'This was the bread for my grandchildren’: Italian grandpa loses family farm to SA bushfire

An Italian farmer and grandfather of 12, who spent nearly 40 years creating an inheritance for his family, has lost it all after a bushfire swept through his property in the Adelaide Hills.

Italian farmer and grandfather of 12, Ross Calabria says his family property and inheritance was engulfed by the Adelaide Hills bushfire.

For South Australian farmer Ross Calabria the past week has seen his worst nightmare realised.

As the bushfire spread through the Adelaide Hills, flames also engulfed his family property at Humbug Scrub near Kersbrook.

Since arriving in Australia almost 40 years ago the grandfather of 12 has poured his sweat and blood into creating an inheritance for his family, establishing an olive grove of the finest varieties imported from Tuscany, and running a few hundred sheep.

The 108 acre property is completely ruined.

All but a few dozen of the stock are lost; the olive grove is completely destroyed.

Italian farmer and grandfather of 12, Ross Calabria says his family property and inheritance was engulfed by the Adelaide Hills bushfire.

"We come here and we see everthing burnt. Everything," he told SBS. 

"I got no insurance. I got nothing. I tried to take courage, but my wife is very upset, very stressed. Because she thinking, you know, we’ve been here for 38 years. All of my sons worked hard to build everything. 

"And now after 15 years, when the time has come to give us some profit, all is gone."

Ross Calabria and his wife poured their life into creating a family inheritance, establishing an olive grove and running a few hundred sheep.

The 108 acre family property is completely ruined.

His eldest son Rocco said he was "devastated" and cried for two days when he heard the news.

"We put a lot of work into the grove here. We’ve been here since 1977. Mum and dad have put nothing but blood and sweat into this place. And to see it in the state that it’s in, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us here," he told SBS.

"We’ll just bind together, as we do in hard times."

Rocco said his father had always planned for property to be an inheritance for his grandchildren. Although their hard work has now been ruined by fire, he said he'll work with his young sons to get the place up and running once more. 

"Mum and dad have always said it [the property] was for the grandkids," said Rocco. "It’s the third generation that end up getting the bad of sweets at the end. This bag of sweets have gone a bit sour, I think but we’ll get it back.

"You got to think, 'it could have been worse.'"