Visaggio Family (Sergio)

In 1939 war broke out in Europe and lasted for 6 years, making life difficult during and after the war for young families. Domenico, Sergio’s older brother by a couple of years left Molfetta in 1949 to find work in Venezuela with an uncle and a year later in 1950 Sergio also left Molfetta to work with an uncle in Australia. Sergio’s father took him to Naples which is some four hours away on the Mediterranean side of Italy, where he boarded the Sebastian Gobat bound for Fremantle, WA.

When he said goodbye to his father he didn’t realise he wouldn’t see him again. He disembarked in Fremantle after weeks at sea, only to stay a few days in Fremantle before going to Geraldton where he would live and work on the fishing boat Mitchell as a deckhand at the age of fifteen. After working along the WA coast fishing and crayfishing Sergio became an Australian citizen and got himself a coxswain ticket so he could skipper the Mitchell. He was one of the youngest skippers at the time. In 1957 he joined a partnership and they purchased an old abandoned pearling lugger named Patricia. After extension and repairs she began fishing in 1958 off Lancelin. Sergio worked hard to pay off the boat and establish a future. In 1959 he married Joy Moriarty and initially settled down in Russell Street, Fremantle. They have three children over six years, Giovanna, Collin and Mark.

They later moved and spent the next twenty years in Jean Street, Hamilton Hill. During that time in 1963 Sergio’s younger brother Nicola joined him from Molfetta and they worked together on the Patricia. It was 1968, some 18 years after arriving in Fremantle, that Sergio and his wife Joy returned to Molfetta to visit his mother, unfortunately his father had died the year before in 1967. Sergio’s older brother had returned to Italy and settled back in Molfetta marring Anna De Ceglie and they had two children. On his return to Australia in late 1968, Sergio upgraded his license to a first-grade skippers ticket and he and his partners built a new plywood boat which they named Patricia II. Once again Sergio set about paying off his boat. His younger brother married Francesca Camporeale in 1969 and the two brothers continued crayfishing together. Over the coming years Nick and Fran had three children – Dean, Joanne and Nicoletta. Many happy summers were spent in Lancelin. Sergio’s youngest son Mark joined the crew in 1983 after a while he got his skippers ticket with one day intending to carry on the crayfishing business. In 1988, after 30 years, the last boat named Patricia III was built. It was the latest modern fibreglass boat, the apple of Sergio’s boat eye. Life was harder around this time with interest rates peaking at 18% and cray beach prices at an all-time low, however Sergio managed to pay off his new boat in a short period of time. Then in 1991 the last remaining partners sold out and Sergio’s fishing life finished, retiring at the age of 57.