Giovanni Amati Buonaccorsi

Story

Giovanni Amati Buonaccorsi was born in Salerno, a town in southern Italy, on 16 August 1924. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the region of Campania. He has two sisters and two brothers. His sister Annamaria also immigrated to Brisbane, Australia.

Giovanni had a difficult life as his father died when he was very young, in post World War One Italy. However, it was predominantly World War Two that was a challenge to survive each day.

Some of the Allied landings during Operation Avalanche (the invasion of Italy) occurred near Salerno and Giovanni and his family suffered from a high presence of conflict and thus, poverty. Giovanni’s mother, a nurse during WWII, worked hard to provide for her family as a single mother.

Giovanni met Assunta Arpino from Maiori on the Amalfi Coast, or Costiera Amalfitana (Province of Salerno). After WWII had ended, they immigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1949, married, and had two sons: Luigi (Gino) Vincenzo and Francesco (Franco) Alberto. Luigi was named after Assunta’s eldest brother who was killed by the Nazis after Italy’s surrender.

In 1955 times were getting rough in Argentina and Giovanni decided to return his family to Salerno and live with his mother. Giovanni soon realised extreme poverty was still a major post-war problem and applied to immigrate to Brisbane, Australia where his sister had married and lived. It took five years before he received a clearance and sailed aboard the Achille Laura from Naples in 1959. Assunta, Gino and Franco followed in 1960 on the Roma. Assunta’s first impression of Australia happened when they docked at Fremantle. Disembarking for a walk, Assunta noticed the multiple signs that said “SALE” – in Italian this means “SALT” Assunta wondered why there was so much salt in Australia and why it was so widely advertised – was it really so important?

Giovanni, Assunta, Gino and Franco settled first in the inner city suburb of Red Hill and later purchased their own house in Greenslopes, for which they worked long, sweaty shifts in factories. These factories were filled with “New Australians” and life-long friends were made.

Both Gino (also known as Jim) and Franco (also known as Frank), attended private catholic schools; Jim received a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1968 from Villanova College, Coorparoo and Frank was also the recipient of a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1972 and achieved Dux of Villanova College. A daughter Sabina Anna was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1972. All three children of Giovanni and Assunta are University graduates and they are proud they could offer their children a better life.

Giovanni, Assunta and Sabina moved to Camp Hill in 1982 and Giovanni and Assunta still live there today. After working for years in factories and Assunta recently as a cleaner, they retired in 1993.

Giovanni and Assunta have visited their homeland several times. Their children all speak the Italian language and are proud of their backgrounds. Recently, their granddaughter Sofia Anna was born on 6 June, 2007.

< Back to the Stories