The year 2025 marks a centenary since Agatino Rigano arrived in Brisbane alongside his cousin, Constantino (“Con”), in search of a better life after the devastation of World War I. Two years later, Agatino’s wife, Vita Concetta, joined him aboard the Re di Italia, and the family’s Australian story began.
To commemorate the milestone, the third Rigano Family Reunion was held on May 4, 2025, with over 100 attendees gathering at Home Hill Memorial Park.
The Rigano name traces back to 1453, when their ancestor, Count Giulio Rigano, a Spanish artist, migrated to Italy and eventually settled in Messina, Sicily. There, the family lineage continued until the birth of Agatino in Misserio on August 25, 1898. Remarkably, exactly 38 years later, his son Joe was born on the same day in Home Hill.
Agatino grew up cultivating olives, citrus and vegetables on the family property before being conscripted at 17 to fight with the Italian Army in North Africa and Europe. After five years of service, he returned to a shattered Sicily and made the decision to emigrate.
He and Con initially travelled to Innisfail, where they connected with a relative—Dr. Rigano—and found work in Tully clearing scrub and planting sugar cane. Despite enduring a year of hard labour without pay, they persevered and eventually moved to Giru and then Home Hill, where Agatino purchased a cane farm on Ford Road in 1928. That same property remains in the family to this day.
Agatino became a respected figure in the Home Hill community. He donated a large church bell to St Colman’s Catholic Church and was appointed a Justice of the Peace despite never receiving formal schooling. In 1958, he also established the town’s first modern service station at 153 Eighth Avenue—now home to the Burdekin’s Big Cane Stick and Town Directory.
Agatino’s legacy lives on through his 108 direct descendants. His children, Joe and Diana, are the last surviving members of the original Rigano family in Australia.
Special thanks go to Valeria Pennazza for organising the family reunions and compiling the Rigano family tree—a living testament to their Spanish-Italian-Australian heritage.
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