parallelo's "1900" project sets sail
… were some of the elements of the 1900 project launch at the Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide. Others included: walking tours conducted by Port Adelaide Visitor Centre volunteers, our story-tellers, champagne (courtesy of The Settlement Wine Co) and treats (by Rosa Matto). All agreed it was a great introduction to the project!
© Photograph courtesy of Peter Heydrich
What is 1900?
1900 will be performed in Adelaide and Perth in 2003/ 2004. Based on the
Italian text "1900" by Alessandro Baricco, the performance will
also include the real-life trials and tribulations of people who made a
boat journey from their country of origin to Australia: tying together the
many waves of migration, past and present with the perennial promise of a
new land.
Stories
My mother said at the departure: if
you do something wrong, throw yourself into the ocean and don’t even
arrive in Australia!! That’s what she said to me! I‘ll never forget
it, but for them it was as if …as if…as if I dishonoured the family,
that’s it! Do you understand?! Because I was young and inexperienced and
they thought something would happen to me ...they sent me because they
loved me and thought what if I changed my mind about him [my proxy
husband] on the ship!!" (Sara)
The band play because the ocean is scary, for people to forget about time and themselves: "We played to have them dance, because if you dance you cannot die, and you feel like you are God. And we played ragtime, because that’s the music God dances to, when no one can see Him. The one God would dance to, if he was Black." (Franco Minganti, "Novecento: An Italian Jazz Fable")
"We berthed at Melbourne on a beautiful April morning. The people looked so terribly small from where we were. All of a sudden I heard Mother shout, "There he is! There is your father!" Her face lit up with joy, and tears of happiness were pouring down her cheeks. A strange feeling came over me; it was so strange that even now, years later, I can not explain it. I could not understand what all the excitement was about. It was because of my father that I had lost all my friends… I did not care if he was there or not." (Adele)
If you’d like to contribute your boat journey story, or that of someone you know, please contact: Paola @ parallelo on (08) 8231 0070 or e-mail: project@parallelo.on.net. Or visit the website www.parallelo.on.net
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