Francesco Violi
| Town/City | Torrensville SA |
|---|---|
| First name | Francesco |
| Last name | Violi |
| Country of Origin | Italy |
| Date of Birth | 04.02.1937 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1951 |
| Submitted by | Francesco Violi |
Story
Reason for leaving homeland – Scarcity, I was born in the province of Reggio Calabria, during and after the war things were very hard, no money, hardly any clothes and hunger. My father Antonino had the opportunity and migrated to Australia in 1949 on the Ugolino Vivaldi.
I don’t recall much about the journey except it took 37 days from Messina to Melbourne; I didn’t any money to spend on the ship, but then I was about the youngest person on board at 14 years of age, except for some very small children in the care of their and I used to play cards with the grown ups.
On arrival at Port Melbourne there was my father waiting for me and we were both glad to see each other. My father had been here nearly 2 years and hadn’t seen any family in that time. The impression I got was really HUGE, we thought Australia was all Bushes, and to see the vast City of Melbourne was really impressive – the only other part of a city I had seen before was Messina.