level of frugality allowed him to save a year's wages, which he had in his pocket when he visited a brothel in the city. He left the brothel somewhat absentmindedly leaving his wallet and its contents behind. When he returned for his wallet, the establishment's pimp refused to let him back in and in his anger he threw a rock through one of the windows. The police were called, and a chase saw him captured and sentenced to time in Adelaide Gaol. When he was released he left South Australia to spend time in Victoria. While in Melbourne he tried to pawn his one remaining possession, a coat. Ricetti fell foul to a scandalous passer-by who pretended to assist but instead disappeared with the piece of clothing. Moving then to Burrinjuck, New South Wales in 1928, Ricetti managed to get some work as a sailor on the Mary Anne, a paddle steamer that worked the Murray River, Murrumbidgee River and Lachlan River. As a part of his travels he followed the Murrumbidgee downstream to the Lachlan then upstream to Hillston, New South Wales. From Hillston he walked, with no fixed destination, along the railway line arriving at the fringes of Griffith where a rainstorm forced him to find shelter. Next day exploring where he had stayed the night he found a huge overhanging rock which formed a dry, cave-like area. Nearby there were two reservoirs full of water, fruit and vegetable farms and a rubbish dump which not only had plenty of rabbits, but where he found a shovel, pick head, and axe head for which he made handles from nearby tree branches. Valerio's uncle, Bortolo Ricetti, had travelled to Australia in the 1880s. Bortolo came to Australia during the gold rush era seeking his fortune. He eventually went to Broken Hill where he mined for opals for a while, then he worked out that he could earn more money by opening a boarding house for other miners. He did well, then in the early 1900s he heard that land was being sold off cheaply in North Queensland to encourage new farming. He sold up and moved to Innisfail North Queensland, where he established a successful sugarcane farm. Bortolo returned to Italy (Tirano, his birthplace) and with the impending WWI looming, he encouraged his nephews to leave Italy and travel to Australia. Bortolo passed on his sugarcane farm to his