PETER O. MELOCCO 1883-1961 by Joseph Tonitto
“Pioneer in Australia — first
president of the Fogolar Furlan Club of Sydney.
Peter Melocco was born in
1883, in the small Italian village of Toppo in Friuli When he was 10 years
old he joined uncle Costante and aunt Eufrasia in America. After finishing
school, he worked with his uncles Costante, Valentino and Vincenzo in various
trades including mosaics, marble, terrazzo etc. He also attended “Coopers Union
Academy" night school studying art and drawing
Although he was surrounded
by family members he felt unsettled
he didn’t see an economic future; what with the intense competition and
corruption in the building industry. At a club which ho belonged. “The
Independent Order of Oddfellows”, he was introduced to an Australian who spoke
of a new continent he showed him
several photographs, which impressed him and maybe because the 24—25 year old
was ambitious, he didn’t hesitate decided to leave for Australia. -
In 1907 Peter returned to
Italy and after a short visit with
his family left for the new continent. arriving in Sydney on 6th June, 1908
with only 10 shillings in his pocket. As the boat sailed into Sydney’s magnificent
bay, with admiration he said, What a dream! I would love to have a home overlooking
this spectacular position” it was only a dream. - but with the passing of time his fate
would realise these dreams.
Certainly, the early years
were not easy. but with the advantage of his trade qualifications and the
English language, he wasted little time. He worked for a short time as a tile
layer for G E. Crane and Sons during this period he found out that Irish born
Cardinal Moran of the Sydney Diocese was planning the construction of an altar for
the Cathedral dedicated to all the Irish Saints and that he intended to import
all the material from Italy. Peter approached Cardinal Moran and asked to
tender on the project. Cardinal Moran was dubious that the young man (26 years
old) could manage and complete the project. Peter was persistent and the Cardinal
finally relented.
After three weeks working
on sketches and designs, the Cardinal was more than impressed and gave him the
Job. Peter did the Job for half the cost. In the early months of the project he
worked literally non stop, except for meals and short/sleep periods. At the
completion of the Job, Peter made 200 pounds profit which helped to set him up
in business.
In October, 1908 Peter rented
a small local premises in 18
founded. Peter’s younger brothers
Antonio and Galliano
Remaining in rented promises until1919,
they bought the property of Moodie Bros at 1 Booth Street, Annandale. These
premises were better suited to their requirements.
Meanwhile the youngest brother, Galliano,
after successfully finishing school completed a marine mechanical engineering
course and in 1926 decided to leave his chosen profession and join his brothers.
Thus, Peter controlled design, Antonio production and Galliano all things
mechanical.
At the end of the First World War, the demands
or the company’s products were enormous with the biggest problem being a shortage
of skilled labour.
Both Peter and Antonio traveled to Italy
and America to encourage tradesmen to emigrate to Australia, with hundreds.
arriving, predominately from the Friuli area, to satisfy the requirements
of the company. This influx continued until after the Second World War.
Italians in the i93Os were not well received
by the Australian community, especially during the Fascist years of Benito
Mussolini. During this time, Melocco suffered great racial prejudice by the
press due to its now high profile within the building industry. Cartoons were
produced depicting Melocco as a monster devouring all public projects and
under Mafia control. Although the company’s labour force was mixed. the company
insisted that only English was to be spoken, even amongst the predominate
numbers of Italian.
In spite of the company’s contribution to
the war effort, a number of the Italian employee’s were
interned for the duration of the war, in fact Peter Melocco, the company’s
Principal, was interned at Orange for the initial five weeks of Italy’s entry
into the war.
During its 52 years in business, the Friulan
company completed many important projects of marble, mosaics, terrazzo and
plaster, expanding into New Zealand and Oceania. When the company tendered
for plaster work, it was offered some of the most prestigious of the time,
in private homes, theatres, public buildings etc. With the celebration of
peace at the end of the First World War, many decorations including archways.
columns lining roadways and even a statute symbolizing Britannia in wood and
fibrous plaster, twelve metres high, was constructed on top of a tower in
Port Macquarie.
The passing fad to use fibrous plaster and stucco, saw the company’s main source of work turn to marble, scagliola and terrazzo, with some of its best work represented by the internal work of the Commonwealth Savings Bank, Martin Place; the State’ Theatre; Central Station interstate ticket area, Sydney; and the Mitchell Library, with its marble and terrazzo floor depicting the famous Tasman’s Map.
Melocco used mechanised methods of construction
to reduce the need for additional labour and materials, so much so that they
were no longer limited to special areas but to complete large areas for
competitive prices.
Melocco’s were able to introduce to the
construction industry a new and important method of mixing concrete with the
use of a batching plant to measure, weigh and mix the dry concrete.
The mixture was loaded into trucks with
a capacity of only 2.5 cubic metres and water was added upon arrival to site
from the trucks own holding tanks. Only 12 trucks of this kind were built
to an American design and licence.
In 1941, Melocco started Certified Concrete,
rightly named as delivery dockets wore automatically stamped with the weight
of the concrete’s ingredients. This method was such a success that in 1952
Melocco. under licence, had 42 American Challenge Mixers built with a capacity
of 5 cubic metres,
To utilise all of the 54 concrete mixer
trucks, concrete batching plants wore built at Pennant Hills, Bankstown, Ryde
and Alexandra. In 1958 John Melocco, son of Peter, was granted permissive
occupancy by the NSW Government over Shaw Island, a large deposit of gravel
and sand on the Nepean River.
A
new Melocco company, Yarramundi Properties, was started
which daily produced 2 thousand
tonnes of material, enough satisfy Certified Concrete’s needs. The company
produced enough material to supply between 500 to 1000 cubic metres concrete
daily.
In 1942, Antonio, the second of the brothers, passed away while still
at a young age leaving his wife Victoria, his son Albert & daughter Lena
ROADWORKS SECTION:
Road Constructors, with it’s director Galliano,
in 1936 obtained a large concrete road contract employing many men.
Important roads constructed by this company are Gardeners Road, Rickety St.,
Botany Rd, Lithgow and others.
PREFABRICATION
One of the major prefabricated projects
was the 16 story office tower in Miller St, North Sydney, with a prefabricated
external façade of 20,000 sq m of glass mosaic imported from Italy.
DESIGN SECTION:
One of Melocco’s most famous last works
was The Crypt beneath St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. After the completion of
the Cathedral’s baptismal font contract, Cardinal Gilroy commissioned Peter
to do the crypt’s sanctuary, a burial place for Sydney’s archbishops and pioneer
priests, in the vast unused basement.
Peter worked on the crypt
in three stages, the first part was an alter was constructed and dedicated
to Archbishop Kelly, fourth archbishop of Sydney. This work was constructed
in 1935 of white carrara marble & yellow Sienna marble and expresses fine
detail work.
The second part was the
sanctuary, a raised area around the main alter including the tombs was started
in 1945 and finished in 1948 for a cost of 10,000 pounds.
The third & largest part was the Main floor consisting of a large Celtic
Cross, This was eventually completed in 1957 at a cost of approx $60,000 pounds
of which 20,000 pounds was raised by a single benefactor. The remaining $40,000
pounds was provided by Peter Melocco & Melocco Bros P/L.
Due to the vastness of
the basement, 11,850 square feet 1,100 M2, Peter felt that it was empty waiting
to be transformed. Seeking out Cardinal Gilroy he suggested his vision for
the room: "The with cream marble from Wombeyan in NSW Celtic Cross design.
140 ft x 70 ft. in marble & mosaic depicting the seven days of Creation,
thereby covering all of the basement area.
The Cardinal liked his
idea but did not have the funds to pay for it. Peter’s dream became an obsession!
Searching for the funds himself from the parishioners, one family was able
to donate a large amount to commence the floor. The Cardinal finally relented
to the work starting.
Certainly the funds did
not always arrive in time, but Peter’s faith and perseverance did not desert
him!. Giving all of himself: “Money, Time and Work, as a Donation ",
to the church for this magnificent project to be completed in stages, ended
up lasting 6 years.
Employees working with
him related that if mosaic panels did not measure up to maximum colour tone,
he would scrap them and restart the panel until it was perfect. Certain
colours were not found in marble and had to be artificially created with cement
and colours called scagliola. Also terrazzo is usually a mixture of small
marble chips in cement. This project required vivid colours and resilient
material, which is not found in the
normal marble range, therefore after various experiments by him, he created
artificial chips called OCCOLEM. (The name was coined by the workers:- Melocco
spelt backwards)
This work of art is considered
one of the world's best, comparable to the famous pictures of Prophets and
Sibyls in the Cathedral of Siena, but that is only in black and white marble.
The fine mosaic works in the floors of some Roman churches is not as ambitious
as the floor of the Crypt of Mary’s Cathedral Sydney.
This work passes almost
un-noticed maybe because it is in the basement and also because of the humble
and simple nature of Peter. He used to say: "Building things to last
forever, does not require their publication". Eleven years after completing
this feat and after his death in 1961, Melocco Bros received the international
" Top Award" from United States National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association.
The crypt is located beneath
St Mary's Cathedral & is now open daily
In 1960, after many companies
approach Melocco Bros for amalgamation. Blue Metal Industries proposed an
amalgamation or take over of the company. Peter became seriously ill -in this
period, therefore it was decide to sell the company and all its subsidiaries.
Negotiations wore left to Galli and John and after eight difficult months
Melocco Bros was sold for a consideration of 1,580,000 BMI shares. Galli remained
with the company and became a Director of BMI until 1971 when he died leaving
his wife Eva, daughter Anna and son Graham.
Peter, an exceptional
person.. small In stature, but big in wisdom, audacious, brilliant and fatherly,
living his 80 years with immense simplicity in true friulano fashion. During
his magnificent and enviable rise, he found the way to dedicate himself to
others and in particular to friulani, who he united by becoming the first
president of the Fogolar Furlan Club of Sydney.
1940 — 50
Board of Directors Prince Alfred Hospital
1946 — 52 Member and Board of Directors Chamber of
Italian Commerce.
1946 Conferred honour of Knight from
the Italian Government.
1950 Receive Medal of Merit from King
George V of
1961 In the same Cathedral, he received
his final farewell leaving behind his wife Giuseppina daughters Helen and
Jean, and son John Peter.
Joseph Tonitto
(edited by Peter J Melocco 2001)