In the south-eastern corner of Murchison Cemetery stands a dramatic avenue of towering evergreen Italian cypress trees leading to a pale stone building with a bell tower, terracotta tile roof, and two flag poles before an altar of white marble.
Inside the building are the remains of 130 Italian prisoners of war and civilian detainees who died either at Camp 13 near Murchison or elsewhere in Australia.
On a sunny day, this little corner of Australia becomes an Italian oasis complete with dedication plaques and information signs written in the lingua franca of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo and Verdi.
Shepparton's former Correspondent of the Consulate General of Italy Mario Bettanin said the addition of the site to the Victorian Heritage Register earlier this month was a significant moment.
“It means a lot; as I get older it makes me happy to know that it is protected and it will stay here,” he said.
“I was born in Italy, but I feel this place is part of me. It's somewhere to hang my hat and be proud to be Italian-Australian,” Cav. Bettanin said.
Retired Shepparton builder Avelino Crespan is someone with an intimate connection to the Murchison Ossario.
In 1974 Mr Crespan led a team of workers tasked with the difficult, and sometimes emotional, challenge of moving caskets containing human remains away from destructive floodwaters in the underground crypt.
“Some of the younger labourers didn't like to bring the caskets up. The caskets came from all over Australia and most had names on them, but some we had to write their names ourselves,” he said.
Mr Crespan said his team had to cut a frame holding all 130 caskets in the crypt and then rebuild it above-ground.
“We had never done anything like that before. Moving the caskets was the worst part — the young men were just bricklayers and apprentices, they knew what was in them, naturally,” he said.
The waterlogged crypt was then filled with sand, and an extension built above-ground. The floor of the new crypt was raised and covered with Italian marble left over from the construction of Bendigo Cathedral.
Shepparton's current Italian consulate correspondent Maria Callandro said the Ossario had been a special place for Italian-Australians to gather for decades.
“Every year in November people come to remember the fallen and to celebrate mass. There used to be up to 50 busloads of people from across Australia. Families would picnic among the trees and enjoy being together,” Ms Callandro said.
While the crowds have declined over the years, remembrance services in early November still draw large numbers of people with Italian heritage.
She said because of COVID-19 restrictions, the services would not go ahead this year.
It will be the first cancellation since the Ossario was opened in 1961.
Italian army veteran and Italian Military Association of Australia president Joe Morizzi helps organise the remembrance services every year.
“It's always a very important day for older Italians and we are now involving students from the Shepparton district and from Cobram to keep the tradition alive,” Mr Morizzi said.
Murchison and District Historical Society president Kay Ball said the Ossario was a tangible reminder of Murchison's history during World War II.
“Every day there were prisoners going through the town, out on work parties to orchards, or to cut wood or work on the farms,” she said.
Mrs Ball said visitors from Italy had visited the Ossario wanting to make a connection with family members who died during the war.
“All they had on their records was that he died in Australia. We had him on the list here, and they were so thrilled to know his resting place. They sent a beautiful wreath on Ossario day which I was able to lay on the monument in his memory.”
