Interviewer: Frank Heimans,
            for The Hills Shire Council

Date of Interview: 5 Dec, 2011

Transcription: Glenys Murray, Dec 2011

Peter, tell me a bit about yourself? Tell me where and when you were born?

I was born 29th October 1985 so I’m twenty six years old now. I was born in Paddington Hospital in the city here, but I’ve grown up in The Hills my whole life. I lived in Baulkham Hills for the first two years and then Box Hill for the last twenty four years.

You haven’t got away from The Hills name then. Everything’s got Hills in it.

I want to be there for the rest of my life, may be not something with a Hill in it but definitely in the district.

Tell me a bit about the background of the Gangemi family?

The Gangemi’s have a long history in The Hills. My grandfather Frank was one of three brothers that emigrated from Italy. Joe and Frank who were the two older brothers came in the 1920’s then Sam the youngest brother joined them in the 1940’s. My grandfather was Frank. He lived not far from here in North Sydney. That was through to 1962. I think in the early sixties they had to move his house when they were building the freeway through North Sydney. They then moved out to The Hills. They purchased some land in The Hills about ten or fifteen years earlier than that. So that’s Frank’s background. I think Sam ran a fruit shop here in the city in Rose Bay and then he moved out to The Hills. Then he ran a very successful fruit shop in Castle Hill on old Northern Road, on the main street across the road from the Piazza. The family still I think owns one or two of the shops. They lease them out to different companies but they still own one or two of the shops there in Old Northern Road. Both Sam and Frank, so my grandfather and his brother they had I think Frank had fifteen acres and Sam had twenty acres in what’s now Castle Hill Industrial Park. Sam owned his land where Anella Avenue is. He named the street nnella Avenue after a small village in Sicily. No one has ever heard of this village but apparently that was the name. Frank had fifteen acres up near where Wonderbowl and the old Skate 2000 is. When my father inherited the land he sold most of it but kept a small portion and built some industrial units on that. We still have that original land which we’ve owned for about sixty years now.

So they came from this place Anella. Is it where they were born?

I think Sam because he stayed in Italy a bit longer. He was in Anella, but our family was originally from Francavilla. Not too far away. I’ve never been to Italy but it’s on my to do list at some point.

Fruit shop of Joe and Ruth Gangemi Old Northern Road Castle Hill 1960s

What do you know about your grandfather, Frank?

Only from what my Dad tells me because he passed away when my Dad was thirteen. He worked very hard and something he passed onto my Dad and something I’m trying slowly to inherit but I’ve been a bit of a slow learner there. He (Frank) spent some time in the cane fields in North Queensland, did some growing of fruit all sorts of different things. I think he particularly liked pumpkins for some reason which was unusual. He worked ridiculously long hours and always provided for his family. He was very disciplined; he taught a lot of discipline to my father.

So your grandfather’s family would have lived through the First World War then?

Yes both the First and Second it must have been incredible… I couldn’t imagine that sort of thing.

The one who came in the forties, Sam, he would have lived through the second wouldn’t he?

Yes.

Did you ever meet him?

No again he passed away before I got to meet him. One of Sam’s sons is Dr Joe Gangemi who is quite well known in The Hills he passed away just last year. Everywhere I go when people see my last name they say “oh you’re related to Dr Joe”.

He was a legendary doctor I believe?

Apparently, he practiced in Castle Hill and he was well known in St Bernadette’s Parish and also Parramatta Marist High School. Also when the Westpac (bank) opened in Castle Hill he was the very first customer. So every time Westpac had some sort of birthday celebration they would wheel him in and he would say “yes I’m still here, number one”. That was quite funny.

Now your father Richard he was born in Australia I presume was he?

Yes he was.

Tell me a bit about your father. What is his occupation?

Dad was originally an electrical engineer. He studied at the University of Sydney and then after university he worked out in the mines out in Sharvin(?). So in some coal mines, underground, I think there were one or two open cut, but mostly underground. He worked very long hours so Mum and he bought their first house I remember for fifteen thousand dollars or something like that, they said in Lithgow. They paid it off in only two or three years because Dad used to work double and triple shifts, incredible hours. He had a car accident when he fell asleep at the wheel, then he stopped doing that sort of thing. My older sister was born and he couldn’t take those sorts of risks. He worked in the mines for a while for maybe eight years. Then he came back to The Hills district. He had some land out in Kurmond for a while and then in Baulkham Hills. Then when we went to Baulkham Hills he built his industrial factories. So that was the main one in Castle Hill. There’s one out in Arndell Park south of Blacktown and one at Kings Park north of Blacktown.

Porto farm Windsor Road Castle Hill near Gangemi land c1960

What do those factories produce?

They just lease the space. So each factory has all differing amounts of units. Kings Park only has two units while Castle Park has about twenty three units. They lease them out to different companies. They either have their business or use them for storage or however they see fit.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

I’ve got two older sisters and a younger brother. Melissa is thirty one and she lives in Melbourne now. She’s an Australian Government solicitor and now she’s working for the Department of Immigration. Patricia is thirty and she’s a teacher on the central coast. She studied environmental science at uni. She teaches science, agriculture and I think a little bit of maths as well. My younger brother Stephen, he’s twenty four and he studied marketing at the University of NSW. He currently is working as a senior manager at McDonalds where I used to work out in Norwest in The Hills district.

Was it a school job or a vacation job?

I just started flipping burgers out the back when I was in year ten. When I went to university I was a part time manager to pay my way at university. Then once I got to my final year at university I left there. Most of the friends I have in my friend’s circle have been from my McDonalds days and I regularly keep in touch with them.

Now you grew up in the Baulkham Hills area with a very large Italian family I imagine. What’s it like being part of a large extended family?

It’s quite good we don’t get to see each other as often as we would like. Both Sam and Frank’s children and grandchildren and great grandchildren I think on the other side of the family, usually at Christmas but not every year at Christmas. If there’s a funeral everyone will come together for that or if there’s a birth happily people will come together for that. It’s quite good but it’s very tough to remember everyone’s names. You have to study the Christmas tree the day or two before you go, to remember everyone and take a few notes. You’re never short of people giving you advice that’s for sure.

Do any of the family still speak Italian fluently?

Not any of Frank’s children or grandchildren but I believe that some of Sam’s side, my Dad’s cousin which would be Dr Joe who passed away. I believe Maria, Maria Zadro I think might speak a bit (of Italian). I’m not sure but my memory is that she can.

Gangemi property at Box Hill 2011

Now what about your own childhood memories, do you have any? Can you tell me what sort of a childhood you had?

I was only two when we moved to Box Hill so we live on five acres in Box Hill So I’ve been there ninety five percent of my life. Living on acreage it’s away from everyone else a little bit and certainly my school friends lived quite far away. We did things more as a family than say other people growing up who did things more with their friends. They would go skate boarding or go to the shops, we didn’t do that because the whole suburb doesn’t have a shop or doesn’t have a park. It is just purely an acreage suburb. Our five acres is divided so that there’s one acre near the top where the house is. Then there’s four acres of paddock out the back. My Dad created a little mini golf course out the back so there was four holes. My brother and I would take a club or two and have a swing out the back. The greens weren’t very good for putting because they were just grass cut very short. Everything’s pretty much a par three only about a hundred and twenty metres between boundaries. That was quite good. Stephen and I were always very active young children because that was our only entertainment. We’ve never been very much into computer games or anything like that.

Did you have any animals at all on the property?

People get very surprised when I say we’ve never had any pets. I think on our three neighbours there’s horses on two sides and some cows on the other side. Out of the people who have five acres I think seventy percent would have some sort of animals if not they’ve got a dog. I run four or five times a week around the local roads and I get all these dogs barking at me because everyone has got a dog. Unusually we never had anything.

You’re a bit different to the other Italian families that I’ve interviewed who’ve all had flowers growing there or they’ve had vegetables they planted. If there was a bit of land they’d plant something?

We’ve got a little veggie patch. Mum’s quite good at growing corn, tomatoes and lettuce and beans but it depends what time of year certainly not on a scale to sell.

View from Old Pitt Town Road looking towards Mason Road ridge with Box Hill House on right 2002

Now tell me a bit about your education.

I went to primary school at St Madeleine's and that was in Kenthurst. So that was kindergarten through to year six and I was the school vice captain. Then I went to Oakhill College which is in Castle Hill but I think it’s officially just outside The Hills Shire. Most of the people who attend there are from either Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, inside The Hills and jump across the boundary. High school was interesting, I preferred university a lot more. High school was good academically but it wasn’t really my thing. I’m much more of an independent person so when I went to the University of NSW I enjoyed that a lot more. At high school there was an accelerated maths class where they did two unit HSC level maths in year eleven. So they took the top twenty students and put them in this class and I think I came twentieth out of the twenty but that was ninety two out of a hundred in the HSC which is a very good mark. So I then did that level maths the next year and your second mark counts not your first one. I then got ninety six and I was quite happy with that. So I got accepted into mechanical engineering at University of NSW. So I did my degree there and I got first class honours. I was originally going to work for Rio Tinto in Brisbane in research and development. I got accepted into a job there after I did my final year at university. With the financial crisis that job fell through so then my undergraduate thesis supervisor offered me a PhD position at UNSW so I then took that and so I’m tow and a half years in into PhD and it’s going OK. It’s very challenging and a lot of extra curricular activities are keeping me busy but I’m about half way through my PhD and I’ve got a journal paper and two conference papers. I’m trying to get through it slowly.

Peter Gangemi's 4th birthday celebration 1989

So it’s a PhD in mechanical engineering is it?

Yes my thesis topic is “Attenuation of the structural and acoustic responses of a submerged vessel” Looking at submarines, I’m trying to think of ways that are not technical to describe it. Trying to reduce the vibrational response of the hull and the noise emitted into the water surrounding. So obviously for reasons such as avoiding detection by sonar and acoustic mines. The university gets some good funding from the DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation) so there’s a little group of students at university working away on that on different aspects. There’s one guy looking at different computational models. I’m looking at more analytical models. It’s all very interesting and very challenging.

You might get a job with the Defence Department at the end of this perhaps?

A lot of PhD students who had studied have done that. Probably I’ll look to do something completely different, still something in the acoustic and vibrational field but maybe acoustic consulting like private industry. I’ve been at university in the public area too long I think.

I believe you were a member of the Student Representative Council at high school?

Yes twice at Oakhill I’ve always been interested in those leadership or student or young people bodies. So I was school vice captain in primary school and then in the SRC at Oakhill College. The main thing they did there during the year was they organised the different dances for the year. So I think year 8 had a dance and year nine had a dance and year ten had a dance. Year eleven and twelve had more formal things and we didn’t organise them. The dances were always very popular with the students. It was ten or fifteen dollars to attend and because Oakhill is an all boys school to year ten we would have to invite the local girls schools. It was Tara, Mount St Benedict and maybe OLMC. There were various girls school and they always liked coming because they knew Oakhill was an all boys grade. Those three schools were all girls schools so they quite enjoyed those sorts of evenings. It feels like a long time ago now.

Who were the people who’ve had an influence on what you’re doing? I mean did your parents give you advice about careers or did the school? How did you choose your career?

My Dad was an electrical engineer and I was always interested in maths and science. It wasn’t really a question in my mind whether I was going to be an engineer. I thought that from year eight or year nine. I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure what type of engineering I would do. I think I just chose mechanical because it seemed to be the broadest discipline. Arguably civil is probably even broader. I’d say my parents would be the two biggest influences for sure.

So they encouraged you of course to go ahead and do some tertiary study?

Absolutely so, both my parents have studied at university and all four children have now graduated. I’m sure they would have been accepting if someone decided not to go to university but it was very much encouraged.

Peter Gangemi at his Oakhill College graduation 2003

Did you play any sports at school?

At primary school and the first half of high school I played Soccer during the winter and then cricket during the summer. Once I started working in part time jobs when I was fifteen I didn’t continue with team sports. I did running as my main sport because I could fit it around my other schedule. That’s always worked quite well for me. That was one thing my Dad always instilled in all the children. We would do the “City to Surf” each year. That’s not to far from here on the other side of the harbour. He first did it I think in 1991 and he’s done twenty of them now. I think each of the children ran in their first race in year three when we were eight years old or so. So it was a very long way fourteen kilometres when you’re eight years old. I’ve done it every year since year three continuously since year three. That’s eighteen occasions now.

You completed the course at the age of eight?

Yes some of my earlier times were a bit better than some of my later times. I think I ran it in eighty five minutes the first time I ran the City to Surf. In year six I ran it in seventy minutes which was extremely good for that age. That was in 1997 and it took me twelve years to beat the time that I did in year six. I was very light back then. I was only twenty eight or twenty nine kilos in year six I had no weight on me so I could just fly down the road.

Did you take part in any additional activities at school or at the university such as debating?

Not at university I never really got involved in any clubs at university. I go to the University of NSW in Randwick and from Box Hill it’s a ninety minutes minimum trip sometimes up to two hours so I did most of my extra curricular activities in The Hills District.

So looking back at your secondary schooling and at your university, what would you say were the most important things you took away from that, those institutions?

Probably from Oakhill it wasn’t an ultraconservative school but it was a fairly conservative school. They shielded their students a lot from the temptations which you hear young people get involved in. It was good at shielding young people from that. Also it was very good academically as well. Particularly for… it’s not one of the schools that you have to pay twenty or thirty thousand dollars a year to attend. The fees are very small so it punches above its weight in that respect as well. I guess university has taught me to be very independent, particularly compared to high school. At high school your teachers are “do this, do that or we’ll write you a bad note or something”. At university there’s obviously none of that. You have to do the work or you won’t pass your courses you won’t get your degree. In the modern day really if you pass you get a degree with all passes that might not be good enough to get a job anyway. You really need to go credits and distinctions so you really need your own motivation at university to do well. That’s the difference from university to high school which I’ve taken away.

Did you get involved with any of the politics at university?

I’ve been in the University of NSW Liberal Club once or twice but I don’t think I’ve ever attended a meeting. It’s just a thing in O Week (Orientation) to sign the form. I’ve never run for any of the things. I’ve only voted a handful of times. I’m a bit cynical about university politics where they say… I guess the oldest trick in the book is where the different tickets will have their promises which they’ll do for the year. “We’ll lower prices at the bar” or we’ll fight to get a lift or a travelator from the top of campus to the bottom of campus” because it goes quite uphill between the Roundhouse and the library. People had been talking about it for twenty years before I went to university. I’ve never really got involved with it.

Peter Gangemi at his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (1st class honurs) University of NSW 2009

Now when did you first become interested in joining The Hills Council’s Youth Advisory Council?

Probably at the start of 2009 because there was a Council elected to The Hills Shire in September 2008. Then they decided to revive the Youth Advisory Council at the start of 2009. I saw an ad in the paper. At the time I was looking for some extra curricular activities to do. It looked perfect. I guess it’s like a student representative council but for The Hills Shire.

What activities did you engage in while you were on the council?

On the Youth Advisory Council primarily they were looking at helping Council run their activities for Youth Week in April and then also they held a forum for young people called The Hills Youth Forum. That was for local schools. With the Youth Week activities we had different events. We have an acoustic band night at Rouse Hill Town Centre. We organised for bands to play an acoustic set in the town square there. Rouse Hill Town Centre has always been very good to young people. We’ve had other activities. In our libraries we’ve financed some Nintendo Wii’s to be placed in two of the libraries. Young people can come in and use them at anytime. Sometimes we’ll have nights with various competitions and we’ll put on pizzas and drinks for the young people. With Youth Advisory Council in 2010 we did a big HYPE Festival down at Balcombe Heights. We had some more rock bands playing. At the Balcombe Heights Estate on the oval we had a big stage and lots of food and drink vendors. There was a skateboard competition at the skate park. There was somewhere between five hundred and a thousand people were there. It was a big day.

Peter Gangemi with 2009 Youth Ambassador Melody Gardiner at community radio station Baulkham Hills

We didn’t put on one this year but maybe we will do something like that next year. Some of the other activities we’ve done in the committee with our Hills Youth Forum. We invite all the local schools so we’ve had people from Crestwood High, Castle Hill High, Oakhill College, Baulkham Hills High, William Clarke and other schools. They came to Council one day and I think we had seventy people at the last forum. We were discussing topics such as recreation for young people, sporting activities, youth driving and also online behaviour. Things like cyber-bullying which is quite an emerging issue for young people. We were getting their thoughts on how they saw these different areas and perhaps look at ways that Council can perhaps address some of these issues. The committee also help out with those forums each year. Our next forum is in February or March. The Youth Advisory Council I was in charge of… we held a monthly radio segment on 2CCR FM which is the local radio station. It has just been renamed Alive FM. I usually paired up with someone on the committee. I was there most months. We would put one of the younger members of the committee on there to give them some experience. We’d start off by just introducing ourselves and then talk about various issues affecting young people in The Hills area. So it was quite good.

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