The influence of Italian agricultural practice on Victorian farms

James Matra and Antonio Ponto were aboard the Endeavour with Captain James Cook on his voyage of discovery in 1770.

Hundreds of Italians flocked to the goldfields of Victoria in 1850, lured by the promise of extreme wealth.

Those who decided to stay and set up their lives in Australia settled in small, mostly agricultural communities, in suburbs such as Werribee, in Melbourne’s west.

By 1896, there were thousands of Italians living in the state.

Workers, artisans, artists, doctors, farmers, scientists and engineers transformed the city of Melbourne and contributed to improving the quality of the soil.

Famed innovators Carlo Catani and Ettore Checchi supervised irrigation and water collection projects.

Italian migrants gradually introduced new techniques and agricultural products to Australian communities, including: a variety of fruits and vegetables, silk, aromatic herbs and tobacco.

Driven by the desire to showcase the influence of Italian farmers on the optimisation of Australian land, Luigi Gussago and Andrea Pagani created “Terra: Italian Farmers Reshape Rural Victoria”.

Gussago, an associate professor of Italian and German at the Centre for Adult Education, joined forces with Pagani, an associate professor at Monash University and owner of Figo Pizza.

The pair were funded by the Italian Australian Foundation, under the auspices of La Trobe University, and presented their project at CO.AS.IT. in Carlton.

The two researchers sought to explore the impact of Italian agricultural practices in Australia.

To do so, they created a map to trace the presence of Italian farmers in rural areas of Victoria, collecting data from interviews, historical records and documents.

Though Gussago and Pagani insist that the “project is still in its initial stages”, the pair have given credence to the influential history of Italian agriculturists in Victoria.

Recording the impact of characters such as Carlo Catani, Emilio Checchi, Ferdinando Gagliardi, Pietro Baracchi and Diego Bernacchi cements their well-deserved place in the annals of history.

“We’re developing two timelines, one in Italy and one in Australia,” Pagani said.

“We’ve noticed a delay in Victoria that is evident in every aspect of the sector.

“From agricultural markets to the introduction of certain products, as well as the advertising language used in business.”

A photo from the event at CO.AS.IT. in Carlton

The pair also wanted to tackle the issues stemming from the laws surrounding Italian cheeses, in order to replace the generalised category of “exotic cheeses”.

“While the wine industry has clear and in-depth information about varietals and names, the dairy industry doesn’t,” Pagani continued.

“Cheese is still divided into ‘cheddar and non-cheddar’, even though burrata is now found in almost any restaurant in Melbourne.”

Pagani and Gussago also explored the transition from tobacco farms to vineyards, investigating the popularity of Italian wines such as Prosecco in rural Victoria.

Renowned chef Stefano De Pieri was one of the first to introduce Glera grapes – needed to create prosecco – to Victoria, while Alfredo and Katrina Pizzini from the King Valley were pioneers in growing Nebbiolo and Sangiovese vines.

“In the early twentieth century, anti-Italianism was rife in rural areas,” Gussano explained.

“It was widely believed that Italians ruined the market whereas, in actual fact, they developed and reclaimed areas that had never been considered viable.

“Although there were agreements between Italy and Australia that allowed non-naturalised migrants to purchase land, local authorities often got in the way.

“After the two world wars, the government gave land that was not in use to war veterans, but they had no agricultural experience.

“The Italian migrants were the ones who cultivated the land.”

The pair presented their project at CO.AS.IT. in Carlton on 19 July, but are still continuing their research, interviewing farmers working in regional areas of Victoria.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the stories behind products that we normally find in supermarkets,” Gussago said.

“I want to know more about their history, their profile, and how they came to be popular.

“An asparagus farmer, who has Italian heritage, told me that it took a long time to convince Australians that asparagus could be cooked and eaten, not just used as decoration.”

The researchers are cautious of presenting a “simple fairy tale”; instead, they are ensuring that a complete story, “even with its saddest aspects”, is told in their final project.

Part of the project will cover the stories of violence perpetrated against migrants on farms.

“We’d like to be able to present the project to primary schools in Victoria, to demonstrate how multiculturalism generates innovation, progress and variety.”