Second Trip to Australia
- Joanne Tapiolas
- Feb 8
- 2 min read
Caio Marcel Bruni was born in Milano, Italy on the 19th July 1883. He had married Elizabeth Smith in Cardiff, Wales in 1923 and they had two children, both deceased.
At the time of his arrest on the 11th June 1940 in Southampton, England, the couple were living at 45 Athelstan Road, Southampton, England. Caio had worked as a cable worker and rubber mixer with Pirelli Cable Works Ltd. then the Calander Department in Southampton.
He had a varied work life and had previously ‘visited’ Australia. In 1902, as an able seaman, he jumped ship from an Italian ship in Newcastle NSW and joined a British ship on return to Cardiff, Wales. He then served with the Italian Navy from 1904-1908.
During WW1, he served with the 89 Fanteria Regiment and was also engaged as an interpreter at British General Headquarters, Italy late 1917 until Armistice.
Upon arrival in Melbourne, Australia on the Dunera, on the 3rd September 1940, Caio was taken to the Broadmeadows Hospital until 20th September 1940 when he was taken to Tatura Camp 2B. He had another two weeks at the Waranga Hospital (28 Australian Camp Hospital) from the 30th April to the 15th May 1944.
Caio was considered by Intelligence Office to be ‘embittered by his unjust internment’. In August 1939, he had applied through a solicitor in Southampton for his British certificate of naturalisation, which was never processed. His possessions in Southampton had been destroyed in an air raid and in December 1943, he had 4d in his camp bank account.
On the 3rd October 1944, Caio was ‘released on parole’ for work at Loreto College Portland where Antonio D’Agostino had been placed the previous month.
In mid-August 1945, Caio embarked the Mauretania and arrived in Liverpool, England on the 23rd September 1945. He was 62 years old and his address in the ship’s register was listed as Houndwell Gardens, Southampton.
Caio died in 1949.
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