Josephine Pasut

Giuseppina, now known as Josephine, was just nineteen when she arrived one morning at the Red Cliffs Railway Station. The year is 1957 and after an overnight train trip from Melbourne on a hard wooden seat, she was reuniting with her fiancé, Venanzio Pasut after a long, two-year separation. The next day, Venanzio, to become known as Vince to many in his new adopted country, took her into town and showed her all the shops and businesses she would need to use … the grocery shop, the butcher Mr Kreager, the bank, and the post office. He then gave her a key to the house and said, “I will be busy earning the money so you will need to do the shopping and bill paying”. And she did, even buying the beer, despite only having had a short time in English lessons for migrants before leaving home. Her life in Sunraysia had begun.