A Family’s Story Written Across Generations

Rex Testoni looking over a historic map if Ingham and the surrounding areas at the Hinchinbrook Shire Library. Photo credit: Victoria Velton

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By Victoria Velton

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President of the Ingham Family History Association Rex Testoni was at the Hinchinbrook Shire Library this week for National Family History Day, helping locals navigate records and discover the resources available to uncover their ancestor’s stories.  

Rex’s own family has a long, rich story that stretches from a small village in northern Italy to the present day in Ingham.

Rex’s grandfather arrived in Australia alone in 1928, leaving his wife and three boys behind in Italy.

“He worked until 1932 to gain enough money to bring the wife and boys out,” Rex explained.

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The family arrived in 1932, settling around the Foresthome area and living in various barracks before establishing themselves in Ingham.  

Rex’s grandfather worked in market gardening, opening a garden on Forgan Street and supplying food shops locally and in Townsville.

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Rex’s uncle became a photographer in Ingham, opening a studio and photographing weddings and other district events. He played a significant role in bringing together Rex’s parents in 1948.  

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His mother was making her debut in Proserpine and did not have a partner to accompany her, so her brother suggested a young man he knew - Rex’s father.

The pair married in 1948 and returned to Ingham, where Rex’s father established an electronics, radio and television business in 1953.  

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In 1963, Rex’s father built the family home on Townsville Road, before opening a caravan park around 1965, where they remained until 1971.

His interest in gemstones then led to a change of vocation in 1972, when the owner of Bennett’s Jewellers invited Rex’s father to display his collection of stones in a gallery at the rear of the shop.

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Rex himself was born in Ingham and worked locally until his mid-20s, when repeated periods of unemployment prompted a major change.

“After getting put out of work four times, I got tired of that,” he said.

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"I found it difficult getting a job because I wasn't bilingual. I didn't speak Italian.

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"More than half the population would have been Italian - you could walk down the street, and it was just like being in Italy."

Rex joined the Air Force and spent roughly 30 years away in service before returning to Ingham in 2009 to be closer to his ageing parents. He has remained in town ever since.

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Rex is particularly interested in his Italian ancestry, although researching those Italian records comes with its own challenges.

Before the unification of Italy, the area was made up of hundreds of separately ruled principalities, meaning researchers looking further back than the mid-1800s often have to turn away from modern national records and towards individual churches.

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On one research trip, Rex spoke with a priest who allowed him access to the historic registers stored at the church. The priest opened a large cupboard containing stacks of books recording births, deaths and marriages.

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“We pulled out the year, checked through it, and I found six Testonis in there,” Rex said.

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None, however, turned out to be his father. That discovery was only the beginning of another genealogical puzzle.

Rex found that his father’s birth had been registered a year before his parents’ marriage appeared in the records and rather than abandoning the search, he started looking for evidence that could explain the discrepancy.

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One of the most valuable pieces of evidence came not from an official document, but from a bridesmaid at his grandparents’ wedding.

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“She said she (Rex's grandmother) definitely didn’t have any kids and definitely wasn’t pregnant,” Rex said.

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The answer eventually emerged: there were two different marriage dates. The church register recorded the actual wedding, while the civil registration took place around 18 months later.

Rex’s grandparents had married, then moved to another locality to establish their own farm. The civil marriage registration wasn’t completed until later, creating the apparent contradiction in the records

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“Be wary of dates.” Rex said.  

“You can get caught. You need to confirm where they came from and how they come together,” he said.

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Rex has traced his paternal line back to about 1800, but believes there is much more to uncover. His grandfather was the eldest of around 10 children, while earlier generations also had large families.

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“There’s a lot of extended family,” Rex said.

During a trip through Italy, he was even introduced to members of the wider Testoni family while they toured around the village.

“I’m on a (Testoni family) WhatsApp group in the village, and there’s a whole bunch of people there I’ve never met.”

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For Rex, those connections are one of the great rewards of the research.

During the National Family History Day display at the Hinchinbrook Shire Library, the Ingham Family History Association brought out maps dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, cemetery registers, school records, historical publications and information about local businesses and families. The association is also helping people navigate the growing number of online resources.

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“When we started off, there were zero registers available online,” Rex said of Italian records. “In the last probably 15 years, it’s gone from about 30 to 50 registers to 274 now.”

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For anyone beginning their own family history journey, Rex recommends starting with what is already known, beginning with conversations with parents, grandparents and cousins.

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That’s where his own journey started.  

But while family history can reveal wonderful stories and long-lost connections, Rex cautions that it can sometimes uncover things relatives would rather leave in the past.

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For those who missed National Family History Day, the records are held at the Hinchinbrook Shire Library. The Ingham Family History Association also meets once a month at the library.

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For Rex, the search continues. Even after tracing one branch back more than 200 years, there are still names, stories and connections waiting to be found.