LEVIS FAMILY

Written by Victor Levis November 2021

The Levis family ancestry for me (Vic Levis) began with a search first undertaken in 2008. The aim was to find where my family originated from. The initial search traced back ancestors to the early 1700’s.

This brief introduction into the Levis family history begins with Andrea (Andrew) Levis, born 1720 out of the Northern Italian town of Roncan, Ponte Nelle Alpi, Belluno, Italy. He was my great, great, great, great grandfather and the first Levis to settle in Roncan.

Most of the Andrew’s ascendants lived and worked in or around Roncan or travelled between Italy and Germany looking for seasonal work up until the mid – late 1800’s; after which many left Roncan for a better life by immigrating to the US. Some ventured to South America. Most were small farm owners, stone masons or builders. Quite a few had very large families.

During my search I have managed to find relatives from a missing great uncle currently living in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Some others from a different branch line living in New Jersey, New York, Florida and San Paolo, Brazil.
 

                                    Giovanni Levis circa 1895 – hand tinted         #1

My Great Grandparents

My Great Grandparents Giovanni Levis & Maria DeFina. Giovanni Levis was a (Caporale Magiore) (major corporal) in the Italian Light Horse. He was reportedly an excellent cavalry man.  

They had one son Angelo Levis, my grandfather, and a daughter; she died about 8 months after being born.

Giovanni’s life was short. He died aged 33 years in 1896 while on duty in Tirgu Ocna, Romania. His death was the result of an over loaded muscat rifle which exploded and blew apart.

Angelo (1)

In his younger years Angelo (1) travelled between Italy, Austria and Germany training and working as a stone mason with his cousin by the same name Angelo Levis (2) son of Celeste Levis and Maria Brandelise.

His cousin lived in a town in Westphalia, Northern Rhine Region, Germany. Celeste and his wife had 14 children.

WW1

A few days before WW1 broke out Angelo and his cousin decided to return to Italy. Both were stopped at the Austrian border and conscripted into the Italian Army.

My Grandfather was rejected because he was partially blind in one eye. His cousin was sent to war.

Angelo (2) was uneasy about fighting the Germans because many he was fighting against, were his friends from school in the town where he grew up. Angelo was a conscientious objector, treated as a traitor, Court Marshalled and executed.

Angelo travels to the US

My Grandfather left Roncan and went to the US during WW1, living and working with relatives in Pennsylvania. He worked in the Fort Pitt Hotel as a chef and later when the US entered WW 1, he was reassigned to work in the coal mines in Pittsburgh, until the end of WW1/
 

                                                                   Fort Pitt Hotel, Pennsylvania – image curtesy of my cousins in the US who sent me this photograph    #2
 

He returned to Roncan in November 1919, where he began working as the manager at the local farmers cooperative. There he met Angela Biancett my grandmother.

Angelo & Angela were married in Roncan 1920. Angelo was 25 and Angela 19 years.  They lived in Roncan where they had three children, Giovanni (John), Ida, Adele.

Economically, Italy was in a bad way, so Angelo tried to re- enter the US but was denied entry because immigration had been cut.

Bold move to come out to Australia

Angelo saw an advertisement in the local newspaper and decided to apply for immigration to Australia. He was successful.

He left Roncan his wife and 3 children to immigrate to Australia,

arriving by ship aboard the “SS Regina D’Italia”, Melbourne, Australia 18 April 1927.  

He was directed to an employer located on the Murray River. Unfortunately, there were few employment prospects along the Murray River at the time. He was then re-directed to travel further to Mildura and stayed at “Block 200, Red Cliff’s. “Red Cliffs”, at the time was an immigrant settlement camp. Employment prospects there were no better.

Angelo quickly realized that there was nothing available for him in Mildura in his trade and was told to travel to Perth, Western Australia where the Italian Consul in Perth directed him to a job sleeper cutting  in Duranillin on the Wagin rail-line. The team of workers had a daily quoter of eight White Gum sleepers each.  During his employment the owner of the sleeper cutting business went broke leaving the men that he had working for him without wages.

Angelo returned to Perth and contacted the Italian Consulate who advised him that economically things had worsened and there was no work available other than working for the Chinese market gardeners in Balcatta.

Angelo had no option, so he began working for the Chinese Market gardeners as a labourer, learning the art of growing vegetables. He eventually developed a green thumb for growing and decided to lease a small plot of land where he branched out on his own growing vegetables commercially. He made enough money to arrange for Angela and the three children to come out to Western Australia. Around 12 months later Angela and three children Giovanni (John), Ida & Adele arrived in Fremantle 20 May 1928, Angelo Giuseppe (Joe) Levis was born in Perth in February 1929.
 

                               Angela holding Adele, John on the right, Ida sitting at the rear
                                                                   and Angelo standing        #3
 

                                                            Back row - Angelo on the left, John & Angela –
                                                 Front row - Adele, Joe & Ida and Jack the draft horse       #4              
 

Tough Times:

The family endured hard times working as market gardeners in Balcatta and Bayswater. Angelo became ill and could not take produce to the West Perth markets.  John left school at 15 and took over running the business taking produce from Bayswater to market by horse and cart 3 times a week.

As Angelo’s children grew older John, Ida, Adelle and Joe formed the family workforce.

WW11

During WW11 all Angelo’s family except Angelo (jnr) who was born in Perth were registered as “enemy aliens”. They were fingerprinted and issued with ID cards. They were restricted in their movements to 10 miles from their home in Bayswater.  They were lucky as many were sent to internment camps.

Angelo demonstrated that he had no affiliation with Italy or was politically influenced in any way. The family was allowed to grow food and ended up supplying the Australian and US armies with vegetable during WW11 and the Korean War

Angelo’s family had indeed endured hard times but worked through adversity to become well-known and established market gardening family in Mooney Street, Bayswater, growing tomatoes, peas, beans, corn, cabbages, cauliflower and broad beans.  

By the late 40’s they manage to save enough money to buy more land in Bayswater, part of Browns Dairy was put up for sale. Angelo & John thought of buying the parcel of land.  John saw surveyors working nearby. He approached them and asked what they were doing. They would not comment so he spoke to a friend who worked in the local shire office. 

The land was to be resumed for the new marshalling rail yards.  Having found out that the land was going to be resumed they decided to look elsewhere and found a property for sale in Carmel
 

                                                        Adele & Bill the draft horse      #5
 

                                                                  Joe & Ida      #6
 

The move to “Deepdale” in Carmel

Just before Christmas 1947 the 22-acre property known then as “Deepdale” was bought off Joe Gray.

It took about six weeks to make the move from Bayswater to Carmel because crops were still growing on the Mooney Street property.

They continued growing vegetables for several years then diversifying away from vegetable growing to a mixed fruit orchard. The business was operated under the name A. Levis & Sons from ~ 1941.  Angelo the father and the sons John and Angelo (jnr) The orchard was run by Angelo, Angela, son John and Angelo (jnr).

Produce grown on the Glenisla Road property was trucked into the West Perth markets – now the site of “City West, with a diesel-powered Morris Commercial          4 1/2 ton truck.  Later on, local cartage contractors, Emilio Conti, Phil Vinci and Phil Snook took over taking produce to market.

The orchard grew in size with Angelo buying an 18-acre property located between Valencia Road and Morton Road bordered by Union Road, Carmel producing high quality fruits and gaining high demand for produce at the West Perth markets. The biggest issue was water for irrigating the vegetables and fruit trees

                                                              The Morris 4 ½ ton truck in Carmel         #7
 

                                  Joe sitting the roof of the Dodge truck,
                                                 John in the driver’s seat,
                             sitting Adele on the left & Ida on the right        #8
 

The Family Status  (2021)

Angelo Levis - passed away 1974 aged 80 years

Angela Levis (nee Bianchet) passed away 14 December 1991 aged 91 years. Always a keep gardener. The front lawn of her house was converted from lawn to a tomato patch.

John Levis passed away 2012 aged 91 years

Ida passed away 2010 aged 85 years

Adele Levis (Bentley) is 95 in 2021

Joe Levis is 92 in 2021

Augusta (mum)  passed away 2021 aged 90 years

Gloria 67

Vic 65

Lydia 63

As far as I am aware our family out of Roncan is the only Levis family living in Australia

                                               Angelo around 48 years     #9
 

                                                 Angela Levis ~ 85 years       #10
 

                                                                                                                                  Joe’s 90^th birthday 2019 with sister Adele 93 years       #11
 

Looking for Water and Water Well Drilling

Looking for Water

Back in the early days when winter averages were much higher than nowadays, wells, dams and running creeks were the main sources of water for irrigating produce.

Dad and Uncle Joe dug a dam and a well to help secure a reliable water supply. There were no bull dozers or backhoes for digging dams and wells. All was done by hand and draft horse. It was dangerous work digging out the well. Bill slipped and the bucket laden with clay careered back down the well with dad at the bottom. Luckily for him the ladder he had set in the well glanced the bucket away from him otherwise he would have been killed. That was the last time anyone went down a well on the property.

Irrigation systems

They designed and constructed an underground and aerial galvanised pipe irrigation system to work with a Southern Cross 5x 6 piston pump powered by a Southern Cross single combustion chamber diesel engine. The cost of the setup at the time was 175 pounds for the motor and 115 pounds for the pump.  They still had issues with running short of water to irrigate.

They tried drilling for water with a small 3” hole dug with a cross bit attached to 1” galvanised pipes and run by the piston pump to flush out cuttings. They quickly realised that they were onto something, drilling bores for water rather than digging massive open dams to store water. They were successful in finding sufficient water for the orchards by siphoning water out of the bores using porphyry clear plastic piping; they dug but always were looking for more. John & Joe were the first to drill a 6 “steel 100 feet deep commercial water bore by hand in Carmel and install a big Southern Cross jack pump in a bore, followed by a second-hand Stalker vertical centrifugal after having found a bore producing 3000 gallons per hour on Joe’s property on Morton Road, Carmel.

In the mid to late 60’s they decided to hire an auger drill from Tony Vinceni; drilled a few bores which helped.

As time moved on the demand for more water became an issue so they bought a second-hand Proline Auger drill at an auction and fitted it out on a Massey Ferguson 65 tractor bought in 1965. I remember going out on the Christmas school holidays during the summer between fruit crops drilling for local orchardist in the Carmel - Bickley Valley drilling 14 bores for neighbours and none for ourselves.

We quickly found ourselves running two businesses: one an orchard in full producing and a fledgling water well drilling business. Over time drilling for water became more profitable than growing fruit; the demand from people wanting bores drilled grew quickly during the drought around 1976. Decisions were made to eventually phase out the orchard and concentrate on drilling. Joe sold his property bordering Valencia Road and Morton Road off Union Road.
 

Change in direction to water well drilling

A new drill rig was built in 1976 in Welshpool by J. & M. B. Thomas an Edson 2000 drill rig which was mounted on the Massey 65 tractor originally bought for the Proline machine.

From that point on the water well drilling business had grown from John, Joe and (myself) to currently me and son Ben.

Drilling Qualifications:

In the early 1990’s I attended drilling classes held at various venues around Perth gaining certificates in all the short courses held at the time. Additionally, I studied the DICAT an extension course, a university level examination specifically designed for the drilling industry, out of Macquarie University at the time. At one stage was the one of the most qualified drillers in Australia according to Dave Stevens ADIA coordinator at the time.
 

                       Joe & John developing a bore after deepening it into fractured Basalt finding more water circa 1975.
                                                                         The Edson 2000 in the background        #12
 

Pioneers in drilling

I have been working consistently in the water well drilling industry for almost 50 years.

John, Joe and I were the first drillers to introduce a down the hole hammer into the Perth Hills area, initially on the Edson 2000 drill continuing on with the Edson 6000 universal drill in 1983 developing specific drilling procedures to deal effectively with the formations throughout the Perth Hills and beyond.  

Initially able to drill granite at 3 -4 meters per hour. But with the Edson 6000 and a larger capacity compressor putting out 350 psi @ 1100 cfm regularly 24- 30 meters per hour. The fastest hole drilled was for the City of Armadale at Rushton Park – using an 8” hammer and 8 ½” drill bit, tapping in an extra compressor totalling 2600 cfm @ 350 psi – cased, with 155 mm PVC packed, grouted and completed to 117 meters in a day shift.

                                             Still on the levers at 65 and out on the job in Gidgegannup
                                                               for a land developer March 2021      #13
 

The Edson 6000 is still our current drill rig. Simple in design, reliable, tough with easy serviceability.

The design of the drill rig was a compilation of several branded drill rigs available at the time.

It was unique in design J & MB Thomas entered our Edson 6000 into the Australia Design Awards taking out the award in 1983.  It has had several major upgrades over the years and is still working well

Nowadays the drilling business services areas extending from the Perth Coastal Plain to Dowerin, Cunderdin, Toodyay, Northam, York, as well most areas of the Great Southern, working for many local governments authorities, Department of Water and Environmental Resources, drilling production bores, drilling for domestics and primary producers, testing monitoring bores, servicing bores and pumps, equipping bores and commissioning pump installs, inspection and problem-solving water bores and providing sound advice to clients

A. Levis & Sons has the most comprehensive and detailed data base ever compiled about bores in the Perth Hills, nudging 10,000 bores during the business’s operation.

I have been in the water well drilling industry for 50 years and Ben from 20 years.

Both Ben & I are fully qualified Australian Drilling Industry Association (ADIA) licensed drillers with a combined experience nudging 80 years
 

Levis Family Australia

John married Augusta Marcon. They had four children, Nadia, died very young, Gloria, Vic (myself) and Lydia.

(Ida & Adele married brothers)

Ida married Herbert Bentley.

Adele married Robert Bentley. 

Angelo (jnr) never married.

Carmel Primary School

As kids we all attended Carmel Primary School between 1962 and 1967. Dad was the president at Carmel Primary from ~ 1962 – 1967

Around 1968 Carmel Primary classes higher than grade 4 were transferred to Kalamunda Primary School.

Lydia and I finished our primary school years at Kalamunda Primary School.  Lydia attended Walliston in her final grade 7 year.

We all attended Kalamunda Senior High School

After leaving high school we all took different paths.

                                                Carmel Primary School – Photo day -
                                                   Vic & Gloria & Lydia - 1965       #14
 

CARMEL PRIMARY SCHOOL      1962  
Teacher: CHARLES LITHGOW
 Back Row (L  - R):  CARMAN MELVILLE, RON MOXAM, COLIN MEDLIN, ISABELLE BRUNEI, ALMA BRUNEI, DANNY EDWARDS
 Middle Row (L - R):          ?      , RAY MOXAM, CHARLES LITHGOW (teacher), GREG TURTON, VICTOR LEVIS.
 Next Row (L - R):  GLORIA LEVIS, JANICE MEDLIN, ROBYN LITHGOW, FRANCESCA ROMEO.
 Front Row (L - R):   STEVEN SALA-TENNA, MICHAEL WILSON, SIGMOND GEORGI,        ?           , BRAD GILCHRIST, PETER TURTON        #15
 

CARMEL PRIMARY SCHOOL      1966    
Teacher: ALAN COOKE
 Back Row (L  - R):  FRANK GEORGI, MALCOLM TURTON, SIGMOND GEORGI, GREG TURTON, PETER TURTON, VICTOR LEVIS,         ?        .
 Middle Row (L - R):  WENDY COOKE, DEBBIE COOKE, MICHAEL GILCHRIST, CATHERINE ROMEO. ANNE SHANKS, ALMA BRUNEI, FRANCESCA ROMEO, GLORIA LEVIS
 Next Row (L - R):  LYDIA LEVIS, DEBRA TURTON, JENNY JENNINGS, BRONWYN COOKE, MARGARET ZURZOLO, DONNA SORBARO, MARIA ROMEO (standing)
 Front Row (L - R):          ?      , CARLO ROMEO, RON SHANKS, LAURIE BRUNEI, BRAD GILCHRIST          #16

Gloria

Gloria attended – Edwards Secretarial College in Hay Street, Perth and later worked at Perth Airport in freight management and customs clearance for several years.

Gloria Turpin has three children – Leanne Geddes, Andrea Taylor and Sarah Philips

Myself

After leaving Kalamunda Senior High School I attended Mount Lawley Technical College and studied electrical and electronic engineering for three years. Drilling for water got very busy so I had to stop studying and concentrate on the drilling business with da dad uncle Joe

Astronomy & astrophotography

In 1986 Halley’s Comet graced our night sky, I discovered a passion for astrophotography and as time went on and bought telescopes, built a dome in 2000 to continue my passion in astrophotography, developed many techniques in film processing and development, working with infrared films and colour development as well as developing radical processing and printing methods. I have seven different telescopes ranging from short fast focal length astrographs to medium length Newtonian, to long focal length Cassegrain’s and Coronado solar telescopes covering every facet of astrophotography and viewing. SLR’s, CCD and CMOS cameras, PC controlled image gathering and guiding platforms.
 

                                                                                                                  Two Takahasi telescopes used for remote imaging –
                                one with a SBIG STL11000 CCD camera and the other with a Canon digital SLR camera
                                                                   attached out in Wongan Hills and Lake Ballard      #17
 

                   Triple H alpha image of the Eta Carinae nebula – taken on a Takahashi FSQ-102- ED astrograph & Sbig STL 11000 ccd camera from my Observatory             #18
 

For a period of time in the early 90’s I worked part time part time worked for State Services at Perth Observatory in maintenance, self-taught in darkroom procedures and techniques as well as running the photography lab part time, self-taught pro photographer and assisted at times the observatory staff in minor planet and comet photography on the Perth Observatories 13” Astrograph telescope until 2000.

         Total lunar eclipse – taken through the Perth Observatory’s 8” Schmidt camera
                      mounted on the 13” Astrograph telescope – ã Vic Levis 1993      #19
 

                                 Annular Eclipse Greenough, WA - ã Vic Levis - 16 Feb 1999       #20
 

                    Taken through the 12” f4 Newtonian telescope at home      #21
 

Circum polar taken in Carmel on film, a single frame over 12 hours. It’s the longest single Circum Polar photograph taken in the Southern Hemisphere – ã Vic Levis 1997. Another exists a similar duration I took for Perth Observatory with the Lowell Dome in the foreground a year later.

These days with SLR digital cameras, it’s possible to electronically stitch multiple short images together to form a similar image like above

                                    #22

I have four children

Ben has a Diploma in Photography and my business partner in water well drilling.

Simone has a Diploma in exercise physiologist

Sarina Gorman - qualified bushfire consultant and volunteer fire fighter

Philip is autistic. Phil works for Activ Industries in Bentley

Lydia

Lydia also attended Edwards Secretarial College and followed on by working in freight management at Perth Airport for 8 years

Lydia has two children, Chris Wilson and Anthea Wilson

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

References:                 Article:      Victor Levis

                                 Images:    Victor Levis   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
 

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