Paradiso: A Novel - Sydney Book Launch

In 1880 three hundred northern Italian peasants leave their homes to embark on an expedition to establish a new colony in the South Pacific. The utopian dream, promoted by a deluded Frenchman, the Marquis de Rays, proves to be a disaster, as the poorly equipped and badly planned expedition suffers from unforseen obstacles and near starvation in the jungles of New Guinea. Following a dramatic rescue by Sir Henry Parkes, Governor of New South Wales, the survivors eventually make their way to Australia, where they establish an Italian enclave in the Northern Rivers District of NSW. What drove these Venetian peasant farmers to risk everything to join this doomed expedition? Who was the Marquis de Rays? What were the conditions like in New Guinea in 1880? How did they come to be rescued by Australian authorities? Come and share this remarkable, true story with author and descendant, Steve Capelin.