Sam’s sort of history nothing ‘sort’ of spectacular

RENOWNED Wonthaggi author and amateur historian Sam Gatto was thrilled to have had one of his history piece’s shortlisted in the Victorian Community History Awards.

The book, titled ‘A Sort of History of Me, My Family and a Cow Named Gina’, is partly based on historical documents as well as Sam’s personal memories and family stories, and narrates the migration story of his family from Calabria to Wonthaggi.

Set mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, it describes the struggles and successes of the family as it becomes part of the community.

Sam spoke with the Sentinel-Times about what inspired him to write the historical piece, and even gave some history on his own life. 

“I was born in Italy, I came here at just under the age of nine,” he said.

“I did all my primary and secondary education here.

“I then went onto to study at Melbourne University and taught for three years.”

Sam would eventually move to Switzerland for almost 30 years before finally returning to Wonthaggi with his family.

“While I was overseas, a good friend who was a teacher and taught me, he and his wife came to Switzerland and he brought me a book, a ‘History of the Bunurong’,” he said.

“I read a sentence in there that I’ve always been very curious about, which said, “set up as a state town, it (Wonthaggi) was an experiment in socialism by a conservative government.

“Well, if you know anything about history, something like that makes you sit up and take note.”

Sam then decided he wanted to return to Australia and delve deeper on the meaning of the sentence, while also exploring his own family’s story.

One of Sam’s memories took him back to when his father and the Italian community held a ‘passion play’ in Wonthaggi during the 1950s, which was an outstanding success. 

“It was so good the Wonthaggi community was asked to put it on at Cathedral Hall in 1954,” he said.

“I wanted to find out more because I was one of the few people there who could read and write in Italian, and used to write out the parts.

“I started writing that up and thought I might as well put together a story and the migration of my family, and that’s what set me off.”

Sam eventually finished his piece two years ago, thanks to ongoing encouragement from his wife.

“I go back to my two grandfathers who migrated to America, and the story of my father and mother, and how two unlikely people came together,” he said.

“And my father’s journey to Australia with all the little details and my mother’s reluctance to come to this place.

“As well as my own story, growing up here in a country town and including things like the Wonthaggi Olympics.

“So in many ways, it’s a sort of social history of Wonthaggi in the 50s and 60s, with me and my family in the centre.

“A lot of it is based on documents, which I believe most is factual, and shared memories and interviews.”

Sam highlighted he was ‘quite surprised’ it made the shortlist, however, he has also received an award for another previous history piece based on World War One.

In total, he has written five books and is currently writing another called, “Aspects of Wonthaggi’s history through street and place names’.