The unexpected Melbourne love story of World War II
It was an unconventional love story – the local farmer’s daughter and the Italian prisoner of war detained in an internment camp. But it was one that would end in tragedy.
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It was an unconventional love story – the local farmer’s daughter and the Italian prisoner of war detained in an internment camp.
Rodolfo Bartoli was one of more than 18,000 Italians held in POW camps throughout Australia during World War II.
But unlike most of his compatriots, the young man from Florence never made it home after the war ended.
Bartoli is the subject of the latest episode of the free In Black and White podcast, available from 8am today.
The 26-year-old was one of 2600 Italian POWs detained in Rowville at a military camp that was converted into an internment camp in 1944.
The prisoners were allowed to work to help out with the labour shortage while so many young Australian men were away at war, and many formed close friendships with local families.
Bartoli, one of several Italian POWs welcomed into the home of the local Gearon family, fell in love with their 20-year-old daughter, Nora, and planned to marry her.
The couple dated, always chaperoned by one of Nora’s siblings, and exchanged intimate love letters using a secret communication system.
But the love story took a tragic twist when Bartoli was shot by the commandant of the internment camp on March 30, 1946, allegedly while trying to escape, and died hours later.
Bartoli’s story is told in a new book by Melbourne author Darren Arnott called No Regard for the Truth.
Nora, now 95, put the tragedy behind her, went on to marry and have six children, and now lives in Queensland.
Mr Arnott says the claim that Bartoli was shot for trying to escape does not add up, with accounts from witnesses blatantly contradicting the commandant’s version of events.
And the shooting coincided with a series of disturbing claims about the camp commandant, including drunkenness, reckless firing of weapons, brutal beatings, and the theft and sale of prisoners’ property for personal profit.
Mr Arnott believes it will never be known for certain why the commandant shot Bartoli.
“It may have been that it was just one reckless shot too many, and that he was drunk at the time, and was just trying to assert his authority,” he says.
“This young 26-year-old man was just minding his own business and was suddenly shot.
“You have to wonder what might have been had he lived on. Would he have stayed and married Nora?
“Would he have enjoyed life as an Australian and added to the wonderful contribution that Italians have made to our society?”
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW NOW IN TODAY’S NEW FREE EPISODE OF THE IN BLACK AND WHITE PODCAST ON VICTORIA’S FORGOTTEN CHARACTERS TO LEARN MORE
And listen to our previous podcasts including the Essendon Football Club trainer who was a quack doctor, the story of Australia’s Willy Wonka, or the piano prodigy who became a “musical spy” in World War II.
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here or Spotify here or on your favourite platform.
No Regard for the Truth is available for RRP $29.95 at www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au and other online retailers.
Check out In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday to see more stories from Victoria’s past.
inblackandwhite@heraldsun.com.au