Author Description

For a Better Life spans more than 150 years of Italian migration in the Ovens Valley and uncovers a journey to escape turmoil and start a new life halfway round the world. The stories of migrating men, women and children to the Myrtleford district, as told by thirty Italian families, are combined to reveal the development of an Italian culture as it adapted and merged with an Australian way of life. They depict the difficult conditions, the hardships of isolation and adjustment, resourceful determination, and the local acts of kindness and friendship that helped the migrants through. As their story unfolds, an Australian-Italian community emerges based on solid foundations laid by migrant families who had a vision 'per una vita migliore' - for a better life.