Frank Scopelliti was just seven years old when he first started to think about his nationality.
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Australian as they come, the leading senior constable has been based at Stanhope Police Station for the past five years and was the guest speaker at both the Girgarre and Stanhope Australia Day ceremonies on Friday.
Born to Italian migrant parents and growing up in the early 1970s, he was treated in the typical Australian fashion of the time.
“Kids weren’t cruel to me, but I was known as a wog. It wasn’t a derogatory term at the time — at least I didn’t take it that way — it was just the way people spoke,” he said.
Frank travelled back to his parents’ homeland for 18 months and was immediately referred to as a “skip” by his Italian classmates.
“Being of Italian background, I was a wog in Australia, and having been born in Australia, I was a skip in Italy,” he said.
“I found myself not really belonging to either country.”
Frank shared his thoughts on what it meant to be Australian to an the audience of people who now relied on him in emergency situations.
“My parents had a very simple philosophy. Respect yourself, respect others and take responsibility for your actions,” he said.
“I think those three values hit the mark when we talk about being Australian.
“It really has been the lucky country for myself and my siblings.”
Frank arrived at Prahran Police Station straight out of the academy, in 1989, just after the Walsh St murders.
“I arrived there having just turned 19 and just after another young Shepparton policeman, Damien Eyre, had been killed,” he said.
“We policed very differently back then, and I remember that time clearly. It was not a good time to be a criminal in Melbourne.”
His second police station was Russell St, not long after a car bomb had killed a policeman and injured 22 people.
“I went into the force with the aim of helping people, and I didn’t feel like the city allowed me to do that,” he said.
Frank returned to Shepparton in 1994 and found his niche in community policing.
Stints at Echuca, Kyabram, Mooroopna, Tatura, with the Highway Patrol and Tongala was a rewarding time that saw him also involved in the sporting careers of his three children — coaching soccer, netball and basketball, along with being involved in cricket and football.
“Kids have always been a focus of mine. I have enjoyed helping develop good Australian citizens,” he said.
“We are all living in a lucky country.”
He said he believed all young people deserved the same opportunity to reach their goals.
“I spend a lot of time in schools, reading, playing downball and talking to the kids,” he said.
As for the conjecture about the future of Australia Day, he offered this.
“No matter what day you think Australia Day should be, or how it should be celebrated, we should all be proud of our country,” he said.
• Jorja Ponton was the second of the guest speakers on the Stanhope Australia Day program.
Born and bred in the town, she graduated from Stanhope primary and attended Kyabram P-12, where she has made a name for herself as a state bowls representative.
She became the youngest-ever female Stanhope club champion last year, was a member of the Victorian under-18 team in a tri-state event and, at 18 years old, has a huge future in the sport.
“I’m aware it was an unusual choice, given my age, but I’ve been playing since I was 12,” she said.
Following her involvement in last year’s super school series, she was a member of the state school squad at the Sporting Schools Australia Championships.
And she then was in a 16-member Victorian team that claimed a title in Sydney, before gaining an invitation to the Moama invitational pairs event.
• The Rushworth and district concert band provided one half of the musical entertainment for the celebration, with Claire Roberts and Glenn Bowker delivering some Australian favourites, including The Bushwhackers’ song This Little Town.
Campaspe Shire Cr Adrian Weston opened proceedings, at both the Girgarre and Stanhope events, after Stanhope RSL leader George Gemmill had raised the flag with the Montevideo Maru mural in the background.
He said Australia Day’s most important purpose was to celebrate our people.
“In the last 200-plus years, we have had people from right across the planet coming to Australia — to make it their home,” he said.
“Different beliefs, practices, foods and religions. This diversity is our strength, and what’s so wonderful is that we all live in relative harmony.
“And everyone gets to have their say.”
Cr Weston said one of the key things to being an Australian was an ability to exercise tolerance.
He said while today may be a holiday, cows didn’t know the date, and farmers would still be busy.
“What Australia Day means to people has shifted over time. What it meant 50 and 100 years ago is different today,” he said.
Cr Weston shared the story of his ancestors, who on one side of the family arrived in Australia in the 1930s and mainly went into farming.
“My own father came here as a displaced Polish person after the Second World War. We should all be grateful that Australia is our home,” he said.
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