{"id":1734,"date":"2020-04-20T19:09:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T08:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=1734"},"modified":"2020-06-25T21:37:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T11:07:58","slug":"the-rossini-family","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=1734","title":{"rendered":"The Rossini Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text and Images: Elisabeth Anderson and Judith Lydeamore<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the\nrailway line was built through the Adelaide Hills in the 1880s, stone masons\nwere brought from Italy to help build the tunnels for the first section. One of\nthe surnames was Rossini and the three brothers on whom this story focusses\nwere Bartolo, Giovanni and Guerino. According to a descendant, Lynda Barrington\nof Bridgewater, seven members of the family sailed to Adelaide on the City\nof London <\/em>in 1879, with another, Giovanni, having come in 1877. They were\nfrom Verona, Lombardy, in Northern Italy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The stone\nmasons were engaged by Messrs. Walker and Swan. Upon the completion of their\nwork they became pioneering settlers at Upper Sturt and Belair and successful\nmarket gardeners and orchardists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historian\nEdward H. Hallack wrote of them in The\nToilers of the Hills <\/em>(1893) as being \u201cuseful and industrious colonists\u201d,\nwriting that their place was described as being \u201cthe Italians\u201d. He related how\nthey had saved up sufficient money to purchase two seven-acre lots of land at \u00a380 per acre in gullies above the railway line in Upper Sturt.\nThey had cleared them of timber, stones and scrub, erected homesteads for\nthemselves and families, excavated and built water tanks to grow peas, potatoes\nand strawberries and gradually built up an orchard of about 1000 apple, cherry\nand plum trees. They\u2019d had no previous experience of gardening in their native\nland. The land had no irrigation and, said Hallack, served as a useful object\nlesson in showing what could be done without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Rossini properties photographed in about 1940 by Lois Rossini, granddaughter of Guerino, who captioned the photo: ” First house built by Rossinis on the property. Original house below made of mud & wood from property. Later became pig sty. Peach trees in background newly planted. “<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hallack felt that by dint of having more than laid claim to the title of \u201cworking men\u201d, it was to be hoped that, in spite of the high price they had paid for their land, they would be rewarded by making \u201csomething more than a living\u201d. A family story stated they built their homes using stone they had excavated while building the railway tunnels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Under Mount Lofty <\/em>(1987) historian\nRobert Martin described the brothers as \u201ca byword among their neighbours for\nhard work.\u201d He related how they had transformed the land into rich and\nproductive garden soil and how one of the brothers, for instance, had hand dug\na large square around each fruit tree and grubbed the stones out of the\nhillsides to build into dykes and retaining walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nbelieved the Rossini brothers also cut and dressed the stone for the building\nof the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary at Old Mt Barker Road Stirling East in\n1881-1882.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rossini\nhomes still stand at Upper Sturt and descendants of these Italian pioneers\ncontinue to be valued members of the local community today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read about many more Italian migrants who made their homes in the Adelaide Hills<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have stories or memories of the Rossini’s and their time in the Adelaide Hills? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact us at mldhsgateways@mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au<\/a> or drop into the History Centre at the Coventry Library, 63 Mount Barker Road, Stirling.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Text and Images: Elisabeth Anderson and Judith Lydeamore When the railway line was built through the Adelaide Hills in the 1880s, stone masons were brought from Italy to help build the tunnels for the first section. One of the surnames was Rossini and the three brothers on whom this story focusses were Bartolo, Giovanni and … Continue reading “The Rossini Family”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaNLq6-rY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2052,"url":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=2052","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":0},"title":"Italian Migrants in the Adelaide Hills","date":"June 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text and Images: Elisabeth Anderson Italian migrants and their descendants have lived in the Mt Lofty district for more than a century, stamping a presence through their skilful stonework and market gardens, their orchards and their wine, their coffee and cuisine and an exemplary work ethic. 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He was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1949, emigrated to Australia in 1951 and has lived at Balhannah in the Adelaide Hills for many years.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Silvio-Apponyi.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2178,"url":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=2178","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":3},"title":"The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Stirling East","date":"July 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text & Images: Elisabeth Anderson The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, at 135 Old Mount Barker Road in Stirling East, was built in 1881-1882, one of several places of worship established by the Catholic Parish of Mount Barker in the 19th Century. It has Local Heritage status. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Church-Our-Lady-of-the-Rosary.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3759,"url":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=3759","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":4},"title":"Adelaide Hills Wine Region","date":"July 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"After notable failures during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, grapegrowing and winemaking almost disappeared from the Adelaide Hills. A revival began in the 1970s and continued through the 1980s, thanks to pioneers like the Verralls at \u2018Glenara\u2019 in Upper Hermitage, Brian Croser at \u2018Petaluma\u2019 in Piccadilly Valley, and Stephen\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/botanic-gardens-Glimpse-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2839,"url":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=2839","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":5},"title":"Crafers Institute & Library","date":"February 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Chris Chardon Images:\u00a0Chris Chardon, SLSA, denisbin (Flickr) It has been a long-held belief that Arthur Hardy, who held significant land holdings in the Mount Lofty region, donated the land on which the Crafers Institute was built. 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