3 March, 2017. 17:45
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Arriving from Malta in the years after World War II, Cenzo Farrugia quickly found work throwing shit into a skip by down by the current site of Sydney’s Luna Park.
Years passed and the former merchant sailor saved up enough money to finally get himself a slice of the local property market, buying in the Lower North Shore slum of Clifton Gardens.
“It was hard, but we worked harder,” said Cenzo, who retired in 2000 and moved to the picturesque Leonard Retirement Estate on Betoota’s leafy north side.
“We bought for about £900 I think, back in 1951. That was two years’ wage for me back then. The bank we very sceptical of us, being immigrants. But we made it.”
Selling their 1950 sqm block for nearly $7m, Cenzo and his Australian wife, Doomadgee, are well placed to help their boy into the Sydney property market.
Marchello Farrugia found work in the financial services not long after graduating, but has found difficulty achieving the same things his parents did when they lived down in the Harbour Republic.
“Mate, Dad has been giving me an absolute pizzling about not wanting to get a million dollar loan out when interest rates can only go one way. He’s got rocks in his head, the jibbering old cunt. He still thinks it’s the 60s,” said the 28-year-old.
“If I did get a mortgage and really stretched my arse to pay it, like a lot of my mates are doing at 1.5%, if the rates go up, you’re fucked. First of all, the asset is worth less, your repayments go up and you’re probably going to get bent over in stamp duty. You’d be fucking mad.”
In response to his father’s requests to buy property, Marchello tried to explain that he’s amassed a share and commodities portfolio worth in excess of half a million dollars.
“Nope, the old fuck wants it in bricks and mortar. Love him, but fuck me rone. He’s got fucking rocks in his head.”
More to come.
