This story was written by Carmelo Nuciforo.

1. Background in Sicily

a. Origins in Sicily.  Which Town/City?

My Name is Carmelo Nuciforo.  I’m known as Charlie to family and friends, but as Charles in my work environment.  This came about when I started full time work a Manager decided that the translation of the Italian Carmelo was Charles in English.  

I’m happily  married to Alice, and we have two grown children Michael and Vanessa. Bothe are in stable relationships. Michael is married to Romina and has two children Senna and Messina our adorable grandchildren.  Vanessa lives with her partner Nicholas or Nick.

My father is Michele Nuciforo, my mother Gaetana Nuciforo (nee Tornatore).  Both my parents have passed away.  My father from a terminal illness aged 63 (18/11/1927 - 20/01/1991), and my mother in (24/04/1926 - 29/08/2016} at 90 years of age.  My father was born in Gaggi-Messina, and my mother in Castiglione-Catania. My parents are are both buried at the Fawkner Cemetery Melbourne. 

I have one sibling a younger brother Salvatore (Sam) who is 3 years younger.  He is married to Rita, and has two grown up children my nieces Mimi and Ruby.

In Sicily we lived in Gaggi (Sicilian: Kaggi) a commune in the Province of Messina in the Italian region of Sicily, located about 45 kilometres southwest of Messina.  It is near the seaside towns of Giardini Naxos and Taormina.  When my grandfather Carmelo died  I was approx. 3 years old we lived in Via Umberto I not far from the Chiesa San Giuseppe Operaio in Gaggi.

My grandparents from my father’s side were were Nucifora Carmelo (1/11/1884 - 25/1/1959) and Gaetana Garufi (21/4/1885 - 2/4/1956).  My grandmother passed away approx. 6 months before I was born. They are both buried at the Gaggi cemetery.  I have no ready explanation why my grandfather’s surname is “Nucifora”.   I have put this down to illiteracy, and use of phonetic descriptions in the way that spoken words sound.   As for my grandmother (Gaetana Garufi), my mother always said she died a heartbroken woman because of my grandfathers’ infidelities. 

I was born September 1956 in Gaggi a commune in the Province of Messina, Sicily. The town is approximately 8 kilometres from  Giardini-Naxos situated on the coast and not far from Taormina. This is on the eastern side of Sicily, and you can tell by the name it's part of the ancient “Stato Magna Grecia” and much later the kingdom of “Due Sicilie” that occupied southern Italy from 1816 until approximately 1861. You find extensive Greek influence all over Southern Italy including Sicily.

In Gaggi we lived with my grandfather Carmelo, who I am named after. I vaguely remember my grandfather who is buried at the Gaggi cemetery with my grandmother. All I can say is that my late mother described him as a gambler, womanizer, and a drunkard. He had to sell his house in Gaggi to settle gambling debts. Interestingly,  he made several trips to America, and records are available at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in New York. I researched these on a visit in 2017.  In fact on one trip he took my late uncle, my father’s older brother to America with him and stayed there for a number of years where he did junior schooling.  In 1979 I caught up with my uncle Carmelo in Reggio Emilia in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region with Alice and he spoke to us with a thick American accent.  He has moved north to be with his daughters when one of them married a servicemen stationed in Sicily from the Emilia-Romagna area. 

Whilst Nuciforo is not a popular name, there are quite a few outside Italy in America, Argentina, and Greece. In Australia there are few in far North Queensland, especially around the sugar cane industry.  Years ago whilst holidaying in Cairns, well before the digital age,  I went to a chemist to get some photos developed and I was surprised the shop assistant just wrote my surname down just as I said it, and before I went into my spelling mode N-U-C-I-F-O-R-O.  In Queensland there is also a David Nucifora a very well known former rugby union player and coach.  Many a time during business travel along Australia’s eastern seaboard I was asked by flight attendants if I was related to David.  

As to the origin of my surname, there are many theories. My favorite and the one I subscribe to is that both Messina and Catania are renowned for the quality of their walnuts, and the name is derived from the Greek nickname for walnut gatherer. Also, there are several variations e.g., Nicefaro, Nicefori, Niceforo, Nicifora, Nucifora, or Nuciforo. Finally, Nuts is the direct translation of the Italian Nuci.  However, the origin of Nuciforo is Greek.  The equivalent is Nikifóros.  This is derived from the Ancient Greek “Nikēphoros” composed of two elements: “nīkē” (victory, success) plus “phérō” (bring, bear, carry). In Greek the name means “bringer of victory”. 

On my mother’s side I have a grandmother Carmela Tornatore (Crupi).  She was born 8/6/1898 in Castiglione Province of Catania, and passed away in Melbourne on 15/1/1981.  She is buried at the Fawkner Cemetery in Melbourne.  Unfortunately, her first husband died whilst working in a field and unintentionally set-off an unexploded WWII bomb.  By this time she had her first child, my auntie Rosa Abbate, but later remarried and had two more children.  My mother Gaetana and my uncle Angelo.  The three were very close.  And apart from their height difference, my auntie Rosa was short compared to both my mother and uncle Angelo who were both much taller.  I know nothing of my grandfather on my mother’s side, except that he died of some illness well before my grandmother and uncle migrated to Australia.

One thing about my grandmother Carmela was that she liked a drink, or two of home made vino.  My uncle Carmelo used to have a cantina at the back of his home where he made and stored wine.  Due to my grandmothers constantly getting in there for a drink or two, he had to padlock the door. The fact is that sometimes she got terribly drunk.  I imagine her life was not ideal.  My early memory is that she lived in what I would describe as a railway siding in Francavilla di Sicilia.  She lived at the end of a tiny street, next to the railway line.  As a youngster had many fun times exploring the area with my cousin Salvatore (Sam).  The train station is no longer in use, nor is the railway line.

My grandmother arrived in Australia with my uncle Angelo in the seventies.  She  firstly lived with my uncle and auntie just up the road from us in Vine Street Moonee Ponds. She later moved in with us and peacefully died in our home aged 82 on 15/1/1981.  I remember the day before she was telling me she could see angels near the back gate.  It must have been an omen.

The Tornatore surname, and my grandmothers' love of wine. In Castiglione di Sicilia there is situated the Cantina Tornatore.  They are in the Etna region and are respected local wine growers and makers. I have a small interest in wine, and  whilst have visited wineries in Sicily not yet the Cantina Tornatore estate.  Definitely will be visiting during my next trip tentatively planned for 2024. My find some family ties.  Who knows; my mothers side of the family is from the area. 

b. Life style in Sicily at the time

My recollection is that my father was a contadino, or worked the land for the owner.  After my grandfather house in Gaggi was sold and he died in 1959 my parents moved to a house on land near Giardini Naxos.  Where we lived was a lemon orchard, and the zest of lemon always reminds me of Sicily.  Today the lemon tree takes pride of place in my garden.  

Back to growing up.  I think the arrangement was that they stayed rent free in exchange for his labour.  My mother would look after us kids and raise cows that were fattened and sold. They lived off the sale proceeds, plus any other work my father could find.  This I remember included doing labouring work on a building site in Giardini Naxos.  I believe this what is now known as the Delta Hotels by Marriott Giardini Naxos, previously Hilton Giardini Naxos.  My wife Alice is a long term Hilton employee and we have stayed there a number of times over the years.  Every time I get the same feeling; I have been here before when I was a young boy with my father, especially when standing by the little cove on the end of the hotel.

Growing up regular visits to Giardini Naxos with my parents and brother for the movies, festas, and the circus which was on the beach are all fond memories.  Also, going up to the Villa Comunale di Taormina or public gardens is something I vividly remember. I always make a point of visiting these gardens when in Taormina.

I have a deep love of movies and the cinema.  One of my all-time favourites is the Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore’s (...again the Tornatore surname.  He could be a distant relation!) film Cinema Paradiso.  Set in a small Sicilian town after the ending of the second world war, the film centers on the friendship between a young boy and an aging projectionist.  Music is by the late and great Ennio Morricone.  This film reminds me so much of my childhood, and in my mind is a must see film!

My father only went to school up to grade 3.  Could read and write.  My mother was illiterate and something she was very conscious of.  From a very young age she was assigned to home duties.  Notwithstanding,  my mother could perform mental arithmetic like no other human I knew, and was taught by my father to sign her name.  She would go to the supermarket and already work out the total cost in her mind before checking out. I got no idea how she did it, and my brother Sam has also inherited similar mathematical traits. My father did not last long in military service either; I think 3 months. I got no idea as to the reason. 

As for me I attended school in Sicily up to half way through to grade 3.  My teacher had a composite class to content with.  Dressed in a black tunic she ran the class with an iron fist.  At school speaking in dialect was strictly prohibited.  You had to speak proper Italian!  I remember she was a lover of The Leopard (‎Il Gattopardo) a novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and would read out passages to us during class.  The book chronicles changes in Sicilian life and society during the Risorgimento (movement for Italian unification in the eighteen hundreds).  There is also a 1963 movie that I like called “The Leopard” starring Burt Lancaster as the Prince of Salina watching his culture and fortune wane in the face of inter-generational change. The movie was directed by Luchino Visconti.  

When I left school for Australia my teacher gave me a Saint Christopher pendant for protection and guidance on my journey.  I’m not a religious person, but did pass this on to my son Michael for good luck when he was traveling, living, and working overseas for the best part of ten years. He still has it.

To summarise my childhood.  My parents weren’t educated or privileged but knew hard work and made many sacrifices for us children. In fact, my father could easily lash out when he could not rationalise things, but did mellow later in his life especially after I married and  the arrival of his grandson Michael in the nineteen eighties. I had a very strict father, but he did love us.  A couple of times growing up I did cop-it too.  I tell you he did not muck around.  I believe my father suffered badly when growing up from my Grandfather’s regular absences, but my mother was just loving; nothing was too much trouble for her.  When my father was on his death-bed at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, we did take my our son Michael to see him one last time.  He all of the sudden became alive again on seeing his grandson.  A couple of days later he passed away. Overall, I would not change any of it; even if I could!

c. Reason for immigrating

Fundamentally migration is at the heart of the human story.  It's part of everyones backstory if you consider yourself a migrant or not.  Humans migrate for a large number of reasons, for us, the Nuciforo’s it was poverty; simple as that.  I remember my father cursing that he had to by goods on credit, and repay when he had money. Today I still thank my parents for the decision to migrate to the other side of the world. In Sicily it’s not uncommon that they refer to Australia as America.  I have has many unsuccessful conversations where attempting to correct older Sicilians that I am from Australia not America! They still say “ma tu sei Americano?”; essentially meaning you are a foreigner. 

You could argue Italy was a “backward” country, shattered by a lost WWII.  Between the 1950s and the early 1970s, is when the majority of Italians migrated to Australia looking for a better life.  It's also worth noting that Italians have migrated to all over the world, including northern Europe, the Americas well before WWII,  and the Australian archipelago well before WWII. 

There is not one big reason or explanation for the large post war migration from Italy to Australia.  There are a combination of interrelated factors that drove it.  These, among others include:

During WWII, more than 18,000 Italian “enemy aliens” spent time in internment camps throughout Australia as prisoners-of-war. Italians had some prior knowledge.  In fact James Matra and Antonio Ponto, both of Italian descent, were aboard the ship 'Endeavour' with Captain James Cook on his voyage of discovery in 1770. Convict Giuseppe Tuzo arrived in 1788 with the First Fleet and settled in Sydney.Economic deprivation in Italy post WWII.  Surely there must be a better life elsewhere.  Look at how well American Italians are doing!The Australian government’s  "Populate or Perish" program, designed to increase the population of the country for economic and military reasons.  This was a significant pull factor.The former “White Australia Policy” making it easier for Italians to migrate and assimilate.Assisted packages where you were either nominated by relatives in Australia or as assisted migrants.  We were nominated by my uncle Carmelo Abbate.  I remember my parents had a loan for the voyage which they paid it back by instalments in Australia.  If my memory serves me correct, the loan was associated with the shipping company Lloyd Triestino.

Typically Italians as with other migrants had drive, were able to use their hands, lots of experience, survival instincts, and were able to build things.  This what was all basically needed to make a success in their new land.

2. Arrival in Australia

d. Year of arrival.  Ship/Plane name

We embarked 9 June 1965 port of Messina Sicily and permitted to enter Australia in Fremantle on 24 June 1965.  Finally disembarked Station Pier Melbourne Australia 28 June 1965 with my parents Michele and Gaetana and my younger brother Sam and many many other migrants onboard.  We were onboard the Galileo Galilei.

On arrival we were greeted by my uncle Carmelo, and by taxi taken to where he was renting in Vine Street Moonee Ponds. I remember looking out the side window as we are driven down Dryburgh Street North the Melbourne and seeing rows of houses (or cottages) next to one another.  I had never seen anything like it before.  Even today if I’m in the area I still think I’m in the cab on the ride to Moonee Ponds all those years ago.

The Galileo Galilei and sister ship Guglielmo Marconi were the last purpose built ships for the purpose of migration.  They were owned by Lloyd Triestino a major shipping company created 1919 after WWI in Trieste Italy. Both ships are long gone. In their heyday both liners were leading edge designs.

My recollection of the journey:

Approximately a 3-week journey that was uneventful.Sailed through the Suez Canal. My father participating in target shooting where they launch clay targets out to sea.Port of Colombo in what was known as Ceylon, but now Sri Lanka.  Vividly remember young local kids diving into the water to retrieve coins flipped by the passengers onboard. Dining as a family.

 e. Arrival as individuals or complete family unit

We arrived as a family unit.  Both my parents started working soon after.  My father at the Craig and Seeley factory in Hope Street Brunswick.  This is where they manufactured “Chef" gas cookers.  He was in the foundry.  This was hot and dirty work, and he mostly worked the nigh-shift for all of his life in Australia.  Similarly, my mother worked at the Sleeping Beauty factory in Evans St Brunswick as a machinist making bedsheets all her working days.  Interestingly both of them just had the one job in Australia. Both sites Craig and Seeley and Sleeping Beauty in Brunswick are no longer operating as local manufacturing become non-viable and moved offshore..

f. Standard of initial accommodation and location

On arrival we lived with my uncle Carmelo in Vine Street Moonee Ponds.  Not long after we moved just across the road to a shared house with another Italian migrant family in Ngarveno Street, Moonee Ponds.  Both houses are still standing today.  In Ngarveno Street the original homestead was across the road from us.  This is where Captain Ngarveno had a huge sway of land right down to the Moonee Ponds Creek.  A vineyard was also established on the site, hence the name “Vine” Street.

The Victorian Heritage Database describes "NGARVENO 71-73 NGARVENO STREET, MOONEE PONDS, MOONEE VALLEY CITY Architecturally, superficially original and typical example of an early pastoral homestead which is distinguished by the fine detailing at the eaves and of the veranda columns.”  Furthermore, the writer WS Benwell’s - Journey to Wine in Victoria says “John Davies’ Ngarveno vineyard at Moonee Ponds featured the then-novel piece of winery machinery, a hydraulic press”.   The book was first published in 1960.

We subsequently rented in Vine St, literally just down the road opposite the old O’Brien’s Milk Bar. Both have been demolished and new homes built.

Lastly we rented in Mt Alexander Road Moonee Ponds.  This was the rear of a fruit-shop owned Mr Surace.  Lately is has been converted to a restaurant, but is currently vacant.

My parents after approx. 5 years bought a house in Vine Street not far down from where my uncle bought their family home.  A couple of years after my mom’s passing in 2016, my brother and I sold the Vine Street house where we grew-up.  The house was bought by a developer and demolished in approx. 2018 to build two townhouses.  As I said, my parents did have an eye for the future, and the sale created an intergenerational transfer of wealth to my brother and I.

There were 3 related families.  Us the Nuciforo, my uncles and aunties the Abbate and Tornatore.  We all lived within an easy walk of each other in Moonee Ponds.  I still reside in Moonee Ponds. 

Both my parents never learned to drive, or really speak English well.  While I remember neighbours moving out to new suburbs and building a new home this was never possible for my parents.  They needed to live close to public transport for work across the Moonne Ponds Creek in Brunswick, and walking distance for their shopping.  Neither got naturalised, having failed an interview test due to poor English. I still consider this an insult and an injustice to my hardworking parents!

My brother and I are still Italian Citizens.  I have dual nationality. Australian and Italian as do mine and my brother’s children.

g. Early school attendance and experiences

On arrival I started at Moonee Ponds Central School in Wilson Street Moonee Ponds. This is now known as Moonee Ponds primary School.  The school during my time only went up to year 8 or what was known as Form 2.  

My recollection is that I quickly picked-up the language. Got pretty good at Australian Rules Football, was able to fit-in, and academically did ok. 

Moonee Ponds Central had marvellous teachers, especially Mrs Stringer our English teacher, and Mr Ken Readwin our science teacher.  Mr Readwin was a giant of man, who apparently also represented Australia in the shot-put. 

One thing for me at school was the nickname I acquired “Choco”.  By the way this did not relate to my skin colour, instead my name Carmelo became Cadbury’s Caramello chocolate, and in short “Choco”.  I believe today this will not be tolerated, and something that has not set well with me.  In fact I took it as a racist slur and was embarrassed by it.  To cope I laughed it off, but some of them copped it badly from me on the footy field!

The great thing about Moonee Ponds Central was that I got the opportunity to go to University High School.  In those days it was a select High School just across the road from the University of Melbourne in Story St, Parkville .  This expanded my view of the world which I basically just saw as Moonee Ponds and surrounds. I started to take a tram along Mt Alexander Road and  Flemington Road and travel to school in Parkville, not just walk like when I was going to Moonee Ponds Central.  My parents were not the type nor capable enough to help you with your school work, nor attend student/teacher meetings.  Basically they paid for school fees, books and uniform.  The rest was all up to you!

University High School was a great experience.  

 h. First jobs and experiences ‘on the job’

 I left University High School  in 1974 at the start of Form 6 or what is now known as Year 12.  Never completed my final year, but landed a job at the ANZ Bank.  I worked there for 38 years until 2012.  I remember my year co-ordinator during my final year at school Mrs White saying "don’t leave, Melbourne University is just across the road, and I could go there if I wanted". I subsequently completed a degree part-time at Monash University that the ANZ Bank paid for.

Always had part-time work before starting full-time work.  Local Safeway, now Woolworths in Pratt Street, Coles Supermarket originally in Hall Street but now part of the Moonee Ponds Central complex, Carosello Pizza that still stands in Margaret Street Moonee Ponds for many years just to name a few.

 ANZ Bank was good for me.  After 38 years and rising to Senior Management level got retrenched with a good financial package and have basically been contracting ever since.  Post ANZ Bank have worked in different industries doing process improvement/consulting type work.   For me 2024 marks 50 years of full-time working life, and I will finally hang up my boots.

 i. Any other stories on arrival and first impressions

 The only thing that is in my mind is that on arrival in 1965 the crowds at  Station Pier Melbourne, and the joy in people faces of family reunions. 

3. Integration and development

j. The barriers if any, including language, racism, etc.

I was 8 when we arrived in Melbourne in 1965 and turned 9 three months later.  I can’t deny there wasn’t any racism, and the racial slur “wog” was commonly used by Australians to describe southern Europeans. I experienced this both at school, or when playing Australian rules football in the local Essendon District league.  Also heard it in hush tones when we went to the local swimming pool in Queens Park Moonee Ponds.

For me most of my friends were Italian or Greek.  Moonee Ponds was largely multicultural, and as long as you had a thick hide you could get by.  

k. Typical traditions maintained ad family activities

Not too dissimilar to other families, we (Nuciforo, Abbate and Torantore) celebrated birthdays, Easter and Christmas.  Each taking turns.

One tradition that was particulalrly enjoyed by my father was rabbiting, both with a shotgun and a ferret.  We would regularly join cousins and uncles on trips to Violet Town about 200 kilometres North East of Melbourne.  Mr Little, if I recall correctly,  was the farmer who used to let us hunt rabbits on his property and stay in his wool shed in exchange for some slabs of beer.  Used to enjoy those trips.

l. Integration

My parents mainly stuck with their Italian “Paisani”.  This generally refers to people from the same hometown or region or people of similar cultural background.

Growing up I had a mix of friends.  There was the school crowd, my local football club Moonee Valley that still plays at Pattison Street Ormond Park Moonee Ponds, and the Vine Street Moonee Ponds and surrounds group of kids.  The common theme was that they were in the majority migrant kids.

When I started working in 1974 it quickly became apparent to me the sheltered life I had lived.  I started at the ANZ Bank 2 Pascoe Vale Road Moonee Ponds, right on the junction.  This was considered a major suburban branch.  It was situated right across the road from the Junction Hotel and some of the Bank staff were real characters and frightened the hell out of me.  In particular one person Gary House whose nickname was “Cool-Jar”.  He really liked to down a beer, I believe Gary was an alcoholic, and the pub was right across the road for a quick one, two or three over lunch or whenever the urge overtook him.  I remember been sent to the public bar to collect Gary.  You need to picture this, I was 18 years old, had never been inside a pub, this was foreign territory for me, nor even ever had a beer in my life.  The smell, sounds, laughter, carrying-on opened the curtain to another world I did not know even existed.  Basically, I had a “peep”of what went on behind closed doors.  Bearing in mind It was only in 1965 that Australian women won the right to drink in a public bar. The junction hotel in those days was a male domain!

My Aussie integration was basically through ANZ Bank staff who for some unknown reason took a liking to me.  Despite this, my weekends are still spent with a mix of migrant friends, including a few from the United Kingdom, It’s broad church as the saying goes. 

 
m. Housing upgrades.  Next suburban move

 No housing upgrades.  My family rented for approximately the first 6 years in Australia, and then my parents bought our Vine Street Moonee Ponds weatherboard home.  This was a single front home but on a double fronted block.  Typical of migrants, purchase was with an eye to the future.  Over the years a small extension, “Mediterranisation” removing all the original features, placing aluminium windows, painting inside and out were undertaken. First renovation was carried out by my cousin Giuseppe (Joe), and a second one by my brother Sam (Salvatore) who is in the trade.  My father like many other migrants maintained a huge veggie patch, and an array of fruit trees.

n. Education.  How important was it?

 “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” Nelson Mandela said.

 For me it was the way out.  I got an office job, not a factory job!  My father’s sage words to me were see my work bag? This is what you will end up with unless "fai bene a scuola” (...do well at school}.  No more, no less.  He wasn’t a man of many words, and got straight to the point!

 I later learned this was the famous Gladstone Bag my father used to pack his work lunch and other belongings. Originally designed by J. G. Beard at his leather shop in the City of Westminster, London. Beard was an admirer of four-time British Prime Minister William Gladstone, that he named the bag after him. 

o. Was Australia temporary or permanent?

 Whilst my parents returned for a holiday, my father said things had changed back home.  In reality he had changed too.  Was very critical of the lifestyle he found when he returned.  "La Sicilia non era lo stesso posto” (...Sicily was not the same place) he said. My experience is that most migrants have a romanticised view of their homeland, in most cases far removed from reality.

 Despite dual citizenship, and a deep love for Italy, I consider Australia my permanent place of residence.