Italian Diaspora Australia
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Dante under the Southern Cross: Australian Reflections on the 700th Anniversary of the Passing of Dante Alighieri
Does Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet who died more than 700 years ago, really have anything to do with gum trees and koala bears? It’s that kind of question that drew together Australian Dante Alighieri Societies to talk about Dante, in a series of presentations around Australia which stretched from Perth to Brisbane. Despite the fact that Dante never knew of Australia’s existence, he did think about us in a way. He wondered what the stars might look like under southern skies, and he put four stars he imagined above our heads. Did he know about the Southern Cross? Some think, maybe he somehow he found out about it. Maybe…
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Dante Alighieri in a Wide Brown Land*
On the hill beyond Canberra’s lake we do not find ourselves in Dante’s dark wood. Instead, the hundred carefully nurtured forests of the National Arboretum surround us. Some of its trees are from Australia, but many are from far beyond. As we appreciate their beauty, we see that these forests can symbolise Italians in Australia,[1] for we are part of the diverse heritage of this continent. Yet as our eyes turn to the ridge near the Himalayan Pines, we see a rusted monument rise from the land before us.[2] It is timeless, as it proclaims Dorothea Mackellar’s words “Wide Brown Land”. She wrote them about Australia in 1907; a young…
