SALVATORE’S TRAVELS, came second in the ASCCA creative writing competition 2011

SALVATORE’S TRAVELS

Once upon a time, a long time ago in a village hundreds, and hundreds of miles away a boy named Salvatore Passanisi was born.  The year was 1859 and the place was Augusta Sicily Italy.

Salvatore (Sal) grew up on his parent’s vineyard, learning from his father’s how to grow grapes right up to making of wine and he was very good at this trade.

Even so Sal was not happy, he was bored with his life, and he wanted adventure. From the vineyard Sal could see the tall masks of the sailing ships in the nearby port and he became envious of those who travelled on them. For this is what he wanted to do to travel the world and see all the wondrous new places.

When Sal turned seventeen he told his family he wanted to leave home and work on one of these ships. His parents were not happy with this and tried to talk Sal out of going, tell him life at sea would be very hard but he would not listen and he became so miserable that they finally let him have his way.

The next day Sal went down to the dock found that there was an Italian merchant ship which was bound for Sydney town who wanted crew members and within the week Sal was on board and heading out to sea.

All went well for a couple of days the sea it was all smooth sailing and Sal was very happy with the work even though the living conditions were a bit cramped. Then everything started to go wrong.

First they ran into a huge storm, the ship started to toss. As the wind became stronger the ship started rolling and pitching so much that the swells seemed as if they would engulf them all. Sal and many others were violently sea sick, so much so that Sal though he was going to die.

Just as he was nearly getting his sea legs, the ship was then becalmed, they were going nowhere and this lasted for days on end. The food and water supplies started to run low so they were rationed. The food that was left was bad and full of grubs, and illness raged. 

The long and uncomfortable trip was trying everyone's patience and quarrels and drunkenness were regular.

Sal started to hate the cramped conditions on board and the lack of freedom. Most of all he missed his family the vineyard and friends. He started to think to himself “Why did I wont to travel, why didn’t I stay at home, why did I not listened to my parents”, and he long to be on dry land once more.

When the ship finally reached Sydney Town Sal had had enough of ship life. So the first chance he got he jumped ship vowing never to set foot on a ship again.

He headed into the bush, to get away from the law as far as he could, so he could not be sent back aboard that awful ship.

Sal travelled up the Georges River for days until he finally arriving in Holsworthy district. When he arrived there he was befriended by William and Lucy Leane and they let him stay on the property.

On the farm William had started a small vineyard, Sal took over the running of this and under his expert hands his vines became well known all over the district.

William and Lucy had a big family with many daughters. One of them was Mary-Jane, who was around Sal’s age. Sal & Mary fell in love and were married on 27 Oct 1887, in a little convict church in Liverpool NSW.

For a wedding Present William gave Sal and Mary part of his land to call their own.

Sal and Mary built a lovely stone cottage on the land and started a vineyard which helped to sustain themselves and their five children.

Salvatore was now very pleased with himself that he had travelled from that faraway land for now he had everything he really ever wanted. He never learnt to speak much English and he never saw his own family again but none of that mattered for he was devoted to his very petite wife Mary.

And they (you guessed it) lived happily ever after until Mary Jane passed away in 1945 in aged 89 and Salvatore died on 4 August 1948 aged 88.

The moral of this story is

Sometimes traveling is good for your health, Love life and your well-being