GENNARO SACCO

Gennaro Sacco arrived in Australia June 5th, 1952, travelling on the ship Sydney.  He was born in 1924 in the town of Gizzeria, province of Catanzaro, in the Calabria region. Gennaro`s wife Teresina and their young son Domenico were still in Italy. Unbeknown to Gennaro, Teresina was pregnant with their second child.

Gennaro first went to Warragamba Dam looking for work, but was advised that the only work available was for a short period of time. Whilst at Warragamba he was told there was work at the Port Kembla Steel Works.  He soon left Warragamba and began working at the Steel Works. Whist living in a garage at Port Kembla he was soon able to raise the funds to pay a deposit on a house at Towradgi, not far from the beach. This would be his first family home.

In 1954 Teresina, along with the two children Domenico and Bruno, joined Gennaro at Towradgi arriving April 18, aboard the ship Oceania. Gennaro also had some boarders staying at his house.

Young Bruno had contracted Polio shortly after his birth and at the time there was no help or assistance either in Italy or Australia. Teresina had some help from the boarders as well as Gennaro in caring for Bruno who was totally incapacitated. Bruno spent most of his life in a wheelchair. Teresina had another three children after Bruno, those being Pasquale, Concetta and Caterina. Each time after the birth of those children, Bruno was placed in a care facility so that Teresina could have some temporary relief while she took care of her babies. In 1970  another daughter, Rosarba, was born. This time Bruno was in care but only for a short time whilst Teresina was in hospital with her newborn. Teresina`s sisters and sister in-law who arrived later in Australia, would often help out when they came to visit her and around this time Bruno was a young teenager. Also, the help given by the care facility had now stopped. Older brother Domenico and Gennaro also did a lot to help with the care of Bruno. Sadly, Bruno Sacco passed away March 22nd, 1971, five months prior to his 19th birthday. It was an extremely sad time and difficult for the family, especially Teresina.

Their first house in Towradgi had a very large front yard so Gennaro turned it into a vegetable garden. Gennaro never drove and he never owned a family car. The family’s mode of transport was always public or sometimes family friends would drive them if they were visiting relatives.

Daughter Concetta (who everyone knows as Connie) remembers the many stories that her father told her. She remembers when he told her how he met another Italian man called Domenico who lived around the corner and they became friends. Domenico and Gennaro were basically the first Italians in the Towradgi area. Gennaro was explaining to Domenico that he was concerned about making his loan repayments and Domenico told him not to worry. He didn’t want Gennaro and his family to move away. He assured him that if he were ever to get into any trouble he would help him out. He was happy to have Gennaro, a fellow Italian in the neighbourhood and didn’t want him to leave. Genaro’s concerns were short lived as he was able to pay his mortgage. Not only that, he moved homes a few years later (only up the street) keeping his first house and renting it out.

Gennaro`s son Pasquale recalls how his father bought a black and white TV when they first lived in Towradgi. He remembers how friends and neighbours would often come over to watch TV as not many people had a TV set in those days. It was quite a treat for them.

All of Genaro’s family lived overseas except his sister Concetta. She came  to Australia around 1972 to visit him and ending up getting married and lived in Brookvale, Sydney. Gennaro was happy to have his sister Concetta living here as she was the only family relative in Australia. Family was very important to both him and Teresina. Many years later Concetta returned to Canada to be reunited with the family.

When the children were younger much time was spent with Teresina`s side of the family who lived in the local area. They would have many family get togethers at Christmas time and on specific holidays. As the family got older it had all stopped. 

Connie also said that the family never really went on holidays, but would often go to Brookvale to visit family and friends. When Gennaro had retired he took his first overseas trip since arriving in Australia. He went to Montreal to see his mother, brother and sister who were living here. His brother who lived in Brazil, also joined them in Montreal. The only one to miss out on the family reunion was his sister who was living in Argentina. She was unable to go.

Connie also remembers her father going to so many funerals.  Having hardly missed any.  She recalls how he would buy the newspaper daily and get her to read any funeral notices. He didn’t want to miss paying respects to anyone that he knew.

In the early sixties Gennaro along with some other Italian friends got together and formed a social group. They wanted to hold a yearly festival celebrating Saint Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist). Back home in Gizzeria he was celebrated every year in the local town as he was the patron saint of Gizzeria.  At Brookvale in Sydney they held a festival annually and after seeing that, Gennaro was keen to hold a festival in the Wollongong area. With a lot of hard work the festival came to life and ran from 1965 - 1969.

Gennaro was a hard working man and some may say a workaholic. He did countless double shifts and wanted to provide everything his family needed. He promised Teresina that she would never need to work. Christmas Day was the only day he wouldn’t work and he would sit in the lounge room and sing Italian songs. 

He also spent a lot of time in his garden and it was a large garden that required maintaining. There was much harvesting to be done and it was constant, especially having Olive trees as well. His garden was split between both houses. Gennaro and Teresina lived a lot of their lives as they did back home in Gizzeria. Salami and tomato sauce making were annual jobs that involved the whole family.

Gennaro involved himself with the Italian community and had many friends. He helped to organise a new crypt at Kembla Grange Cemetery, as Wollongong Cemetery was quite full and Kanahooka was a longer drive further south. The petition for Kembla Grange was successful. It was closer for the Italian community to bury their loved ones.

Teresina passed away on September 30, 1996. She was 68. Three weeks later Gennaro had a stroke. As the years went by he found it increasingly harder to move around. Gennaro passed away Feb 6, 2016. He was 91. Teresina and Gennaro are survived by their 6 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.

Connie expressed how in her eyes both of her parents sacrificed so much to come to Australia. They knew no one, they couldn’t speak the language and with no support for Bruno it was extremely hard. Connie said she was surprised that they didn’t pack their bags and go back home with all the struggles and heart aches in the beginning. But they came to Australia for a better life for their family and without mum`s support dad couldn’t have done anything!

Gennaro Sacco`s last photo.

 

All images from the collection belonging to the Sacco family.