ITALIANS OF WOLLONGONG: SALVATORE OGGERO

Arriving by plane when he was just 16 years old, Salvatore Oggero arrived in Australia April 10,1965. He came to Warrawong where he boarded for 3 months before living with his brother Vito, who arrived in Australia August 1st, 1960 travelling on the ship Sydney.

Salvatore lived with his brother Vito for approximately 1 year before moving to Tarrawanna where he resided at the Luccarda boarding house. At that time there were approximately 10 -15 boarders and Salvatore kept friendship with some of the boarders, even after he left. He remembers the good food.

He worked as a concrete labourer for approximately 12 months before commencing another labouring job at BHP (Port Kembla Steel Works). After about six months at the Steel Works he was promoted to Shunter. He had passed the test having applied for the role and his English was quite good. This was an apprenticeship.

Around that time the Steel Works employed over 20,000 people and with so many on the job site, accidents happened. During his time as a Shunter, Salvatore nearly lost his leg. But it was when he lost two work mates within two weeks of each other it made him re-evaluate the situation and he left. Salvatore was a shunter for two years.

His next job was at Metal Manufacturers (M & M) for another two years before going back to the Steel Works working as a rigger.

Around 1978, having already been married, Salvatore decided to change course and purchase an existing Pizzeria situated in George Street, Warilla. It was called Pizza Roma and was first opened by Primo Gaggero who was the original owner of Pizza Roma in Wollongong and opened several others in the area. Salvatore worked with Primo for a short while to see how it operated and became familiar with the running of the pizzeria before taking it over.

When Salvatore left Italy as a young man he was already doing his apprenticeship as a pastry chef. So he had experience in the kitchen and with restaurants. After about 12 months, with renovations finished, Salvatore changed the name of the Pizzeria to Sam’s Pizza. Sam’s Pizza was opened six days per week and operated from 5.30pm - 2.00am. Monday was his day off. Not only did he do pizza`s but other trattoria style meals such as Chicken Schnitzel, Pasta and he became famous for his Garlic Bread.

In a good week he could sell up to 300 pizza`s per day and in a slow week around 50 pizza`s per day. He was very busy at Warilla. There wasn’t anyone else around and not only the locals but many came from out of town because he was open late at night.

In 1983 he sold Sam’s Pizza and went back to his old job Rigging and did this for about 2 years. In 1985 he opened another eatery at Unanderra. This time he opened it from scratch and it was a Pizza Restaurant. The Unanderra Pizza Restaurant was more of a family eat in restaurant that also did takeaway. With seating available for up to thirty people he operated the restaurant six days per week, the same hours as Sam’s Pizza in Warilla, only operating at night.

The Unanderra Pizza Restaurant was a lot different to Sam’s Pizza. It was quieter and also had a different clientele. Salvatore`s brother in-law was a musician and after short while Salvatore employed his bother in-law and his band members to play music at the restaurant on a Saturdary night. The customers really enjoyed it. The Unanderra Pizza Restaurant was sold in 1992.

Salvatore had a break and in 1993 he began again. This time he went to Cowper Street, Warrawong and opened Romeo’s. It was a new family restaurant and it was bigger than Unanderra. He also did pizza`s and his kitchen menu offered a wider range of dishes. Salvatore had other Chefs working for him. There were times when he had to fill in if the chef wasn’t available. Romeo’s restaurant provided music one or two nights per week. After about 36 months he sold Romeo’s.

He went back to rigging for a while contemplating what he was going to do next. In North Wollongong on Flinders Street, there was a small shopping complex called the Cragmar Shopping Centre. It was very convenient. Having several shops, a small supermarket, chemist, butcher and a real estate upstairs, just to name some of them. Salvatore opened a small Pizzeria. This was an small existing pizzeria shop that faced Flinders Street and it was tiny. He called it Mystic Pizza. He did mainly takeaways as well as deliveries. It was across the road from the North Wollongong Hotel. The work took its toll and after two years Salvatore closed the shop. His health wasn’t the best at the time.

After having a break he did some more rigging work before retiring completely in 2010. Salvatore gave us four pizza eateries in the area, cooking great meals for years and years. Here he was another Italian who provided a great service to the community over the course of nearly three decades.

Salvatore loves playing cards and chess. You can often find him down at Santo`s Deli in Warrawong having a coffee and playing cards with his friends. Once a week he also plays chess in Wollongong. He learnt to play chess with some of his work colleagues and kept playing for over twenty years. He plays chess on a Tuesday night socially at the Collegians club. Salvatore is also Nonno to his five grand children. He keeps himself busy!