The South West Migrant Memorial Committee has started piecing together the history of South West migrants and settlers moving from a foreign place for a new home.
As part of this project, the Mail will be featuring these stories – this story is on Albert Piacentini.
Carlo Alberto Piacentini was five years old when his father migrated to Australia in 1924, leaving behind a wife and three children.
Albert lived in a town called Fressinoro near Modina with his mother, brother, Leo and sister, Nancy.
He always remembered how cold it was as it snowed for five months of the year.
When the depression came he was forced to help feed the family - catching and selling frogs, which were a delicacy.
He worked as a shepherd helping graze and milk sheep and cutting and storing firewood for the winter. Albert could not take life in Italy anymore and asked his father to sponsor him to come to Australia.
He was just 15 years old when he got on a boat by himself to reunite with his father.
In 1936 Albert arrived in Western Australia and joined his father in Karridale where his prime job was sleeper cutting. At a very young age he learned to drive a truck to cart the sleepers to the railhead.
During this hard and tough period he learned to speak English and understand the Australian way of life. His first business venture was in 1944 when he built a mill on Ferguson Road east of Dardanup.
He sponsored his family and relatives out to help run the mill. At this point he met and married Elizabeth Catherine Panizza and they formed a great partnership in life and business and were married for 64 years before Albert passed away.
They raised four children, Helen, Colin, Margaret and Elizabeth and were able to enjoy nine grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
In 1948 the first bulldozer was purchased by Albert who worked more than 100 hours per week clearing bush in Margaret River.
His son Colin and later two grandsons joined the company, which today operates nationally and internationally as Piacentini and Son.
Albert passed away at the age of 91 and his wife Elizabeth one year after.
