News & Events
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fruitful Memories Come to Griffith Sydney’s Italian Fruit Shops – the Original Green Grocer Griffith City Library 5.2.11 – 28.04.11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a hugely successful season at Customs House Circular Quay, Sydney’s Italian Fruit Shops the travelling exhibition, comes to Griffith to take local residents on a walk down memory lane, revisiting an industry that changed the way we eat, live and think about food. An Italian fruit shop in Manly set in motion her life-long love affair with Italian culture. Heritage Officer for the community organisation Co.As.It (Italian Association of Assistance), Linda Nellor, recalls memories of the family behind the store. “I just fell in love with the family, their lifestyle, their work ethic and the smells emanating from their kitchen. I was eight-years-old and it was such a different household to where I came from. “Suddenly I was in this place with this tantalizing language and amazing sense of family, working together. The kids would come back from school and take their turn to work in the shop. It left a very strong impression on me.” With her job being to promote Italian heritage, Linda says the upcoming exhibition, Sydney’s Italian Fruit Shops – The Original Green Grocer, will be a moving experience. “These families and their small businesses have changed the way we live, the way we eat, the way we think about food. I don’t think they realise how much they’ve done. They need to be honoured for what they’ve contributed to this country.” The exhibition is a collaboration between Co.As.It and UTS’s Australian Centre for Public History, a hub of the Centre for Creative Practice and Cultural Economy. Director of the Centre, Paul Ashton, says the project has been nine years in the making. The exhibition features photographs from a bygone era – when large supermarket chains didn’t exist and the local fruit shop was today’s Coles Express. The fifteen panels of images include categories like A Family Affair, Women at Work and Never Too Young – dedicated to the Italian children who worked in the shops. Also included is a panel on the famous De Lucas of King Street, arguably the best-known fruit shop in Sydney. Items such as the old cash register, scales, leather aprons, old fruit crates, books and journals will be on display as well. A Website www.sydneysitalianfruitshops and Italian Fruit Shops Register is also available where people who have connections with Italian fruit shops can send in their photos, information and memories that will be included on the Register. Nellor hopes visitors will appreciate the impact of the Italian fruit shops on the Australian palette. “With that meeting at the fruit shop, there was a cross fertilisation with Anglos meeting Italians and learning from each other. People were suddenly seeing new things and talking about it, and meat and three veg wasn’t that exciting anymore”. “No matter where you come from, there’s an Italian fruit shop that touched your life; the smells, the foreign vegetables, that friendly warm service.” Sydney’s Italian Fruit Shops – The Original Green Grocer will be on display at Griffith City Library from Saturday 4th February until 28th April 2011. All are welcome and admission is free. School excursion packages available upon request. Contact Co.As.It. on 9564 0744 for information regarding learning material. Contact Griffith Library on 69622515 for excursion bookings. This Travelling Exhibition has been proudly sponsored by Sydney Markets Limited, Griffith City Council and Western Riverina Libraries. Other sponsors include: the NSW Migration Heritage Centre, Powerhouse Museum, Leichhardt Council and Signorelli Gastronomia. All enquiries: Library t: 69622515 e: library@griffith.nsw.gov.au or www.griffth.nsw.gov.au/library Sydney contact- Linda Nellor Heritage Officer at Co.As.It. (02) 9564 0744 or email linda.nellor@coasit.org.au Adapted from the Original Article by Katia Sanfilippo Marketing and Communication Unit UTS Linda Nellor, Curator
A. Giuliano's Fruit Shop at 368 New South Head Road Double Bay, NSW 1930s
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Sydney’s Italian Fruit Shops - The Original Green Grocer Photographic Exhibition Sunday 23 May to 8 August 2010 Monday to Friday, 10am-7pm Saturday to Sunday, 11am-4pm Cost: Free Venue & Enquiries: Customs House, Level 1 31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay, Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: 02 9242 8551 Website: www.sydneycustomshouse.com.au Email: customshouse@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au |
