By Tom Padula
For more than six decades, the Moomba Parade has marked a personal milestone in my Australian journey. Since arriving in Melbourne on the Sunday before the festival in March 1963, I have missed very few editions of the city’s most colourful public celebration.
In those early years the parade unfolded along Swanston Street, then the grand artery of a more relaxed Melbourne. Travelling in from Kew was simple: trams 42 and 48 carried families directly into the city.
Parking was easy and spectators could gather close to the floats — a delight particularly for children. Security barriers were unheard of; the atmosphere was trusting and communal, reminiscent of a paesano festa in my hometown of Montemurro in southern Italy.
As the years passed and decades rolled on, Moomba retained its unmistakable festive spirit. The parade grew larger and more elaborate, with municipal bands filling the broad street with stirring music while colourful floats rolled past cheering crowds. Swanston Street would close to trams for the occasion, the procession beginning around 10 a.m. and continuing for nearly two hours. A familiar highlight was the Chinese dragon, which traditionally brought the parade to a spectacular close before the street quickly returned to its daily rhythm and trams resumed their routes.
For much of the late twentieth century, the Italian community was a visible and enthusiastic presence in these celebrations. In the last thirty years before the new millennium in particular, Italian participation — through community groups, cultural displays and floats — was both proud and prominent.
In recent years, however, I have sensed a diminishing Italian presence in the parade and in the wider Moomba festivities. If this impression is mistaken, I would welcome correction.
Yet it raises a broader reflection: many Australians of Italian heritage are now fully integrated into Melbourne’s multicultural life, blending naturally into the wider public rather than appearing as a distinct cultural contingent.
Still, Moomba — whose very spirit invites people to “get together and have fun” — offers an ideal opportunity for renewed Italian participation. After all, Melbourne’s global reputation — including its celebrated food and wine culture — owes much to Italian influence. Showcasing that contribution during one of the city’s most visible public holidays would be both fitting and inspiring. Perhaps this is simply a hopeful reflection. Organising a community presence in a major civic parade is never easy. But as the Italian saying reminds us: “Dove c’è voglia, c’è possibilità.” Where there is the will, there is always a way.
