city of adelaide oral history project interview with primo and giocondo caon long term residents and

194 Pages·2010·8.62 MB·English

CITY OF ADELAIDE
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
INTERVIEW WITH
PRIMO AND GIOCONDO CAON
LONG TERM RESIDENTS AND RESTAURATEURS
CONDUCTED BY KAREN GEORGE
18 June 1996
Volume 1 of2
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CITY OF ADELAIDE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT ................................. .iii
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ............................................................................. iv
PHOTOGRAPHS ........................................................................................... v
TRANSCRIPT
Volume 1
Tape 1 (18 June 1996) ....................................................... 1
Tape 2 (18 June 1996) ..................................................... 24
Tape 3 (25 June 1996) ..................................................... 40
Tape 4 (9 July 1996) ........................................................ 63
Volume 2
Tape 5 (30 July 1996) ...................................................... 87
Tape 6 (20 August 1996) ............................................... 113
Tape 7 (20 August 1996) ............................................... 144
Tape 8 (15 October 1996) .............................................. 156
INDEX ........................................................................... 176
111
THE CITY OF ADELAIDE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
As part of it's concern to preserve evidence of Adelaide's
past, in celebrating the Jubilee 150 in South Australia in
1986, the national Bicentennial in 1988, and its own 150th in
1990, the Adelaide City Council established an Oral History
Project. The Project continues to provide a record of the past
which complements the written records relating to the history
of both the Council and the City generally.
Recognising the loss of many people who had personal
experience of important events in Adelaide's past and the
increasing use of oral history as a legitimate source of
historical information, the Council sought in 1984 to establish
an Oral History Proj ect on a firm basis, and engaged an Oral
Historian to carry out interviews with notable former
Members and staff, and other citizens. This interview forms
part ofthe Project.
Copyright in the tapes and transcripts is shared by the
Council and the interviewee for the duration of the
interviewee's life, and vests wholly in the Council on the
interviewee's death. Access to tapes and transcripts for either
research or public use is governed by any restrictions
imposed by the interviewee during his or her lifetime and
subsequently by the Council.
IV
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Primo Caon was born on 25 August 1935 at Mrs. Lynch's
Nursing Home in Adelaide. Giocondo was born three years
later on 30 April 1938 in the family home in Fenn Place.
Their father Giacinto had come to Aru;tralia as a young man,
working in the mica mines near Alice Springs. In 1932 he
returned to Italy, married and then came back to Adelaide
with his wife, Guiseppina in 1934. After working in the
quarries at Glen Osmond and then on the wharf at Port
Adelaide Giacinto took over a butcher's store, "Fenn Meat
Store" on the comer or Hindley Street and Fenn Place. He
later moved his business to the comer of Grey and Waymouth
Streets and then into Franklin Street. The family lived above
the butcher shop in Waymouth Street, then in Brown Street
and then moved to 237-239 Franklin Street. where
Guiseppina ran a boarding house. The two boys attended the
Dominican Convent and Christian Brothers College. Both
helped in the butcher's shop before and after school. Primo
became interested in butchering and trained as an apprentice
at Maces Meat Store in Rundle Street. He also worked in his
spare time as a dresser at the Theatre Royal. After finishing
his schooling Giocondo travelled to Italy with his mother. It
was there that he was inspired by the relaxed elegance of the
Italian cafe and restaurant scene. After his return to Adelaide
Giocondo found a potential site for "La Cantina" in Hindley
Street and convinced Primo to join him in opening this new
restaurant. The brothers ran this restaurant together from
1960 to 1969. This venture led to careers in the hospitality
industry for both and involvements in wine and liquor sales
and restaurants through to the present day.
In this interview Primo and Giocondo provide a vivid and
colourful picture of life in the West End during and after the
Second World War. The Italian community in the City
comes alive through stories of their parents; their father's
butcher shop and the boarding house run by their mother.
They talk of their childhood years, schooling and of their
movement into the hospitality industry. They then discuss in
detail the opening of "La Cantina" and the ventures that
followed on from its success.
v
Giocondo (left) and Primo Caon in 1940
VI
Guiseppina Caon and her children
(from left) Giocondo, Carla and Primo in 1950
Vll
Guiseppina, Carla, Giocondo and Carla's playmate
standing outside the Fenn Meat Store in Franklin Street in the 1950s.
The Caon Premises 237-239 Franklin Street
Note the "Fenn Meat Store" on ground level.
V111
Primo (left) and Giocondo (far right) with their mentor and chef Leo Froschl
in "La Cantina" in 1964
Interior of "La Cantina" restaurant showing mosaic ..
IX
Front Cover of "La Cantina" Menu