Francesco Giovanni Fantin (20 January 1901 - 16 November 1942)[1] was an Italian anti-fascist activist who emigrated to Australia in 1924 and found work in Queensland as a cane cutter.
He was one of five children born to Giovanni (Battista) Fantin, a textile worker, and his conservative Catholic wife Catarina, née Manea.
[2] The number of assailants was unclear but ultimately a killer, Giovanni Bruno Casotti (aged 27), a known fascist, was tried in Adelaide and convicted of manslaughter.
[4] Casotti received a two-year sentence after pleading guilty[3] - leading to a public outcry which was resisted by the government and army in the name of national security.
Fantin's death became the subject of a bilingual play about the suppression of minorities and wrongful internment written by Teresa Crea, entitled Red Like the Devil.