Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Poggioreale was a small town where all the jobs were owned by the local landowner. My grandfather's family worked for the landowner, tending sheep and goats, milking them and making cheese. My grandfather learnt to make cheese from about 9 years of age.

The family of 7 left Sicily when my grandfather was 18 and moved to Queensland, ostensibly for my great grandfather's health (he was an asthmatic); an older brother, John, had previously immigrated to Australia and convinced the family that life would be better in Queensland. My grandfather and his two younger brothers - Vincent and Sam (Salvatore) - worked in and around the Tully/Innisfail sugar cane fields, until they were able to purchase their own farm.  The whole family left Queensland sometime in the 1920s and settled eventually in Bondi, Sydney NSW, where they married and raised their families.

My grandparents met at the Clifton Gardens Annual Picnic; an occasion where each year, the Italian Sydney families met and from which many engagements and marriages eventuated. My grandparents married in 1932 and had two living children.

The brothers owned their own greengrocer businesses. My grandfather's was on Bondi Road, between Boonara Avenue and Denham Street. One story tells of a family friend who was unwell and unable to go to the Sydney markets (this would be in the mornings at 4-5am), to buy produce for their shop.  My grandfather helped out while the friend was unwell, by purchasing produce for both families at the Sydney markets, then going to the friend's shop and packing the shelves, ready for opening hours, before going back to his own shop to pack the shelves, ready for opening.

My grandfather was one of many taken into the Australian Army as an 'alien', even though he was a naturalised Australian citizen. A story goes that he didn't want to go, so he threw himself off the back of the truck, which caused him to break his leg, but he was picked up, put back on the truck and still required to join the army.

My grandfather was based as a cook at Singleton Army Barracks. He was known to substantially supplement the rationed food by catching rabbits to increase the protein content served to the soldiers based at the barracks. This is based on a story he told when a visiting officer came into the kitchens, tasted the stew that was being prepared, and exclaimed how the soldiers at Singleton ate better than any other soldiers he knew, given the food rations of the time.

In later years, even after he had sold his business, he was known to help the chioldren of his friends, who had their own fruit and veg shops in Bondi, and help them pack shelves and sell produce.

My grandfather was so used to getting up early to be at the markets, he never really acclimatised to waking up later than 4am. He loved growing things and there were always fresh vegetables from his garden served at every meal. He also bred canaries and supplmented his pension by selling these to a local pet shop. He was a very quiet and reserved person and so I am sure there were more stories that we will never now know.