AMONG hundreds of guests at a cultural event in Shepparton late last year, Emilio Fiorenza was a jovial and generous host. As he had done countless times before, Emilio fostered lively conversation, presented dazzling artists of Italian opera, graciously attended to visiting VIPs, kept a close eye on technical requirements, and MC’d with characteristic good humour – only, perhaps, with somewhat less energy.
For those of us who knew it was the last time we would see Emilio hosting a public event, there was a bittersweetness to the evening that words can’t express: knowing that a dear friend was, even in the end, giving as generously to the community as he had always done.
Emilio died, at the age of 62, after enduring a couple of years with the pain and uncertainty of an inoperable bone disease.
Anyone who knew him – and there is no shortage of us – will tell you what an extraordinary man he was: a gifted artist, a talented teacher, a tireless community campaigner and a passionate advocate for the arts and social justice.
It is not possible to list all of his honorary and voluntary roles – in fact, I doubt whether Emilio himself would have kept a complete list. Le Belle Arti, the Italian Services Advisory Council, Italo-Australian professional associations, the Cobram Italfest, the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria – Emilio devoted his energies to these organisations and many more.
Having graduated in 1975 with a fellowship diploma of art in gold and silversmithing at RMIT, Emilio the following year collaborated on the inaugural Italian Week festival, the first major cultural event to bring together the entire Shepparton community. Emilio got art and education onto the front page of the Shepparton News when he introduced a gold and silversmithing class to Shepparton Tech in 1976; the culturally sensitive teaching programs he developed there helped introduce ethnic teacher aides at schools across Victoria.
Everyone in Shepparton knew Emilio. Many owed their careers, their relationships, their health and wellbeing, their rightful treatment, their creative opportunities to Emilio. Women suffering domestic violence could rely on him as an advocate. Young offenders facing the law for the first time could rely on him as a representative. People with a disability could rely on him as an “independent third person”.
Emilio and I first met in the late 1990s and – true to form for us both – it was on a community forum called WogLife, to which we were both contributors. Emilio had chosen the name Silver Fox for his online persona. He was a great writer. He was sassy yet wise, imparting his depth of experience with bold humour, and always with a challenge to those who weren’t being self-reflective enough with their throwaway blog comments. In retrospect, this was a formative time for me: I was looking for wog elders who were open-minded and public spirited across the full range of the cultural diversity of their various communities. Emilio, having spent a lifetime leading by example, was to become a fast friend. On George Megalogenis’ three stages of wogdom – cocky, cowed, connected – Emilio had a mastery of two stages. He was one of the most connected people I knew, but he certainly was never going to lose that cockiness. Never cowed, he was a silver fox through and through.
Emilio was keenly interested in publishing and broadcasting across all media because he recognised the power to bring communities together, strengthening and validating their common voice. Since 1976 he had been a prolific regional correspondent for Il Globo. During the days when ethnic community radio’s public funding was being redirected largely towards the fledgling SBS, Emilio lobbied to have SBS television established in regional communities. Emilio was a founder of 3 ONE FM, Shepparton’s local community radio station. In 1999, he led the formation of the new Italian radio network Rete Italia, broadcasting with significant reach to Italian-speaking communities in Cobram, Echuca, Benalla, Seymour and beyond. In the same year, local television station WIN TV nominated Emilio for its Citizen of the Millennium award.
In Shepparton and well beyond, his wholehearted community development work has been recognised by the Victorian government, the federal government and the Italian government through honours and awards. In 2002, Emilio was one of the first to receive a Victorian Multicultural Commission award for excellence in multicultural affairs.
In 2010 I had the honour of being present for the awarding of Emilio’s Italian knighthood – the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – and now the Italian-born Australian was a cavaliere. The Italian Consul for Victoria and Tasmania, Dr Francesco de Conno, presented the award at the Shepparton Italian Social Club, of which Emilio was a founder, life member and continued to serve as public officer. He vowed to shun ceremony and not expect the use of his new title – and yet every time I saw his name in print, it proudly bore his full honorifics, expressing a pride in both the Australian and the Italian recognition he had received. And so I honour him once more, here in print. Cav. Emilio Fiorenza OAM JP has been an inspiration to me for more than 15 years, and will continue to be, for all my life.
First published in The Age on 24 January 2013
ESTHER ANATOLITIS 