Mackay and District Italian Association Incorporated

05/11/2026

31/10/2026

Sugar Series – Part 11

Situated in the heart of the Abruzzo region about 100 km east of Rome, Capistrello, L’Aquila was the birthplace of Ferdinando (Fred) Sacchetti in 1932. After his marriage to Angela Bucci in 1956 the young couple realised how difficult it was to find work that would provide the income they needed to raise a family in Capistrello. One of Angela’s brothers had been told that there was work in Australia so by mid-April 1957 they were in Genoa waiting, with other passengers, for the Toscana. After disembarking in Cairns in May that year the couple spent a month in a migrant camp before heading to the Sorbello cane farm at Brightly where Fred found work.

In 1963 Fred and Angela purchased their first home at Eton. By 1974 machines were already being used to cut cane. Fred purchased his first harvester and for the next 17 years cut cane for other farmers in the area until 1991 when his doctor advised him to retire due to his health issues.

Angelo Attilio (Attilio) Salvestrin, was born in 1901 in Cavaso del Tomba, Treviso. As times were bad, Attilio decided to migrate. In 1922, with his brother, Sebastiano, he left his homeland and family to sail to Australia. In those days skilled migrants were welcomed and they had worked as stonemasons and carpenters. Having travelled at their own expense, they disembarked in Sydney in December 1922 with no money, no relatives in Australia or any knowledge of the English language, but with a willingness to work.

After a number of years working around Griffith, NSW, Attilio travelled to Mackay, to work as a cane cutter during the crushing season and as a builder in the slack. He built houses in areas from Eton to Finch Hatton and did many renovations to existing homes. Late 1936, Attilio sent for his childhood sweetheart, Amabile Bresolin, to come and join him. Following numerous moves due to the nature of Attilio’s occupation in the building trade, the Salvestrins finally settled on a cane farm which they bought at Netherdale in 1940. Attilio replaced the old rundown farmhouse with a new one and built new stables for the work horses.

Some time after the Second World War, Attilio bought one of the American army trucks left behind because it was too expensive to be shipped back to America. It had the steering on the left-hand side of the cab. This vehicle was used to cart loads of cane from the farm to Netherdale, where it was loaded on to railway wagons for haulage to Cattle Creek Mill at Finch Hatton. As this was the family’s only means of transport at the time, it also provided for business trips to Finch Hatton as well as for social occasions. The Salvestrins continued farming at Netherdale until they sold the farm to their daughter Wilma and her husband in 1962.

Giacinto (Tinto) Zanesco was born in July 1914 in Castelcucco, a municipality in Treviso, Veneto. Tinto married Rosalia Rostirolla in 1941 and the couple had two children. In 1950 Tinto, left Genoa and disembarked at Brisbane. His sponsor and good friend, paesano Giovanni (Jack) Pastega of Mt Ossa, employed him as a cane cutter. Rosalia arrived with the children the following year. In 1953, Tinto left the Pastega property and went to work for the Geisinger family.

The family remained there until Tinto had saved enough money to buy his own cane farm at Habana in April 1955. Following a tractor accident which left him with little movement in his left arm, Tinto and Rosalia sold the farm and with their four children, moved to Wollongong in July 1965.

To read the full stories go to “For a Better Life”. Don’t yet have a copy? Just email our secretary on [email protected] to find out how to obtain a copy.

24/10/2026

Sugar Series – Part 10

Luigi Pietro Raffaldi was born in June 1927 in the village of Conzano, Monferrato, Alessandria. In 1948 a cousin who owned a cane farm at Edmonton, wrote that young men were needed to work in the sugarcane industry, so Luigi and his brother Egidio left Italy for Edmonton. To pay back the fares to their cousin, the brothers started work at the Hamilton Mill in January 1949 and then at the beginning of the crushing season began cane cutting. At the end of the crush Luigi headed to Mackay where he worked on the construction of the Paradise Guest House and cut cane on various farms during the crushing season.

In 1964, Luigi was told that Pleystowe mill had bought the Victoria Plains cattle station and was going to lease blocks to grow sugar cane. It was suggested that, if he had £600 for plant and equipment, his name should be put down at the mill office. Consequently, Luigi was offered the block. It was here that Luigi built a house and shed and lived with his wife Joyce and their family until 1989 when Luigi and Joyce moved to West Mackay and their son and family moved to the farm.

The village of Lu which is east of Turin was the birthplace of Oreste Ribaldone. Born in April 1896, Oreste served 2 years in WW1 before being captured and sent to a POW camp in the Ukraine for 13 months. In 1924 he made the big decision to migrate to Australia. After his arrival at Sydney he obtained work on a sheep property in western NSW until he had saved enough money to travel to Ingham where he cut cane for six years. On his arrival in Mackay, Oreste met Oscar Delfin Baldi and in 1932, a partnership was formed to purchase a cane farm at Homebush. Oscar sold his share of the farm to Oreste in 1960. Oreste had married Rosmina Devecchi in 1934 and the farm became their home for the next 24 years. In 1956 Oreste decided to purchase a house in Mackay and soon afterwards, he and Rosmina moved to their city home but Oreste commuted to the farm on Monday and returned on Friday.

Pietro (Peter) Raiteri was born in August 1897 in Rosignano Monferrato. Together with his brother-in-law Ettore Ravizza, who was born in October 1894 at Casale Monferrato, the pair touched Australian soil at Fremantle 21 April 1925 and disembarked at Brisbane in May that year. Enrico Todeschino was born in February 1898, in Rosignano Monferrato. The ravages of war, bad weather and spoilt crops led to Enrico leaving Italy and arriving in Brisbane in 1925.

Pietro’s wife, Prassede Ravizza and their daughter made the journey two years later arriving in Brisbane. On board the same ship was Maria Rosso who married Enrico Todeschino one day after her arrival at Mackay. Lidia Ravizza (Varese) and their son joined Ettore in 1928.

After their arrival, all three men worked for a few months in Ingham before finding their way to Mt Ossa. Wishing to settle on land and having few funds, five Italian families became partners in 75 hectares of perpetual leasehold land on the Mt Ossa-Mt Charlton Road. The partners were Ettore Ravizza, Enrico Todeschino, Enrico Varese, Pietro Raiteri and another single man who left the partnership and returned to Italy within eighteen months. It is believed that each partner contributed £5 towards the purchase price of the farm. Within three years the partnership was reduced to three families, namely Raiteri, Ravizza and Todeschino and was known as “Ravizza & Co”. The Ravizza, Raiteri and Todeschino families farmed together in harmony and friendship until 1949.

After the sale of the farm in 1949, Peter, Prassede, Ettore and Lidia settled on properties in Croydon, Melbourne. Enrico and Maria relocated to Ayr.

To read the full stories go to your copy of “For a Better Life”. Don’t yet have a copy? Just email our secretary on [email protected] to find out how to obtain a copy.

17/10/2026

Sugar Series – Part 9

Francesco (Frank) Perna was born in 1902 in Maletto, Catania, Sicily. In 1924, he left for Australia in a bid to escape the Depression that was facing Europe after the First World War. His uncle, Vincenzo Pace, was travelling on the same ship. They disembarked in Sydney.

Their destination was Stone River, Ingham, where Gaetano Pace, Frank’s uncle and Vincenzo’s brother, was working. It was here Francesco spent his first season cutting cane. After just one season, Frank, his uncles and friends, Domenico and Francesco Antonio Vigliante, formed a partnership and purchased a farm at Devereux Creek on the banks of the Pioneer River, Marian. One of the purchase conditions of the partnership was that the partners cut the cane. This was to enable them to pay back the debt as quickly as possible. As this meant that “white workers” were sacked, the mill workers and cane cutters in the area called a meeting. Members of the partnership were considered “non-white”.

The following resolutions were carried: “that no cane be accepted from McHardie’s farm unless cut by white workers: that no cane be accepted by any mill cut by Southern Europeans on or after 31 August 1925.” This action was widely published in papers throughout the State. In further articles published in The Daily Mercury during September 1925 it indicated this action spread to other mill areas. The dispute was resolved by the Board of Trade and Arbitration in August 1926.
After his marriage to Carmela Cali in 1936 Frank and Carmela continued to live at the Devereux Creek farm with the other three families, all in the same house, until late 1939. A move was made to Sybil Creek for the 1939 crush where Frank cut cane for the Vigliante family until Frank and Carmela purchased a farm at Eimeo in 1940. The farm on Eimeo Road was the “last farm before the ocean”.

Frank sold the farm at Eimeo in 1948 and returned to Marian to cut cane alongside his brother Vincenzo, for the 1949 crushing. The family then moved to Pietro Aprile’s farm in early 1950, before purchasing a farm at Kuttabul, later that year. Frank and Carmela employed Italian cane cutters during the crushing seasons, until a Crichton wholestick harvester attached to a Massey Ferguson 135, was purchased in 1967. Due to its design, it had to be driven backwards from Mackay to Kuttabul. After Frank’s untimely death in 1961, Carmela stayed at the farm until 1969 when she retired to Mackay.

Osvaldo Pittioni and his fiancée Lucia Scoziero were born in Cividale del Friuli, Udine. The living was harsh in the province of Friuli in 1927 and like many other men, Osvaldo decided to see if he could make a better life for himself and Lucia away from the ravages of war-torn Europe. Despite not knowing anyone here, he chose to come to Australia. After disembarking at Port Adelaide in September 1927, he found work in the area for a few years.
In 1935 he arrived at Byer Siding and cut cane at the Nella farm. Lucia joined him in 1936, and they were married in Mackay. In 1940 Osvaldo bought his own cane farm at Netherdale and farmed there continuously until his untimely death in 1948. Lucia endured hardship when Osvaldo was no longer there, as she had a sugarcane farm to manage and two young girls to provide for. She needed a steely determination to survive and overcome all obstacles that came her way, but she succeeded. The farm was sold in 1972 and Lucia retired to Finch Hatton.

To read the full stories go to your copy of “For a Better Life”. Don’t yet have a copy? Just email our secretary on [email protected] to find out how to obtain a copy.

10/10/2026

Sugar Series Part 8

The Patroni families from Sernio, Sondrio

This account begins in 1897 with the birth of Giovanni Patroni. After his marriage to Maria Beccaria, followed by the birth of two children, Giovanni (Jack) migrated to Australia intending to make enough money to bring out his family from Italy. On his arrival in 1922, he spent the next three-and-a-half years in the coal mines of Wonthaggi, NSW, where many other Italian migrants had also found employment.
Eventually, Jack made his way to Mackay and, with enough money saved, began the task of bringing his family to Australia. In 1929, while his family was in transit to Australia, Jack applied for Australian citizenship. This was later granted to him, and his family, on 20 November 1929.
The family’s first home was at Mt Martin with Jack’s cousins, the families of Luigi and Cosimo Contessa. Around 1934, after leaving Mt Martin, Jack purchased a farm at Wilsons Paddock, west of Finch Hatton. Clearing virgin scrubland, with steep slopes and gullies, required a lot of hard work.

Around 1951, Jack organised for his nephews, Gino and Aldo Patroni, to leave Western Australia where they worked in the timber industry, and to work for him during the crushing. They then found work on the nearby McEwan farm.
In 1954, Jack helped his sons Remo (Ray) and Aldo, to buy a cane farm from the Romagnolo and Ferrero families at Shinfield near Sarina. There were two houses on the farm; Ray and his wife lived in one and Aldo in the other. In 1957, Jack, Maria and their daughter Mary joined Aldo at Shinfield and remained there until Aldo married in 1958. Jack and Maria then moved to a new house at Sarina Beach Road.
Gino Patroni was born in 1921. At the age of 28, and despite not being able to speak a word of English, Gino left his wife and two young sons and headed for Australia. With all his possessions in a wooden suitcase, he left his homeland in the hope of creating a better life to support his young family.

After his arrival in Fremantle, WA, in 1949, Gino worked for eighteen months cutting timber with his brother Aldo in WA. His uncle, Giovanni (Jack) Patroni, wrote asking them to come to Finch Hatton, Qld, to cut cane. They arrived in Finch Hatton in 1951, and Gino promptly organised for his wife and two sons to join him.
In 1954, Gino and Aldo bought a cane farm, in partnership, at West Plane Creek, Sarina and worked together cutting, topping and loading, all by hand. Following the sale of the farm in 1958, Aldo moved to Brisbane where he bought a vineyard. Gino purchased another cane farm at Turnors Paddock, Koumala, which was to be the family’s residence for the next seven years. In 1965, another farm was purchased at Mt Christian, south of Koumala this time in partnership with his sons Benito and Lino. The partnership lasted until 1972 when Gino bought his sons’ share. Lino continued to work for his father, but Benito worked outside the farm on neighbouring cane properties. In 1988, after nearly 40 years of working in Australia, Gino decided to retire from cane farming. His son Lino leased the family farms from him and carried on the family farming tradition.

Armando (Andy) Patroni was born in 1932. By 1950, in the aftermath of the war, Andy decided to migrate to Australia to seek a better lifestyle, but also to leave behind the sad memories of the tragedies experienced in his village during World War II. He left from the port of Genoa and disembarked in Sydney in 1950. On his arrival in he joined his cousin Gino Patroni who arranged a canecutting contract for him on the farm owned by Bernardo (Barney) Pozzi and Gino Bettini at The Palms, Walkerston.

In 1953 in partnership with Ulisse Rinaldi, Andy purchased a farm at Mt Jukes. Money was very tight but after a couple of successful crushing seasons, Andy was able to purchase his first car. After selling his share of the Mt Jukes farm, Andy bought another at Beach Road, Sarina. In 1964 he purchased another at Masotti’s Road, Homebush. Andy retired from farming in 2002.

To read the full stories go to “For a Better Life”. Don’t yet have a copy? Just email our secretary on [email protected] to find out how to obtain one.