New information on New Italy’s pioneers

By Samantha Elley

There is no ignoring the passion and emotion in the voice of Professor Pol Dalmau as he talks to an engaged audience at the New Italy Museum on the weekend.

The visiting Spanish professor from the University of Barcelona was addressing members, sharing information he had discovered about the early Italian pioneers.

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“While I was working in the (Spanish) National Archives I stumbled on a large folder where the Marquis De Rey asked permission to start a colony,” he said.

“When I compared the files with the research (already known), some parts were missing.”

The story of the early settlers who established the New Italy community is often told from when they arrived at New Ireland – a Pacific island 350 miles north-east of New Guinea.

They were caught up in a scam by the French nobleman Charles du Briel, Marquis de Rey. He offered fertile land with cool, running streams, hectares to farm and a stone cottage.

What the Italians got, after paying 1800 francs in gold or labour over five years, was a tropical hell-hole with no housing and constant outbreaks of malaria. Many of the passengers died.

Australia stepped in and saved the survivors who eventually found their way to New Italy, setting up a prosperous community.

The missing information that Professor Dalmau shared had been gleaned from local papers in Barcelona where the Italian families were preparing to embark, after leaving their homes in Italy, to travel to the New Ireland colony.

“The information comes from 19^th century newspapers in Barcelona, which I have translated from Spanish to English,” he said.

The reason the families were leaving from Spain, the professor shared, was because Italy and France had forbid the expedition by the Marquis de Rey.

“As soon as they arrived, several newspapers reported on the poor treatment they received,” said Professor Dalmau.

“They were called human cargo or white slaves. They were kept in warehouses in precarious conditions.”

The professor shared a letter from a fellow Italian living in Barcelona that warned his compatriots not to embark on the expedition, saying it was a deception. Words that may have rung true for them, many months later.

Another letter shared was written by three of the travellers, speaking on behalf of the Italians, claiming rumours of their treatment were false and that they were willing to make the trip.

Despite a campaign to raise funds to send the Italians back home and exert pressure on the Italian Consulate in Barcelona, only 11 families returned home.

It is believed the risk of the unknown was a better alternative than the conditions the families had left in Italy.

“This is human history,” said Professor Dalmau.

“They were looking for a better future and it is very impressive that the descendants are here today, showing eventually it was a happy ending.”