TWO years ago, Ballarat Italian Association president Cesare Dichiera briefed journalist Jan McGuinness to write a history of Italians in Ballarat since Eureka.<\/p>\n
Walkley Award winning Journalist Paul Bongiorno AM launched the book La Nostra Storia \u2013 Our Story \u2013 an historical account of adventure, success and resilience last week at the Ballarat Mechanics Institute.<\/p>\n
The story of Mr Bongiorno\u2019s family, arriving in Ballarat in the late 1890s, prominent in expanding the culinary tastes of the broader community through their fruit shop and delicatessen is just one of the many detailed in words and photographs in the book.<\/p>\n
Ms McGuinness managed to capture, through interviews with more than fifty members and descendants of Italian families, the personal experiences, hopes and history of the Italian community in Ballarat.<\/p>\n
She said many of the families didn\u2019t speak anything but regional dialect however Ms McGuinness fluent in Italian was able to get them to open up.<\/p>\n
\u201cMind you, Italians love to talk,\u201d she said. The book is presented in three parts from the gold rush to the turn of the 20th Century, from 1900 to the Second World War and lastly the influx of Italian immigrants in the 1950s to the present day.<\/p>\n
The story of the Italians in Ballarat is interspersed with what was happening at the time in Australia, Italy and around the world.<\/p>\n
Mr Dichiera said the purpose of the book is to recognize the major input Italians had on the economy, history and culture of Ballarat.<\/p>\n
\u201cItalians not only contributed pasta and pizza to Ballarat\u2019s culinary and social development but they were also prominent in the city\u2019s political, economic and educational development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TWO years ago, Ballarat Italian Association president Cesare Dichiera briefed journalist Jan McGuinness to write a history of Italians in Ballarat since Eureka. Walkley Award winning Journalist Paul Bongiorno AM launched the book La Nostra Storia \u2013 Our Story \u2013 an historical account of adventure, success and resilience last week at the Ballarat Mechanics Institute. […]<\/p>\n