On August 3, 1955 Luciano Nicolo Pietro Rochelli boarded the ship Fairsea in his home town Trieste, Italy and headed for Australia. He was just 26 years old. One can only imagine the feelings he had at the time: a mixture of excitement, adventure and apprehension.
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Luciano had a rebel heart and a sense of adventure that allowed him to leave behind his familiar life in Italy, his family and his friends. The boat trip was made easier as he travelled with his good friend Ezio Belli.
On that day, he also left behind his first wife Vittoria, who travelled to Australia six months later after being married to him by proxy. Marriage by proxy was common during the Italian migration years when, typically, the men migrated first to Australia to settle employment and living conditions. Then a proxy marriage was arranged where a male representative, usually a relative, in mum’s case her father, stepped in to represent the groom.
Luciano arrived in Sydney in November, 1955. He was one of many immigrants who came to Australia, where promises of employment and better living conditions were being offered to post war Europeans.
It may have come as a shock when Luciano arrived in Orange. The city couldn’t have been more different to the historical sea port of Trieste. There was no salami, no olive oil, no pecorino cheese and no good homemade wine!
Back in Italy Luciano had been a policeman and a draftsman. Now in Orange he was accommodated with other migrants in a hut near the sale yards at the edge of town. He initially worked at the Email whitegoods factory. Luciano saved enough money to buy land at 1 McLachlan Street and built a small hut at the rear corner of the block.
This was stage one of what was to be the ever growing family home. By now Vittoria had joined Luciano in Orange. Robert and Julia were born and lived the early years in that small hut which was just a small bedroom, kitchen and a tiny living room.
Luciano became Lou – as it was easier for Aussies to pronounce – and began a new career at Bloomfield Hospital as a psychiatric nurse. This was a challenging time for a 'wog' in an Australian culture but Lou established himself as a reliable and effective worker and climbed the ranks to become a Charge Nurse of many wards.
He joined the hospital's soccer team where he was highly regarded as a skilled player who was adept with both feet. The children spent many a Saturday or Sunday travelling around the Central West watching Lou play, freezing in the cold wind, and counting endless windmills on the way back home.
Lou was instrumental in establishing the Bloomfield Theatrical Society. It not only satisfied his love for theatre but gave the staff and patients at Bloomfield Hospital a pleasurable and meaningful activity that bridged the social stigma that occurred between the Orange community and the mental hospital. The shows became successful events enjoyed by all.
Lou also became an important advocate and friend of many immigrant patients. He valued their cultures and made sure a little bit of European culture crept into Bloomfield. His culinary skills impressed both the staff and patients, and when a birthday or annual event occurred, a feast would be organised and enjoyed by all. Tony Ruggiero, a close friend and fellow immigrant who worked in the main kitchen, would conspire with Lou to create the best menu for the particular event.
Lou had a genuine care for the patients at Bloomfield. He would organise trips to the coast, which also satisfied his love of the ocean. He wasn’t shy or ashamed to walk the patients through town. He would even bring patients home at Christmas so they would feel included.
To make extra money Lou worked on local orchards fruit picking and pruning, which became annual activities for his children. He also used his draftsman skills to draw plans for many new homes in Orange. These plans were all beautifully handcrafted, not computer generated. He had a fine hand in sketching and writing.
By 1961 it was time to build the new fibro home after which Paul and Linda were born to complete the family. His home expressed Lou’s architectural creativity, and was transformed many times over the years, to become the 'Italian Villa' that it is today.
Lou loved collecting various art forms and he dearly enjoyed the many treasures that he found over the years. He loved fine art, abstract art, the whacky and totally outrageous. He loved sculpture, ceramics, masks, printmaking, crystals, carvings, all things beautiful through his unique lens. Lou was a founding committee member of the Orange Regional Art Gallery.
He was a skillful lead-light artist. Many homes in Orange display examples of his lead lights. He spent many hours in his later life in the garage meticulously crafting his lead-light designs, many of which were birthdays gifts for family and friends.
Lou loved the written word and devoured books. He loved the National Geographic magazines and coffee table books full of colourful images, whether it was nature, people of the world, cook books or the movie eras. He loved poetry and stage plays and music, especially jazz, which he was able to express in the many musicals he produced over the years in his theatrical endeavours.
Lou was passionate about movies. As a young boy he would sneak out of the family apartment in Italy and run down to the cinema to watch the latest release. He was a life member of the Orange Film Society.
In his heyday Lou was regarded as a theatre director of great skill and vast experience, ranging from one-act plays, theatre restaurant productions to large-scale musicals. He was also an accomplished actor and will be remembered for his show-stopping performance of 'Sitting Bull' in Annie Get Your Gun. Lou was awarded Life Membership of the Orange Theatre Company.
We wish to thank Bruce Buchanan and the Orange Theatre Company for their recent dedication and tribute given to him.
Lou’s life story would not be complete without including and acknowledging his second wife Joan. It was through Joan’s nursing skills and insistence that he was able to remain at home until the very end.
Lou was a colourful, creative, rebellious and adventurous life artist.