Angelo & Liana Lunazzi

Story

After working for some time in Argentina after the war Angelo decided to migrate to Australia after hearing of the opportunities that where available here. He had recently married Liana Fior and wanted more for the family that would hopefully follow.

He flew to Melbourne and headed for Cooma to work on the Snowy Mountains Scheme. In 1952 his wife Liana migrated by boat to live with Angelo in Cooma. The living conditions were quite extreme at the camps but Angelo & Liana were so grateful for the opportunity given to them to work in Australia that they never once complained. Although at their time of arrival there was some objection to all these immigrants arriving in Australia, they always talked about the warm welcome they were given and until their dying day were very proud Australians. They embraced the Australian culture but still maintained some of their Italian heritage especially the Italian cuisine.

Once a month they and their friends would board a train and travel to Sydney to stock up on their cheeses, salamis, etc. as that was the only place that sold these things. Liana often told the story of going into a bar in Sydney to inform Angelo she had finished the shopping, due to the language barrier she was unaware that women were not allowed in the bar( and only women of disrepute went into bars) she was asked to leave and later on learned that the publican had thought she was a prostitute trying to do some business.

Liana was a very talented seamstress and once made a gown for a Tongan princess to wear to Prince Charles & Lady Di’s wedding, she was given a piece of the wedding cake as a gift after the occasion.

They both spoke fluent English and kept pace with what was happening in their new country. Sadly they were only able to produce one child Eduardo (Eddie) in 1959 and he is still the only Lunazzi in Australia. Angelo & Liana both passed away in 2008.

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