Rosa Dichiera (Maiden name Manno)

Story

Born in San Nicola, a village nestled in Calabria\’s mountains, Rosa was almost nine when in 1936 she arrived with her mother Carmela Piscioneri Manno and brother Peter to live in Redlynch. Her father Vincenzo Manno had left Italy when Rosa was 5 months old to find a better future in Australia.

The family home was a shed with a dirt floor kitchen. Her dad made stools, table and cupboards from old timber and boxes. The beds were of canvas. Wet wheat bags sewn around bottles and covering perishables provided refrigeration.

Rosa went to Redlynch Primary, and despite her previous schooling was placed in the beginners\’ class. At the end of grade 3 she left school. She was 13.

Her sister Mary was born in 1937. Her father applied for citizenship for the family. The completed paperwork was not processed before the outbreak of war. Overnight her family became enemy aliens. Her Dad was interned in 1941 and not released until after the war.

Rosa was alone with her mother and siblings. In public as enemy aliens they had to walk in single file, not speaking a language other than English.

Rosa was 18 at war\’s end. A returning internee, 23 year old Giuseppe (Joe) Dichiera, paid her parents a ‘social\’ visit. His parents, Rocco and Maria, visited Carmela and Vincenzo to ask on their son\’s behalf for Rosa\’s hand in marriage.

On 5 October 1946 Rosa and Joe married. Share farming tobacco in Mareeba, their home was a tobacco barn and later a two room shack on stilts that Rosa thought wonderful. Unfortunately the crop failed.

Joe\’s parents, now in Mildura, had an opportunity to buy a 10 acre fruit block at Irymple. They needed 700 pounds. Rocco only had 300 and invited Joe and Rosa to contribute the rest and take over the property.

It was an opportunity. They borrowed the 400 pounds and arrived in Irymple in April 1948 with 10 pounds left.

The property in Irymple Ave was the first real house Rosa had lived in.

They learnt block work and took odd jobs, and later got jobs at the Irymple Packing Shed.

Rosa and Joe made friends amongst the blockies and packing shed workers. In the days of post war immigration they were often used as translators.

They worked hard and enjoyed life. They travelled by bus and bicycle and visited by tractor. It wasn\’t until 1958 they could afford a car.

Their home became a stopping place for newly arrived immigrants from San Nicola and Italian railway workers. They visited for a chat, advice on things Australian, a bed for the night, a game of cards or one of Rosa\’s meals.

In 1954, a daughter was born – Jennifer Rose.

Rosa and Joe improved the block, supplementing their income growing glasshouse tomatoes.

In 1959 they found a 30 acre block in Mildura South. Overgrown, it had old vines and was full of grass. Rosa fell in love with it!

The house was old with few luxuries. Rosa washed clothes in the bath tub.

They replanted old vines, built racks, sheds and pickers\’ quarters and put in drains. Cash flow came from fresh fruit and vegetables.

In 1961 a second daughter Josephine Maria was born. Rose was driving the tractor a few hours before the birth.

They aimed to produce 30 ton. Eventually the block produced 50. Rosa surrounded the house with roses and vegetables. Spending little on themselves, family holidays involved camping on the river or fishing trips shared with family and friends.

By 1979, both daughters were in Canberra. Joe and Rose continued improving the block and their range of fruit and olive trees, growing vegetables and making tomato sauce and wine.

In 1982, Joe suffered a serious heart attack. He never really recovered.

In 1984, Rosa\’s much dreamed of new house was built on the property. She surrounded it with vegetables and roses. Joe planted fruit and olive trees and vines. In 1985, the remainder of the block was sold.

In 1987 Joe surprised Rosa with a trip to Europe accompanying daughter Jenny and son-in-law Keith. She celebrated her 60th birthday in France.

In Italy Rosa saw new parts of her birth land. In San Nicola she experienced the joys of meeting relatives and rediscovering paths of her youth.

In 1988 Joe suffered his fatal heart attack. Rosa grieved but looked forward. She joined clubs and despite hip and knee replacement operations continued to work her 5 acres of land.

In 1995 she had to slow down and agreed the vines had to go. She said when she pulled them out the vines wept. She had tended and harvested vines for 47 years!

From a subsistence existence in the mountains of Calabria to a comfortable middle class life on the irrigated flats of the Mallee, with her children achieving a university education and professional careers, Rosa\’s life is a migrant\’s dream fulfilled.

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