Where was your local Italian Fruit Shop?

Italian community agency Co.As.It. in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS have worked closely over a number of years with the families of Italian fruiterers, ‘the gatekeepers’ of the stories and images, to record the important legacy of Sydney’s Italian fruit shops. This collaboration has resulted in the following outcomes:-

– Over 40 oral history interviews
– A collection of over 150 photographs  
– A collection of items of memorabilia

A photographic exhibition  Sydney’s Italian Fruit Shops – Our Collective Memories will be launched at NSW Parliament House, Sydney in June 2010 and then move to Leichhardt for the period July – Sept 2010.

To accompany the exhibition Co.As.It. is creating an On-line Fruit Shop Register to facilitate the input of a wide range of Italian fruit shop data, photographs and memories. The on-line information will include:- Name of the original fruit shop, name of proprietors, street address, suburb, postcode and years of operation. There will also be a space for photos and a section to record reminiscences.

More info. on this exciting project can be found at: http://www.coasit.org.au/Heritage/Sydney-Italian-Fruit-Shops-Our-Collective-Memories.aspx