OTTINI, Rosa

Rosina Virgona was born in Lipari, a little island in the Eilie Group on the north side of the island of Sicily on the 7th of March 1904.

She married Rocco Ottini and they had two sons Domenico (Mimmo) and Pierluigi (Luigi). Seeking work Rocco took his family to Milan in the north of Italy and settled there until his death in 1949.

Her brother Bartolomeo (Bob) Vergona was then living in Ballarat and suggested to her that she relocate her family to Australia.  In 1952 Rosina and her two boys arrived and settled in Ballarat.

The beginning, as for all migrants, of that era, was not easy.  Not only because of the language barrier but culture, diet, and a lot of day-to-day things that only a newcomer would understand.  Laughable now but very frustrating at the time.  Gradually life got better, Rosina made friends with the local people and her son Luigi married. Luigi and Kaye gave Rosina three grandchildren which she was very proud of.

As Rosina's three grandchildren grew up, their Nonna taught them how to speak Italian, enabling them to communicate with her in her native tongue.

Rosina was a great lover of walking which took her on many occasions to church with her good friends Santina Bigarelli and Maria Antonelli or to the shops.  Even later in life, she could still walk to the top of Black Hill on Good Friday at the Stations of the Cross.  She enjoyed the company of her many Italian and Australian friends but Rosina particularly enjoyed playing Tombola with the Italian ladies on a regular basis, even her Australian daughter-in-law Kaye would accompany her.  Rosina also enjoyed, later in life, her weekly meetings at the Italian Pensioners Club.

Rosina will be dearly missed by not only her family but her many friends.

She passed away on the 2nd of December 1998 and is buried at the Ballarat New Cemetery with her brother Bob.  Tanderra Lawn Grave 82.