Edgardo Simoni oral history interview by Daniel Connell

MLOH 147

fonds

6, 11 March 1986

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

920307

Digitised

7 audiotape reels (3 hr., 24 min.) - 18 cm, 6 mm tape

Edgardo Simoni (1916-1987), La Volpe (The Fox), achieved notoriety as an escapee when he was a prisoner of war in Australia during World War II. Born in Lucca, Tuscany, Simoni grew up in a Catholic middle-class family in Padua, Veneto. He attended a military academy and realised his ambition of becoming an officer in the Royal Italian Army. Loyal to the King of Italy, he disavowed Fascism. He served as a Lieutenant in North Africa, where he was captured in Libya in January 1941. With other Italian POWs, Simoni was shipped to Australia on the Queen Mary in August. He was confined in a camp at Murchison, Victoria, where his first escape attempt in November was foiled. However, he broke out in June 1942. On the run for ten months, Simoni assumed the identity of George Scoto. His itinerant lifestyle as a door-to-door salesman was aided by Italian civilians. He was arrested near Mildura and later transferred to Hay, N.S.W, for detention. In November 1943 he escaped again, this time a fugitive into the New Year. Following his recapture and completed sentence, he was transferred back across the border to Myrtleford POW Camp, Victoria. Simoni’s experiences behind the wire and on the run occasioned a reappraisal of his political values. By the end of 1943 he had embraced Communism. From 1944, despite being under increased surveillance, Simoni regularly absconded at night to organise nearby tobacco sharefarmers agitate for better conditions. He was repatriated in December 1946 and resumed his career in the Italian Army. In the 1970s he retired as a Colonel and became a member of the Italian Communist Party. An account of Simoni’s life as a POW is published in The Italian farming soldiers : prisoners of war in Australia, 1941-1947 by Alan Fitzgerald. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press, 1981.

Reference:
Italians in New South Wales : a guide to archives in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales / compiled by James Andrighetti. Sydney : State Library of NSW Press, 1995

MLOH 147/01 (32 min.):
Family and cultural background; youth and entry into the military; admiration for England and the English at the beginning of World War II; experiences of war; war wounds; taken prisoner; opinion of the British nurses; first impressions of Australia.

MLOH 147/02 (33 min.):
First impressions of Australia; description of the prisoner of war camp and planning escape; activities within the camp; the escape.

MLOH 147/03 (32 min.):
Methods of survival, well received by the community; newspaper reports; discussion of identity cards; Italians during World War II; working at Watkins; fined for fare evasion; colleague suspicious of his wounded hand, so Simoni fled to Mildura.

MLOH 147/04 (32 min.):
Started to become interested in class struggles, previously conditioned by family and education; realised the distinction between the rich and poor; the Russian Revolution; recaptured, but now with a different opinion; 6 months in high security in Hay; additions.

MLOH 147/05 (32 min.):
The journey to Hay; hunger strike; given a book by a communist inmate. Last impulse to escape was created by an Italian private; the escape; very little food whilst on the run; description of the route he took.

MLOH 147/06 (32 min.):
Arrived at Bendigo; visited Melbourne and tried to avoid attention, identified by a policeman and sent back to Hay and put in complete isolation; when released and he saw old colleagues he realised how much he had changed; met other communists; wrote to the newspapers about the struggle of Italian workers.

MLOH 147/07 (10 min.):
Stayed in Australia to continue the Worker's Organisation; what political life had been like in Italy; returned to the military; thanks Australia for the changes to his life.

In copyright:
Reproduction Restricted: Permission from the ABC must be sought if the interview is to be broadcast or played publicly.
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder.

Italians in New South Wales : a guide to archives in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales / compiled by James Andrighetti. Sydney : State Library of NSW Press, 1995

The description of this material has been supplied from the Oral History Digitisation Program, undertaken 2014 to 2017, of the Library's oral history collections.

MLOH 147/4 : Side A: Interviewer's voice is softer than interviewee's.
MLOH 147/01: Recorded on 6 March 1986

MLOH 147/02: Recorded on 6 March 1986

MLOH 147/03: Recorded on 6 March 1986

MLOH 147/04: Recorded on 6 March 1986

MLOH 147/05: Recorded on 11 March 1986

MLOH 147/06: Recorded on 11 March 1986

MLOH 147/07: Recorded on 11 March 1986
An edited version of this interview was produced for a program, ‘Le Volpe (The Fox)’ broadcast on ABC Radio National. An audio cassette tape of this program is located at RAV/Tape 1/657.
Some of this material has been provided to the Library with limited documentation. If you can provide, or require, more information about this material, please enquire through the Library's Ask A Librarian service.

Interviewer: Connell, Daniel, 1947-
Interviewee: Simoni, Edgardo

MLOH 147/1 Side A:
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/2 Side A:
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/3 Side A:
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Handwritten note on back of box says 'already rewound'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/4 Side A:
Interviewer's voice is softer than interviewee's.
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/5 Side A:
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/6 Side A:
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/7 Side A:
Handwritten note on box says 'original recording'. Box sticker says 'SP 55 R - 18 / 360 m 7 in./ 1200 ft. Prod. - Nr. 72972 XA'.

MLOH 147/01 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015
MLOH 147/2 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015
MLOH 147/3 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015
MLOH 147/4 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015
MLOH 147/5 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015
MLOH 147/6 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015
MLOH 147/7 : Side A: White powder found on tape (13/4/2015), cleaned by SLNSW Collection Care April 2015