Family photograph of past lives and future portents

Capturing an important day in the life of a community, a photograph from the author’s family collection records a group that has gathered to welcome the Italian aviator Francesco De Pinedo to Innisfail in 1925. De Pinedo’s record-breaking 55,000-kilometre flight from Rome to Tokyo via Australia and back was an extraordinary feat, and a demonstration of Italian technological advancement and participation in the drive towards global connectivity of those times. He had been feted by the public and dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, at each stage of his journey around Australia. But the photograph reveals much more. De Pinedo’s visit was particularly welcome where Italians were denigrated and viewed with suspicion. At the time, there was unrest about the impact of ‘foreign’ – specifically Italian – immigration in North Queensland, to provide labour for its sugar industry. The men in the photograph were among the leaders of the North Queensland Italian communities, and three of them had been invited as witnesses before the Ferry Royal Commission just months earlier. The Commission was set up to investigate attitudes towards the increasing numbers of Italians, and those views were to result in widespread internment of North Queensland Italians during World War II. All but two of the Italian leaders photographed were interned. This article situates the personal histories and contributions of these individuals within their historical circumstances.