Interview with Enrico Rebuli [sound recording] / interviewer, Anna Mechis, Part 6 of 8

Enrico Rebuli was born on 18/06/1921 in Bigolino, Province of Treviso, Italy, son of Giovanni Rebuli and Filomena Barbisan who worked the land. Enrico, known as Riccheto, was named after his father's brother who had perished during WW1. In his first interview Enrico speaks about the first 20 years of his life. He speaks about his parents and grandparents; his siblings; growing up in a small village; attending school for three years; leaving when he was 14 years old; his working life which included working on the land, and in various employment situations away from his home in the region of Piedmont, Italy. Enrico recalls his experience of serving in the Italian Army during the War. He was conscripted into the Italian Army in 1941 where he trained as an "Alpino" and joined the Belluno Regiment. After a few months of rigorous training he was sent to Montenegro to combat the partisans. He was sent home to Bigolino and then onto to France where his designated job was "stretcher bearer". In September 1943, after the capitulation of Mussolini, he made his way home. Enrico continues to speak about his War service for he Italian Army. After the assassination of a local fascist leader in Bigolino, the Germans forcibly seized Enrico and four or five other locals in reprisal, and they were sent to Dachau Camp in Bavaria, Germany. Richetto was put to work in various places and then finally a local sawmill until the end of the war and liberated by the Americans. He then made his way home. Richetto worked in the mines in Belgium and then in the mines of Asolo and Cornuda in Northern Italy. He was sponsored to Australia by his aunt Giovanna Rebuli and he arrived here in 1951. He settled in Croydon and worked at Holdens and other factory in Finsbury. His wife and two young children, accompanied by Richetto's unmarried sister, Ginevra, joined him months later. He speaks about his working life in Adelaide. Both he and his wife worked at Holdens at Elizabeth for many years and he held a second job at another factory at night; he became a self-taught watchmaker and was much in demand both at his place of employment and for friends etc at home. This extra money allowed him to become reasonably prosperous and to return to Italy and Europe five times. Enrico speaks about the Italian market gardeners on Frogmore Road where he worked on a hourly basis for the Santin family when crops were harvested. Enrico Rebuli, known as Richetto, worked at odd hours, weekends and whenever help was needed in the market gardens of the Santin Brothers on Frogmore Road at Kidman Park. He weeded and picked vegetables with many others and also socialized with other Veneti in the area. Richetto and his wife bought a new home in Kidman Park in about 1978 and have never regretted their decision to settle in Australia. Richetto explains that his working life started when he was about 8 years old, gathering stones from the Piave river bed. He is still busy gardening, doing his housework, washing, cooking and faithfully visiting his wife in a nursing home every day. He is now 92 years old.