Stefano Lopes
| First name | Stefano |
|---|---|
| Last name | Lopes |
| Country of Origin | Italy |
| Date of Birth | 4/12/2016 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1950 |
| Submitted by | Dominic Lopes |
Story
STEFANO LOPES Ð ITALIAN MIGRANT
Stefano as a boy – Stefano Lopes was born on the 4th December 1916 on the island of Filicudi, North of Sicily (Italy) Twenty days later, his father died on Christmas eve. He was raised by his mother and sisters. He developed asthma and could not help his family in the way a growing boy was expected to do in a poor rural community so he became a sacristan in the church of Santo Stefano (after which he was named) and served from 1924-1949.
Wife Maria – He married Maria Terzita Bonica (who was 18) on the 21st of April 1938 and began to raise a family. First Giovanni, then 3 years later Domenico. Their lives were simple but very hard. Stefano did whatever he could to earn a living, playing the church organ, ringing the bells, serving mass, gathering capers, olives, fruits, trading goods imported from war-torn Italy from a room in his mother-in-law\’s house (Rosa Bonica) and serving the community as Filicudi\’s ‘mayor’.
The island of Filicudi – Between the 2 major wars and after the 2nd world war Filicudi was an impoverished island without opportunities especially for an unwell young man without land or property. During these years there was mass migration from Italy and particularly from southern Italy to the ‘Americas’. This was a generic term for U.S.A., Argentina and Australia. Many island people had heard stories about the U.S.A. from earlier migrants but had little idea about Australia and Argentina. They only hoped that their ‘sponsors’ would meet them wherever they landed.
Emigration to Australia – In 1949 Stefano\’s cousin, Bernardino Lopes, ‘sponsored’ him to Australia. He left from Naples in early December 1949 with 1,500 other men from the poorer parts of Italy of which 20 came from Filicudi and many others from neighbouring Eolian islands. They travelled on the ‘Toscana’ which was a ship of 3,000 tonnes (about 1/8 the size of a modern Bass Strait ferry) and slept in overcrowded ‘saloons’ directly over the ship\’s engines. The trip took 40 days and Stefano disembarked in Melbourne on the 27th of January 1950.
Australia and the dream comes true – Stefano worked 2 jobs to save enough money to bring his family to Australia. During the day he worked in a Collingwood rubber raincoat factory (which often brought-on his asthma) and from 6-11 pm and weekends learning to serve in a milk bar in Yarraville owned by his cousin Bernardino. By 1952 he had saved enough to pay for an un-assisted passage for his wife Maria and sons, Giovanni and Domenico who arrived on the ship ‘Neptunia’ on the 28th of March 1952. Despite their lack of English, Stefano and Maria became shop keepers and through sheer hard work were soon able to purchase their own milk bar in North Brighton opposite the Bay Cinema. They opened this shop at 7 am, seven days a week to take delivery of milk in large steel containers and closed it at midnight after the Cinema crowd dispersed. One of their sons Giovanni, soon joined in and he too became a shop keeper, Domenico kept studying. All this hard work eventually brought the whole family prosperity and achieved Stefano\’s and Maria\’s dream of a better life for their family.