Mario Vanzin was born on September 8, 1932, in northern Italy near Venice, a small farming village called San Vito di Valdobbiadene, Provincia Treviso, Italia.
His parents, Vito and Angela Vanzin, together had nine children, Mario the youngest of the boys, sixth child in the family.
Each of the boys took a turn to help Dad on the farm until they got work elsewhere and left home.
At 19 years old Mario was still helping Dad on the farm, not getting paid.
One day he asked “Dad, if I stay here working with you one day when you are gone, will this farm be mine?”. His father replied, “son, we have nine children in this family. One day when I’m gone you will all get a share all the same.”
That’s when Mario decided to come to Australia.
He heard his cousin Pio was coming to Australia so he went too.
Mario went to the immigration office, filled in lots of forms and underwent a health check.
He kept it all to himself and didn’t tell anyone, but dreamt of going to Australia, working, saving money, and it was going to be all his.
June 1952, the two Vanzin boys left San Vito, family, friends, their home and caught a bus to go to Venice. There was a big old cargo ship taking passengers to Australia. The ship was called St George. Mario and Pio had just found their room when Mario heard his father’s voice, “Mario, come down. Mario, come home. Mario, please come home, don’t go away. I will buy you the horse you always wanted”.
Mario shouted back, “Pappa, it’s too late, I made up my mind, I’m going to Australia”.
When Mario, Pio and many other passengers arrived at Port Melbourne they were driven to the immigration camp at Bonegilla, NSW. They were given food, accommodation and five shillings a week.
Some young men were happy there. A bed to sleep in, food to eat and five shillings for doing nothing.
Mario was not happy.
He came to Australia to work and make money. Around the camp was a high fence with two or three barbed wire on top, very hard to get out.
Mario desperately wanted to see what was on the other side, and one day he found a way out.
Hoping he wouldn’t get caught, walking along the dirt track, he spotted a little farm house. As he got closer he saw an old man digging potatoes. Mario stopped to help him.
The old man said something, but Mario didn’t have a clue as he didn’t know a word of English so he just gave him a smile and kept working.
Mario went back to the camp and hoped he wasn’t missed. The next day he did the same and the next.
The old man was happy to have this young man coming to help him. He called him George. He started to take him home for lunch.
His wife gave Mario a nice lunch and a plate of sandwiches. Mario had a good feed. His friends at the camp noticed Mario was missing each day and wondered what Mario was up to.
Mario was finally free from camp.
A group of men were sent to Gisborne, Victoria, to strip wattle trees and earn good money. Pio and Mario went to Gisborne, stripping and making bundles of wattle bark.
With the money they were earning plus the five shillings a week they were given at the camp which they saved, they decided to buy a car.
They bought an old Chev. Pio drove and they were both happy getting around. One day Pio drove away and didn’t come back.
Mario decided to go to Melbourne.
He went and bought a train ticket, got off at Flinders Street station. There were people everywhere, all walking fast. Mario with his little suitcase didn’t know where to go.
A man came up to him and said in Italian, “Are you Italian?”. Mario said, “yes”. He asked “where are you going?”
Mario said “I don’t know. I have just arrived. I am looking for somewhere to stay and find work.” The nice man said, “I will take you to a boarding house where there are other Italians. There might be a room where you could stay and maybe they might help you get a job.”
Mario was very lucky. He was given a room to share with a nice young man who got him a job at the Olympic tyre factory.
Every Sunday Mario would walk to church wearing his beautiful navy blue suit that his mum and sisters chose and paid for the material and got it tailor fitted for Mario before going to Australia.
Mario looked very smart. His mum and sisters would have been very proud.
GOING TO QUEENSLAND
Mario heard some boys were going to cut sugar cane in Queensland and would be getting well paid.
Mario thought he would go too.
A young man heard Mario was going to Queensland. He said, “Mario, if you go to Queensland, it’s very hot there, you won’t need that nice suit you wear to church. I’m about to get married and I need a suit. Will you sell me your suit?”
Mario sold him the suit, shirt, tie and shoes.
He sent all the money from the suit plus his savings to his mum in Italy, he then paid back the money he was given for the trip and kept just enough for his needs.
Mario bought a train ticket for Sydney, then another for Ingham, economy class of course to save money.
The journey was very long. Night came, Mario tried to make himself comfortable on the hard wooden bench seats, using his little suitcase as a pillow.
He didn’t get much sleep, it was not like the nice bed at home. The next night he did the same.
The following night he went for a walk down the passage to First Class carriages. He saw people sleeping in beds. The first empty bed he found he hopped in.
When the conductor came to check his ticket he was told to get out.
Mario found himself another bed and so on. Queensland was a long way, Australia is so big.
Looking out the window all Mario could see was sugar cane, sugar cane and more sugar cane. Hot, tired and sweaty, finally the train stopped at Ingham.
When Mario got off the train with his little suitcase he saw a group of men talking so he went there.
They were talking about cutting sugar cane. Mario said “I too came here to cut cane”. This man took a group of men to a camp and told them they were to start work in two days.
Mario made himself comfortable, cooked himself a good meal, had a good night sleep, ready for the big day.
Most of the men were cane cutters that came up every season to cut sugar cane.
Poor Mario had no idea, only he was told it was like cutting maize and heap them up in bundles, it was not easy.
But Mario tried and tried until he became quite good and fast. He was very skinny but strong.
The pay was good and was able to send more money home to his mum.
He felt a bit guilty leaving home and his family. Despite feeling homesick, he insisted to keep working, earning money and one day buy his own farmland that he loved.
When sugar cane season was over Mario would go back to Melbourne to work. A chap wanted a group of men to go to Bullumwaal, near Bairnsdale, and cut pulpwood, cut down stringy bark trees with an axe, strip off the bark and to be very careful because the wood was very slippery.
The logs were loaded on a truck and taken to a paper mill. Poor Italians could not speak English, it was so hard to communicate, a lot of sign language.
One day at morning tea break a man was reading the local newspaper.
The Australian man in charge of the workers said there was a small farm for sale not far from here. Mario quickly wanted to know more.
The man said if you go to the Dalgety’s office, ask for the manager, show him this land for sale and tell him you want to see it and he will take you there.
So the next day Mario went to Bairnsdale looking for Dalgety’s office, walked in and asked if he could see the manager.
Mario was introduced to Mr McDonald, took him in his office and was asked to sit down. Mario sat down and showed Mr McDonald the farm for sale in the newspaper.
Mr McDonald said, “You are a young man, why would you want to tie yourself down and buy a farm?”. Mario said, “I’d like a farm, I like land, I worked with my father on our farm.”
Mr McDonald drove Mario to Mount Taylor and showed him the farm, half-cleared, the rest bush, a small cottage, a little dairy, a few cows and calves.
Mario liked what he saw. When they got back at the office Mario showed Mr McDonald his state saving book, it had $1,500.
The farm cost $3,500 pounds. Mario asked, “Is this enough for a deposit?”. Mr McDonald said, “yes, but I want you to come and see me every month and tell me what you are doing and how are you getting on.”
Mario made himself quite comfortable in his new home, got up early every morning to milk his few cows, feed the calves and off to cut pulpwood every day.
On the way home he would strip off his clothes and hop in a bath filled with water with the many buckets from the creek nearby.
The hot sun made the water warm and nice to get into.
There was always two or three rabbits caught in traps he set the day before. One night roasted with potatoes, pumpkin if he had, charcoal grilled on the open fire, pasta sauce, he never went hungry and saved money.
Mario grew beans and peas on the cleared land he had and gave him good returns, they sold very well.
So he decided to lease some land on the Lindenow Mitchell River flats where there was irrigation and plenty of water.
Mario grew beans at Dumaresq and Rathjens, both big dairy farmers in Woodglen. With the money, their share, they both bought a new car, one bought a Valiant and the other bought a Ford, they were very happy.
One day while travelling from Mount Taylor to Woodglen on horseback, he went past Jack Dwyer’s farm near the Calulu bridge.
Everyone knew Dwyer’s farm, Jack employed many Italians picking crops, sugar beet, maize.
There was a big maize crib along the boundary fence. The new owner, Bill Cox, was repairing a fence. Mario stopped and said “Bill, next year I would like to grow beans here. What do you think? Will you let me?”. Bill said,
“I am moving to town, this farm will come on the market.”
Soon Mario quickly said, “I will buy it”, and made an offer.
Bill said, “some neighbours are interested, to be fair the farm will be auctioned. If you want the farm you will have to bid at the auction”. Mario, all excited, goes to the auction.
He asked a friend to do the bidding who knew more about the auction. The farm sold for less money than the offer he had given before.
So his friend said, “Bill, Mario will need a tractor, a disc, harrows and other useful implements”. That came very useful growing beans.
On May 27, 1967, Mario got married.
They went to Italy to meet his family and Mario aslo wanted his family to meet the girl he chose to marry.
They lived at Calulu for four years, had two children, a boy and a girl in 1972.
They bought “The Glen” at Woodglen, a dairy farm, flood irrigation, channels everywhere, rabbits, wombats, a lot of work and money setting it all up for growing beans for big companies with big machines, loads of semitrailers leaving the farm.
Some frozen, some fresh to the Melbourne market, hand picked, also Nestle’s baby food at Pakenham.
There are neighbours who drove the big picking machines that would remember. Mario taught many young farmers to grow beans. Someone said the other day, Mario was the pioneer of growing beans.
From a man who had faith, loved the land, worked hard to buy land, loved his family and loved Australia.
