My Journey with Mother Rosa

Can you imagine being a young Italian girl in a strange country, newly married, and scarcely able to speak the English language? Little did Rosa know that when she first arrived in Australia, the letter she held in her hand destined for a certain young man called Giovabattista, would be the beginning of a courtship leading to marriage. No sooner were the wedding festivities over, a lifetime of enduring hardship in the cane fields of far northern Australia becomes entrenched. Within no time, her "Batti' or John, as she affectionately calls him, is away engaged in a war in which he had no intention of participating. However, a passion for his new-found country tells him he must now fight for it. He leaves his Rosa and four children and goes to support the Australian Defense Forces repel the invading Japanese armies in the Torres Straits. She resolves disputes to the bitter end, and when not able to, she displays her usual volatile anxiety syndrome. To add further to her woes, when she was given the Malocchio (Evil Eye), Rosa's life spiraled into serious grief and depression. Her real world comes crashing down once again when her eldest son dies at the early age of 38. She never reaches, or for that matter, never wants to achieve closure. Her 'baby' Nino always endeavors to adopt a counselling position with his mother, using his 'bush' psychology, or psycho babble. His constant psychoanalysis to friends and family about his philosophy of life was at times a help or hindrance, depending on circumstances. The final stage comes when her beloved 'Batti' dies. His tragic death, although not unexpected, heralds the last years of grief and despair until her own sorrowful passing.