Guido Romano
| Town/City | Ingham, Qld |
|---|---|
| First name | Guido |
| Last name | Romano |
| Country of Origin | Italy |
| Date of Birth | 25/07/1900 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1927 |
| Submitted by | Rita Carr |
Story
Mr Guido (George) Romano
Guido Romano commonly known by everyone as ‘George’ arrived in Australia on the 29th December 1927 on the SS Orama. He disembarked in Brisbane and travelled to Bemerside near Ingham, where his brothers and mother had settled in 1924.
He had married Antonietta Genocchio in Italy in 1924 where his first born child, Angelo was born. They later lost another son at 6months. His wife and son, who was 7 years old at the time, followed him to Australia in 1931 much to the sadness of her family who was losing their first born grandchild. Their first daughter, Irene was born and delivered by a midwife at Macknade. They lived at Neames Inlet Road, Macknade till early 1939. While there, they lost most of their possessions in the big flood of 1932, even their passports which created problems when trying to get their papers in order when applying for naturalisation. George was naturalised on 4th July 1939 and his wife was naturalised on the 31st July 1939.
The family moved to Lower Tully in March 1939 where twins, Rita and Rina, were born in June that year. Guido or George as he was known by the local Australian population farmed at Lower Tully for many years and the siding at the farm is still known as Romano\’s Siding. Mrs Romano died in 1944 after a long illness leaving a young family. He eventually sold his farm in the mid to late fifties. He loved his draught horses and was the last farmer in the area to use horses to work his farm.
Farming was very hard in those days and the older children had to chip the cane and help plant, missing school on many occasions to help out. Transport to Tully for visits to the doctor when his wife was ill and the occasions for business trips was by horse and sulky. All the groceries came from the Lower Tully Store and during the time of coupons, the Post Mistress, Mrs Butler, was always ready to swap clothing coupons for tea and butter coupons as butter was made at home and we were not big tea drinkers. The family may have been cash poor but never went hungry has there was always a big vegetable garden, chooks, eggs, pigs and cows and many fruit trees.
After leaving his farm George continued working in the cane fields of Lower Tully and Euramo where he was continually employed to chip cane and strip cane for the cane planting trailers. He did this till he became ill. He died in 1978, aged 77 1/2, after a long illness.