Move the Mountains

by Emily Conolan

  All over the world, women and girls still experience violence and discrimination because of their gender. In 1950s Australia, where this book is set, women faced a tough battle to be recognised as equal to men. Generally, at that time, society believed that a woman’s most important job was to marry, have children, and keep her husband happy by cooking perfect meals, caring for the children, and keeping the house sparkling clean and beautiful. (Does that sound boring to you? It was to a lot of women then, as well!) Only one in five university students was female, and women who wanted an education or a career (especially in a male-dominated field like engineering) would have been treated with scorn.

  Now, women can become pastors and priests, join the army, marry and divorce as they wish, and take maternity leave without losing their jobs – none of which they could legally do in the 1950s. Thanks to the efforts of those who campaigned for women’s rights and led the way, women have more opportunities than ever before.

  However, we still have some way to go to achieving true equality. The Human Rights Commission reports that, as of 2018, women spend twice as many hours a day as men doing unpaid domestic work. They are three times more likely to be the victims of domestic violence than men, and they still only earn eighty-five cents for every dollar a man makes. In Indigenous communities in Australia and other countries, particularly countries affected by war or poverty, those statistics are much worse. In sexist societies, men are harmed too, because they are pressured into being tough, competitive and aggressive all the time.

  True gender equality starts in our own communities. Do you ever see sexist things in your school playground, such as girls being told not to join in a rough sports game, or boys being teased for crying? Do you ever notice at a family gathering that the mothers, aunties and grandmas are doing more housework than the fathers, uncles and grandpas?

  If you notice these things, take a stand, by stepping in and saying you don’t think it’s right! Everyone deserves equal rights, and equal responsibilities.

  Return to the end of scene 20 to make your choice.

  FACT FILE:

  MENTAL HEALTH AND TREATMENT

  We all feel a wide range of emotions, such as anger, joy, sadness and fear. Sometimes we can swing between emotions very quickly, and sometimes our feelings can frighten us, or those around us. Sometimes we can think or believe things that aren’t true, such as that our friends secretly hate us, or that it was our fault that our parents got a divorce. Sometimes we get overwhelmed or confused about how to handle strong feelings, and this can interfere with normal life. Almost everyone feels like this from time to time. It’s good to get help with those strong feelings, but experiencing them doesn’t mean you have a mental illness.

  Nobody thinks it’s normal to be happy all the time, or that we even should be. We’re actually lucky that we can experience a wide range of emotions, because we need all our feelings to be able to understand the world and form healthy relationships. But sometimes a person can really struggle to get back to a balanced state of mind. Their strong feelings or disturbed thoughts can seem to dominate every part of their life, and they can struggle to live normally. They might be classified by a doctor as having a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety (both of which are very common and affect one and two million Australians respectively).

  Luckily, our understanding of mental illness has come a long way in the past centuries. It is no longer thought of, as it once was long ago, as being caused by demons, and those who are mentally ill are no longer locked away in asylums in horrific conditions. Throughout history, doctors have tried strange and sometimes damaging therapies to try to ‘cure’ mental illness, such as lobotomies (surgery to remove parts of the brain), experimental medicines, and inducing hypothermia through extreme cold. Overall, it is only recently that society has begun to treat people with mental health conditions with kindness and respect.

  In the 1950s, when this book is set, it was still taboo to admit that you, or a family member, had a mental illness, and you could still be subjected to many of the experimental and damaging treatments mentioned above.

  Veterans like Charlie who came back from World War II with what we would now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often buried their feelings and never talked about the terrible things they had seen. Pretending that mental health problems don’t exist only makes them worse.

  These days, doctors and mental health advocates encourage everyone to talk about the stresses and strong feelings in our lives, so that we can get support before they turn into major, harmful problems. Sometimes certain drugs can be used to help patients concentrate, relax, or feel more cheerful or calm again. A wide range of other therapies including art therapy, play therapy and family counselling can also help.

  If you or anyone you know is under emotional stress, talk to a trusted adult, or call a counselling helpline. In Australia, you can call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

  Return to the end of scene 30 to make your choice.

  DID THAT

  REALLY HAPPEN?

  World War II Allied pilots hidden in caves in Lenola, Italy...

  YES, BUT THEY WERE AMERICANS. I was originally told a second-hand family story that a distant relation of mine, Dan Quinto, had helped to hide an Australian pilot in the caves around Lenola, and kept him alive for eight months until the war ended. The story went that when the war was over, this Australian pilot invited Dan to come and work on his family’s property, and that was how the Quintos’ life in Australia had begun. When I traced the story back to Dan, he said that no, actually, there were three men rescued from the crashed plane, they were all American, and although his family did hide them in caves and risk their lives to save them from the Germans for eight months, after the war they had no further contact with them. Dan’s family came to Australia because a wealthy landowner wanted to recruit labourers for land-clearing. But the second-hand story was so satisfying that it had already claimed its place in my heart, and in this book! It does, however, create a historical inaccuracy: the Australian Air Force was involved in the Allied invasion of southern Italy generally, but not of Lenola.

  Ships’ captains withholding rations to sell for profit ...

  YES, ACCORDING TO THE LEGENDS OF ANTONIO. Antonio Pani, an ex-Snowy Scheme employee, told me that this did indeed happen on his boat journey to Australia. Once the source of the food shortage was revealed, he and some friends apparently mutinied, locking the ship’s captain in a cupboard! When they reached Australia they were at first arrested, then released when they told their story. Toni was among many colourful raconteurs whom I met while researching this book.

  Accidents on the Snowy Scheme ...

  YES, BUT I’VE ALTERED NAMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES IN THIS STORY. Most people I talked to about their time on the Snowy Scheme could remember witnessing an accident or at least hearing about one, and many could remember work that was so intense and dangerous it’s lucky they survived. Wally Stumpf told me about a man hiding under a skip who lost an arm when a metal pipe slipped out of its sling and came hurtling down the tunnel. Nick Barlee told me about the accidental explosions that occurred underground when tunnellers drilled into old holes with traces of explosive left behind. Frank Rodwell told me of the people who died of asphyxiation after leaving a kerosene heater on overnight, and he also told me of the unforgettable ‘staring man’ who emptied his food onto the tabletop in the mess hall every night. These events occurred to different people in different years than the ones mentioned here, but they all happened. So did many other incredible tales, which couldn’t all fit into this book.

  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans being denied a fair go ...

  SADLY, THIS IS TRUE. Towards the end of this book, ‘you’ see a dark-skinned war veteran on the streets of Sydney. He is a returned Indigenous soldier. During World War II, many Indigenous people went to war for Australia, even though Australia still discriminated against them terribly. Would you go to war for a country that
didn’t even give your peoples the right to vote? How would you feel about fighting for a government that still had the policy of stealing your children away from their families? These heroic soldiers put their lives on the line and stood up to defend a nation whose governments since colonisation had never defended them. If they hoped their service might change things when they came home, they were sadly mistaken. Many Indigenous ex-servicemen were denied entry into RSL groups, had their veteran’s pensions withheld, and were excluded from Legacy funding. All Indigenous returned soldiers had to face the injustice of being treated as less than equals in a country they had made enormous sacrifices to defend. In 2017, Indigenous veterans were invited to lead the ANZAC Day marches for the first time.

  JOURNEY MAP

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  SO MANY PEOPLE shared their wonderful stories with me while I researched this book. Thank you to my Zia Rosella and Dan and Joe Quinto, for tales of the airman over Lenola – I hope you are happy to see this story take flight into imagination. My deepest thanks to you also, Zia Rosella, for all your advice on the book’s Italian cultural content and your endless generosity and patience.

  I was lucky to be given a grant by Snowy Mountains Hydro to travel to Canberra, Cooma and Cabramurra and see these places for myself. Thank you to Snowy Mountains Hydro, and to all the people who contributed to this research trip, particularly Lara Sav from Snowy Hydro, Sandy Van Der Toorn at Woden Community Service, and my cousin Jenni Savigny in Canberra, who just happened to be working on an oral histories project with ex-Snowy workers at the same time!

  I was also incredibly lucky to interview many people who still remember World War II, and who were among the first migrants to arrive in Australia after the war and begin work on the Snowy Hydro Scheme. A huge thank you goes to all the Snowy workers who shared their stories with me in interviews: Antonio Pani; Walter and Marian Stumpf; Bill Benson; Artur Baumhammer; Carlo Aggio; Frank Rodwell; Jock Montgomery; Norm Kopievsky; Ervino Bertolin; Bruno Bruno; and next generation Snowy worker Nick Barlee. It’s amazing to think that this extraordinary time in history all happened within your lifetimes.

  Thanks to everyone who helped with consultation when I wrote my way into sensitive ground: Dr Jared Thomas for advising me on the Indigenous content; Amelia Padgett, Josh Santospirito and Alice Downie for their advice on the sections involving mental illness; Rachel Markos for her perspective on what the word ‘wog’ means for Greek Australians today; and all the Polish friends-of-friends on Facebook who analysed Edik’s dying words. Thanks too to Pippa Robinson and Suzy McRae, who both grew up in the Snowy Mountains, for their dedicated historical proofreading.

  I was lucky to work with two editors on this book: the marvellous Nan McNab and the magnificent Elise Jones. Between them, they improved this book out of sight with their hawks’ eyes for detail and astute emotional intelligence. My gratitude once again to Erica Wagner and the team at Allen & Unwin, who are switched on, committed and, best of all, kind.

  All writers get baffled and disheartened sometimes, and Steve Mushin has been there with fantastic advice and unflagging enthusiasm at every stage of every book. To my wonderful family, especially my kids and husband: thanks for always listening to me and believing in me, and for making all my adventures so much better.

  If you are one of the wonderful readers who has written me a letter, I give you my biggest and most enthusiastic thanks of all. The Freedom Finders is for you – I hope you continue to enjoy the series!

  About the Author

  EMILY CONOLAN IS a writer and teacher, who is also known for her humanitarian work. For her role in establishing a volunteer support network for asylum seekers in Tasmania, she has been awarded Tasmanian of the Year, Hobart Citizen of the Year, and the Tasmanian Human Rights Award. The stories of courage and resilience she has heard in the course of her work with refugees, combined with tales from her own family history, inspired her to write the Freedom Finders series.