Coalfields Museum visit helps unlock the start of a Mazzoletti mystery

Manuela Moroni, who paid a visit there on Tuesday, is the granddaughter of Mr Giacomo Giovanni Carlo Mazzoletti whose Nikelodeon piano, also known as a barrel organ, was acquired by the museum in the mid-to-late 1960s from Fontana’s Wine Saloon.

The Collie Mail spoke with Manuela who recounted a sad, but fascinating tale of her long-lost grandfather and how she came to discover one of his pianos was on display in a museum in Collie.

“An Italian man living in Collie came here to the museum one day and saw the name Delebio on the piano which is the town he was from” she said.

Delebio, which also happens to be the place where Mr Mazzoletti was from, is a small Italian town with around 1000-2000 people and Manuela said it was the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else.

“This man took a photo of the piano and then on a trip back to Italy he passed the photo on to my mother’s cousin who gave it to my mother, who passed it on to me,” she said.

Upon seeing the photograph and reading the name Carlo Mazzoletti, Manuela realised that the piano was one built by her grandfather and so decided she would come out to Australia with her family for a holiday to see it.

“I got in touch with the museum around five years ago and let them know of my intention to come and visit – and now we are here,” she said.

“Seeing it (the piano) was something important to me as my grandfather left my mother, Carmen, and her family in 1927 when she was two years old, to come out to Australia.”

Manuela said she did not know exactly why her grandfather came to Australia but she thought it was because of problems at the factory he was working at in Italy.

“I think his plan was to start a similar factory in Australia,” she said.

Unfortunately for Mr Mazzoletti when he arrived in Australia in 1928 the country was on the brink of the Great Depression and his plans never came to fruition.

Mr Mazzoletti was offered the chance to become and Australian citizen in later years however, being a proud Italian he declined.

This lead to another downturn in his fortunes as this refusal saw him placed in an internment camp during World War II because of fears that German, Italian and Japanese residents would become saboteurs or spies.

While, in these camps Mr Mazzoletti had ill health and suffered a stroke which meant once he was released he struggled to work.

However, despite this Manuela said that he always sent any money he had back to Italy from Australia to help look after his family and wife.

He also wrote letters to his wife who was a good cook and so started up a bed and breakfast to help with the bills and provide for their family.

“She started working at 15 during the war when women were allowed to get jobs to replace some of the men who went off to war.

“My aunt also worked as a tailoress – everyone was trying to help earn money,” Manuela said.

However, sadly Mr Mazzoletti and his family were never able to raise enough money for them to come and join him in Australia, or for him to return to Italy, and so he died alone in Australia.

 “By all accounts he was a good person and a nice friend and he rented a room at another family’s house in Perth when he couldn’t work,” Manuela said.

Manuela said she will return home with photos and video recordings of the piano, which still works, to show to her mother who is still going strong at age 89.

“We also visited the street where he was living in Perth however, the house is now replaced by a factory,” she said.

Manuela said she also went to see the cemetery where he was buried with her husband and children but unfortunately there had been a mausoleum built over his grave.

“Even though we couldn’t see his name I can imagine how his grave was as there was another row of plots which were marked to have a similar structure built there.”

“Because he left when my mother was so young my grandfather was nothing to her but he meant more to her sister Edita who was seven when he left,” she said.

Sadly Edita passed away just over four years ago and will not be able see photos and learn what Manuela has uncovered on her trip.

And despite seeing the piano, Manuela said she still has big gaps in her knowledge of her grandfather Mr Carlo Mazzoletti and, along with her husband Alberto, is still trying to find out more information about his life.

Can you help? Do you remember Mr Mazzoletti, nicknamed ‘Ilarino’? If so contact the Coalfields Museum who have Manuela’s contact details and can pass on this information to her.