Little is known about those who migrated to Asia, perhaps due to the immense distance, and even less is known about their lives after Italy’s subsequent change of alliances.

The few surviving written testimonies are vital primary sources and have been lovingly guarded by their keepers, who have preserved them in the hope of steering new generations away from old mistakes.

Il vento di Tatura: 1940 – 1946. Sei anni di internamento in Australia by Ottilia Vicenzini Reginato tells the story of the author’s six-year imprisonment in an internment camp with her family.

The book is adapted from Vicenzini Reginato’s diary, which she began on the first day she entered the camp.

Vicenzini Reginato’s daughter, Elena, remembers her mother with affection.

“My mother had a sensitive soul,” Elena said.

“She used her diary as an escape from the inhumane conditions and constant suffering around her.

“She wrote about the small pleasures she’d encounter, such as her love for her children, the colours of a sunset or the beginning of spring.”

Elena – who is affectionately known as “Nella” to her family – described her mother as a lover of literature, who was reserved yet attentive and empathetic to those around her.

Many other migrants, like Vicenzini Reginato, found themselves imprisoned at the outbreak of World War II, without understanding why.

“We were neither fascists nor anti-fascists; we were Italians,” Vicenzini Reginato wrote.

“For the migrant, politics are meaningless; only the love of their homeland remains.”

Before being deported to Australia, Vicenzini Reginato and her family lived in Malaysia, where her husband Giovanni Battista managed a rubber plantation.

When it was announced that Italy had entered World War II on June 10, 1940, the family’s life was turned upside down.

The British government ordered that all citizens from an “enemy nation” who lived in a Commonwealth country should be interned.

In September 1940, the family was deported to Australia and placed in the Tatura internment camp.

“My mother started her diary that very day,” Elena said.

“The first page is dated September 27, 1940.”

Vicenzini Reginato and her husband were already blessed with a son, Vincenzo, who was born in Malaysia, and continued to expand their family, welcoming Elena and her sister Luisa at Waranga Hospital in 1942 and 1944 respectively.

Elena recalls that each family in the camp had a small cabin and was constantly monitored by armed guards.

“A roll-call was performed four times a day,” she said.

“Both adults and children had to be standing in front of their cabin.

“A curfew was imposed in the evenings and no one was permitted to leave their cabin.”

The migrants soon began to demand better living conditions, which were occasionally granted by the Australian authorities.

For example, a school was established in the camp for the prisoners’ children where some parents acted as teachers.  

“They also opened a shop in the camp, which the prisoners were allowed to run themselves,” Elena said.

“You could go and buy or order the necessary items, paying with your own money.”

One of the greatest difficulties faced by the prisoners, according to Elena, was the psychological toll of isolation, which began to wear on the inmates as the months dragged on without news of the outside world or the warm embrace of loved ones.

The title of Vicenzini Reginato’s book references the hot, dry climate and oppressive wind that would often blow through the camp, only adding to the uncomfortable living conditions.

Ottilia​ Vicenzini Reginato’s three children Vincenzo, Luisa and Elena, photographed in Sydney after their release from the camp

Vicenzini Reginato and her family lived in the internment camp for over six years.

Once she had been released from the camp, the author revisited her diary, which spanned across 21 notebooks, and selected the most important passages.

“When she began to reflect on what had happened, I think she felt the need to preserve her experience,” Elena said.

“By turning her diary into a book, she could somehow reconcile that those six years hadn’t been lived in vain and that someone could learn from them.

“Her book is a testament to her strength, her faith and her love for life.”

Il vento di Tatura: 1940 – 1946. Sei anni di internamento in Australia is available on Amazon as an e-book, and in bookstores.