In 1965 Nicola Coppolaro headed to Australia with his family. Travelling on the Guglielmo Marconi with wife Immacolata and their three sons Pasquale 7, Angelo 5 and 2 year old Mario. The Coppolaro family arrived in Australia, 20th of May.
Antonio Cesare, who was a family relative, was living in Lake Heights at 35 Barina Avenue and had arrived in Australia in the 1950`s. After several months of renting a home a few doors down the Coppolaro family moved in with Antonio who had completed renovations on his house with the addition of an apartment for the family to live in.
Nicola Coppolaro soon began working at the Port Kembla Steel Works as a labourer. The boys went to Warrawong Primary School and later Warrawong High. The apartment at Antonio`s house was not very big, but adequate accomodation and the family were in familiar surroundings.
In March 1968 an unfortunate incident took place. Four year old Mario Coppolaro ran out onto the road into an oncoming car and was killed. Immacolata suffered a terrible shock as she saw her son lying on the road. It is believed that this may have contributed to her ongoing heart issues.
In 1969, whilst still working at the Steel Works, Nicola started a small enterprise at his house. In the apartment that the family lived in there was a long corridor and Nicola set up some shelves filled with produce and began selling fruit and vegetables from the home at Lake Heights. The corridor fruit and vegetable store was gaining popularity and he was outgrowing the space. Nicola purchased a truck and began delivering to customers door to door. 1969 also saw the birth of their daughter Elena, who was a dream come true for Immacolata.
Working at the Steel Works, Nicola saved his money and purchased a block of land at 119 Flagstaff Road, Warrawong in 1970. The following year he open his fruit shop that he built on the land. Approximately six months later he finished building the residence on top for his family to move in. After living 9 years with Antonio Cesare at 35 Barina Avenue, Lake Heights the Coppolaro family moved into their own home above their Fruit Shop.
At first the shop was just a green grocer selling fruits and vegetables. Nicola was also doing his travelling fruit run. He would take his truck out several times per week and had a particular run to the Warrawong/Lake Heights/Cringila areas. He not only served the Italian community but many other European communities as well.
Nicola opened his store seven days per week and would go to Flemington Markets on a Tuesday morning to get all his produce. Nicola ran the shop with wife Immacolata and the children would all help out on weekends and particularly school holidays. They also had one shop assistant. Nicola also bred quails in his back yard and sold their eggs.
Immacolata found her feet working in the shop and it really was good for her. She spoke little English, but with the day to day running of the shop and dealing with the constant stream of customers it really helped her to pick up the language.
The shop soon expanded its range of goods and began stocking Italian grocery lines and they stocked small goods for the deli section. It proved to be a good move. Many a time you would find Immacolata offering a coffee and biscuits with customers or friends just for a chat. It was like a meeting place. Immacolata was not only hospitable, she became very astute in the business as well. Considering she had little to no education Immacolata would become very wise with numbers and figures even to Nicola`s surprise.
Nicola began importing glass damigiane (demijohns) and timber wine barrels from Italy and they sold extremely well. So many local Italians and other Europeans made their own wine at home and to be able to have large storage options available locally was a boon for them. In the early 1980`s Nicola`s younger brother Gaetano opened a supermarket at Albion Park. Nicola supplied Gaetano with fruits and vegetables for his supermarket for approximately 5 - 6 years.
It was around 1986 and the business was doing ok but Immacolata was not in good health as her heart condition worsened. With a young daughter to care for as well, Nicola decided to rent the shop out to so he could care for Immacolata and daughter Elena full time. In 1988 Angelo was married and he and his wife moved to Dapto.
In 1989 Nicola made the decision to sell the premises to the same people who had been renting out the shop. They moved to a newly purchased home in Dapto to be closer to their son Angelo and wife Maureen who was expecting their first grandchild. Nicholas Coppolaro was born and brought much joy to the family. Nicola was enjoying his new home at Dapto, cultivating his garden which produced abundantly. He shared much of his garden bounty with family and friends. After several years Immacolata passed away December 15, 1994 aged 62.
The death of Immacolata had a profound affect on Nicola and the whole family. This was another loss for them second to death of son and brother Mario at age four. Nicola did struggle for some time, but slowly he found his way back to life. He would go on to marry Concetta Arnone, who was a life long friend. Nicola regained much happiness and once again was back in his garden and his life prospered. More joy came to him when his daughter Elena married her husband Stephen.
Around 2001 son Angelo was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and passed away in 2002. It was difficult for the family but it was extremely hard for Nicola and he struggled again with the loss. His health began to decline. Nicola Coppolaro passed away December 30, 2007. He was 76 years old. Both Immacolata and Nicola are survived by their grandson Nicholas. Pasquale has now retired and moved to sunny Queensland and daughter Elena lives on the South Coast of NSW.
Nicola Coppolaro had his travelling fruit truck for approximately 15 years. It was a labour of love for him. He purchased a table top truck and designed and welded the frame with different compartments to house all the produce, with a canvas cover made to go over the top. Stopping at certain streets and blowing the horn, his regular customers would be expect him. Nicola`s fruit truck was the original door to door delivery, always with a dedication to service and to his customers.
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Nicola`s travelling Fruit truck.
He designed and welded the internal frame together to display his produce.
