The Italian-speaking settlers of nineteenth century Daylesford were among the first sizeable group of non-English speakers to contest the prevailing Anglo-centricism and to help pave the way towards Australia's multicultural future.

This study of fifteen families, their friends and associates demonstrate how a range of traditional skills and customs ~ often represented as 'peasant' attributes by the families and their descendants ~ were successfully transplanted from Swiss and Italian villages into colonial Victoria. Their building styles, farming methods, morphologies of settlement and patterns of kinship all reflected a way of life different from that of the British ~ sometimes subtly different, sometimes radically so.

The examination of this group interweaves the particular histories of fifteen families with thematic chapters which: define the nature of the emigrant community and the reasons for departure from the homeland; relate the journey to the ports of Melbourne and Sydney as a rite of passage to settlement; describe the early experiences of the Italian speakers as miners and labourers; explore their drift into traditional occupations as farmers and business people in the Daylesford community; and examine their family life and attempts to reconstruct a European life-style in Australia while recognising a growing commitment to an 'Australian' way of life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: PAGE; Abstract iv; Acknowledgements v; Technical notes ix; Summary xi; List of Figures xv; Figures 1 - 14 xvi - xxix; INTRODUCTION 1; CHAPTER ONE: THE EMIGRANTS 18; CHAPTER TWO: FAMILIES 1852-1853 35; Pozzi 36; Morganti 64; CHAPTER THREE: THE JOURNEY 90; CHAPTER FOUR: FAMILIES 1854 110; Quanchi Ill; Tomasetti 132; Lafranchi 155; Perini 179; Righetti 203; CHAPTER FIVE: SCOUTING 225; CHAPTER SIX: FAMILIES 1855-1857 248; Milesi 249; Guscetti 259; Vanina 275; CHAPTER SEVEN: SETTLING. 294; CHAPTER EIGHT: FAMILIES 1858-1861 314; Gervasoni 315; Caligari 338; Gaggioni 349; CHAPTER NINE: HOME AND FAMILY 367; CHAPTER TEN: FAMILIES 1888-1889 391; Vanzetta 392; Rodoni 409; CHAPTER ELEVEN: LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD 422; Endnotes 458; Bibliography 544

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University of Technology, 1997.
A thesis submitted to the Victorian University Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Social and Cultural Studies, Melbourne, Victoria

Bibliography: leaves 544-567.