This book is a narrative story. A narrative is the story of someone’s experiences or memories of an event. This story is based on conversations with Gregorio Pepe, a literacy student at Werribee Community Centre.
New Words- Any new words and their meanings will be listed at the front of this book. As you read this story, you will find them in RED.
House- Where you live.
Made- Once you make something (past tense).
School- Where you learn.
Grew- To have grown (past tense).
Weeding- Taking unwanted, useless plants out of the garden.
Homework- School work finished at home.
Army Training- Military service.
Lire- (Old) Italian money.
Pounds- (Old) Australian/English-Dollars.
Applied for- Asked permission/completed papers to be allowed to travel.
Fare- Payment to be allowed to travel.
Lend- To borrow or give something that will be returned later.
Chaff- Hay to feed horses. This was sometimes also used for building.
Visitor- Someone who comes to your house to spend time with you.
Evening- Night time.
Expensive- Costing a lot of money.
Barron- A very rich man.
Nervous- Unsure or what is going to happen.
Arrived- Came to (Australia).
Paid- Money given for work you have done.
Shed- A simple building to store or keep tools (or other things) in.
Kerosene Cooker- A portable stove or cook top using petrol for heat.
Shillings-(Old) Australian/English- Cents.
Rent- A payment given to be allowed to stay in a house or room.
Enclosed- Shut or covered in, to make walls.
Veranda- An open area with a floor and a roof, attached to the outside of a building.
Gregorio was born in Italy. He grew up in Vizzini in Sicily. His family made stone for houses and also worked on their own farm.
Each day, he went to school from 8 ‘o clock until 1 ‘o clock. Then, he would come home and help with weeding until 5 ‘o clock in the evening.
After that, he would walk down to the river to get grass to feed the goats and rabbits .
Once all that hard work was done, he still had to finish his homework before he could go and play!
When he was 13 years old, he finished school and started to work on his family’s farm, helping them prepare for the Winter.
At 20 years old, he completed three months of Army Training. It was very hard. After that, he kept on working.
He was only paid 120 Lire a day. That was not very much money at all. At that time, it cost 140 Lire just to buy a loaf of bread!
Then a friend applied for him to be able to come to Australia to work.
Coming to Australia was very expensive. He needed 264,000 Lire, but he had no money to pay his fare! This made him very sad.
By then, he was working for a Barron who agreed to lend him 100,000 Lire. The Barron wanted Gregorio’s Father to ask for the money. This made Gregorio feel very nervous.
The Barron gave Gregorio that money, but he was very greedy. When everyone gave all the money they could, Gregorio still needed 50,000 more Lire.
The Barron said that he would help, but only if the family gave them their land for one year. This made things very hard for Gregorio’s family, but they wanted him to go to Australia and be happy!
When he arrived in Australia, he only had 2,000 Lire from his Grandmother, in his pocket. When he started working on a farm, he was able to send some money home to her. The work was very hard.
He didn’t speak any English at all! He worked seven days a week. Every day, he would dig potatoes until it was dark.
If it was raining, he would wear chaff bags over his head and body to stay dry. At night, he would sleep in a shed with chaff for its walls.
He kept working hard. He slept in a toilet and cooked on a small Kerosene Cooker.
After 15 months, he had enough money to bring his sister to Australia. Her fare cost 264 Pounds. They were happy to be together, but they still could not have a very nice home.
They found a house for 30 Shillings a week. They each had to share a room and a bed with the people who already lived there! They did not like this at all!
Then Gregorio met a nice man who said that they could rent two enclosed rooms on his veranda for one Pound and ten Shillings a week. This was much better. Then, his sister began working in a factory and was paid three Pounds and 5 Shillings a week.
After eight months, she had enough money for a fare for another sister to come to Australia. Soon, they had enough for fares for everyone else in their family to join them here!
Sadly, their Father died just two months before this, but their mother and her three youngest children were very happy to come. When everyone was together again, Gregorio was able to build a new house.
They were all so happy! Now, they had everything that they needed for a new life!