Olwyn and her family are well-known locals in Trafalgar, with a strong pioneering history in the district.
Her story includes an historic home in Contingent Street, encompasses raising a family with Mario, an Italian immigrant, and a life of farming and volunteering in the community.
Background
Olwyn’s great grandfather, Euphraim Mann, was a pioneer who cleared and farmed vast acreage in Trafalgar South.
He arrived in Geelong in 1850 to choose farming in Minyip but, seven children later in 1883, he searched for more fertile land with a reliable rainfall.
This farmland was divided amongst three of his sons.
Olwyn’s grandfather, Alfred Mann (1855 – 1949) was also a skilled carpenter.
He married Mary Griffiths in 1881, and after selling his farm later in life, built a beautiful cedar- heavy home in the early 1920s at what is now 59 Contingent Street.
This current house site was once part of his small dairy farm that extended between School Road and Giles Road, with an orchard, chickens and a milking shed.
Olwyn’s mother, Olive Mann, was married from that home in 1927, and she later inherited it when her brother Bert died.
Uninhabited for a while, Olwyn and her husband Mario lived there in 1960 for three years, after which it was rented and then eventually sold.
The back section of the farm was sold for what is now the Victory Court subdivision, developed in 1970.
Childhood
Olive and Robert Williams, who worked at the Trafalgar Co-op, moved on to Yarragon to raise four children while he worked at the Yarragon Co-op, then to operate the Yarragon General Store.
Olwyn, the second of four children, was born in the Trafalgar Bush Nursing Hospital in 4 Ashby Street in 1931.
She spent eight years at Yarragon State School then boarded at St Anne’s, Sale for three years. Her parents felt the long bus ride to Warragul High School was too unruly.
Olwyn reflects that maybe her mother took that opportunity to avoid raising a teenage daughter!
Later, she trained and worked as a mothercraft nurse at the Presbyterian Babies Home in Camberwell, commonly a place for children of unmarried mothers.
Olwyn often came home to work in the family’s grocery store, a job she really enjoyed.
Marriage
Meanwhile, Mario Vitale had arrived from Italy to build a new life.
He had chosen Argentina or Australia and the visa came through to Oz.
However, not having found someone with whom to settle down, he was on the verge of returning to Italy when he met Olwyn while ballroom dancing at the Warragul RSL.
Her father was not concerned about Mario being a new Australian, nor catholic, but questioned whether Olwyn was ready to be a farmer’s wife. “You’ll have no holidays!”
They married at the Trafalgar Catholic Church in 1957, and lived in Cloverlea for several years while Mario was share-farming there.
In 1963, when Mario returned from visiting his mother in Italy, he worked as a concreter then again as a share farmer at Jack Moscato’s farm in Yarragon, remaining there for many years.
In 1970, an opportunity came up for them to purchase a small dairy farm of 83 acres (33.6 hectares) on the Trafalgar East flats along North Canal Road.
So, with a family of four children and cows to be milked and managed, Olwyn and Mario worked that typically hard life.
Due to the high interest rates on their loan, Mario continued as a concreter while their four children (Marianna, Cristina, Phillip and Robert) travelled by school bus to Trafalgar State school and Trafalgar High.
“The Trafalgar East Primary principal wasn’t pleased, as he was hoping for an influx of student enrolments, but the school bus went right past our door,” said Olwyn.
Farming profitability soon meant buy more land or move out, so in 1983 they sold and bought a double block in Settlement Road, still to enjoy that rural feeling.
Family Life
Olwyn holds dear the strong family bonds with her children.
Many Italian customs were introduced by Mario and had been regularly enjoyed throughout their married life.
In particular, the continued annual tradition of making passata has been embraced, now with four generations participating keenly together, usually a group of about 18 family members.
Olwyn’s granddaughter Michelle hosts this enterprise in her shed in Warragul, at which about 80 kgs of tomatoes are washed, squeezed, pot boiled, minced and bottled as juice.
Mario Lanza’s music plays, Bis Nonno Mario’s hat is worn, and always homemade lasagne for dinner.
Volunteering
While Mario enjoyed playing bowls with the freedom of no farm, Olwyn took on a variety of volunteering tasks within the community.
It was a common sight, for 13 years, to see Olwyn walk to Trafalgar Primary School from Settlement Road to volunteer in the Learning Assistance Program (LAP).
Alongside a small team of others, she built personal relationships with needy children and helped support them to develop their interests, skills and confidence.
As Olwyn said, “It felt good to know you were making a difference in their lives. You could see the change by the end of the year.”
With her daughter Maria, she delivered Meals on Wheels to about 18 families in the town.
The meals were cooked and boxed at Warragul hospital and delivered to the Senior Citizen’s Centre for distribution by the volunteers. This was before Andrews House was built.
Like many, she also added time in the High School canteen.
Currently, at 95 years old, Olwyn attends the popular Trafalgar Probus Club.
A regular member since 1994, she earned her 30 years badge, having committed to a variety of roles including secretary, president and trip organiser.
“We went all over the place in a small bus. Lots of fun,” reflected Olwyn, preferring not to travel to venues in private cars as is now the custom.
Olwyn was approached to be president in 2003, at the time when Mario had been battling with cancer.
She accepted the role as a helpful distraction, the annual general meeting election being the day before Mario’s funeral.
The support of Probus friends helped through this difficult time.
Also at that time, she was helping care for her grandchildren as regularly needed. Those families made sure her Probus day each month was kept clear.
Olwyn lives independently, now near her birthplace in Ashby Street, still enjoying a busy life with strong family bonds and friendships.
