By Jill G Marinelli
I was born in Footscray over 50 years ago and resided in that suburb for 25 years until I got married and moved to Eltham.
My heart was always in Footscray, not because of my favourite footy club but also because my mother and father both still lived there and sacrificed their lives to come to this beautiful country for a better life.
We never owned or displayed an Italian flag around our home. My parents fully supported and respected this country, Italy became their second home. My parents were proud to be here and they learnt the language sufficiently to find jobs that required manual labour.
They were not academically educated, in fact my mother has never been to school nor held a pencil in her hand. Even her signature looks like she’s signing it while sitting in an electric chair ~ yet being uneducated didn’t stop her from working. Her main role in the work force here in Australia was an assistant chef in many restaurants around Lygon St, Carlton ~ making home made pastas and beautiful pasta sauces for the restaurants. We ate like kings at home growing up. She is an amazing cook.
As I walked into my mother’s backyard last night, looking across to the Whitten Oval behind my mother’s place and the wonderful transformation this football oval has been through over the decades, it always feels like home.
I remember being a little girl walking down that side gate for years and years ~ returning from a football game, returning from school or from work and the aroma of roasts, sauces, cakes and bbqs could be smelt from the front letterbox of the house.
Sadly, this beautiful view of the Whitten Oval will disappear from my mother’s backyard soon as a three storey apartment block will take its place and become the new view.
Her 100 year old home will soon be the oldest unmodified house on the street .. that’s the simple life my parents taught me and the simple life I’ve always lived. My father used to say “do not live anyone else’s life but yours” and that’s exactly what I did. And that’s exactly how I raised my children.
