Five Dock Library offered an exploration of Aeolian family heritage through a series of presentations during the last weekend of August. The series which ran over two days comprised of a wonderfully received Virtual Tour of the Museum of Aeolian Emigration in Salina by Writer, Artist, Photographer and Salina obsessive, Cristina Neri who also acts as a committee member of the Società Isole Eolie in Victoria.
The virtual tour through the museum collection illustrated the factors and events that shaped the Aeolian diaspora in the New World. The tour included a detailed walk through of each room and its collection. The second Lecture was entitled ‘Researching your Italian Ancestors’ Passionate Aeolian and family history historian, Michael Angelini is the curator of an amazing array of resources for those of Isole Eolie origin or heritage including photographs of over one hundred grave stones from the cemetery in Salina.
Michael, who is also the Assistant Events Manager for the Societa’ Isole Eolie Melbourne, stepped the audience through some key resources in discovering ones heritage, by using the very real example of immigrant to Australia from the Aeolian Islands, Antonino De Luca.
Discussing the opportunities in using Familysearch.org and antenati.san.beniculturali.it were presented along with Michael’s own website michaelangelini.com/familyhistory. Michael indicated that “this is a good resource to have” before stating how “he could talk about this subject all day” because he is so passionate about the subject. After a short interval, Local Studies Librarian, John Johnson, introduced a detailed workshop on researching your Italian ancestors in Australia.
Again using the example of the aforementioned Antonini De Luca, John’s fascinating deep dive into this family’s ancestry, highlighted the local resources available including those from NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, Trove and the National Archives of Australia, amongst others. John’s engaging talk culminated in questions and all were invited to discuss their respective ancestry queries further at a local cafe’. The Sunday installment featured Janetta Ziino’s look at Aeolian proverbs, in the Aeolian dialect. U Muttu Anticu ‘Un Sbagghia Mai! (Ancient sayings are never wrong!).
This was followed by a poem and music Vieni cu mi, ‘Come with me’ written and composed by Diana Santamaria with video imagery by Antonio Lo Schiavo. This was a significant weekend for the Aeolian Island community and for all Italians who have a greater insight into how to uncover and interpret genealogical records in Italy and Australia.
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