Cordiali Saluti, a message from a stranger

This morning, I was very pleased to received an email from Mr G. Venturi in Italy, who asked me why I had referred to EPT as a subsidiary of Transfield. Mr Venturi was right to point this out as I had been reading contradictory information about the Transfield - EPT nexus. As was noted in an earlier blog post, the original company was EPT, which was established in Australia in 1951. He said, "Both Belgiorno and Salteri worked with EPT until they founded Transfield in 1956 on getting their first contract". This is also explicit in Cresciani's book referred to earlier in the blog. Other than having my misunderstanding corrected, I am delighted to know that people are reading the blog and commenting.

Also, Mr Venturi has sent this wonderful picture depicting something of the 'original' camp and life in Menai, Sydney, 1952. It looks very much like a joyous village or community festival. I remember times when there were parties and celebrations in the camps. However, my recollections of the camps, though I was never in a Sydney camp, were that they were much more makeshift and rougher.

He writes in Italian (I will translate properly later, but I can decipher that the man to the right of the man holding the plate is Mr Venturi's father):

Le allego una foto presa a Menai all inzio del 1952.

Non ricordo la persona al centro con il piatto in mano. Ma alla sua sinistra e appoggiato alla porta e Vittorio Monduzzi. Le persone alla destra del signore con il piatto sono mio padre (il piu alto che guardail piatto) alla destra di mio padre, Padre Enrico Bianconi (frate cappuccino) impiegato dall EPT per aiutare gli Italiani e Cappellano a Menai (non Padre Silvio come ho letto nel suo libro). Naturalmente dietro mio padre lei avra riconosciuto Belgiorno.

Cordiali saluti ...