‘My parents hid their Maltese identity. I’ve travelled from Australia to discover mine’
A woman whose Maltese parents “tried to hide their identity” after they emigrated to Australia in the 1950s is attempting to track down any information about her family.
Linda Coppini Foot travelled from her home in Perth to Malta to connect with her roots and to introduce her 14-year-old daughter to her heritage.
“Although I had never been to Malta before and knew no one, when I saw the island from the plane, I had an amazing feeling of coming home,” she said.
Both her mother and father emigrated to Australia in their youth but barely talked about their upbringing.
“They tried to hide their identity in Australia. They felt embarrassed.”
She believes this could have been a way of protecting themselves from racism and that they might have disassociated from their lives back home due to the trauma they experienced.
Her father, Charles Coppini, was born in 1936 and lived in Unit 1, Block 1, Hubbard flats in Cospicua.
Coppini Foot describes him as “a quiet and intelligent man who was undoubtedly impacted by what he saw in World War II” when the area was heavily bombed.
His brothers Joe and Tony were the first of the family to migrate, when, aged 10 and 12 respectively, they left under the British Child Migration Programme, which has since gained infamy over child abuse revelations.
When Charles turned 19, he decided to quit his job as a footman and join his siblings in Australia. First travelling to Tasmania, he went on to Perth, where he reconnected with his brothers. He worked with Qantas Airlines for 30 years.
Coppini Foot knows even less about her maternal side. Her mother, Emily Zerafa, was born in 1943 or 1944, and she believes she was raised in Ħamrun because this side of her family are Ħamrun Spartans supporters.
Along with her mother Salvina Zerafa (born Galea), Emily and her three siblings left Malta in 1951 to meet her father, Romeggio, in Canberra. Sadly, two years after this journey Salvina died in childbirth. This meant Emily, the eldest daughter, was pulled out of school and had to run the house.
“Mum was a friendly lady with a beautiful heart but she definitely suffered from not having an education or a mother in life,” she said.
She has contacted her parents’ respective parishes but has yet to hear back from them. She has also been posting on social media and managed to connect with someone who remembered her father.
“All the locals feel like family. I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity and be accepted by people who don’t know me.”
Her family’s journey and struggles echo those of many other Maltese families whose memory is lost to time.
“I only thought about asking questions when it was already too late,” she said, urging others to talk to their family and ask the questions they want to while they still have the opportunity.
Coppini Foot will be in Malta until June. Anyone with information on her family may contact her via e-mail at lindafoot1@gmail.com.
“When I saw the island from the plane, I had an amazing feeling of coming home