Pio Vico Armati (1846 to 1923) - A Family History
A Family History
concerning Pio, his family and descendants
by
Peter McLean Armati
This is a family research document, and
copyright approval for the material used has not been sought from the
publishers of the various works used in the research. As a consequence, the
people who use this text should respect its special nature, and not copy it for
any reason other than further research and study.
The information contained in this Internet
file is a partial extract from the book of the same name published in
Please address any enquiries concerning this
document to the author, whose email address is armati@exemail.com.au
Chapter 1 Beginnings : 1846 to 1875
Chapter 2 Early Successes : 1875 to 1890
Chapter 3 The getting of Wisdom: 1890 to
1923
Chapter 4 Obituaries
and other writings
Chapter 6 Armati people
in history
Appendix C Chiaffredo
Venerano Fraire
Appendix D Ships and Shipping Lists
Appendix F Townsville
Grammar School
Appendix G Italian History 1870
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
bears all its sons away:
they fly, forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.
(Isaac Watts, 1674-1748: based on Psalm 90)
Pio Armati was born on Sunday August 23, 1846 and was baptised in the small town of Marino, Italy, fifteen miles south-east of Rome, in the Church of St. Barnabas the Apostle near the town's centre. According to the church's baptismal registry he was baptised Pius Antonius Francescus Maria Armati at that time, and not Pio Vico Armati. His father was stated on his birth certificate to be Giacomo Armati, and his mother, Giuditta Ungherini.
Pio
means "Pious" in Italian, and Vico means "alley, lane, village,
hamlet or region". Pio's use of "Vico" in his name appears to
have commenced about the time of his arrival in
Pio
was admitted to the Roman Pontifical Seminary at the age of eleven. A
certificate dated
A
Seminary was, at that time, the only serious school that young people could
attend, unless their families were wealthy enough to be able to afford
permanent live-in private tutors. Only a minority of children who were admitted
to the seminaries afterwards left as fully ordained priests. It would appear to
be highly unlikely that Pio was ever ordained.
Pio
studied at the Seminary from 1859 to 1867 studying Grammar, the Humanities,
Rhetoric, and Philosophy. He matriculated, and entered. the faculty of Philosophy on
He
studied at the
On
The
Pope is quoted by some writers as having addressed the following letter to the
commander of his forces, General Kanzler: " .... the
defence should only consist in such a protest as would testify to the violence
done to us, and nothing more; in other words, that negotiation for surrender
should be opened as soon as a breach should be made." In fact the
fighting lasted five hours, and, according to A. Gallenga, "The Pope
seemed to expect that the avenging angel might at any time appear, smite the
enemies, then turn upon him, God's vicar as he was, and reproach him for his
impatience and little faith." At last, after some nineteen Papal
soldiers and forty-nine Italians had been killed and Cadorna had made a breach
in the walls at Porta Pia, the Pope ordered the surrender.
What
happened next in Pio Armati's life is, at this stage, unclear. Pio had been a
member of the Pope's Voluntary Reserve Army in April 1869. This voluntary
formation of the Papal States' territorial army was involved not so much in
preventing the Italian army entering Rome, (as the city fell because of the
Pope's decision, effectively undefended), but in constraining the activities of
irregular units of Italian nationalists (sometime bandits operating as
patriots) during the 1860s.
Clearly,
senior members of this army (which the Certificate from the Pope's
Voluntary Reserve Army indicates Pio to have been), would not have been popular
with the new government controlling
It
would seem almost certainly that Pio met Bishop Quinn in
In
correspondence with the Brisbane Catholic Church Archivist, Father Denis
Martin, we have been advised that all Bishop Quinn's assisted emigrants were required
to attend school in
One
may speculate that Pio was fighting inside the walls of Rome against the
invading army of the King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, not only to protect the
Pope and Rome, but also to protect the value of his Law Degree, which would not
be recognised by the newly emerging Italian state: that here in Rome he met
Bishop Quinn, (perhaps Pio was one of the wounded who was attended to by Bishop
Quinn), who suggested that Pio might do well to go to the new colony of
Queensland to make his fortune there. Bishop Quinn was actively recruiting both
clerics and laymen in
In his
book From Italy to Ingham, William Douglass asserts that Pio was
studying in
Armati was another Quinn recruit. Before immigrating
to Australia the bishop had founded St. Mary's College in Dublin, and it was
there that Armati, as a student, had met Quinn on one of the prelate's many
return visits to Ireland and was persuaded to accompany him back to Queensland.
He settled in Townsville where he founded a pharmacy, which remained his main
activity.
So it
was that this highly educated twenty-four-year-old citizen of
Father
Doctor Carmusci, who accompanied Pius Armati for over one hundred days in their
journey to
Two
months later than Pio, Bishop Quinn, his entourage, and many of the group of
Italian immigrants including nineteen year old Chiaffredo Venerano Fraire,
arrived in
In an
unpublished biography of Chiaffredo Fraire, Dr. D. J. Bean writes:
Young
Fraire had a rough time in some ways just at first. He made the usual mistake
of staying with some of his own countrymen who had arrived in
On
By
Where
Pio obtained the funds to purchase E. L. Kenway's shop in Flinders Street,
Townsville is not known, but if the story is true that Pio's father died in
Italy before Pio came to Australia and that he sold all his father's properties
giving much of the money to his sisters for dowries, it is quite possible that
he had some small wealth at the beginning of his time in Australia.
Pio
was listed as a chemist and druggist in Townsville in 1875 in Willmett's
Almanac 1876. He was advertising as a chemist and druggist in the Townsville
Times on
Townsville
was only a small, eleven year old town at that time, with unformed dirt roads.
Originally, Townsville was only a small port for pastoralists settled to the
west of Townsville; after 1867 it became the port for five major gold fields
and later the centre for rich sugar-growing districts to the north and south.
It was to grow rapidly. It was not a natural choice for a harbour, as it had a
river with a sand bar to the ocean and with no deep water close to the land.
Nevertheless, Townsville on
Over
the next twenty years the white population of
Riding
on the back of this period of rapid growth Pio was to find it relatively easy
to be successful. The slowing down of this phase of rapid growth would bring
surprises to many people, including Pio, Chiaffredo Fraire and Robert Philp.
Initially
it would have been very tough for Pio; he was starting up a business from
scratch in this primitive environment. Less than eleven years earlier, the
white immigrant pioneers had begun to occupy the land where Townsville was now
growing, apparently without any resistance from any aboriginals who were living
there. There are no accounts that the aboriginals were murdered, as had
occurred only two years previously in Bowen, one hundred miles to the south of
Townsville. These were tough, raw and wild pioneering days, not the comfortable
safe times in which we now live.
Over
the ensuing years, Pio, whilst appointed a chemist, also acted as a doctor,
dentist, optometrist and a veterinary surgeon, all in an unofficial capacity.
Pio was also authorised by the Government to supply opium to registered Chinese
opium addicts.
The
first church in Townsville, the Catholic Church of St. Joseph on the
We
must remember that Pio was only twenty-eight years old when he commenced as a
chemist in Townsville, and that he was educated in Italian, law and philosophy,
not English, commerce and pharmacology! He was used to the environment of
ancient
The Cleveland
Bay Express reported on
Pio
and others including James Burns, W. Aplin and Dr. Roche wrote letters to the
newspaper to encourage Mr. P. F. Hanran and Mr. Thankfull Willmett to nominate
for vacancies in the Townsville Municipal Council on
On
Christmas Day 1875 it is said that Pio's horse "Cossack" beat
O'Neill's "Shamrock" on the beach in a match for £ 10. That would
have been a most significant wager in those days.
Pio
swore an oath of allegiance "to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, as lawful
Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of this
Colony of Queensland" in Townsville on May 16, 1876.
Pio
was regularly received into Free Masonry in Townsville on
He was
reported to have been appointed as a member of the Burdekin and
On
The
Norris children had been born in
It may
seem to be an extraordinary change in behaviour, to move from being intimately
connected with the Roman Catholic Church, becoming a Mason, and then marrying
an Anglican woman, and subsequently adopting the faith of the Church of
England. To some large degree his involvement with the Masons could quite well
have been to ensure that business was directed to him, because the mateship
afforded by the Masons would have been a very important part of his business
network.
It is
noteworthy that at least two of the men who played an important part in Pio's
life were also Masons. These were Chiaffredo Fraire and Robert Philp. Mr.
Thankfull Willmett was also a Mason and was at one stage the Treasurer for the
Townsville branch. It seems almost certain that P. F. Hanran was also a Mason.
As can be noticed on the maps of towns where Pio later purchased land, these
names keep cropping up together. Robert Burns appears also to have been a
Mason.
It is
thought that as a consequence of Pio's marriage to
Pio
and Frances' marriage was to produce five children over the next twenty-four
years; Blanche (1877), Percy (1879), Leo Vincent (1882), Clive Vivian (1884),
and Rex Gordon (1899).
On
On
At a
School of Arts meeting held on March 17, 1877, Pio said that 'the fact that
we are about to occupy a fine building draws attention to the fact that the
books comprising the library do not occupy more than two shelves'. This
building, which is today the only 1870s timber building now left in Townsville,
had a concert hall seating 800 people. It is now
Blanche
Adelina Giuditta Bianca Armati was born on
On
On
Pio
was a also keen gardener, and recognising this, on
December 2, 1878 Pio, together with Mr. Burstall, was asked by the Townsville
Municipal Council to advise them on the layout and design of the Townsville
Botanical Gardens.
Percy
Edgar Armati was born
Pio
signed a petition on
In May
1879 Pio was advertising not only as a retail Chemist and Druggist, but also
wholesale. In addition he was supplying flowering plants, fruit trees and
garden seeds. On
In an
essay written by Guy Pearse (held by the
In
1996 Nancy Armati sold the land to the Department of Defence. The land had been
evaluated for minerals by Planet Exploration in the 1950s, and found not to
have any deposits of any value, even though the surrounding area is rich in
Nickel.
Pio
was appointed one of the founding trustees of the Queen's Park Trust on
The
chemist shop in Flinders Street Townsville which Pio had bought in 1875 from
Kenway was sold to Mr. Atkinson in 1881, who later in
the same year took in Frank Powell and continued to operate the pharmacy under
the name of Atkinson and Powell for some years.
Leo
Vincent Armati was born
The
Townsville Municipal Council records indicate that on
From
1881 until 1887, Pio was in a business partnership with Chiaffredo Venerano
Fraire. He appears to have accumulated a small fortune during these seven years
for he "retired" at the end of this period as a merchant at the age
of 41. During this period, Townsville's population grew from 5,410 people in
1881 to 11,454 in 1886.
We
read in Dr. Bean's biography of C. V. Fraire:-
Soon afterwards (1880), he [Fraire] and
a friend, Armati, bought out the Burns, Philp & Co. business at Townsville,
and carried it on successfully for a further seven years. During this time
Fraire again made a short trip to
And in
William Douglass' book "From Italy to Ingham":-
In 1879 Philp sent Fraire to
The Armati-Fraire drapery business lasted from 1880 to
1887, at which time Fraire sold his interest and went to
On
James
Burns had established a business in Townsville in 1873. He persuaded Robert
Philp to join him as a partner and manager in 1874. After the death of his wife
and also after Burns contracted malaria in
Burns'
large wooden store in Flinders Street retailed a great variety of commodities -
groceries, drapery, hardware, boots, wines and spirits and so on .
James
Burns was not happy about Philp's idea. Burns wrote to Philp in 1877:
You are well aware the wholesale and retail business
at Townsville are grafted into one another and if you lose the carriers and
public retail trade your business would get confined to a paper business almost
entirely and you would run large risks on small profits.
As a
Trustee of the Queen's Gardens, Pio inspected the twenty-one acres of garden
which had been cleared in the Queen's Park on
Pio's
birth certificate was authenticated by the British Consulate in
He
purchased a couple of acres of land in the Roseneath Subdivision Estate, on the
outskirts of Townsville, in 1884. It is thought that Pio bought this land to
make a "speculative killing", and that he had no intention to live or
develop the land there. During World War II the Army took over this land and
built reinforced-concrete bunkers on it. Clive Vivian Armati bequeathed this
land to his son Clive Hylton Armati, who eventually sold it to Mr. Gallaway. Mr. Gallaway converted the bunker into a house,
with some difficulty.
The
Post Office directory in 1884 listed Armati & Fraire as agents, clothiers.
They also were wine sellers.
Pio
was instructed in the mysteries of the Royal Arch Degree of Free Masonry on
In
1884 Pio gave most generously to the fund being collected to create the
In
July 1884, Pio and his family were living on the high side of Cleveland
Terrace, adjoining "The Rocks" site.
Clive
Vivian Armati was born on
On
On
On
The North
Queensland Telegraph reported on
The
1887 Valuation Records for Thuringowa show that Mr. J. Ahearne sold
As a
ratepayer, on
Pio
was actively engaged with the Townsville Show Society, and on
In
1887, Pio built the Queen's Building, in
The
North Queensland Telegraph reported on May 21, 1887 that P. V. Armati had built
premises in Flinders Street between Atkinson & Powell (thought to have
been very close to the site of the chemist shop which Pio had bought from
Kenway in 1875) and the Australian Joint Stock Bank (now the Bank
Nightclub) known as Queen's Building. The Architect was W. Howard Tunbridge. It
was a two storey building with Doric columns supporting the entablature. The
ground floor was 1,500 square feet, with glass to within a few inches of the
footpath. Upstairs was let as offices with a private stairway to the
ground.
Next
door, to the left of the Queen's Building in the photo below, is the premises
of the early chemists Atkinson & Powell. Designed by Willoughby Powell, it
is the only shop to retain part of its original beautiful shop-front.
Pio
was a very strong supporter of "The Northern Queensland Separation
League": Pio was a signatory to the petition to the British Colonial
Secretary in
On
On
In
1887 Fraire sold his interest in the Armati & Fraire partnership and went
overseas to
In
November 1887 Pio was a Director of the Roslyn Park Land Company Limited.
On
Prior
to moving south, Pio purchased land around Townsville. Two pieces of land (at
least) were purchased at Mingela, which lies 78 Kms. south west of Townsville,
on the way to the old gold-mining town of Ravenswood. Chiaffredo Fraire also
purchased a piece of land here. As it turned out, the town never developed.
This was one of the investments which Pio made which turned sour on him in the
events leading up to the Bank Crash in 1893. Pio also owned land in Argentine,
Ayr and in Roseneath and Albion Estate in Townsville.
In
1888 Pio moved to Elston in 40 Nicholson Street, Burwood in Sydney, New
South Wales, occupying the eastern half (number 40) of a duplex house 40 and 42
Nicholson Street. The entire property was owned by Compton South Miller of
Singleton, New South Wales from 1877 until 1947. This property lies on the
South side of Nicholson Street, between Bold Street and Wentworth Road. Each
property stood on land measuring 172 feet by 50 feet.
Today
the area is rather run down and depressed, although there are a number of
substantial mansions, almost palaces, dotted here and there amongst the modern
suburban nightmare. At the time that Pio rented there, from 1888 to 1890, the
area would have been very respectable; his neighbours were solicitors, and an
ironmonger. Burwood, and later, Strathfield, were suburbs which were developing
from virgin bush in the 1870s and 1880s. These suburbs of Sydney are built on
land which is slightly higher than the surrounding suburbs.
Presumably
he brought his entire family to Sydney. Blanche would have been 11, Percy 9,
Leo 7, and Clive 4 when they moved south. It would seem likely that whilst Pio
probably did indeed intend to retire from pharmacy, that it was his intention
to develop in some new direction in Sydney.
On
November 6, 1888, Pio purchased three adjoining blocks of land on Liverpool
Road, Enfield, Sydney, one block to the East of the Baker Street/Liverpool Road
intersection. He paid £ 637:10:0 for the three blocks of land. In total the
land amounted to 1 Acre and 5 Perches (45000 sq. feet). Each block was 300 feet
by 50 feet. At the time that he purchased this land he was described as a
'Gentleman' who lived in Burwood NSW.
He
sold this land fifteen years later to the Bank of North Queensland on June 1,
1903. We do not know why he sold the land to a Bank, but most likely it was to
urgently settle some indebtedness which he had to the Bank at that time.
The
land lies about one kilometre from where he was living in 40 Nicholson Street,
Burwood. The location of both properties is marked in black rectangles on the
map. The land is in an area now zoned for shops and commerce. It is in fact the
site of a large Roman Catholic Church and College today (St. Joseph's). Pio did
not sell the land to the Catholic Church himself, but to the bank. The Catholic
church did not purchase the land until many years later. In fact it belonged to
the wife of a Methodist Minister in Victoria at one stage, and she split it up
into its original three blocks, and sold them separately. One may speculate
that Pio rented the house in Nicholson Street, and bought land nearby in
Liverpool Road for investment purposes. It may have been that he intended to
develop the three blocks into a home and a shop or shops. We will never know.
On
April 9, 1889 Pio was registered as a Pharmaceutical Chemist under the Pharmacy
Act of 1884 .
The getting of Wisdom: 1890 to 1923
Unfortunately,
Pio lost so much of his money in the events leading up to the 1893 bank crash
that he found it necessary to revise his plans and return to work as a
pharmacist until the day of his death in 1923. On May 2, 1890 he arrived back
in Townsville from Sydney, to buy two pharmacies; one in Flinders Street West
and the other in Flinders Street to the left of the Queensland Hotel (looking
from Flinders Street). He purchased these two shops from Mr. D'Weske, another
chemist in Townsville.
On
June 24, 1891, Pio was advertising in the Townsville Herald "P. V. Armati,
late E. D'Weske's Chemist Shop - McKenzie'se Building". The Queensland
Post Office Directory for 1891 shows Pio operating both businesses. However by
1893 William Clayton is shown at the Flinders Street West End chemist shop,
across the road from the Carriers Arms Hotel, although by 1894-5 Clayton no
longer occupied this shop. At this time Pio was living on the right-hand side
of Walker Street between Stanley and Stokes Streets.
From
1892 until his death in 1923, Pio's Chemist business occupied only this
premises beside the Queensland Hotel.
(Like
Pio, C. V. Fraire also had difficulties and was declared bankrupt in 1899 for
£30,000; Robert Philp's speculations led to his resignation from the board of
Burns, Philp & Co. in May 1893, although he was appointed a minister in the
Queensland Parliament nine days later, with the Mines Portfolio.)
Pio
Vico Armati and Chiaffredo Venerano Fraire had become actively engaged in
encouraging and promoting Italian immigration during the early expansion of the
sugar industry in North Queensland.
On October 24, 1891, 333 Italians of whom 267 were
single men, sailed from Genoa on the "Jumna" for the North Queensland
Sugarcane fields and banana plantations, to replace the South Sea Islanders and
Javanese men.
The
ship arrived in Townsville in December 1891. C. V. Fraire had suggested this
idea to the Queensland Government, and it had been championed in the Parliament
by Mr. Philp, Chiaffredo's friend from his earliest days in Townsville.
Chiaffredo had himself gone to Italy to select the new settlers. This was his
third overseas trip since his arrival in Brisbane, his first trip was as a
buyer for Burns, Philp & Co., and his second in 1887, at the end of his
partnership with Pio.
There
are stories that Pio Vico was the honorary Italian Consul in Townsville. These
thoughts are to some extent supported by writings in Sotto La Croce del Sud:
At the Immigration Depot, Mr. J. A. Wallace, Assistant
Immigration Agent, was able to listen to the Italians' ups and downs "with
the kind assistance of Mr. P. V. Armati".
and
also
On one occasion the whole Armati family were invited
together with the Mayor of Townsville and other notables to spend an evening at
the home of the Japanese Consul in Townsville. They were met by the consul, Mr
Tayui, and his wife, and also by the consul's secretary, Mr. Sugimura, at the
entrance to the verandas. Mrs and Miss Tayui wore 'very handsome kimonos' while
the other ladies were 'all elegantly frocked'. Owing to the crowded state of
the rooms, there was little dancing. The supper, however, was 'a very sumptuous
affair' and during the evening:
"The band discoursed sweet music, and at
intervals some excellent vocal and instrumental numbers were given. Miss Tayui
entertained her guests by rendering an instrumental solo on a 'Koto' a peculiar
Japanese stringed instrument, she also sang a little Japanese song,
accompanying herself on the 'Koto'."
And:
We have already read about Mr. Wallace, the Assistant
Immigration Agent, who could find more information about the Italians'
whereabouts "with the kind assistance of Mr. P. V. Armati". Armati
was born at Marino near Rome, immigrated to Australia in 1874, and was
naturalised in 1876. In Townsville he established a chemist's shop in Flinders
Street. At one stage he entered into a partnership with Fraire, and they traded
as Armati Fraire & Coy., drapers, ironmongers, wine sellers and general
merchants until 1889 when the partnership was dissolved. Armati encouraged and
promoted Italian immigration.
In
March 1892 a Dr. Hunter Finlay was arrested for attempting to procure an
abortion for Annie Keogh, a servant girl. The next day the court was cleared.
The prescription had been made up by P. V. Armati.
In July
1896 there was a fire in the Market Reserve on Flinders Street. The flames were
so intense that they scorched the shops on the opposite side of Flinders
Street, fracturing the plate glass windows in McKimmin and Richardson's and P.
V. Armati's chemist shop.
Rex
was born on November 17, 1899. At that time Pio and Frances were still living
in Walker Street, Townsville, between Stokes and Stanley Streets on the
right-hand side from Denham Street. Pio and Frances were waiting for their new
house to be completed. They moved into 11 (now 23) Hale Street after Rex was
born. In the Queensland Post Office Directory 1901 they are shown as still
living in Walker Street, but the Post Office records for 1902 show Pio and his
family living in 11 Hale Street for the first time.
There
was a serious outbreak of Bubonic Plague in Townsville in 1902. There were
seven cases of Bubonic Plague, of which five died. All the patients were nursed
in a special "Plague Tent" in Gregory Street. Mr. Bartholomew Watt, a
tenant in one of Pio's properties, in Flinders Street East, died of the Plague
on 21 August 1902. The Council later burnt the house to the ground, as a
preventative measure. Pio and the Council haggled for some time about the
amount of compensation owing to Pio, and finally settled on £20 compensation.
A
letter in the Townsville Municipal Council's files ated 1903 gives the
impression that Pio and Frances were living in Flinders Street at that time,
which is highly unlikely. Whether this was the case, or simply that the letter
was written from Pio's chemist shop in Flinders Street is unclear. Most likely
the latter was the case.
Pio
trained his sons Percy Edgar and Clive Vivian Armati to be chemists. Clive was
indentured to Pio Vico to learn the art and mystery of a
Pharmaceutical Chemist after the manner of an Apprentice; to serve from the
First day of January 1903 until the full end and term of three years from
thence following. On January 1, 1906 Pio certified on the back of the
Indenture papers that Clive Vivian Armati had duly completed his
apprenticeship to me.
Nancy
Armati and Sue Thomas recall that Pio used a price code in his shop based on
the Latin 'Pro sua fide' (on behalf of his faith). This code worked as
follows:
P
R O S U A F I D E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
So
2/10 (2 shillings and 10 pence - or two and ten pence) was coded R/PE. 1/3 (one
and threepence) was P/O and so on. This was general practice in retail shops in
those days and was continued right up to the time that the chemist shop was
closed down in 1966, at the time that decimal currency was being
introduced.
On
September 23, 1905 Leo Vincent Armati married Alice Mabel Ward, most probably
in Brisbane. Leo and Mabel's engagement was announced in Townsville in July,
1905, just prior to Leo's moving south to Brisbane to take up an appointment on
the staff of The Daily Mail. Their son, Louis Ward Armati, was born in
Brisbane on January 8, 1907. [Louis was later to change his name to Louis
Watts, after the failure of this marriage, and after his mother remarried, in
1921.]
Clive
qualified as a chemist on January 1, 1906 and in the same year Pio had a
telephone connected to his house.
Pio
owned four significant properties on Flinders Street in 1906. One of these was
a pair of adjacent properties on the west side of Flinders Street between
Blackwood and Stanley Streets, opposite the old Bulletin building, the
one-time Opus Night Club. The second was another pair of adjacent properties
running through from Flinders Street East to Melton Terrace beside the old Bank
of New South Wales on the corner of Flinders Street East and Wickham Street.
Blanche
married Harry Shepherd at St. James' Cathedral, Townsville on Easter Monday,
April 12. 1909 at 3:30 o'clock, the celebration of their marriage continued
afterwards in the Lounge, at the Queen's Hotel. (St. James' Cathedral is on
Cleveland Terrace, a few steps away from Armati Street.)
Percy
Edgar Armati married Isabel Florence McLean in Mackay, three hundred
and ninety five kilometres to the south of Townsville, on April 9, 1912. After
duxing Townsville Grammar, and being indentured to Pio, Percy had been a
chemist in Mackay for a few years at that stage, having earlier practised as a
chemist in Winton.
A
letter in the Townsville Municipal Council files dated June 23, 1913 indicates
that Pio was living on the corner of Hale and Stokes Streets at that
time.
On 12
October 1921 Rex Armati was diagnosed as having
contracted Bubonic Plague, which is said to have blinded him in one eye.
Pio
remained as a chemist in Townsville, with the later inclusion of Clive Vivian
Armati as a partner in the business, and Rex as an assistant, until his death
on Wednesday December 5, 1923.
When
Pio died, he had been living at "The Palms", 11 Hale Street, Stanton
Hill, Townsville. 11 Hale Street, Townsville (now re-numbered 23 Hale Street)
was the Armati family home. Clive and Rex were living in 11 Hale Street, as
well as Pio and Frances, at the time Pio died. The funeral left from "The
Palms" at
Pio
was buried on the same day that he died, in the Catholic section of the
Townsville Cemetery. He had a Roman Catholic burial, and he had been given the
last rites of the Catholic faith before his death, assisted by Mother Mary of
the Queensland Sisters of Mercy, and a Catholic Prelate.
To
help us uncover our true family history, we have indeed been fortunate that
there is a significant volume of public information about Pio and his family
available to assist us in verifying the facts. It has 'only' been a process of
digging it all up, out of the various archives around Australia, and to a
lesser extent around the world. There are many conflicting family (hi)stories;
facts seem to destroy quite a number of these as (romantic) anecdotes. This
book attempts to follow the truth.
Despite
this wealth of material, the public documents themselves are not always
accurate either. Witness the following (from My Life 1894-1987 by Lady
Phyllis Cilento)........
On Stanton Hill lived the Armatis. The Senior Armati
was the chief pharmacist in the town. He was a Count in Italy, and although he
did not use the title in Australia, we all knew he was of noble birth.
We have
absolutely no indication that Pio was of noble birth, nor that he was a Count
in Italy. He certainly was not The Chief Pharmacist in Townsville,
although he was undoubtedly one of its leading chemists.
As the
research which has been necessary to compile this family history unfolded, it
became abundantly clear that the newspapers of the day are of paramount
importance as a primary source of information, even though they are not
themselves totally accurate. Prior to this, I had never truly appreciated their
value as a historical record. Nor of how quickly paper turns to dust, and how
poor is the quality of some micro-fiche copies of these documents!
The
book Sotto la Croce del Sud probably contains more references to the
Armati family in Townsville than any other single book that I have come across.
It is not always accurate, of course:
There are also some comments made by Mrs Penna
regarding Fraire and Armati. She felt that the two established businessmen in
Townsville were not above suspicion in their dealings with their fellow
countrymen. She said 'Armati and Fraire were tough on them' and then went on to
explain that when the Italians got sick they used to go to Armati, a Townsville
chemist, and he gave the Italians a packet of Epsom salt. 'That', Mrs Penna
continued 'went for everything, whether it was dying, fever, ...he used to
charge them ten shillings; it was funny...In those days you could get a packet
of Epsom salt for about four or five pence'.
From the contemporary press, however it can be
inferred that there was a small group of Italians, namely Armati, Fraire and
Thomatis who had been accepted by the community already, and some of their
deeds shed light on how they perceived their social function in relation to
education, politics, and welfare. Mr P. V. Armati, the chief pharmacist in
Townsville, lived with his family on Stanton Hill. When the trustees of the
Townsville Grammar School were considering whether to admit girls or not, they
sent a circular to the parents of the boys, and Armati who was referred to as a
leading citizen had no objection to the admission of girls. Armati was a member
of the Townsville Chamber of Commerce, and was among the judges at the 15th Show
of the Townsville Pastoral and Agricultural Association for the horticultural
section.
Another avenue to social acceptance or importance was
sport. The name Clive Armati recurs constantly in the
sports pages: from playing ping-pong to participating in the 100 yards in the
athletic games held at the Townsville Grammar School. As the years go by Clive
Armati seemed to devote more time and energy to team games. He was selected to
represent Townsville in a match played against the Cairns Cricket team. Tennis,
however, was the sport Clive Armati played most frequently, in singles and
doubles. He was selected to represent Townsville and he was also appointed as a
member of the committee of the North Queensland Tennis Association.
The social life of Italians varied widely, ranging as
they did from prominent people to poor labourers. During the last decade of the
19th century and the first of the 20th century
the Armati and Fraire families were very active at most of the social functions
held in Townsville, particularly Mrs. Frances Armati and her daughter Blanche.
Mrs Armati seems to have been constantly engaged during the 1890s, and comes
across as a protagonist who lived in a whirl of fetes and congratulatory
functions. From the Zingari Club Dance, accompanied by her daughter, and
wearing black satin and lace, she moves to the School of Arts to be present at
the Benevolent Ball. On this occasion she is wearing black merveilleux with
black lace. She is also conspicuous at various hospital balls clad in black and
cerise, and innumerable other venues, and black affects one's senses as if it
had been her favourite colour. Mrs Armati reminding the writer of Coco Chanel's
most obvious trademark, her black dress, concludes the parade by gracing the
lawn and grandstand at the Townsville Annual Race Meeting where, among the
music, animation, and excitement, she looms in "black hat with
feathers".
Miss Blanche Armati, following
her mother's example, appears to have become during the first decade of the
century the epitome of the society girl leading a charmed life. She was invited
to dances and weddings, and spent the evenings at the homes of local prominent
citizens. She sings, she plays, and alternates looking "very sweet in a
lovely clinging pink dress" and looking "dainty in a flowing white
Indian muslin much befrilled". Indeed she really flitters and flutters
about, making life one huge joy. Even as children the Armatis and Fraires were
considered to be one of the prettiest sights at the Fancy Dress Balls, and as the
years go by Victor Fraire was noticed playing the piano at the Sacred Heart
Church, thus contributing to "enhancing the evening's enjoyment"
while at the Townsville Grammar School, a member of the Armati family gave
musical items.
From contemporary press, and from oral recollections,
it is evident that some Italians took a vacation, a recreational activity that
varied according to means or character. Just before the end of the 19th.
Century, it was reported in the Townsville press that Fraire, accompanied by his
daughter, Ethel, went to Atherton, an area that might have reminded him of his
native alpine valleys. The name of Armati recurs quite often, particularly in
relation to the Armati brothers, and their sister. In the pages of the local
press readers were informed, for instance, that Clive Armati, who had spent a
fortnight in Mackay, had returned to Townsville by the 'Leuuka',
while Percy Armati, who had been visiting his parents on Stanton Hill,
Townsville, returned to Mackay by the 'Wodonga'. Blanche Armati enjoyed the
balmy air of Charters Towers and also visited the southern colonies. It was
reported that Mrs Armati and Miss Armati had left Townsville for Brisbane
Sydney and Hobart, and returned to Townsville five months later.
By contrast, the annual holiday of Giovanni Beccaris
as related by his daughter, Mrs Penna, was to travel to Ravenswood and Charters
Towers to visit other Italian pioneers. Some of the Italian pioneers, once they
got established, were also able to go to Italy on holiday. It was reported that
D. Scarie, from Ayr, perhaps Domenico Scarsi who arrived in 1891 at the age of
25, was leaving for the south, on his way to Italy on a nine months' trip. This
happened in 1910.
In May, 1896 the North Queensland Herald gives a description of the Café Chantant Moonlight Kiosk, with Chinese lanterns, and with matrons serving cof