In a quiet workshop in Perth’s northern suburbs, 83-year-old Robert Bonolo stands as a master of a nearly extinct craft: antique metal restoration. Source: The eRecord.
His journey began when he was just 21, fuelled by eight years of studying chemistry at night school. “I studied the electrolysis of metals in night school and decided to get into this,” he recalls.
Now, more than 50 years later, he remains one of only two people in Western Australia, and one of just a handful across the country, who possess the skill to restore antique metal works.
Mr Bonolo’s workshop – a mini museum and studio – is filled with pieces that tell stories of history, faith, and beauty.
But his work goes beyond the technical – it is a vocation, a calling deeply intertwined with his Catholic faith.
Born in Vicenza, 70 kilometres from Venice, Mr Bonolo arrived in Australia in 1954 at the age of 12.
“In 1954, I came to Australia, without my parents, stayed with my aunty and uncle who had no children,” he says. Three years later, he moved to Perth, alone, driven by a determination to forge his own path.
Mr Bonolo has restored countless Church items, statues, and sacred objects, including work at St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle, St Brigid in Perth and St Columba’s South Perth. “I’ve been restoring Church items for over 50 years,” he says. “Any religious items that are not used, I recycle.”
Bishop Robert Barron, a prominent international Catholic figure, often speaks about evangelising through the true, the good, and the beautiful.
Mr Bonolo’s life work embodies the latter.
“I’m Catholic,” he affirms, “and God is always above me and guides me in my work.”
FULL STORY
50 Years of faith, skill and a dying craft (By Joseph Younes, The eRecord)
