Mendolia Family

He had been a fisherman as a boy in Sicily and his father had worked in an anchovy processing factory. His wife Rosa and eldest daughter Enza migrated to Australia in 1954. They went on to have Jim, Nella, Carmelo, Franca and Aldo.

Rosa used to cry a lot in the early days, she was so homesick. But then the city became a magnet for other Italian families like theirs and soon they felt at home. Francolino didn’t like seeing sardines going to waste, so the Mendolia family would eat them, but Jim says filleting the little fish was an onerous chore for Rosa. She would spend a lot of her time filleting the sardines to use for stuffing pasta or for crumbing and frying.

Sardines were a lot of their diet growing up, because they were so cheap and plentiful. Rosa used to marinate them in the Spanish style of white anchovies, with oil and vinegar and herbs; or she’d make a stuffing of breadcrumbs, egg and herbs and sandwich that between two fillets, tie them together and fry them; or cook them in a rich tomato sauce.

At other times, lobster was on the menu. Rosa would often send the kids off to school with the hollowed-out crusts of bread loaves, stuffed with lobster salad and dressed with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Sardines may have been humble sustenance, but being the children of a lobster fisherman wasn’t without its perks.

Rosa started selling sardines from home, because they caught so many. Their neighbours would come over and bring her apples and oranges from their garden, fresh vegetables and herbs in exchange. For years matriarch Rosa Mendolia sold hand-filleted sardines from the back yard of their Suffolk Street property and that is where The Fremantle Sardine Company began.

Mama Rosa was not only the backbone of the household, but Jim’s greatest champion. She never gave anyone a discount on our sardines. “My boys work too hard, I can’t take a cent off. Not one cent!’”

In 1980, Jim Mendolia started working full-time, but had been netting since he was a kid. He learnt the skill from his Father and from Beach seining from South Fremantle as a kid. In 1988, Francolino encouraged the family to open a factor and Mendolia Seafoods was born. Jim saw an ad for a herring fillet machine and a Danish guy brought one over and in two weeks he was able to convert the herring (rollmop) machine to do small sardines. It was doing 100 fish a minute. The “Bella del Tindari” and “Auschovies” anchovy/sardine fillets were the first brands that emerged from their first processing plant in Myaree.

One of their many favourite ways to eat them, was to cook them over coals and baste them with olive oil, garlic, oregano and parsley. It gave Jim the idea to start the first Fremantle Sardine Festival in 1991 which the Mendolia family ran for 11 years. There were various other inspirations too. A friend of Jim’s had been to Portugal where Sardines are barbecued on the wharves and served with fresh bread and wine for passing tourists. As Jim explains, “We got a group of friends and volunteers, and we gave thousands of tastings of sardines. We did it a second year and a camera crew came and suddenly sardines were vogue. Pretty soon sardines were appearing on the menu of the trendiest restaurants throughout the country.”

The Sardine Festival went from strength to strength. It captured the public imagination and exceeded the organisers expectations, attracting 15,000 people in the first year and 25,000, 35,000 and 50,000 in ensuing years. In 1994 it attracted 70,000 people, making it the largest one day event in Western Australia. All the proceeds from the festival went towards the Fremantle Hospital Children’s Ward. Jim was unable to renew his public liability insurance after the 9/11 tragedy. The festival ran for 11 years, and to this day, remains one of the most successful seafood festivals in WA.

The Mendolia company ceased production of seafood in 2000 after two bouts of disease wreaked havoc on sardine harvesting in WA. It later re-emerged and moved premises. In 2018, a purpose-built factory in O’Connor opened the Mendolia Seafoods line, which expanded to include Australian Wild Caught Salmon and Tuna.

Francolino died in 1995, aged 68 after a lengthy battle against illness. Rosa died in 2009. They both left behind a tremendous legacy - The Mendolia family being responsible for getting more Australians to start eating Sardines rather than just using them for bait. In 2019, Jim Mendolia was awarded the Michael Kailis Leadership Award at the WA Seafood Awards. That year he was inducted into the National Seafood Hall of Fame.

Jim the Sardine Man can still be found onboard his boat the Mar Tirreno on most mornings and his brothers Carmelo and Aldo continue to fish too. Jim leaves in the early hours of the morning from Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour to seek out a school of Sardines. He is normally back by the time the Sun is coming up to greet the Seagulls on the jetty awaiting a free feed. Some days he spends hours mending broken nets. But this is the life he knows best.