IV
Two Difficult MonthsNovember-December 1928
Seven days after his arrival in Perth, Gino caught the train at 6.30 in the evening. Luigi asked an Australian couple in the same compartment to keep an eye on him. He gave Gino a roast chicken and some cheese and fruit for the journey, and a water bag in fine leather as a gift.
Darkness fell not long after the train left the station, and soon everyone had dozed off. But Gino couldn’t sleep. It would take two days to get to Gwalia, and he still wasn’t sure what to expect. Luigi had never been to the Goldfields, and – intentionally or not – had told him very little about what to expect. They had talked mostly about Italy or about life in Perth. Gino had met a few Italians, and had already learned to be on the alert for hostility from some Aus
