JOE Catanzariti has a vivid memory from when he was a 10-year-old boy, standing on tip-toes in an Italian piazza, stretching to see the great foreign land of Australia.
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Three years later, Mr Catanzariti's father set off in search of the fortold wealth and abundance in that great foreign land and in 1951, his family boarded a ship to travel across the world and make their home in Griffith.
This was just one of many stories the Catanzariti Real Estate (now Griffith Real Estate) founder passed on to his grandsons Tom, 13, and Harry Catanzariti, 10, on Monday.
The family participated in an ABC Open workshop designed to give locals the opportunity to record their family stories and have them featured online, with the possibility they could make national TV.
Producer Sonya Gee said the audio story-telling workshops showed people how to tell, record and edit their stories which they could share with their own families.
Mr Catanzariti recalled a very different Griffith and told his grandson how he used to go door-to-door in a horse and cart, selling fruit and vegetables grown on the family farm.
"There should be more workshops like this," Mr Catanzariti said.
"There are many sayings not known and many stories not told, but everyone has a story to tell."
His grandsons had found the experience fascinating.
"Nonno told us the story of what brought him to Australia," Tom said.
"We'd never heard some of the stories before and we've never had the chance to record them."
Griffith City Council has supported the project since it began two years ago.
"Griffith has so many people moving in and out of the city all the time and there are so many interesting stories among them," said council's Paige Campbell.
"This helps us understand who lives in our town, and who helped make it what it is today."
