Arriving in Australia...

I was married in Italy in 1948, I had a little boy I left there. I came to Australia by ship in 1952, on the 20th June. It took 33 days. It was good - it was a modern ship for the time. It took me 12 days to come from Fremantle to Brisbane. I didn’t speak any English at the time. I learnt by paper, I had a book my uncle from America sent me. Mostly I learned orally, I learned by practicing, reading and things.

My son came in 1954, I think in June, or May, with my wife, two years after me. He first went to school up in Kemp Place, near the Story Bridge, where the fire brigade is… there was a state school there.
 

Giuseppe was employed by the State Government in the Stamp Duties office from 1974 until he retired at the age of 65 sixteen years later.

Moving to New Farm...

I was living in Spring Hill, before, and I bought a house here. It was close to the school, was handy to the tram, picture show, shops here, it was handy for the family, you know? There were not many houses at the time, it was all rubbish! (laughs) I bought one and had to fix it up. It cost 1800 pound. A lot of people complained when I first came to New Farm, I think I was the first one, and people said "Oh, go and live down in New Farm." Nowadays they're all dead... New Farm is an old place now, they're all coming here.

Working as a Sugar Cane Cutter...

I cut sugar cane. I'd done two seasons when I came here in 1954 and I lived in the big boarding house, Lucinda, up on what’s now the main road in Spring Hill. I think it was 11 shilling in the pound we earned, might've been less. It all depended on how many ton you cut - you'd be lucky if you made 3 - 4 pound a day. A good sugar cane cutter could make 5 pound, he was a champion. There were a few snakes there, some were killed, some ran away....It was hard work. There was a place called Bambaroo, there was a store there, an Italian bar - Bertoni's. He had this store - we'd go and play Bocce, drink a glass of beer, play cards - not all the time. We'd go to school – at night time once a week.

We wore wool shirts - and they were too hot! A lot of the time we wore pants and jeans, which were a bit cooler. One day I went to hang my trousers out ‘cause they were full of molasses. When I went to pick them up they fell to bits! They were full of sugar - they were like a biscuit.