Our father was born Giuseppe Emidio D’Alessandro on the 14th October 1933 to proud parents Celestino & Francesca (My late grandparents). He was born in Italy in a small town known as Civitella Messer Rai Mondo in the province of Chetti Abruzzo.
Dad was the eldest of 6 children. His other siblings include Nicola, Maria, Stephania, Alfredo and Antonio (also deceased). Our father grew up in a small Italian village and his upbringing was modest and life was pretty tuff. Dad attended school and as per many migrants travelled to school on foot only to return home to spend hours on the land helping his parents.
After the 2nd WW and at the tender age of 17 opportunity presented itself to Dad to come to Australia to work and earn money and forge a new life in a new albeit Unknown Land. Dad spoke to his father and after much discussion was given the permission to embark on achieving his destiny.
Dad often told us that his fathers last piece of advice to him before he left was “ Remember the way you make your bed is the way you sleep in it” Dad held this advice very close to him and he maintained this value throughout his life. Needless to say my Dad slept very comfortably!
Dad came to Australia not on a luxury cruise liner and not even in an economy style cabin…instead he travelled in the cargo hold of a decommissioned Greek Warship known as the Hellenic Prince. He was crammed into this hold along with some 40 or so Greek, Italian and Maltese men all in search of a new life! Upon reaching the shores of what was to become his new home he arrived at Bonagilla Detention Camp.
Dad arrived with a small suitcase containing a new suit which his mother had bought him and the clothes on his back. Not longer after arriving he was to lose all these possessions (except for his tie!) in a fire at the detention camp. In his early days in Australia Dad worked in South Australia in the lumber mill, then in Mildura picking fruit and he finally settled in Geelong working for International Harvester. All the while he would send money back home to his parents to help them make a better life for his family back home.
In an attempt to assimilate into the Australian way of life Dad took up playing football. He played footy in Sth Aust and in Vic. Eventually he played for the Reserves of his beloved Geelong Football Club. He played there from 1953-1956 and was there at the time of the great Polly Farmer. I remember often playing kick to kick with my brother and my dad. Anthony and I would often joke about how uncoordinated dad was. Dad would be quick to remark that “footy was different in his days you know”.
It was while in Geelong that fate introduced him to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen – our mother. She was 17 at the time and she stole his heart and took his breath away. He wrote to her in Melb and asked her to go steady. After due consideration she agreed and so began a love affair was to last almost 50 years. They dated for some 2 years before they got married and settled into a new home in West Sunshine.
After some two years of marriage their first son was born. This was followed nine years later by their second son Anthony. As children we can often remember Dad having to work shift work and therefore was either not home or sleeping. But one thing we can remember was that he was always there for us no matter how tired he was.
I also remember that anytime Anthony or I would say we didn’t like some type of food or we wanted something -Dad would bring us back to reality/normality and tell us that we needed to live through a war”. This was his way of teaching us how appreciate the important things in life!
When he worked nightshift he would always be there to make sure we had breakfast and went off to school. He would then set about building or fixing things around the house. Or he would spend time in the garden for which he had a great passion and affinity for.
Growing up in my family I learned the selfless efforts my father (and my mother) put in to building a better life for us. We never went without but then again we were never spoilt either. Our parents would often go without something for themselves to make sure we had nice shoes or nice clothes for a particular occasion. In later years Dad retired early and set about enjoying his life with our mother.
This enjoyment was to become even better with the arrival of his 5 Grandchildren. He loved them dearly and they all loved him. Our father was a humble man; he was not jealous or pretentious. He was a compassionate and kind man of high integrity and good values.
Our father believed strongly in his faith and he lived his life accordingly to these values. His passions for life and the simple things in it were without question, but his passion for his wife and his family was paramount.
He also had a passion for his garden, for dancing (our father was a great dancer and with my mother looked like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), Footy and in particular the Cats.
Dad built an Empire not built on bricks and mortar but built on love, respect and humility. He left a legacy for his Children and Grandchildren to carry on.
This is something we will do for him. Finally my Wife Maree recently said that Our Dad fulfilled his destiny, his purpose in life... He lived… He loved… He learned… and he taught.
Rest in Peace Dad - FRANK
