeship among the group of travellers who sang, laughed and talked hopefully
about the future.
Upon his arrival at Port Phillip, Leonardo spent little time in Melboume before
deciding to join a company of twelve compatriots heading for the Jim Crow goldfields.
As their meagre savings and peasant backgrounds suggested little hope of a meal in a
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