Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Two Italian shops in South Fremantle

South Fremantle has long been known for it's clannish immigrant Italian population. When I was a teenager in the late 1950s I had a perception it was a place where the women of all ages seemed to be dressed totally in black and all the young men carried stilettos or flick knives.

You can still see one or two elderly women hobbling about the streets dressed in black. As for stilettos, they're more likely to be on the heels of the fashionable young women.

There's a tendency to associate Italians with the fishing industry. It's true that many Italians who lived in South Fremantle were fishermen, and there have been many men who made their fortunes at the port. However the Fremantle fishing industry was thriving well before the first nineteenth century Italian fishermen arrived. Furthermore there have been plenty of other Italian immigrants who found their early economic niche in other arguably more important areas. For example the building trades and market gardening.

South Fremantle is no longer the Italian enclave it was. As families grew, and fortunes accumulated, people moved out and acquired Australian accents. Trendy non-Italians started to move in. The process is a favourite subject for social-geography teachers.

However a lot of Italians are still clannish. When someone dies the funerals at Fremantle Cemetery can be huge, and that's when the black dresses tend to make a reappearance. Catholic religious festivals such as The Blessing of the Fleet are always a big event for the Italian community too.

But so much for the introduction. Plenty of Italians probably don't fit into these stereotypical descriptions at all.

There's another ethic contribution which has survived over time and that's the Italian grocery store. There's still a few of the old style ones about, selling the sort of stuff no self-respecting Italian cook could do without. Exotic cheeses, olive oil, spaghetti, olives, coffee, nuts, beans and processed meats to name a few. They combine their delicious aromas to give the shops a distinctive fragrance.

In the 1950s I think that just about everything these sort of places sold was imported from Italy. However nowadays there are many of the lines are being manufactured throughout Australia by large companies with Italian family origins.

A popular Italian grocery store exists in Wray Avenue, South Fremantle. It's named Galati & Sons. It's been there for a long time and has acquired an almost iconic status with Italians and non-Italians alike.

It flaunts its presence with a display of fresh market garden produce out the front on the footpath. We Sandgropers crave this sort of retailing excitement, but it's generally frowned upon by overly zealous authorities in many of our suburbs. The nickname Dullesville wasn't created without good reason

These sort of places still compete with the supermarkets. When I took the above photo a few days ago Galati & Sons had a stand of large, fresh iceberg lettuce for an almost unbelievable nine cents each, and another stand with Carnarvon bananas for 99 cents a kilo.

Inside they always have a pretty special display of cheeses and processed meats. Probably hundreds of varieties, which they'll cut to order. They also sell cakes and savouries which I'd need an illustrated cook book to figure out what they are called. Needless to say, the shop is usually very busy.

Next door is an Italian butcher's shop called Franks Gourmet Meats. I suspect a familial relationship exists between the two business. These butchers have an exciting display of signage on the front of the shop. This is another thing that's discouraged by over zealous authorities elsewhere. Put a signboard for a shop on the footpath in the Shire of Melville where I live and you'll soon find it's been confiscated.

I think the signs are great. They make me want to go inside and spend. I can see there's room for a few more. Too many signs is not enough. Are we capitalists or Communists? Maybe I shouldn't ask that. Communism is still pretty big in Italy.

Frank's signs imply that they sell almost anything with four legs or wings. Do they sell hippopotamus? Not this week. But you can see they boast more than 35 varieties of sausages. Inside there is an equally flamboyant display in the showcases. A vast range of traditional meat specialties and smoked items which are made on the premises. Some of them appear very mysterious to me.

So to the owners of Galatis and Franks I say bravo! Long may both they remain a feature of South Fremantle. They've definitely become Fremantle legends.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.

Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

About the writer

Click here to see our backyard.

Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!

Advertisement