My Life with Chickens and other stories: I Pity The Poor Immigrant

By Don Vito Radice, Pringle Dorothy Pringle and Sue Littleton

The "Coming of Age" story of a young, redheaded Italian  boy, who, with his mother and older brother,
leaves the poverty of his rural home in Southern Italy to migrate to Australia and reunite with his father
(who he has never seen) and start a new life in Sydney, in the early 1960s.

"My father was a very si

• Language: English
• Publisher: Buona Vita-Be Creative
• Release date: Sep 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9780648674429

Don Vito Radice

Born in a small Italian village called San Fele in the region of Basilicata in Southern Italy in 1959. Migrated to Sydney, Australia in 1964 when he was five years old.

Book preview

Don Vito Radice

My Life with Chickens and other stories

I Pity The Poor Immigrant!

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Table of contents

Chapter 1: My Father: Giuseppe Radice A Simple Man

Chapter 2: My Mother: Angela (Martone) Radice

Chapter 3: My Story Begins…… The Farm: DIFESA

Chapter 4: The Sea Voyage

Chapter 5: The New Land: The Journey Begins

Chapter 6: My Story Continues……

Chapter 7: School Days

Chapter 8: My Life with Chickens!

Chapter 9: Sydney: A Simpler Time!

Chapter 10: Death, God, Religion, Love and Masturbation!

Chapter 11: Family Time! A Bonding Time! Just an Ordinary Aussie Family!

Chapter 12: The Golden Chariot

Chapter 13: In the End……

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Chapter 1: My Father: Giuseppe Radice

A Simple Man

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My father was a very simple man. He only wanted a simple and uncomplicated life. He liked fresh air and sheep. He did not like people or the company of people much. Never trust the people was his mantra and he repeated this often. (maybe this is where I get my love of repeating words and phrases over and over again, to the point that Mariclaire only allows me to repeat things three times and Sheila ONLY twice!).

Giuseppe was born in a small Italian village called " San Fele" in the province of Basilicata on 10 th September 1924. Until 1960 he lived a simple life as a subsistence farmer (with his father Nicola, the patriarch and Sozomeno, his brother), working the land, milking the cow, looking after the sheep and going off to the village (which was about six kilometres away) on his beloved donkey.

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He was not much of a thinker or interested in learning. He in fact only had six months of schooling, preferring to run away and sleep under the Ponte Vecchio , where he was often found, rather than sit in a classroom. These were his halcyon days. His days of milk and honey. He would often reminisce about these days when he was not angry and throwing a tantrum. He could be light and cheerful, even funny and sometimes he even laughed, when he wanted to. But these times were very few a far between. For the man that I knew was a bitter and angry man, not the young boy sleeping under the Ponte Vecchio !

It was in 1960 that Giuseppe’s whole world came tumbling down. Destroyed forever! He was told by his father that the farm could no longer sustain three families, someone had to leave and since he was the eldest, he had to go!

He cried! Why me? he screamed to my grandfather. Your brother has problems with his passport. It has to be you! . He ran away to the place that had been his sanctuary, under the Ponte Vecchio .

He was persuaded that life in Australia would be the best thing for him and his family, especially for his two young boys Nick and Vito. That this was NOT about his needs but to provide a BETTER future for them. Australia was the FUTURE! He cried even more! He cried because he knew he would NEVER come back! That this was FOREVER! A lifetime jail sentence for a crime he didn’t know he had committed!

So, it came to pass that in 1960, Giuseppe left his beloved farm, Difesa, bordered the Achilles Laura ocean liner, the Marconi and came to Australia.

Bare in mind that Giuseppe had never seen the sea before. Let alone an enormous ship, on which he spent thirty-nine days for the journey to Australia.

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Chapter 2: My Mother: Angela (Martone) Radice

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