Francesco Migliori (Migliore)

Francesco was born around 1876 in Capo D’Orlando, Sicily to Benedetto Migliori and Rosina Rizzo being one of eight siblings. He married Carmela Rizzo. They had four children (three survived); Benedetto (Benny) born 4 February 1908 in Capo D’Orlando; Vita born 14 October 1911 in Capo D’Orlando, and (Lorenzo) Lawrence Frank born 4 February 1914 in Fremantle.

Francesco first arrived in Fremantle on the 15 May 1902. He returned in 1906 and 1907, and again in on the 29 March 1912, with his family. Francesco and wife Carmela Rizzo and two children Benedetto and Vita lived at 18 Nairn street in Fremantle. Carmela gave birth to Lorenzo two months after Francesco death.

At the start of World War 1, the Department of Defence commandeered Rottnest Island (previously a lucrative tourist destination), for an internment and Prisoner of War Camp for Austrian and German Prisoners of War.

The area where some Fremantle Fishermen had been fishing, and out to one mile, was declared a prohibition zone. Guards (Sentries) situated on the island, had been instructed to fire over, or in front of, any fishing boat that approached within the one-mile radius limit as a warning shot. If this had no effect, they were to fire upon them.

On the 1 December 1914, Francesco and his younger brother Salvatore left Fremantle onboard their boat the Wanderer at 5 a.m. to collect crayfish from a place approximately half a mile South of Rottnest Island (off Salmon Bay), where they had left their pots ten days prior. The nearest crayfish pots were situated about 400 yards from the shore of the island.

The reason why they were so close to the island was that the crayfish were more plentiful inshore at that period of year. They arrived at about 2 p.m. that afternoon.

According to Salvatore Migliore, 10 minutes after arriving two shots were fired from the island in quick succession by a guard on patrol on Salmon Bay beach, Sergeant Henry Robert Martin; one just missed Salvatore’s head, and the other struck and killed Francesco.

Salvatore was assisted by another boat fishing, the Lavina approximately 150 yards away, with a fisherman named Antonino La Cava onboard after the shots were fired.

At the subsequent Coronial Inquiry in the Fremantle Courthouse, a jury of three and the coroner (Mr. E. P. Dowley) heard various witnesses, including Salvatore’s evidence via a translator. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased met his death from haemorrhage caused by a bullet passing through his heart. His last words spoken to his brother in Sicilian were “Did they catch you too?”. There was no blame attachable to anyone.

Francesco Migliori’s widow (Carmela) was paid a compassionate grant of £300 by the Defence Department. She returned with her three children to Sicily. When Benny was 14, she sent him to Fremantle alone, to work on the deck of his uncle Salvatore’s (Silvi) Migliori’s boat, but he didn’t last long working with him. From all reports he was a difficult man to get along with.

Lorenzo was sent to Milwaukee, USA at aged 12 to work in the Milwaukee steel mills. Both boys were expected to provide for Carmela and Vita back in Sicily. They resented their mother for sending them away and never communicating, or bringing them back to Sicily.

During World War II, Lorenzo was in the marines and returned to Fremantle on leave, making contact with his brother Benny and extended family. In the USA, Lorenzo (according to his daughter Christine) banned his two daughters from speaking Italian, or having anything to do with anything Italian, or having communication with Carmela or Vita in Sicily.

Benny married an Austrian woman and had two kids, eventually they moved to Sydney. When they died, they left their estate to their neighbours.

Salvatore remained in the crayfishing industry in Fremantle. A newspaper article in 1936 shows he was fined by the Fremantle Police Court for selling spawning female crayfish.

In his later years, he made and sold cray pots from his yard at 41 Norfolk street, and always wore a fedora hat. He could be found at the Norfolk pub every afternoon in the same seat There is a hat peg on the wall with a plaque to his memory. He passed away in 1972.

It was reported that Francesco’s funeral was attended by 150 persons, the whole of the Italian fishing community being present, as well as numerous Australian sympathisers with the bereaved relatives.

Many handsome wreaths from various boat crews and relatives and friends were placed on the grave. Yet to this day, Francesco lies in an unmarked grave at Fremantle Cemetery, despite receiving a handsome sum from the Department of Defence, his wife did not provide a headstone for her husband.

Francesco’s untimely death started a chain reaction of events that culminated in a dysfunctional family. Francesco’s picture can be seen in a famous (circa 1905) photo taken of the “Sicilian Fisherman from Capo D’Orlando Members of Rockingham Fisherman’s Co-Operative” standing between Calogero Basile and Salvatore Migliori, marked as “unknown”. His younger brother Antonino is also in this photo.

The man who assisted Salvatore Migliore at the time of the shooting was Antonino La Cava. Antonino never married and later owned and skippered the Lapwing. He was involved in another tragedy in 1946, when the vessel he was towing, the Mary, sank whilst going through the passage just off Cervantes Island. He managed to turn the Lapwing and skilfully navigate back through the passage to rescue the sole survivor in treacherous seas.

The Sergeant who shot Francesco, was Henry Robert Martin. He was born near Toodyay in 1895, serving in both World War I and World War II. He had enlisted in the 88th Westralian Battalion serving as a Sentry on Rottnest Island in 1914, later enlisting into the Australian Imperial Forces in February 1915. He served in France, Egypt and Gallipoli with the 16th Infantry Battalion.

He married Gladys Mary Sims, who gave birth to Robert Charles Martin in 1929. He also worked as a truck driver in Manjimup and surrounds. Interestingly, he re-enlisted in the second war, having lied about his age. He served with the home defence forces back on Rottnest Island between 1941 and 1942. At the start of the War, Italian Internee’s were housed here prior to their settlement in Harvey. He died in Katanning at age 74.