8th January 1945

Another Q6 Home Hill Italian!

With technology, people of the 21^st century can keep contact with friends and family and find people with ease.

Rewind 1945: the only means of communication was with a letter but if you were a prisoner of war, letters were censored. The unseen communication network for Italian prisoners of war however must have been effective.

Word of mouth and ‘sleight of hand’ postal services keep friends and family in touch.

Luigi Tesoro had many friends, as his intercepted letter indicates.  Tesoro was a baker from Naples.  He had been captured in the Battle of Bardia 4^th January 41 and arrived in Australia onboard Queen Mary 27 May 1941.  He spent time in Hay, then Q6 PWCH Home Hill before being returned to Hay for 120 days detention.

While serving his 120 days sentence, Tesoro was awarded 3 days No. 1 Punishment (which according to other records is bread and water)*on 8^th January 1945 for having written a letter to Tafuto Giuseppe#, Yanco and for having given the letter to Esposito Carmine# to deliver at Yanco.  Letter was found when Esposito was searched.

Dearest brother Giuseppe.

I am writing you this letter to let you know I am in the best of health and at the same time I want to assure myself about you and all my friends.  Dearest Giuseppe I am very surprised you have not replied to my letter and a note I sent you by our friend Cavaliero@ and so I want to know why. Now I want to tell you that when I finish the 9 months prison they will probably send me to Murchison, but I am not sure.  I am sending you the address of our friend Giovanni Fruttaldo!, who is in No. 13 POW G.  Australia where is perhaps is our friend Comare.  I warn you when writing to me not to use my name.  Let me know how the other friends are, their names and where they live.  Enough I won’t write any more… Let me know where your friend Comariello Gennaro is and send me his address.  Your friend Giovanni, the brother of ??? where he is.  I met him at Lecce, Mario who worked in the hospital, Sbrighi Edgardo& has gone to Cowra.  Biasi^ the brother-in-law of friend Tatosi Cicco is on the farms.

(NAA:A7919, C98830)

Quite amazing how the Italians from one camp knew where their friends were or knew information about the comings and goings of their friends.  Love the comment: I warn you when writing to me not to use my name. There must have been a complicated unwritten system for letter writing and passing on information.

*7 days detention = 3 days bread and water, 4 days Australian army rations.  I can imagine that 4 days of Australian army rations was quite an insult for the Italians.

#Carmine Esposito (Baker from Naples) was released from Hay Detention compound 7^th January 1945 and was returning to Yanco where Giuseppe Tafuto (Baker from Naples) was.

&Edgardo Sbrighi a baker from Forli was working on a farm at N6 PWCC Dorrigo

@ Possibly Celestino Cavalieri who was in Hay Detention Barracks at the same time and returned to Yanco.

! Giovanni Fruttaldo was from Naples and came to Australia on the Queen Mary in May 1941.

^Biasi – Possibly Biasi Gazzilli who worked on farms at V2 PWCC Colac.

Comare, Comariello and Tatosi – names are spelt incorrectly or are in code, as records cannot be found for these names.

Cowra, NSW. 6 February 1944. Group of Italian prisoners of war (POWs) interned at No. 12 POW Group. Back row, left to right: 49564 G. Di Gloria; 49888 F. Palma; 46127 F. Martucci; 45665 G. Fruttaldo; 49505 L. Rubano; 46838 L. Tesoro; 49549 V. Morfeo. Front row: 57093 C. Calia; 46110 A. Montanari; 57147 A. Cerrutti; 45954 G. Luciano; 49585 A. Pastore. Note: The number is an assigned POW number. (AWN Image 030173/03 Photographer Geoffrey McInnes)