Interview with Clara Stepan [sound recording] / Interviewer : Madeleine Regan, Part 2 of 2

The two interviews with Clara Stepan are recorded in both English and the Veneto dialect, Clara's first language. Anna Mechis, a neighbour, translates and interprets during the interview. Clara Stepan was born on 27 May 1921 in Montegrotto, a thermal springs area near Padua in northern Italy. She was the eldest of three sisters with seven uncles on her father's side and six aunts and two uncles on her mother's side. She explains her family background and describes her maternal grandparents' hotel which incorporated thermal springs. Clara worked there from the age of 11 until 29 years when she emigrated to Australia to marry her husband Giglio Sbrissa. She describes her work as a masseur in the hotel and then housekeeper for soldiers who were accommodated in the hotel during the German occupation in the War. She speaks about her arrival in Australia and the distress she experienced in her first days spent at Tailem Bend at her future in-laws who lived in what she thought were primitive conditions. Other areas covered include: her marriage; her family's knowledge of her husband who arranged all the details of the marriage in March 1950 not long after her arrival; the kindness of local community of people along River or Findon Road in the St James Park area (now Kidman Park and Flinders Park) who were from the Veneto Region and particular focus on the friendship with Narcisio and Maria Ballestrin. She recalls lots of market gardens; describes the home her husband build for them on River Road; the four glasshouse for tomatoes and beans which were sold at the East End market; four bocce (bowls) courts at the back of the house and the large bocce events held each Sunday; providing beer and food for the Veneti people who attended; the incident which led to the establishment of a competing bocce location in Seaton. Clara refers to the birth of her daughter, Carmen, in December 1950 and the assistance that other Veneti women gave her at that time including a Christening party in the Ballestrin shed on the corner of Findon Road and Valetta Road. She begins to speak about the unexpected death of her husband in 1953. Clara begins the second interview explaining what happened when her first husband, Giglio Sbrissa died in Adelaide in 1953. At the time, she was en route by boat to Italy with her three-year old daughter; she disembarked at Singapore and got assistance from the Australian Embassy and returned by plane to Adelaide. Other people in the local Veneti community assisted her with the glasshouses and her father came to help and stayed for about a year. They continued to run the bocce (bowls) events at the back of the house every Sunday. About a year after the death of her husband, Clara married a widower from Istria, Giuseppe (Beppi) Stepan, whom she had met as a bocce player and continued to work the glasshouses and operate the bocce events on Sundays. They took a new direction and set up their garage and home on the opposite side of Findon Road with a loan of £1,000 from Isidoro Ballestrin from whom they bought the land which had been used for market gardens. They sold the land on the western side of Findon Road which had had the four glasshouse and four bocce courts to a developer. Clara names some of the neighbours who had had market gardens and recalls having chickens and fruit trees and had her shopping delivered by Oscar Mattiazzo who worked for the Rossetto Grocery in Hindley Street in the City. Other areas covered include: the birth of her son, Davide in 1955; family trips to Henley Beach in summer; the success of the business; Beppi's retirement and illness; returning to Italy five or six times; some changes that have taken place in the Findon Road area since 1950s; and traditions she has maintained from her Italian heritage. She speaks about her moving to Fulham Gardens in 1980, Beppi's death in 1984 and recalls that they became Australian citizens soon after their marriage and this allowed them to purchase land. Clara has four grandchildren and she is very proud of them.