The Australian Women's Register

Nerina Beccarelli talks about her Italian family background and parents; memories of Gwalia, W.A. and Boulder W.A.; her stepfather Martin Bonazzi; her schooling at South Boulder School; speaking Italian at home; baseball and sport at school; leaving school at 14; her eldest brother working with the De Campi’s in the market garden; money given to the household; other brother working in the mines; her first job as housecleaner and later work at the Cornwall Hotel; the Kalgoorlie riots; trips to Kalgoorlie from Boulder by tram; the Kalgoorlie murders (1926); her working day and uniform; Cornwall Hotel dances; her marriage at 21 to Frank Beccarelli; their first home at Norseman, W.A. and the birth of her children; WWII and her husband’s enlistment and active service; living with her mother during the war and working at the Cornwall; ration coupons; an Air-raid shelter in Boulder; shops; post war, husband working in fruit shop and machine mining; the deaths in the family from Silicosis; pensions; her children’s work; money and relationships.