November 1946 and there were over 10,000 Italian prisoners of war in Australia awaiting repatriation.

Some of these men had thoughts of returning to Australia and with the assistance of the International Red Cross representative in Australia: Dr Pierre Descoeudres, had completed their Form 47 Application for Permit to Enter Australia and attached theirForm 47 A Medical Examination (For Persons Seeking Permanent Admission into Australia)

In November 1946, Dr Descoeudres wrote to Department of Immigration to obtain another 200 Form 47s.  He had already received 340 completed forms from Italian prisoners of war.

In February 1947, Dr Descoeudres received a reply stating that prisoners of war were: “not eligible for re-admission under existing policy” and that the 340 applications would not be processed.

Form 47 and Form 47A for seventeen Italians are archived and can be viewed online at http://www.naa.gov.au  The file is titled: International Red Cross – General File – Dr Pierre Descoeurdes – Representative. NAA: A434, 1947/3/14

Some of the men included photos of themselves, most likely taken by their farming families.

Bruno Zignego included two photos of himself with his crafted models of ships:

Bruno Zignego (Ziniego)

NAA: A434, 1947/3/14

An interesting and perplexing question on Form 47 regarded RACE.  While some of the men wrote European or White, Bruno chose to write LATIN.

This is a list of the Italians for which files exist and who had intentions to return to Australia:

Gesuino SCALAS from Cagliari Sardinia

Giuseppe MOLEA from Sant Pietro Amaida Catanzaro

Giacomo GAGGIOLI from Buriano Grossetto

Nazzareno DIMONOPOLI from Sava Taranto

Aldo DELLANNA from Lecce Apulia

Pietro DAIDONE (DIADONE) from Mazara del Vallo Trapani

Cola ARMANDO from Cerreto D’Esi Ancona

Riccardo ACQUAVIVA from Andria Bari

Bruno Zignego (Ziniego) from Fezzano La Spezia

Salvatore TERENZI from San Clemente Forli

Umberto SALA from Milano

Giuseppe CASTAGNA from Palermo Sicily

Angelo QUACINELLA from Siracusa Sicily

Giovanni PORTARO from Catania Sicily

Erminio Silvio NAVARIN from Casale di Scodosia Padova

Guido LEONORI from Sassoferrado Ancona

Gaetano Mario CAVALLARO from Ramodipalo Rovigo