I have just received a lovely message from Kristen Willis who would like to share with everyone a story of her Grandmother who came over here from Italy to live in Australia ............ It is a story that all Ingham Italian descendants can relate too .......................thank you Kristen for sharing.......................(C. Kristen Willis) Hi there, I just wanted to share my story / connection to Inghams history. My Nonna Lina Ingegneri (passed away 2 years ago) and I inherited her migration story (from Sicily to Ingham, 1959). I thought it might be nice to share... I have recently completed a very personal restoration project; this shipping box contains an amazing story of migration, which travelled from Italy to Australia in 1959. Stored away for 55years in my beloved Nonnas farm shed, it had miraculously survived endless North Queendland cyclones, floods, wood rot and lets not forget to mention the viciously hungry termites! How could I possibly let this precious piece of family history disintegrate in the shadows? It is definitely time to pull out the elbow grease and revive the love! THE STORY In September 1959, my Nonna followed her heart for a life of love to a country young women of the time could only dream about. After 2 years of letter writing, she had fallen madly in love with my Nonno Francesco. She lived in Catania, Sicily and he lived in Ingham, far north qld, Australia. Francesco could not imagine his life, as a sugar cane farmer without her and asked his closest friend (in Sicily) to purchase an engagement ring on his behalf and asked for her hand in marriage... Wowee... What a good friend right?! She packed her precious belongings into this very shipping chest and spent the longest month of her life, at sea on the Neptunia. Nonna then rode the railway from Melbourne, to Ingham to finally reach the man of her dreams. Could you imagine saying goodbye to your family forever? Enduring the longest, roughest trip of your life to a country so foreign where you couldnt even speak the local language? Amazing! Three months later, they married and nine months after that they welcomed their first bundle of joy, my Mother, Nicoletta. The things you do for love!
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 09:52:47 +0000
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