Interview with Lena Moscheni (nee Rossetto) [sound recording] / Interviewer : Madeleine Regan, Part 3 of 5

Interview with Lena Moscheni for the Italian Market Gardeners Oral History Project. Elena (Lena) Moscheni was born on 8 December 1932 and she begins the interview with details of her family background; her parent's life in Italy; circumstances when she was born; her parent's first market garden on Frogmore Road; her brother Romeo's death at the age of seven; her marriage in 1956 to Claudio Moscheni and three sons. Lena speaks about her father (Gelindo Rossetto), his arrival in 1927 with two of his brothers; her mother (Adelina nee Bordin) and her arrival in Adelaide after marrying by proxy in 1930; description of the chest of linen her mother brought from Italy; parent's early married life; the eight Rossetto family members who migrated to Australia with their own families, the aunts and uncles and cousins; her father's mica mine at Harts Ranges; description of the Rossetto grocery shop in Hindley Street and the deliveries to Italian market gardeners in Lockleys. Other details of family background include her father's siblings and reasons for their emigration to Australia during the 1920s and 1930s; growing up in the West End of the City of Adelaide with her two brothers; and other Italian families who lived there. Other areas covered: description of Lena's father's market garden on the southern side of River Torrens adjacent to Rowell's Road at Lockleys; the range of vegetables; selling at the East End market; her father's shares in the mica mine at Harts Range, relatives and other Veneti who worked there; memory of the celebrations at the end of World War II in the City of Adelaide; accompanying her mother when she visited Veneti families on the market gardens at Frogmore Road; memories of what the area looked like; her parent's close relatives and friends and social occasions; memory of the wedding of her Uncle Beppi and Aunt Bruna; Lena begins the interview by reviewing the various houses her parents rented in her childhood; family life including her father's work in the mica mines in Harts Ranges in the Northern Territory; the deaths in 1938 of a little sister and also her older brother, Romeo, who died from osteomyelitis when she was six years old and later, two other babies who died and the birth of her brother Silvano in 1943. She recalls going to her father's market garden which he leased on the southern side of River Torrens near the bridge that now connects Rowells Road and Findon Road, and his wish to buy land which was denied by the government. Lena speaks about other Veneti families who lived on market gardens in the Frogmore and Findon Roads area; social gatherings; groups of young Veneti-Australian teenagers who went to Henley Beach on Sundays; going to the speed car races at Rowley Park; relationships with other families; memories of the War and her father's conscription to the Allied Works Council in Darwin for six months. Other areas covered: school life at St Mary's Franklin Street; leaving after second year high school to work at the old Star Grocery on Hindley Street owned by a Greek family; and life in the City of Adelaide where she worked for ten years. Lena describes her visits to relatives in France and Italy with her mother; and meeting relatives. She speaks about the significance of Frogmore and Findon Roads, her Italian heritage and her family's links to the Veneto.

No restrictions on copying or publication except acknowledging State Library of South Australia OH 872/32 if published.