50. A Very Special Visitor

On the 21st of July my Mum brought a very special visitor to Kookaburra Nook. 

Jamie and I have always suspected that the original homestead had been built on our property. We came to this conclusion as we have found a number of artifacts such as ink and medicine bottles, even an old potbelly stove door while digging in the garden over the years. Other 'clues' which informed our hypothesis included that right on the boundary fence with our neighbour is an incredible jacaranda tree and (before our neighbours cut it down) an old lily-pily tree, planted side by side. Exactly the same pairing of trees were planted next to the turn of the century cottage that was our first home in Mundijong and so our suspicians that our block may have been the site of the original homestead grew. 

Angelo Bongiascia and his wife Paolina bought the land that Kookaburra Nook now sits on in 1964 and established their farm here.

Their names, engraved in the wet cement covering our old concrete water tank, are still legible today - a special piece of history right in our own backyard!

My Mum and Angelo attended the same church where they met and over the course of their conversations Mum had realised that we were living on Angelo's old farmland. She had rang me and asked if she could bring a special visitor to meet Jamie and I. Paolina unfortunately was bedridden and I did not get to meet her but Angelo, amazingly robust for a man of almost ninety years, old graced us with his presence and shared some of the history and his enormous, knowledge and understanding of the land. We invited him for lunch but he explained that he needed to return to the nursing home in time to feed his wife 'Paola' her lunch. In fact Angelo has sat with and fed the love of his life every day since she became ill and unable to feed herself - it speaks of the depths of his love and devotion for his wife of more than 60 years.

A week later Angelo sent me a present via Mum. Grapevine cuttings, with origins back to his birth country of Italy.

Jamie and I have something very special in mind for theses vines to further cement Angelo and Paolina Bongiascia's  place in the history of Kookaburra Nook.

Photo taken 21st July 2017 and published with Angelo's permission.