It was 1957 and Bruno Ballesi would go to Port Kembla pub on a Friday night to catch up with friends. But the photographer from Italy couldn’t enjoy his favourite drink – red wine – because it wasn’t on offer in the Illawarra.
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It was one of the many lifestyle luxuries Italians missed when they migrated to the region in the ’50s, along with quality pasta and coffee.
‘‘I couldn’t have a glass of wine when I went to the pub, it was all beer and whisky,’’ the 83-year-old says.
‘‘There wasn’t wine at all in Wollongong.’’
His girlfriend, Lilian Fontaine, now his wife, had come to Australia with her parents from Nice, France, and they too felt something was missing on the table.
When Bruno and Lilian’s father had wine shipped from Griffith, they bought so much it came in barrels.
There was 60 gallons of red wine and 20 gallons of sweet wine, equivalent to about 280 litres altogether.
Because the barrels were too heavy to lift, Bruno had to use a hose to siphon the wine into empty beer bottles.
‘‘My family got most of the bottles from the pub,’’ Lilian says.
About 270 bottles later, the red wine barrels were empty.
‘‘He was tipsy I tell you,’’ she says.
The fumes from the wine had entered Bruno’s lungs, but he wasn’t complaining. Although not the same quality as in his homeland, it was better than nothing.
‘‘It was drinkable,’’ he says.
How long did it take them to polish off all the bottles?
‘‘I don’t know how long it took, we had a good time and we got together and drank it with friends,’’ Bruno says.
He was present at many celebrations in the Italian community, mostly due to his photography.
He and a friend opened a studio in Crown Street, Wollongong in 1960, five years after he arrived in Australia, and another in Warrawong in 1967.
Many of their photographs have become a part of the Italian Social Welfare Organisation’s (ItSoWel) Virtual Museum of Italian Immigration in the Illawarra, to be launched in June.
The website is intended to share the journey and resettlement experiences of Italian immigrants and their families from the ’50s to now.
Hundreds of other stories have been captured through photos, videos, newspaper clippings, journals and letters for the creation of the website.
Museum curator and ItSoWel executive officer Giovanna Cardamone believes the government-funded project will appeal to many migrant communities in the region.
‘‘They will all have issues and by sharing the stories they can learn from their experiences.’’
During the mid-20th century, demand for labourers in Wollongong was constant due to the city’s expanding steel, coal and industrial production.
Between 1947 and 1975, employment at the steelworks grew from from 3665 to 20,175, according to the NSW Migration Heritage Centre.
Thousands were lured by the prospect of jobs and adventure in the ‘‘lucky country’’, but the journey they took was arduous, sometimes including a pit-stop at a military camp called Bonegilla, in Victoria.
The camp was used to accommodate newcomers as part of the government’s migration scheme and between 1947 and 1971, it housed more than 300,000 migrants.
In times of reduced employment, the wait for resettlement increased and they felt duped, trapped and hopeless. It has been described as a ‘‘concentration camp’’ by some interviewed for the virtual museum.
Gino Chiodo, 83, remembers the complaints written on the walls of his shed at the camp when he was there in the late ’50s.
‘‘People were upset there, they would kill themselves,’’ he says.
‘‘But I wanted to put something good. On the back of my bed I drew the map of Italy.’’
The Port Kembla resident came as an engineer but worked as a fruit picker and railway labourer when he first arrived.
He made it to the Illawarra and got a job with Electric Power Transmission in 1958. From there, he began organising the annual Miss EPT, a beauty pageant, to raise funds for his soccer club.
It became a popular calendar event which ran for 20 years.
The crown, sceptre and velvet cape bestowed upon the winner have now been photographed for the virtual museum.
It is mementoes like these which prompted Giovanna to create the website.
She had seen items lost or thrown out when their owners passed away, and their memories go with them.
■ The website goes live on June 14. Go to facebook.com/Virtual.Museum.Italian.Immigration.Illawarra for a sneak peek or call ItSoWel on 4228 8222 for more information or to be involved.
In her grand two-storey Cordeaux Heights house overlooking the sea, surrounded by seven children, 18 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, Ileana Corradini feels very much athome.
It has been 54 years since she migrated from Italy with her husband and first four children. Although she loves Italy, there is nothing left for her there.
‘‘It would make me lonely to go back; all my friends are in heaven and I’d feel I missed a lot,’’ she says.
But for her eldest child, Vera Cleary, the feeling of resettlement never came.
When they arrived to Australia, the family stayed for three months at the much-despised Victorian Bonegilla camp for new migrants, where men and women were separated, even if they were married.
When they arrived in the Illawarra at Port Kembla station, it was like an inferno.
‘‘There was smoke and heat and I just had these memories of our alps, lakes and fresh air,’’ Vera says.
‘‘We lived right near Switzerland and I missed it.’’
The Corradinis were shifted to Unanderra hostel for three years, before finally settling into a government-commissioned house, which they bought a few years later and still own.
Unlike her mother, Vera would return to Italy in a heartbeat, and travels there almost every year for work as a tour guide for the Illawarra Association of Teachers of Italian.
‘‘I’ve lived the contemporary lifestyle and it’s very vibrant; people are into more historical culture, while here we are obsessed with pulling down old things, like the stack,’’ shesays.
‘‘I love the way people prioritise lifestyle to possessions; they are mindful of their limited time on planet Earth.’’
Despite her passion for Mediterranean culture, the 61-year-old does not identify herself as Italian.
‘‘I believe I am a citizen of the world, a global citizen,’’ shesays.
Vera says the virtual museum would foster respect for migrants from all cultures.
‘‘It’s really for the future. When you’re looking at it historically, it’s invaluable.
‘‘It will affirm the attitudes and values that I have held and deepen my respect for my peers who have journeyed through this experience.’’