Sunday soccer team, McMahons Reserve, Wonthaggi, 1951. Back row: from left, Dave Cook, Tony Della Rosa, Giovanni Campagnolo, Gianni Bonato, Sandro Panozzo and an unknown visitor from Naples. From: Giovanni Mabilia and his cousins Gino, Cerilio and Emilio Mabilia. Dave Cook, a Scottish miner, took the young men, newly arrived from Italy, under his wing.
By Frank Coldebella
WHEN the Wonthaggi township was planned, plenty of public open space was set aside for playgrounds and future needs. The social life that evolved around these shared spaces influenced the people who grew up there
Tracks through coastal woodlands provided magical imaginary diversions. Bushland reserves became adventure play areas for children and young teenagers and wild food habitat in hard times.
WHEN the Wonthaggi township was planned, plenty of public open space was set aside for playgrounds and future needs. The social life that evolved around these shared spaces influenced the people who grew up there
Tracks through coastal woodlands provided magical imaginary diversions. Bushland reserves became adventure play areas for children and young teenagers and wild food habitat in hard times.
The bush reserve between Broome Crescent and Hagelthorn Street became known to locals as Frog Hollow or “The Flat”. Later it was South Reserve and today it is McMahons Reserve.
Evening campfires and the annual bonfire gradually cleared a playing area. By the 1950s numerous children lived within yelling distance of “the flat”. It was half paddock, half bush, with the Matthew Street drain running through it. In those days kids spent hours in bush and drains, unhindered and free of adults. Building with sand, mud, sticks, stones and branches, or simply boiling new potatoes on a campfire, all contributed to a rich childhood.
David Cook (top left) started working in a Scottish coalmine aged 13. He was one of an extended clan of Scots who arrived in Wonthaggi in the 1920s.
The Scottish coalminers were the most literate and civic minded of Wonthaggi’s ethnic groups and had a major influence on the town’s mindset. Their knowledge of history and social evolution, love of serious debate and theological disputation led to enlightening talks over the kitchen table, on the street corner or at a public meeting. Their down-to-earth manner and dry humor cut through pretention and hypocrisy.
The Fosters, Chambers, Lindsays, McMahons, Cooks, Fosters, Stirtons, Hamiltons, McCulleys, Sleemans and Stevensons played a major role in Wonthaggi’s grassroots egalitarian struggles. Their modest houses were open to all strangers.
The Scottish immigrants found common ground with the local miners who had carried the spirit of grassroots activism from the goldfields. They took responsibility for their neighborhood and came up with clever solutions to the difficulties of life.
Joe Foster Snr and union leader Idris Williams had both fought in the First World War, which left them with no allegiance to monarchy or religion but a belief in the capacity of ordinary people to effect positive social change, starting at the neighbourhood level.
War experiences were shared with recently arrived former enemy Italians and agreements were reached about how a civil society can progress.
Both Scots and Italians had been challenged and hardened by poverty, a harsh climate and remote masters. War-weary, displaced Italians had been though a terrible time. Their horticultural skills meant they would never be hungry again in a place where the fruits of their labor could be seen, felt, smelt and tasted. Their gratitude and enthusiasm were woven into making their little corner a better place.
The Italian arrivals noticed that here women could be involved in organising and running things outside the home. The Scottish women were even more resolute than the men. The old Gaelic tribes had accepted capable women leaders. They were more discriminating, less gullible and unafraid to speak up against wrong-headedness.
Some Aussies saw Italian language as “jabber” and were suspicious of the funny clothes, shawls and strange smelling food, concluding the new arrivals had nothing to contribute to the town. The Scots and the union leaders, however, resolved that “It doesn’t matter where you come from”.
Gabby Pinza Pannozo came to live in Hagelthorn Street in 1950, aged 10. In Florence she had studied music and art at a proper genteel girls’ boarding school. On arriving in Wonthaggi, Gabby’s mother wrote to her friends in Italy lamenting what a rough, uncultured place they had come to.
Gabby, however, wrote home to her friends about the joy of running along bush tracks, playing in drains and swamps, cricket with the boys, and the hilarity of riding with the gang to the beach in the back of a ute.
Brian Lindsay lived with his parents and three brothers in a house that backed onto the flat. “The Italians in our neighborhood were the majority,” he recalled. “We didn’t have nationalities or religions; we had our tribe.”
Mining towns such as Wonthaggi were models for multiculturalism long before the rest of Australia. Malcolm Ginn, whose Chinese ancestors arrived in Victoria’s goldfields in the 1850s, says the word dinkum comes from the Chinese word for true.
Clarry Kew Ming’s place in Broome Crescent also backed onto The Flat. He grew fruit and vegetables from every continent and shared his produce, knowledge and wisdom with his Italian neighbours.
There is a Chinese saying: “The wise teach without telling.” Meditative working of the soil produces enlightenment.
Around 1964 residents elected Joe Chambers to the Wonthaggi Borough Council, and work started on what we now call McMahons Reserve, named after Leo McMahon, whose house in Broome Crescent backed onto the reserve and who was secretary for 18 years. Leo was born in Wonthaggi, one of five sons and two daughters of Matthew McMahon, the first president of the Miners Union and the first chairman of the Wonthaggi Co-operative Store. He did five years in the AIF in WW2 and was a postman after the war.
It’s amazing what a score of blokes can do if you’ve got some project to unite them. Like the road to the beach, the Billson Street and Cape swimming pools, the hard pick and shovel projects evolved so naturally that nobody took credit for them. People quietly knew where it was due.
Frank Scimonello, a quiet builder and committee member, had the job of co-ordinating the different accents and temperaments. Seeing children of different backgrounds playing together may have spurred their efforts. For the new Australians, the reserve was more than a playground, it was a functional monument to a better way of doing things than in the old country they had left.
Giovanni Mabilia (front left) was the third of nine children. In 1940s Italy all the trade unionists had been murdered or jailed. This made the workforce so compliant and flexible that he was able to start work in a factory near Vicenza at the age of 10. In 1949 he and his cousins Gino and Cerillo migrated to Wonthaggi. He started as a clipper then worked at the coalface. All miners were rotated around the three pits that were operating at the time so everyone eventually got to know one another.
Giovanni Campagnolo (back, third from left) was 1.8 metres tall and weighed 44 kilograms when he arrived home from a prison camp in Germany. As for many others, recovery and healing was slow work and it was many years before they recounted their war experiences.
Sandro Panozzo (back, second from right) was a young child in Asiago during the First World War. He had survived the years of food shortage and deprivation caused by war. His home in Hagelthorn Street backed onto the flat. The family built a bocce court in the back yard for Sunday afternoon games.
From an early age, neighbourhood cricket and soccer games taught children how to negotiate a “fair go”. Summer evening games only ended when it was too dark to see the ball. Glenda Tessari’s home backed onto the reserve. “The boys were always there,” she recalls. “They would eat then head back there to play.”
In the 50s the only screen in town was at the Union Theatre. In South Wonthaggi, our heroes were people we knew: clever, measured, cautious team players who could get things done. They never bragged or expressed fear, pain or complaint.
When TV arrived, the new heroes were violent individuals and risk-taking muscular cowboys. Flag waving, consumerism and status anxiety increased and evening walks decreased. There were more fences and less informal neighbourhood sport and interaction. Wealth trumped wisdom, citizens became customers, homes became real estate, fences got higher and fruit trees started to disappear.
Today bare feet rarely feel the earth’s textures and contours. Children no longer need to know how to pick up a ferret, kill a blackbird with a shanghai, treat a bullant sting, set a rabbit trap or throw a hand line into the surf.
There are opportunities for the football and soccer clubs to organise twilight games for the kids. Get them away from their screens one day a week. There are plenty of local parks, thanks to our early town planners. Don’t make the sport competitive, keep it casual and fun. Just get the kids used to the joy of running and jumping and they will never forget it.
Along the way you’ll instill connection to place and the common good that make a country town like Wonthaggi so rich.
Harmony Day, on March 21, celebrates Australia’s multicultural diversity and promotes acceptance of other cultures.
Evening campfires and the annual bonfire gradually cleared a playing area. By the 1950s numerous children lived within yelling distance of “the flat”. It was half paddock, half bush, with the Matthew Street drain running through it. In those days kids spent hours in bush and drains, unhindered and free of adults. Building with sand, mud, sticks, stones and branches, or simply boiling new potatoes on a campfire, all contributed to a rich childhood.
David Cook (top left) started working in a Scottish coalmine aged 13. He was one of an extended clan of Scots who arrived in Wonthaggi in the 1920s.
The Scottish coalminers were the most literate and civic minded of Wonthaggi’s ethnic groups and had a major influence on the town’s mindset. Their knowledge of history and social evolution, love of serious debate and theological disputation led to enlightening talks over the kitchen table, on the street corner or at a public meeting. Their down-to-earth manner and dry humor cut through pretention and hypocrisy.
The Fosters, Chambers, Lindsays, McMahons, Cooks, Fosters, Stirtons, Hamiltons, McCulleys, Sleemans and Stevensons played a major role in Wonthaggi’s grassroots egalitarian struggles. Their modest houses were open to all strangers.
The Scottish immigrants found common ground with the local miners who had carried the spirit of grassroots activism from the goldfields. They took responsibility for their neighborhood and came up with clever solutions to the difficulties of life.
Joe Foster Snr and union leader Idris Williams had both fought in the First World War, which left them with no allegiance to monarchy or religion but a belief in the capacity of ordinary people to effect positive social change, starting at the neighbourhood level.
War experiences were shared with recently arrived former enemy Italians and agreements were reached about how a civil society can progress.
Both Scots and Italians had been challenged and hardened by poverty, a harsh climate and remote masters. War-weary, displaced Italians had been though a terrible time. Their horticultural skills meant they would never be hungry again in a place where the fruits of their labor could be seen, felt, smelt and tasted. Their gratitude and enthusiasm were woven into making their little corner a better place.
The Italian arrivals noticed that here women could be involved in organising and running things outside the home. The Scottish women were even more resolute than the men. The old Gaelic tribes had accepted capable women leaders. They were more discriminating, less gullible and unafraid to speak up against wrong-headedness.
Some Aussies saw Italian language as “jabber” and were suspicious of the funny clothes, shawls and strange smelling food, concluding the new arrivals had nothing to contribute to the town. The Scots and the union leaders, however, resolved that “It doesn’t matter where you come from”.
Gabby Pinza Pannozo came to live in Hagelthorn Street in 1950, aged 10. In Florence she had studied music and art at a proper genteel girls’ boarding school. On arriving in Wonthaggi, Gabby’s mother wrote to her friends in Italy lamenting what a rough, uncultured place they had come to.
Gabby, however, wrote home to her friends about the joy of running along bush tracks, playing in drains and swamps, cricket with the boys, and the hilarity of riding with the gang to the beach in the back of a ute.
Brian Lindsay lived with his parents and three brothers in a house that backed onto the flat. “The Italians in our neighborhood were the majority,” he recalled. “We didn’t have nationalities or religions; we had our tribe.”
Mining towns such as Wonthaggi were models for multiculturalism long before the rest of Australia. Malcolm Ginn, whose Chinese ancestors arrived in Victoria’s goldfields in the 1850s, says the word dinkum comes from the Chinese word for true.
Clarry Kew Ming’s place in Broome Crescent also backed onto The Flat. He grew fruit and vegetables from every continent and shared his produce, knowledge and wisdom with his Italian neighbours.
There is a Chinese saying: “The wise teach without telling.” Meditative working of the soil produces enlightenment.
Around 1964 residents elected Joe Chambers to the Wonthaggi Borough Council, and work started on what we now call McMahons Reserve, named after Leo McMahon, whose house in Broome Crescent backed onto the reserve and who was secretary for 18 years. Leo was born in Wonthaggi, one of five sons and two daughters of Matthew McMahon, the first president of the Miners Union and the first chairman of the Wonthaggi Co-operative Store. He did five years in the AIF in WW2 and was a postman after the war.
It’s amazing what a score of blokes can do if you’ve got some project to unite them. Like the road to the beach, the Billson Street and Cape swimming pools, the hard pick and shovel projects evolved so naturally that nobody took credit for them. People quietly knew where it was due.
Frank Scimonello, a quiet builder and committee member, had the job of co-ordinating the different accents and temperaments. Seeing children of different backgrounds playing together may have spurred their efforts. For the new Australians, the reserve was more than a playground, it was a functional monument to a better way of doing things than in the old country they had left.
Giovanni Mabilia (front left) was the third of nine children. In 1940s Italy all the trade unionists had been murdered or jailed. This made the workforce so compliant and flexible that he was able to start work in a factory near Vicenza at the age of 10. In 1949 he and his cousins Gino and Cerillo migrated to Wonthaggi. He started as a clipper then worked at the coalface. All miners were rotated around the three pits that were operating at the time so everyone eventually got to know one another.
Giovanni Campagnolo (back, third from left) was 1.8 metres tall and weighed 44 kilograms when he arrived home from a prison camp in Germany. As for many others, recovery and healing was slow work and it was many years before they recounted their war experiences.
Sandro Panozzo (back, second from right) was a young child in Asiago during the First World War. He had survived the years of food shortage and deprivation caused by war. His home in Hagelthorn Street backed onto the flat. The family built a bocce court in the back yard for Sunday afternoon games.
From an early age, neighbourhood cricket and soccer games taught children how to negotiate a “fair go”. Summer evening games only ended when it was too dark to see the ball. Glenda Tessari’s home backed onto the reserve. “The boys were always there,” she recalls. “They would eat then head back there to play.”
In the 50s the only screen in town was at the Union Theatre. In South Wonthaggi, our heroes were people we knew: clever, measured, cautious team players who could get things done. They never bragged or expressed fear, pain or complaint.
When TV arrived, the new heroes were violent individuals and risk-taking muscular cowboys. Flag waving, consumerism and status anxiety increased and evening walks decreased. There were more fences and less informal neighbourhood sport and interaction. Wealth trumped wisdom, citizens became customers, homes became real estate, fences got higher and fruit trees started to disappear.
Today bare feet rarely feel the earth’s textures and contours. Children no longer need to know how to pick up a ferret, kill a blackbird with a shanghai, treat a bullant sting, set a rabbit trap or throw a hand line into the surf.
There are opportunities for the football and soccer clubs to organise twilight games for the kids. Get them away from their screens one day a week. There are plenty of local parks, thanks to our early town planners. Don’t make the sport competitive, keep it casual and fun. Just get the kids used to the joy of running and jumping and they will never forget it.
Along the way you’ll instill connection to place and the common good that make a country town like Wonthaggi so rich.
Harmony Day, on March 21, celebrates Australia’s multicultural diversity and promotes acceptance of other cultures.