Damien Tripodi, a secondary school teacher, has been honoured by the Italian government for his work with the Italian community, which includes the promotion of goodwill between Australia and other communities and for the promotion and maintainment of Italian language culture. Amongst his many commitments he finds time to be a member of the Council for Italians Abroad where he is the only representative from a rural area. Growing up in Traralgon, he is married with three grown-up children who are all married with children of their own.

Damien remembers growing up in Traralgon and wanting to be an "Aussie". Even though he was born in Italy, he wanted to get away from the strictness of the Italian home and enjoy the freedom that his Australian peers enjoyed. Then, in Form 3, a teacher named Ian Hossack said to him, "You are richer than the others because you have two cultures – embrace and enjoy both."; prior to this he’d been told by everybody, "Forget Italy, you’re in Australia now.".

Back in those days, in Traralgon and virtually throughout Australia there was very little infrastructure to help new settlers, particularly the Italians. Because Damien learnt English

quickly, he became an interpreter for everybody and, although he was only about 10 years old, ended up doing things like taking pregnant women to the doctor or being asked to translate legal documents, which he couldn’t do and so would end up with a ‘back-hander’ from his father, Joe: "What are you, an idiot? I’m sending you to school, don’t you learn anything!".

Italian migrants, particularly southern Italian migrants, didn’t receive assisted packages, which is why they had to look out for and rely on each other. Although Italian migration to Australia began with the First Fleet, in Gippsland there were about five or six distinct waves of Italian migration such as the land selection, timber cutting, mining, pea picking and industrialisation of the Latrobe Valley eras. Those Italians who came to Australia usually borrowed the money, so the first thing they’d want to do when they arrived was to earn the money to pay it back to those who had given them the money to come over. Interestingly, banks became the first institution to offer interpreter services.

Joe came to Traralgon from Melbourne after hearing about work prospects cutting timber. His first employer was the late Paddy Frankland. The work only lasted for two weeks but they figured there was no point returning to Melbourne where they’d already found it hard to get work, so they stayed in Traralgon, sleeping under the trees near the Traralgon Creek on the first night. The next day one of them heard another person who spoke Italian so they talked to him and he took them to the Parish priest who also spoke Italian and helped them with contacts in the area. The Hourigan family found them a house where the Frankland Park estate is now and they all eventually got work. Joe worked for Mr Schwartz of Schwartz and Cooper, mainly in the brickworks, where the Duncan Cameron oval is now. He was able to bring out his brothers and his family and there are now nearly 100 people here as a result of his migration to Australia.

The English that Joe picked up was ‘factory’ English; his mother was totally illiterate, having never been to school in Italy. When she came to Traralgon she was craving to communicate with her people in Italy and so after school Damien taught her how to read and write Italian. Her pronunciation of English grew to be very good, whereas Joe’s vocabulary became extensive but his pronunciation was terrible.

A lot of second generation migrants are still very confused about their heritage. This is because their parents, although they integrated when they came here, never really understood the Australian way of life; they lost contact with modern Italy and imposed upon their children a culture that they knew from years ago.

Italy today is the fifth economic power of the world and the fifth most industrialised nation. Italy is embarrassed that so many of its sons and daughters had to leave to survive, so it’s embracing these expatriates as ambassadors and is giving these people who have Italian citizenship the right to vote – in the next election there’s going to be 12 electorates of Italian parliament outside of Italy, one of which will cover Austalia, Asia, New Zealand and part of Africa.

Australia is a magnificent and beautiful nation; Damien is proud to be here. He’s also proud of what Italian migrants have contributed in the past and he hopes they can continue to contribute and maintain this wonderful relationship.

Damien Tripodi, Jim and Robena Hood, and Terry Fisher
at the Annual Dinner