Interview with Assunta Giovannini (nee Tonellato) [sound recording] Interviewer : Madeleine Regan, Part 2 of 2

Interview with Assunta Giovannini, born in 1937 in Broken Hill. She talks about her early years, the death of her mother shortly after her birth; 'adoption' by her aunt and uncle at three months, the court case when her father tried to regain rights to raise Assunta; growing up in the Tonellato family, a first generation Italo-Australian market gardening family on Frogmore Road, Kidman Park; community life; school; work; social life; her first trip to Italy with her uncle in 1961; and marriage in 1971. In the second interview, Assunta covers two main areas: Discussion of a photograph taken in 1935 on the day her mother arrived in Adelaide as chaperone of two boys whose father had arrived in 1927. Assunta explains the connections between two market gardening families, the Tonellato's and the Santin's. She also outlines the circumstances of being adopted by the Tonellato family (her uncle and aunt) at three months, after her mother had died giving birth; The Italian market gardeners who farmed in the Frogmore Road, Grange Road, River Road and the Veneti community. The discussion focuses on the 1949 aerial map provided by the City of Charles Sturt. Assunta recalls the Veneti market gardener families, she outlines the kinds of social interactions that occurred in the community - weddinings, christening parties and other occasions held in the packing shed on either the Berno or the Santin property. Assunta speaks about the 'old people' who were the pioneer Veneti market gardeners in the area, who had arrived in 1927, and some of the Anglo-Australian market gardeners. She also describes what the area looked like and the features such as bamboo boundaries, her family's accommodation in a railway carriage, growing up on Findon Road, the strong sense of community. Assunta speaks about the importance of the Veneti market gardeners oral history project for the younger generations to understand the story of their families.