Festa Della Repubblica (Italian National Day) Reception
Monday, 2 June 2025
Doltone House Hyde Park, Sydney
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC
Bujari gamarruwa, Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura:
I greet you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of this land, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging, as well to Elders across New South Wales.
President of the Legislative Council,[1] Speaker of the Legislative Assembly,[2] Former Premier,[3] Parliamentarians,[4] Members of the NSW Consular Corps, distinguished guests, friends all,
The beginning of modern Italy commenced 79 years ago, on 2 June 1946, when two polls were held—a referendum and an election open to everyone over the age 21, including women, who were given the right to vote in an Italian general election for the first time[5]. The referendum asked the people to decide if they wished their country—which had been unified as the Kingdom of Italy since 1861 under the House of Savoy[6]—to remain a monarchy or become a republic. 54% voted in favour of a republic a result ratified on 18 June 1946, by the Corte di Cassazione[7].
The second[8] was a ballot to elect deputies to form the Constituent Assembly, whose primary task would be to draw up a new Constitutional charter.[9]
It is the vote of the people which is celebrated today—known as the Festa della Repubblica.
The first meeting of the 566[10] newly elected members of the Constituent Assembly was on 28th of June 1946[11], their immediate task being to draft a constitution.
After a year-and-a-half of careful collaboration and debate, a draft was finally approved by the Assembly three days before Christmas 1947, promulgated 5 days later, and came into effect on the 1st of January 1948.[12]
The new Republic also needed a new emblem that drew on tradition as well as looking to the future with optimism and pride.[13]
The result,[14] following a public competition, incorporated Italy’s most ancient symbol, the 5-pointed white star, which symbolised the Italian peninsula and its shining future.[15] It also drew “inspiration from the essence of the land and the [people]”[16] with the star overlaid on a steel cog-wheel, surrounded by olive and oak branches. The olive branches symbolised Italians’ will for peace, the oak branches symbolising the people’s strength, resilience, and dignity.[17] The steel cog-wheel represented labour and innovation, redolent of the first line of the new Italian Constitution:
Italy is a democratic Republic founded on labour.[18]
Australia has been the direct beneficiary of that ethos—both before and after it was enshrined in the Italian constitution.
The first Italian to come to these shores was a Venetian sailor—Antonio Ponto—who sailed with Captain Cook on the Endeavour, arriving in Botany Bay in 1770.[19] An Italian, Giuseppi Tuso, was amongst the convicts arriving with the First Fleet 18 years later, a real story of ‘hard labour’ in the convict settlement.[20] Even the great hero of Italian unification, General Garibaldi visited, stopping off on Three Hummock Island in the Bass Strait during a voyage from Cathay to South America in 1852.[21]
There is another little-known story—of hope, heartbreak and tenacity.
In April 1881, the ship James Patterson arrived in Sydney Cove. On board, according to a newspaper article of the day[22], were 195 Italians, mostly farming families from the Veneto region.[23] They were victims of a scam involving the supposed purchase of land in a French kingdom in the South Seas.[24] Sadly the ‘promised colony’ was a jungle-infested island off the coast of what is now Papua New Guinea. After months of disease and near-starvation, and an apparent to plea to the NSW Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, by the British Consul in Sydney to take them in, they were brought to Sydney.[25]
Sir Henry Parkes housed the Italians—who by this time had been reduced to having only the clothes on their backs—in the Agricultural Hall in the Domain, which once stood not far from where we celebrate today. They were provided food and clothing by the Government, support that was supplemented by a subscription drive organised by representatives of the local Italian community.[26]
In 1882, for his part in helping the Italians, the King of Italy, through the Italian Consul, conferred the Order of the Knight Commander of the Crown of Italy upon Sir Herny Parkes.[27]
The Government contracted the Italians for a period of twelve months, hiring them out individually to employers across NSW, including in regional centres such as Young, Goulburn, and Singleton.[28] Although the settlers had wanted to remain together, they made the most of what was, in reality, a lifesaving offer.
And with true immigrant tenacity they saved, and at the end of their contracts purchased plots of land near each other outside Woodburn, in the State’s north. The land was poor and far from water, but it was theirs.
The men were often away for 6 months at a time, travelling to farms throughout the region as seasonal workers, earning a reputation as cheerful, hardworking and reliable.[29] In the meantime, this little community created a thriving village with houses, wells, a church (which was built twice as the first was damaged by hail), orchards, vineyards and market gardens. Then came the need for a school. When an application for one was made to the Government, a location had to be specified, and this was given as ‘New Italy’, as it is still called today[30].
The school opened in 1885, and a Frenchman fluent in Italian was provided as a teacher.
A cottage silk-farming industry was started with the assistance of the Government, using the local mulberry trees[31]. In 1893, a sample of New Italy silk was sent as part of the NSW stand at the 1893 Chicago Exposition, at which it earned a prize.[32]
Over time, with increased prosperity, the descendants of the original settlers began to move on, often to richer farmlands, and the New Italy settlement dwindled to a handful of aged settlers.[33]
Today, the settlement is commemorated with a beautifully curated museum and monument.[34]
The Second World War brought another Italian story to our shores with Italian prisoners of war from the North African campaign being brought to Australia, including a large contingent at Cowra.
Again, they worked in nearby farms endearing themselves to the locals with the farming knowledge and warm Mediterranean spirit.
Then came the large post-war immigrant story, who again provided much needed labour, as well as establishing market farms many of which continued to exist until a decade or so ago.
Today, the Australian Italian relationship reflects the tech dominated, connected world in which we live.
Italy is a founding member of the international effort to build the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) in Western Australia,[35] which if successful will be the world’s largest radio astronomy facility. Our scientists are working together on the SABER project on dark matter,[36] the newly established Australian Space Agency works closely with its Italian counterpart; and the community of Italian researchers in Australia exceeds a thousand.[37]
And then there is Opera.
Indeed, the Italian presence in Australia has transformed our cuisine, our arts, our culture, and our sport with that round ball game of football.
What more can I say, other than thank you to the Italian community for bringing to Australia the Italian capacity for hard work, for embracing the opportunities out country is able to provide and being such an embedded part of our collective modern Australian identity.
Consul-General, we honour your community whom you serve so well.
Buono Festa della Repubblica![38]
[1] The Honourable Benjamin Franklin MLC, President of the Legislative Council, Parliament of NSW
[2] The Honourable Greg Piper MP, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Parliament of NSW
[3] The Honourable Morris Iemma, Former Premier, Parliament of NSW
[4] The Honourable Chris Rath MLC, Parliament of NSW; Ms Stephanie Di Pasqua MP, Member for Drummoyne, Parliament of NSW
[5] Italian women had already obtained the right to vote the year before, on 10 March 1946, in the first administrative elections held after the fall of fascism: Silvia Illari, ‘About the Genesis of the Italian Republican Constitution’, Il Politico, 2018, nos2-3, p.35, available here
[6] Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of a united Italy on February 18, 1861.
[7] 12, 718, 641 for the Republic; 10,718,502 for the Monarchy: ‘The Constituent Assembly in the Records of the Historical Archives’, Italian Republic Chamber of Deputies website, available here. 89.1% of the 28,005,449 eligible voters voted. An earlier announcement on the 10th of June had been made of an ‘almost complete’ count, with almost identical proportions (12,672,76 for the Republic; 10,688,905 for the Monarchy): ‘Italian Referendum Favoured Republic’, Morning Bulletin, 12 June 1946, p.1, available here. The Cassazione delayed the formal ratification whilst petitions alleging irregularities and appeals against what constituted a ‘majority’ were investigated: ‘Italian Referendum Favoured Republic’, Morning Bulletin, 12 June 1946, p.1, available here
[8] Theoretically, 573 deputies were to be elected, but given the elections did not occur in the Julian March and South Tyrol regions, which were under the military occupation of the United Nations, only 556 deputies were elected.
[9] ‘Towards 2 June’, Italian Government Ministry of Defence website, available here. The genesis for this is the law decree n. 151, issued by the General Lieutenant of the Italian Kingdom on 25 June 1944, which stated that, at the end of the war, there would be a Constitutional Assembly, elected by the people under universal suffrage, in order to give Italy a new Constitution: Silvia Illari, ‘About the Genesis of the Italian Republican Constitution’, Il Politico, 2018, nos2-3, p.34, available here
[10] Amongst them were 21 women—not only had women gained the right to vote, they had also gained to the right to stand in elections, as long as they were over 25: were 21 women—not only had women gained the right to vote, they had also gained to the right to stand in elections, as long as they were over 25: Silvia Illari, ‘About the Genesis of the Italian Republican Constitution’, Il Politico, 2018, nos2-3, p.35 n.34, available here
[11] Silvia Illari, ‘About the Genesis of the Italian Republican Constitution’, Il Politico, 2018, nos2-3, p.36 n.34, available here. During that first meeting the Constitutional Assembly also elected one of their members, Enrico De Nicola, as Provisional Head of State of Italy, taking over from Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi, who had been acting in the role since the departure from Italy of the former King, Umberto II, 15 days earlier. Following the provisional announcement of results announcement of June 10, the King, had initially planned to stay until the Cassazione made its formal ratification, but changed his mind and left Italy for Portugal on the 13th June, the day following the formal ending of the Monarchy of the House of Savoy on the 12th. He had been King for only 34 days, following the abdication of his father Victor Emmanuel III on 9 May 1946. His father had abdicated in hopes of helping the monarchist cause, hoping to distance the throne from his role in Mussolini’s rise.
[12] “The Constituent Assembly voted by secret ballot on the draft Constitution on 22 December 1947. The new Constitution was approved with 453 votes in favour and 62 against”: ‘The Constituent Assembly in the Records of the Historical Archives’, Italian Republic Chamber of Deputies website, available here
[13] In terms of the national flag, this was instituted the day after the official ratification of the referendum count, when, by decree of the Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi, the Arms of the Royal House of Savoy was removed from the red-white-and-green tricolour that had served as Italian nationalists’ symbol of a united homeland since the end of the 18th century: Whitney Smith, ‘Flag of Italy’, Britannica online, available here. “The original green-white-red tricolour was presented to the National Guard of the Transpadane Republic (in Lombardy) on October 9, 1796. The colours were supposedly based on those found in the uniforms of the urban militia of Milan. The nearby Cispadane Republic chose the same colours in a horizontal layout—the first authentic Italian national flag, adopted on February 25, 1797. The Cisalpine Republic chose the vertical positioning on May 11, 1798, and thereafter that flag was considered by all Italian nationalists as the true flag of their homeland. Its success was guaranteed by the decree of March 23, 1848, signed by King Charles Albert of Sardinia, ordering Italian troops to carry the tricolour in their battles against the Austrian army. A month later the flag replaced the former national flag of Sardinia, and revolutionaries throughout the Italian peninsula likewise rallied to the green-white-red”: ibid.
[14] By the Professor of Ornamentation at the Institute of Fine Arts in Rome, Paolo Paschetto, was approved by the Constituent Assembly on the 31st of January 1948, and on 5 May 1948, by Legislative Decree, formally became the Republic’s National Emblem: ‘The Emblem’, President of the Republic website, available here
[15] Nicoletta Bazzano, Donna Italia: L’allegoria della Penisola dall'antichità ai giorni nostril, Angelo Colla Editore, 2011,
[16] ‘The Emblem’, President of the Republic website, available here
[17] ‘The Emblem’, President of the Republic website, available here
[18] Constitution of the Italian Republic [English Version], Art. 1, available here. The full (English) text of Article 1 is “Italy is a democratic Republic founded on labour. Sovereignty belongs to the people and is exercised by the people in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution”: ibid.
[19] ‘The Italian Ancestral Connection’, Canberra Times, 18 May 1988, p.27, available here
[20] ibid.
[21] Stephen Harris and Jayne Balmer, ‘The Vegetation and Flora of Three Hummock Island, Western Bass Strait’, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, vol. 131, 1997, pp.38-39, available here. Garibaldi later reminisced, in his 1882 autobiography, “"How often has that lonely island in Bass’s [sic] Strait deliciously excited my imagination, when, sick of this civilized society so well supplied with priests and police agents, I returned in thought to that pleasant bay, where my first landing startled a fine covey of partridges, and where, amid lofty trees of a century's growth, murmered [sic] the clearest, the most poetical of brooks, where we quenched our thirst with delight, and found an abundant supply of water for the voyage”: quoted in ibid, p.39.
[22] The exact figure varies, as either 195 or 217: ‘The New Ireland Expedition’, The Argus, 9 April 1881, p.12, available here; ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[23] ‘The New Ireland Expedition’, The Argus, 9 April 1881, p.12, available here
[24] The families had boarded the ship India in Barcelona in 1880, one of three ships in the scheme concocted by the Marquis de Rays. After three months voyage in cramped and diseased conditions, the India arrived in Port Breton, on the island of New Ireland: : ‘The Voyage’, New Italy website, available here; ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[25]. ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[26] ‘The Italian Immigrants’, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 April 1881, p.6, available here. One of the Italian members of the ‘Sydney Italians’ was Angelo Tornaghi, responsible for the clock in the Inner Hall, as well as the tessellated tiles in the Outer and Inner Halls, at Government House.
[27] ‘Intercolonial News’, Riverina Herald, 13 February 1882, p.2, available here; Shoalhaven Telegraph, 17 August 1882, p.2, available here
[28] ‘Migration’, New Italy website, available here
[29] ibid; ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[30] The residents initially called their home La Cella Venetia ‘the Venetian Cell’: ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[31] ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[32] ‘Sericulture at New Italy’, New Italy website, available here
[33] ‘Primary Settlement’, New Italy website, available here
[34] The monument was unveiled in 1961 by the Richmond River Historical Society commemorating “the pride, courage, and strength of the Italian settlers and their contribution to the community”[34]. Approximately 1500 people attended the unveiling including the Consul-General of Italy, several members of Parliament and local dignitaries. The museum, commemorating the stories of resilience and adaption of this community was built in 1993 from the Italian pavilion from World Expo ‘88 in Brisbane: ‘New Italy Settlement’, NSW State Heritage database, available here
[35] ‘“Italy at the Forefront in the Realization of the SKAO Observatory”: Consul’s Visit to the Square Kilometre Array Observatory’, Consolato d’Italia o Perth website, 5 August 2024, available here.
[36] ‘Lights on for Australia’s First Dark Matter Lab’, ANU website, 19 August 2022, available here
[37] ‘Italy and Australia’, Consolato d’Italia Adelaide website, available here
[38] ‘Happy Republic Day’