unearthing hidden stories
unearthing hidden stories
Dr Criena
Fitzgerald
Historian and Consultant
Historical Consulting
Television and Film
My research and focus on goldfields history has meant that I have been fortunate to work on five television documentaries as a consultant historian.
Professionally qualified historians bring a broad historical knowledge, strong research skills, an independent outlook and effective writing skills to a history project. Trained historians have the skills and experience to identify, collect and interpret research materials, conduct oral histories, research pictorial collections and other media, and produce an engaging and lively end product which locates your story in a wider historical context.
Historical Consultants apply their specialised skills, knowledge, and resources to provide services in a timely and cost-effective manner. A Historical Consultant working on books, films or TV productions provides expert advice, research and verification of the historical accuracy of planned productions or publications.
Hoover's Gold
Documentary Series Commissioned by SBS
The life and times of American President Herbert Hoover and his experiences in the Goldfields of Western Australia.
2005 Mago Films
Distributor: ABC Content Sales
Mago Films production Hoover’s Gold one of the highest rating films in 2006. Writer and director Francho Chiera used interviews with myself and Dr Patrick Bertola to successfully apply for a production grant for the film.
Synopsis
By the late 1890s, Western Australia’s Goldfields were a lure for ambitious young men from all parts of the globe.
One adventurer was a 23-year-old American, Herbert Hoover, the future 31st President of the USA. Working on behalf of London’s Bewick Moreing and Company, he helped pioneer one of the richest gold mines in Australian history – the Sons of Gwalia.
Recreated scenes and the personal stories of the descendants of the Italian and Australian Workers engaged at the Sons of Gwalia mine, bring history to life in this tale of triumph and tragedy, ambition and shattered dreams.
Who Do you think you are? – Dennis Cometti
Documentary Series Commissioned by SBS
Historical consultant on ‘Who Do you think you are? – Dennis Cometti’
2008, Artemis Films production
52 Minutes
Dennis Cometti is the best known and most authoritative Australian Rules football commentator in Australia. Millions of football fans around the nation admire his droll, quirky commentary. He knows everything there is to know about the genealogy of the AFL, but very little about his own family history. In this episode, Dennis wants to reconnect with his rich Italian heritage.
Synopsis
Popular sports commentator Dennis Cometti finds mystery, murder and a gift for the gab as he follows his family tree back to Australia’s settlement.
From Meekatharra in Western Australian to northern Italy, Dennis discovers not only the hardship his grandfather faced in the mines, but a rich Italian heritage, as well as solving a mystery surrounding the absence of his grandmother from family photographs, and the bitterness his father felt towards her.
But it is on Dennis’ maternal side that the story proves a real revelation, as he sets out to trace the feistiness common to women in his family. The journey is full of surprises–adultery, murder, tragedy and mayhem—and more than one shady character, much of it centred on the enigmatic Emma Hines, Dennis’ great great grandmother, and her forebears.
It is a journey that leaves him with a lifetime of anecdotes and an extended family he never imagined possible.
A Film Australia National Interest Program, Serendipity Productions, Artemis International production in association with ScreenWest and Lotterywest and SBS Independent.
My Name is Charlie
A true story of courage and Collaboration in Western Australia’s Goldfield in 1907
Historian to Italian Documentary ‘My Name is Charlie: A true story of courage and Collaboration in Western Australia’s Goldfield in 1907’.
A documentary set in the Gold Fields of Western Australia in 1907 revolving around an Italian immigrant.
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 54 minutes
Availability: Worldwide
Director: Valeria Messina
Synopsis
It all started in Gorno, Bergamo, a small town on the slopes of Mount Arera, in the Rice valley, where institutions and volunteers are involved in a tough job of restoring the infrastructure of the old zinc mine.
The city council has devoted time and money to this ambitious project to access the forgotten places of the abandoned mine. This mine reflects the cultural identity of this territory. With the systematic exploitation of the mineral, since 1868, many were attracted to the mine for work.
From the historical records of Gornesi begins the story of the mine which is divided into several chapters.
The memory of those stories highlights the harsh working conditions faced by the miners. Working in the mine soon takes on a special connotation for Gornesi. Despite its harshness it seems to become a source of pride, a real passion, a disease for which there is no cure.
Many of these miners later departed from the valley and emigrated to work as "minadür". The best known case is that of Modesto Varischetti (known as Charlie), a young Gornese man born in 1874 who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, travelled to Australia with a group of other men, chasing the famous legend of the hunt for gold.
The figure of Modesto (Charlie) is known for an exceptional event: that of having managed to survive for nine days in Bonnievale mine, located in the Coolgardie area of the "Golden Outback" of the State of Western Australia.
The history of Modesto Varischetti still remains intact in Gorno, his birthplace and has become a legend to many.
It was in 1907, when the gold mine where Modesto Varischetti worked, was hit by a terrible flood underground. He found shelter on a rise of the tunnel, more than 300 meters deep.
Secrets of Our Cities
Kalgoorlie and Gwalia
Consultant historian on Secrets of Our Cities: Kalgoorlie and Gwalia, 2020. Episode aired Mar 8, 2020 on SBS.
Factual, Documentary
Season 2 Episode 3
Synopsis
Australia’s biggest outback city, Kalgoorlie has witnessed a gold boom like no other.
Over the past 125 years, its gold has kept rising to the surface. And so have community tensions. From the early settlers forcing the traditional owners off their ancient land, foreign prostitutes and their brothels corralled into a contained section of the city and the introduction of Italian miners eventually bringing about one of Australia’s worst ever race riots, Kalgoorlie’s residents haven’t always lived together harmoniously.
But thanks to the ever-present gold and the simple game of Two Up, this city has survived the times.
Greig Pickhaver visits the biggest open pit goldmine in Australia to explore how, even today, Kalgoorlie attracts people from around the world.
Dirty Business: How mining made Australia
Documentary Series Commissioned by SBS
Historical consultant for the production and expert on silicosis. Features on-screen interviews.
2011–2012 Screen Australia and SBS
In Assoc with Film Victoria
Distributor: Renegade Films
Dirty Business is a landmark documentary series which explores the conflicting history of Australian mining.
Synopsis
Dirty Business: How Mining Made Australia is the history of Australian mining.
It portrays how over the last 150 years mining has made Australia rich, yet created an unending struggle over who shares in the wealth. It reveals how mining helped forge democracy yet has repeatedly plotted to influence politics and even overthrow democratically elected leaders.
Whilst mining has also been deeply damaging to Aboriginal society, ironically in the 21st century, it may be aboriginal people's best hope of economic self-determination.