PENISSE Salvatore

Interview with Rae Scolaro (nee Penisse)  1987

Acknowledgement is made for the enormous research carried out by Jenny Keast for her publication "Valley of Solitude" from which information has been used in this family history.

Rae's paternal grandparents lived in Linguaglossa, a town of some eighteen thousand people, inland from Taormina, Sicily, while her mother's parents lived at Piedemonte, Etneo, a small town a little further south, Rae's mother's father, Domenico, was a labourer in the town. Her father's parents had a little land and grew vines, but their income had to be supplemented by leasing vineyards or olive groves. Landowners exploited labourers and took a large percentage of the oil, olives or wine as rent, even though all expenses were paid out of the share left for the leasees. However, this was the only way many families could provide oil and wine for themselves, or earn a little money by selling some.
 

Rae's father's parents had eight children to support and when her grandfather, Francesco, died, her father, Salvatore, being the eldest in the family, took over the responsibility of caring for the family. Salavatre, who was born in 1897, was only seventeen years old when World War 1 began and at that young age he was enlisted into the army. He was sent to the north of Italy. His mother found life very hard during the war with a young family to look after. When Salvatore returned to Sicily, he again leased olive groves and vineyards.

In 1922, Salvatore married Francesca Coli and in 1923 Grazia Rae was born and in 1926 a son, Francesco was born. By this time Salvatore had decided to leave Sicily to try to make a better life, or at least some money, in Australia. Francesco was only nine months old when Salvatore left in November 1926, he was never to see his son again. Francseco had a severe attack of pneumonia before Salvatore had left Sicily and when he was nine years old he suffered a similar attack and died.

Salvatore had promised his wife that he would return to her in five years, or eight at the most, but he never returned to Italy. During this long time, Francesco wanted to travel to Australia but Salvatore could not provide a permanent home for them, he needed to be free to pick up his bags and follow the work. When Salvatore first came to Australia he had to have fifty pounds ($100.00) in his pocket, this was one of the Australian Government requirements for immigrants at that time. His first job was on a market garden at Osborne Park, owned by Mr. Ascetorio. The ships coming into Fremantle were always full of migrants seeking work in Australia and this gave employers the choice of many strong men, thus making jobs hard to keep. The least disagreement meant the sack. One day, Salvatore had to go to Perth to send money home to his wife. He had been gone just a couple of hours but when he returned his bag was packed and waiting outside the workman's house. Luckily, he found work with Crisafulli at Wanneroo, growing tomatoes, earning thirty shillings ($3.00) a week - no keep. During the depression many were put off from the market gardens and most were on Subsistance relief. Salvatore would not take this and searched everywhere for work, finally finding it at Pickering Brook, with the Mr. Temby. Temby paid him ten shillings ($1.00) a week and provided a little shack for the workmen. Salvatore stayed there until he entered a partnership with Primo Urbinatti. Salvatore spoke little English and was often tricked by people pretending to teach him the language. Those who bore a grudge against "new Australians" taught him many words that they quickly had to unlearn again.

Francesca and the two children lived with her mother, Rosa, until at last in 1935, they joined Salvatore. A little time before they were due to sail for Western Australia, Francesca took her son to help with the grape harvest, telling him it would be the last harvest for them in Sicily. During the day he became unwell and by evening he was very ill. A friend suggested they call the doctor - who told them to put leeches on the boys chest - but by daybreak he had died. Salvatore had a premonition that something was wrong and wrote asking what the trouble was. He was told only that his son was ill but he knew in his heart that he was dead.

Rosa had not been at the grape harvest, she had attended a picnic given by the nuns from her school. Rae was a very good at needlework and had she remained at school she would have been eligible to receive one year of free instruction in fashion design. Rose was very upset when Rae and Francesca left Sicily. She had two other children, Maria and Rosario, but both had gone to Argentine and now she would be alone. She lived very close to neighbours, all the houses were very small and close together so she would at least have people near. The whole of Rae's family lived in two rooms and a tiny kitchen. There was no running water or facilities, all the water had to be brought from a well in pitchers.

By the time Francesca and Rae traveled to Western Australia, Salvatore had entered into partnership with Primo Urbinatti on an orchard in Forest Road, Pickering Brook, and Salvatore also had a bush block in Patterson Road.

PRIMO URBINATTI & SALVATORE PENISSE    #1
 

L - R: BASIL, MICHELE, MICK (MICHAEL), MARY (ARRASI), ROSE, MICHAEL, PETER SCOLARO. SITTING L - R: JOE, ANNA, CHARLES, MICHAEL (AM), MARY SCOLARO, GERALDINE PENISSE (SPICCIA).   #2
 

Rae had been very happy during her childhood in Sicily but all that was to change when she arrived in Western Australia. When she and her mother were met at Fremantle, off the "Remo", on January 5th 1935, Salvatore took them to Perth for a meal in a restaurant owned by a friend, Tomei. It was dark when the train to Pickering Brook left the main Perth Railway Station and as the train chugged along the top of the scarp from Kalamunda to Pickering Brook, Rae thought she could se miles and miles of rich country, full of fruit trees, even growing close to the railway line. When she woke the following morning she saw only sky and forest and the only sound was the call of the raven (crow). Rae's heart sank to her feet. She was very lonely, there were no children to play with and as it was school holiday time there was no school either. Her father did not know what to do to make her happy. She cried for months, until she made friends. Francesca was just as upset with the isolation and conditions as Rae, but she made a brave show so that she did not upset her husband.

Rae began school at Pickering Brook at the beginning of the school year. Her teacher, Mr. Mann, decided to change her name from Grazia to Ray, spelling it the boy's way, but Rae soon changed it to the girl's spelling. In Sicily, Rae attended school with as many as sixty-three children in the class and was shocked to find that the total enrollment of Pickering Brook School came to no more than seven or nine children and if the weather was wet there were often only two or three children at school. Rae spoke no English at all and she was teased a lot by the other children., although she could get high marks in all her subjects if she did not have to write English. She was so upset by the teasing that one day she ran away from school and swore she would never return but Mr. Mann collected her and took her back. Her happiest school times were at Mary's Mount "Bushies School", where she was prepared for her first holy communion. The nuns loved to hear her say prayers in her dialect and made her repeat them over and over.

On April 2nd 1935, at lunch time, a terrible storm hit the area, ruining the fruit and vegetable crops. Mr. Mann took a photograph of the children holding huge chunks of ice in their hands. Rae's bedroom window was broken by the force of the hail but luckily, as it was a school day, she was not in the room. The hail stayed on the ground, in shady places, for days. The storm ruined the entire crop of some orchards. Rae can remember acres of cauliflowers stalks - no heads - standing in a couple of inches of white stones. All the oranges at Urbinatti's were torn off the trees and washed into the creek.

With no crop to sell, there was now no point in Salvatore staying on at Urbinatti's so the family moved to his block in Patterson Road. Salvatore built a small house of two bedrooms and a kitchen cum living room, which cost ninety-six pounds ($192.00). Now the family had to start from scratch. The land was cleared a little at a time. As money was earned from a vegetable crop, Salvatore employed people to help clear, at twenty-two pounds ($44.00) per acre. He had to supply the gelignite, to blow up the tree stumps. He usually employed the Nardini brothers and Mr. Travicich from Bickley.

Another child, Geraldine, was born into the family in 1937 and life became more settled, although conditions were still very hard for Francesca. There was no running water to the house and washing was done in the creek. Later, tanks provided water near the house although it still had to be carried in buckets. There was no electricity to provide comforts. Francesca made bread and pasta but other shopping was delivered by Mr. Beard, who owned the shop at Pickering Brook. Sometimes the local carrier would pick up goods from Perth and deliver them.

Li Francesa and the children wanted to go to Perth they either had to get up at 2.00am to go with the carrier, Jock Bentley, or catch the early train. There were

only two trucks and two cars in the area during the early 1930's and nearly as few people. The only social life was the occasional game of cards with friends. When Rae was sixteen, each family would take it in turns to hold monthly parties for the young people. Salvator bought a gramophone and they danced to the latest records. Later, there were dances at the Carilla Hall.

When World War 11 began, the family continued to send fruit and vegetables to market. They had no contract with the Army. During the war all Italians had to notify the Police if they wished to travel or visit Perth. Rae says everyone was aware of this rule but hardly anyone she knew bothered to collect a permit. She feels that even now Italians are treated as being more foreign than they were then, when everyone was struggling together and people understood each other better. Most third generation Italians are drifting away from the land and are loosing the cultural heritage and language.

In 1943, Rae married Basilio Scolaro. They were the first couple to be married in the chapel at St. Brigids Convent, Lesmurdie. Household goods were very hard to obtain and Rae had very little in the way of household equipment. Her mother gave her some pots and a friend gave her a kettle.

By this time Salvatore was a very sick man and he died a year later, in 1944. During his illness he was at St. John of Gods Hospital, Belmont. Francesca visited him every day for eighteen months. She traveled to Belmont with the market truck or with Armanasco's wood truck. Francesca was normally a very timid woman who had hardly ever been anywhere alone. When she came back from the hospital she was usually dropped off at the No.1 railway siding, near the bottom of Bracken Road, and she had to walk at least a mile in the dark. This did not stop her from making the daily trip to see her husband. Rae's sister Geraldine was seven years old when Salvatore died. Rae and Basilio worked the orchard until Geraldine married Albert Spiccia and the property was divided.

Even post war, most things on the orchard were done by hand. All the packing and movement of irrigation pipes etc. Later, a diesel generator was installed for power to work pumps and graders, but even the generator was hard work, needing to be hand cranked, which Rae found impossible to do on the occasions she was alone on the property. The arrival of the electricity supply in the mid 1950's ended that problem. Rae and Basilio grew very good tomatoes, which meant long hours in the fields. Often Rae went to bed, after a shower, without eating - she was too tired. Looking back on those years Rae wonders how she did the work and managed four children. Her only regret is that her father did not reap the rewards for his life of hard work, firstly supporting his family in Sicily and then his work in Australia.

Rae's first holiday was taken thirteen years after she was married. The whole family went to Albany for a week. Rae thought all her Christmases had come at once. Francesca and Salvatore never had a holiday. In 1967, Rae and Basilio returned to Italy for a holiday, the first time either had been home since their arrival in Western Australia. They were to return again in 1974 under sad circumstances. Their daughter Eva developed leukemia and Rae and Basilio wanted to show her Europe. Eva died a short time later.

As the family grew up they decided not to continue with the orchard and it was sold. Basilio died in 1985. Rae lives in Kalamunda and sees a great deal of her family, she enjoys baby sitting her youngest grand-daughter - Eva.

Family information.

Francesco Penisse married Grazia Sciacca.
Children; Salvatore, came to Western Australia.

Nunciato, Giuseppe, Antonio, all went to the cane fields at Innisfail, Queensland.

Domenico Coli married Rosa Citra.

Francesca Coli married Salvatore Penisse in 1922.
Children; Rae born 1923, Franceso born 1925, Geraldine born 1937.

Rae married Basilio Scolaro.
Children; Adeline born 1944, Elena born 1945, Salvatore born 1951, Eva born 1953.

Adelina married Carlo Ridolfo.
Children; Gloria, Sara, Caro.

Elena married Salvatore Panebianco.
Children; Mario, Dino.

Salvatore (Sam) married Signorina Giglia.
Children; Eva, Grace.

Geraldine married Albert Spiccia.
Children; Carlo, Sonia.

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:      Valley of Solitude by Jenny Keast

                                  Image:     1. 2      Jenny Keast

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