Silvio Monti e Elizabetta Antoniolli

Silvio Monti was born in Turin in 1862, the son of Giovanni Battista Monti, a doctor who was also a diplomat for Garibaldi, dedicating himself to the cause of the Unification of Italy.

Silvio graduated from university with a degree in Medicine and Surgery and set sail for Australia in the late 1890s, to see the world and gain experience in the medical field. He decided to settle in the New Italy settlement in northern NSW and became the community doctor for the central region of the Richmond River region.

After arriving in New Italy, Dr Silvio Monti moved into the local resident Italian community and spent a while living in the upstairs flat of the Antoniolli family home.

Luigi and Giovanna Antoniolli arrived in New Italy in the 1880s following the fraudulent expedition of the Marquis de Rays, occupying a 120-acre range and setting up a farm. Their two-storey mudbrick house later became a well-known landmark of the settlement. The Antoniollis opened a shop here, offering postal services and in possession of a licence to sell wine.

Silvio opened his first medical practice beyond New Italy in Woodburn, which covered the territories of New Italy, Woodburn and Evans Head, the Broadwater sugar mill and the Cabbage Tree Island Aboriginal reserve. A stable of well-kept horses, two small gigs and a carriage allowed him to travel far and wide to treat his patients.

Elizabetta, known as Eliza, was born to Luigi and Giovanna Antoniolli in 1883, at Lambing Flat, near Young in New South Wales. Eliza grew up helping her parents at home and in the wine shop while still at school and then after finishing her studies: the family was a big one, with eleven children, and they all had to contribute to the household economy.

Elizabeth and Silvio got married in 1905 in Casino. They had six children together. Eliza and Silvio settled in Broadwater, in a modest wooden cottage by the river. They lived there all their lives. Silvio ran his general medical practice and Eliza ran their home.

Story compiled in collaboration with the New Italy Museum - New Italy, NSW, Australia.