FROM Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East: The stories of “The Changing Faces of Maylands” will be told at the Maylands Historical and Peninsula Association’s meeting on June 19.
MHPA president Keith Cundale is presenting the talk after interviewing locals to hear their stories and family histories of how they came to Maylands.
“I’m intrigued by the fact that Maylands is a pretty multi-ethnic suburb, and has been since the 1920s” when many laborers came from distant lands to work in the newly industrial district.
Through the mid-20th century many came from Italy, like Maria and Otto Cappi, one of the family stories Mr Cundale will be relating.
“I spent a lot of time talking to Maria’s daughter, Silvana Cappi. It’s a great story,” Mr Cundale says.
“Maria’s brother came over to Australia to seek a new life,” while Maria remained in Italy.
Her brother “got to know this other guy living here a while – Otto.
“Otto was saying, ‘I really need a wife’. Maria’s brother told him, ‘I’ve got four sisters!’
“They started corresponding, and they wrote letters to each other over a few years, and they decided they were compatible and should get married.”
They were married by proxy before they’d ever met, and photographed together in 1957 after Maria’s arrival.
The talk is on at the Old Peninsula Hotel (the Dome HQ) at 7.15pm on June 19. It’s free and with light refreshments.
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
Leave a comment