Interview with Roma Bordignon (nee Zampin) [sound recording] / Interviewer : Madeleine Regan

Interview with Roma Bordignon (nee Zampin) for the Italian Market Gardeners oral history project. Roma Bordignon was born on 19 June 1938 in Adelaide and begins by talking about her family background; her mother was born to Irish parents in Adelaide and her father was born in the north of Italy. She also speaks about her husband and her own family. Roma outlines her father's history and emigration from Italy in 1928 joining an older brother who was killed in 1930; her parent's marriage; details of her godparents; being the third of nine children; her parents' market garden that her parents leased which was set back off Henley Beach Road, Lockleys near the River Torrens; description of the family house; schooling; leaving school at 14 years of age; working at the Brazzale mica factory in the West End of the city of Adelaide with her two older sisters; meeting her husband at a dance attended by many Italians; marriage to Michele at 18 years old in 1955. Other areas covered include: Roma's reflection that seven of the eight Zampin sisters married Italian men; her father's brother, Nico and his family who lived in the Kidman Park area for some years before returning to Italy; racism directed to Italians and in particular to her mother because she had married an Italian; Italian traditions in the Zampin family; shopping; her parents' social life with other Veneto families. Roma recalls the work on the family market gardens on Henley Beach Road, the large number of glasshouses where her parents grew tomatoes, green beans and stick beans and outside vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, carrots and watermelons which were all sold at market; the need for all family members to work in the gardens every day and on weekends. She remembers the war years and family interactions with American soldiers who camped on the land behind the market gardens close to the River Torrens; the annual rituals of making wine and killing the pig for salami. Roma recalls her parents' visit to Italy; moving all the glasshouses when her parents bought land and a house at Angley Avenue Findon; her first home with her husband which was a simple shed on Grange Road on land they bought and on which they built a new house; her visit to Italy with Michele. She reflects on her Italian heritage and her strong sense of feeling Italian. Interview at Kidman Park.

No restrictions on copying or publication except acknowledging State Library of South Australia OH 872/41 if published.