Interview with Maria Mazzarolo [sound recording] / interviewer, Madeleine Regan, Part 1 of 2

Maria was born in 1935 in the Province of Treviso, Italy, and speaks about her family background; her father arrived in Adelaide in 1938, sponsored by his father-in-law, Maria's grandfather; her father's work in the early years in country South Australia; the two-month boat trip to Australia with her mother and two brothers in 1947; reunion when the family arrived in Adelaide; her fahter's market gardens in Lockleys; going to school for 18 months until she was about 14 years old and looking after her mother who was ill; moving into a new house and her parents leasing four acres on Findon Road to grow celery; her father's employment at Michells. Other themes covered include: her parents' social life and mixing with other Veneti families including parties in the packing sheds on market gardens on Valetta Road; her marriage in 1954 when she was 19 and a half; Assegno bought a block of land and built a house on Frogmore Road which they moved into after the wedding. Maria describes what Frogmore Road looked like in 1954, the few houses or shacks and market gardens; the condition of the road; boxthorn hedges; the close community of Veneti families in the area; looking after her five brothers-in-law who lived with them after they arrived in Australia; birth of daughter Lina in 1956 and Sonia in 1965; changes in the area with housing developments from the late 1950s; differences in community; loss of market gardens; moving house along Frogmore Road to the Tonellato parents' house in 1973; the importance of staying in the area close to relatives and friends; significance of her Veneto heritage; Trevisan (dialect).