Giovanni Battista Felice Fourtunato [Felice] Salvia (1818-1881)1Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176717969/felix-salvia Accessed 10 November 2023. 2www.familysearch.com. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K4NC-FLQ/giovanni-fleet-battista-felice-salvia-1818-1881 Accessed 10 November 2023. arrived in Australia on the ship Singapore, in 1854, from the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The Delponte family, his neighbours in Araluen, also emigrated from Ticino. Felice Salvia was naturalised3State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia; Series: Certificates of Naturalization, 1849-1874; Series Number: NRS 1039; Roll: 2694. in 1862, with the documentation detailing he was aged 42, residing in Araluen and intending to purchase land therein. Felice Salvia died 21 September 1881 in Araluen, and was buried on 23 September 1881, in Araluen. 4NSW Birth Death Marriages, familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au. Details from Felix’s death certificate 5653/1881 as advised by family members in November 2024
Felice married Mary Magdaline Handcock (1845-1913) in Araluen in 1865,5Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/227835201/mary-magdaline-ziegler Accessed 10 November 2023. Felice and Mary had four children. Felice (1865-1949),6Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174378435/felice-salvia Accessed 10 November 2023. James Charles (1868-1939),7Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150623044/james-charles-salvia Accessed 10 November 2023. Ada Mary (1871-1953)8Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187484803/ada-mary-martin Accessed 10 November 2023. and Sarah Jane (1873-1957).9Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/217928216/sarah-jane-lavis Accessed 10 November 2023.
Mary Handcock was born in Sydney. Her father, Frederick Childs Handcock (1805-1881)10Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235691598/frederick-childs-handcock Accessed 10 November 2023. was a watchmaker, convicted of theft from his employer, and sentenced to 14 years in the Colony. Frederick arrived in 1848, on the convict ship Bengal Merchant, and died at Moruya in 1881. Mary’s mother, Sarah McKinley (1823-1884)11Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235692133/sarah-handcock Accessed 10 November 2023. emigrated from Scotland aged 22, arriving on the ship Sarah Botsford in 1842, and died at Moruya in 1884.
Mary Salvia (nee Handcock) re-married Henry Christian “Harry” Ziegler, (1837-1887) in 1882 in Moruya, and they had three children, Gertrude, Frederick Childs, and Herman Christian.
Historical maps12Historical Maps, NSW Land Registry Service, Parish and Historical Maps. Historical Land Records Viewer, https://www.nswlrs.com.au/Parish-and-Historical-Maps Accessed 10 November 2023. indicate the Land Portions purchased by Felice Salvia, and in partnership with Thomas Forsyth (Storekeeper), were as set out in the table below.
| Portion | Name | Plan | Loc | Vol | Fol |
| 11 | Felice Saliva | 389 | NE | 19 | 183 |
| 39 | Felice Salvia | 421 | NE | 58 | 122 |
| 40 | Felice Salvia | 421 | NE | 29 | 243 |
| 41 | Felice Salvia | 421 | NE | 29 | 244 |
| 42 | Felice Salvia | 421 | NE | 29 | 245 |
| 43 | Felice Salvia | 421 | NE | 29 | 246 |
| 44 | Felice Salvia | 421 | NE | 58 | 127 |
| 260 | Felice Salvia | 699 | NE | 79 | 83 |
| 261 | Felice Salvia | 699 | NE | 79 | 84 |
| 262 | Felice Salvia | 699 | NE | 79 | 85 |
| 263 | Felice Salvia | 699 | NE | 79 | 86 |
| 264 | Felice Salvia | 699 | NE | 79 | 87 |
| 387 | Felice Salvia | 8 | NE | 98 | 21 |
| 389 | Thomas Forsyth & Felice Salvia | 34 | NE | 162 | 225 |
| 397 | Thomas Forsyth & Felice Salvia | 34 | NE | 162 | 226 |
| 452 | Thomas Forsyth & Felice Salvia | 284 | NE | 184 | 28 |
Felice Salvia was licenced to distil brandy from wine from the produce of his vineyards, from 1869 through to 1881.13Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle (NSW: 1860-1870), Saturday 27 February 1869, p 4, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW: 1871-1912), Saturday 18 March 1871, p 88.
In 1875, the Sydney Morning Herald14Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Friday 26 March 1875, p 5. reported ‘At the Braidwood District Court, on the 22nd Instant [March 1875], F. Salvia brought an action against M. Frank to recover £200, for defendant having wrongfully and injuriously kept a certain bullock which furiously attacked [the] defendant and inflicted upon him severe injuries, also for the trespass of the bullock, and thirdly for loss of property occasioned by such trespass. The parties are neighbours in Araluen, the plaintiff being a vineyard proprietor, and defendant a blacksmith … Verdict for plaintiff, damages £46.’
At the Braidwood P&A [Pastoral and Agricultural Society] show of 1878, the Sydney Mail15Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW: 1871-1912), Saturday 23 March 1878, p 358 (Abridged from the Braidwood Dispatch). described ‘The greatest feature of the exhibition, in our opinion, however — that is, considering the dryness of the early part of the season — was the vegetable show. …The exhibitors were Messrs. Kingsland, Payne, and Forsyth; …Mr. Forsyth’s collection, grown in his garden in Araluen by Felix Salvia, consisted principally of products more congenial to the warmer climate of the Valley, and his melons and pumpkins were of gigantic dimensions.’
Thomas Forsyth (1819-1904)16Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174296480/thomas-forsyth Accessed 10 November 2023. from Bells Creek, ‘ran a store, and also became private gold commissioner, and he was highly respected by all the diggers’.17Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW: 1888-1954), Saturday 17 August 1907, p 2. He was also the ‘proprietor of the crushing machine at Bell’s Creek‘.18Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW: 1870-1919), Saturday 13 October 1877, p 7.