Known as the father of Tasmania’s booming olive industry, Attilio Minnucci’s wild dreams of making olive oil in Tasmania were initially ridiculed.
Born in Chieti, a small town twenty kilometres from the Italian east coast, Attilio led an exciting life from an early age.
At 16 near the end of world war two, Attilio went to France where he was captured by the Germans. He snuck away from German capture but was then seized by the French and later returned to Italy.
He eventually found employment in Italy as an explosives and tunnelling expert, skills that were desperately needed in Tasmania at the time.
In 1952, seven days after he married his wife Vera, Attilio followed his brother Amedeo to a place he could not pronounce in the hope of a better life. In Tarraleah and surrounding areas of the central highlands ,Attilio was commissioned by Hydro Tasmania becoming one of the very few men who worked on the Catagunya dam, near Wayatinah, from start to finish.
In 1962 Attilio moved to Hobart to provide his family with better opportunities and in1969 bought his first business with his wife. The couple ran the corner store opposite North Hobart Oval for 5 years and in this time he helped launch the Saveway Grocery Wholesale Group as one of the 40 founding members.
After five years of early mornings and late nights at the store, Attilio and Vera took their two children Peter and Anna on a year long adventure to Italy and introduced them to their Italian roots.
Upon their return in 1974, the Minnuccis took over one of Hobart’s first bed and breakfast establishments in Sandy Bay. The establishment was called Number 27 and in the 12 years it was running it gained an international reputation as the place to stay.
The B&B featured in famous publications such as Australia on $20 a Day as one of the best accommodation venues in Hobart.
During this time Attilio’s desire to grow olives in Tasmania also grew and despite disbelief and criticism from the locals Attilio and Vera bought land in the Huon Valley and began their search for great olive trees and a cold press mill.
The first tree was planted in 1985 and in 1993 Atillio and Vera produced Tasmania’s first cold pressed olive oil from their own olive trees.
“People thought I was a crazy homesick Italian, until they tasted my oil,” he said.
Over the years Attilio tirelessly promoted olive oil production in Tasmania; he was featured in The Mercury, Forty Degrees South and on other media programmes.
The Tasmanian olive oil industry now supports 60 growers and produces 24,000 litres of olive oil a year … an industry that has been a part of the Minnucci family for over 400 years.
On Tuesday July 2, Attilio Minnucci passed away in peace, surrounded by his family.
The funeral will be held at St Marys Cathedral at 11 am on Saturday July 6.
Main image courtesy Rob Walls, http://robertwalls.wordpress.com/ – who says:
I had the honour of meeting and photographing Attilio Minnucci for mainland magazines on a few occasions.
Once at his grove near Huonville, over a wonderful lunch of cheese, olives, bruschetta with tomatoes, garlic and his own fresh oil, he told me (as no doubt, he told everyone) that when he approached the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry for advice in the 1960s, they just laughed and told him that you couldn’t grow olives in Tasmania.
“They are telling me, a Minnucci, you can”t grow olives in Tasmania?
I tell them, “I know about olives! The Minnuccis have been growing olives for centuries.”
His passion for olives and olive oil was unbounded. He should rightly be acknowledged as the father of the Tasmanian olive industry. A true pioneer.
Image: Attilio and Vera Minucci in their olive grove near Huonville.
