Seabrook’s Mary Scuticchio has worked at Footscray Hospital for more the three decades. She tells Cade Lucas about living in Hobsons Bay and working Maribyrnong.
What’s your connection to Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay?
I moved to Australia when I was six and I grew up in Altona North. We came from Calabria in
Italy. It took us 30 days to get here on the boat.
My dad, Antonio, and my older brother, Leo, moved here two years before me and my Mum
and my other brothers, and my uncle came here two years before that. He told us, “it’s a
better life in Australia”.
My uncle sponsored my Dad, and he worked on the railways, at Spencer Street in the city.
When I married my husband John in 1978 we moved to Altona Meadows. That’s where we
had our daughter, Sally. We moved to Seabrook in 1992.
I’ve worked at Footscray Hospital for nearly 35 years. I work at the information desk and on
the switchboard. Sometimes I’m the first point of call for people, and I am able to help
them. To me, that is satisfaction.
What are the differences between where you live and work?
I don’t think they are that different. Both feel like home to me. I just like being in the
western suburbs. People are friendly and there are people from a lot of different countries.
How has Footscray changed since you started working there?
Footscray and Altona have both changed a lot. When we first got here there weren’t a lot of
houses. There were a lot of farms. I have good memories growing up, playing football
(soccer) with my brothers on the oval at Langshaw Reserve.
Footscray is a lot busier now.
How do you feel about moving from the current Footscray Hospital to the new
one?
It’s going to be sad to leave the old Footscray Hospital behind, because I’ve spent half my
life here. It’s like a family here. But the new hospital will be a new beginning, a great new
adventure.
Tell us something people would be surprised to know about you.
My husband and I switch between English and Italian at home – sometimes in the
middle of the same conversation.
