Now, he wasn’t the first Vinci to arrive here. His father and Uncle had come over in the early 30’s when
work was scarce and the world had bankrupted itself in the great depression. Do’Vs father, who was a
story-teller in his own right, worked hard, made money and gathered stories to tell when he went back
home, which he did in the late fifties.
As many sons of immigrants will tell you, English is not our first language, and having spoken a dialect
borrowed from post war Italy and moulded into a remembered language that the locals spoke to each
other in market places and churches, this ‘Melbournese’ we speak is hardly recognisable anywhere
else in the world. As such, first generations Australians suffered more at the hands of their local peers
than their fathers and mothers ever did. They became known as the Wog Boys which Melburnians all
proudly call themselves.
In the seventies and eighties a lot of them tried to inch a living as actors and writers, and tried to build a
Melbourne style bohemian community with comedy was their schtick,
sadly not many made the transition.
Do’V, having married far too early needed regular income to support his then wife and children, but
always had the idea that he would one day make writing his life.
Move forward 40 years, and after a number of failed attempts to produce a world worthy volume for
general consumption, his detective character Pino Noir, has come to life as an amalgam of himself, his
father, and possibly a few notable actors who all share the same suave debonair traits, who
will possibly make you laugh, cry and be amazed at his brazen audacity with the opposite sex,
without crossing that thin blue line into misogyny.
Anything else they tell you about him is a damn lie, unless it sounds too good to be true,
then you should believe it.
