Why the First Transport? by Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 20 July 2024

The arrival of 839 refugees in Fremantle on 28 November 1947 was a turning point in the history of  Australia.  The refugees were from the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They were the first non-British migrants to have their travel to Australia, on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, paid by the Australian Government.  The Government also arranged their initial settlement here.

Their arrival was part of the beginning, in 1946-47, of migration to Australia organised  by the Federal Government.

The States had handed their immigration powers to the Federal Government in 1920.  They continued to play an active role in recruiting migrants, especially from Britain, as late as the 1970s and 1980s.  

For its part, the Federal Government did not play much of an active role until Arthur Calwell in 1945 suggested to the Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, that the Australia Government needed a separate Immigration portfolio.  Calwell became its first Minister on 13 July 1945.

Calwell was keen for a prompt start to an immigration program.  He was spurred on by his belief that a larger population would be better for Australia's security, which had been tested time and again during the World War now coming to an end. The start was rather slow, however, consisting chiefly of wives of service personnel.  

Several ships had brought some immigrants to Australia after July 1945 and before the Heintzelman arrived, but these immigrants had the means to pay for their own fares and initial settlement or had sponsors in Australia.  One such ship was the controversial Misr, about which you can read here, https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/immigration-and-citizenship/migrant-stories/migrant-ships/voyage-misr, and here, https://www.theage.com.au/national/when-the-boat-came-in-20070311-ge4e9h.html.

The voyage of the Heintzelman was organised by the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organisation (PCIRO) on behalf of the Australian Government.  The Government also ran the arrival program, taking over part of the Bonegilla Army Camp in northern Victoria.  

There the new arrivals received English language lessons if they needed them, attended to bureaucratic requirements such as health examinations and discussed their placements in the workforce with the recently established Commonwealth Employment Service. 

The excitement of the Australian press about the start of the program is still palpable to anyone reading the 1947 reports all these years later.  The positive reception of the Baltic refugees led to the Australian Government agreeing to accept another refugee voyage from Europe, which arrived in February 1948.  

The PCIRO became the International Refugee Organisation but the people it sent to Australia, Canada, the United States, South America and even New Zealand were called "displaced persons".  One suggestion is that this name was adopted when the USSR was still one of the Allies at the end of World War II, so as to not offend the Soviets. At this time it was thought that the displaced persons would return home at the earliest opportunity. 

Altogether, 149 chartered ships brought to Australia most of the 180,000 and more European refugees who came here between 1947 and 1954.  By this time, many other migrants were arriving also from countries like Malta and the Netherlands, with which Australia had signed migration agreements.  Our post-War program was getting into full swing and continued up to the present COVID-19 interruption. 

I have provided more background to the Heintzelman's first voyage (there were three others later as a refugee ship and some as a military ship before the November 1947 arrival) in Bonegilla's Beginnings.  This book is available over the Internet, from http://www.bonegillasbeginnings.com/.  

Egon Kunz wrote Displaced Persons: Calwell's New Australians, which now is out of print but still provides the best overall coverage of what was called officially the IRO Mass Program.

Jayne Persian's book on the Beautiful Balts:  From Displaced Persons to New Australians, first published in 2017, takes a critical look at how the Mass Program often ran to the disadvantage of Displaced Persons.  It was managed to fill what Australians saw as their workforce needs, not to match previous training and experience to vacancies.

In some cases discussed in later blogs, skilled Displaced Persons did manage to find their way back to work which suited them.  Many of the younger ones, students when they left their home countries, never attained the same status that they would have had there.  On the other hand, they were on the other side of the world from the trauma of war and, if they had children, those children were achievers.

My purpose here is to provide the public with some of the lives of those who came on the Heintzelman's first voyage, known among the European refugees/displaced persons as the "First Transport".  The term "Transport" was used because USAT stood for "United States Army Transport" and 40 of the 149 voyages were on ships with this prefix.  

The first 4 of the 149 voyages were made on "Generals" or "Transport", setting the trend for these ships to be known generically as "transports".  Older Australians who arrived this way still ask each other, "Which transport did you come on?"

The USAT General Stuart Heintzelman at anchor, possibly 1945

(Source:  U.S. Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

In an era when not only the Australian public but citizens around the world have been encouraged to fear refugees and displaced persons as "the other", it is important to consider the contributions they can and do make to their new homes. 

Some of their lives have been published already on the Web. A leader in the Lithuanian community, Kostancija Brundzaitė, has an obituary at http://www.slic.org.au/News/news_240405.htm.  The life of CSIRO research assistant, Zenta Liepa, from Latvia, is outlined at https://www.womenaustralia.info/entries/liepa-zenta/.  Library assistant and philanthropist, Salme Koobakene, from Estonia, is remembered at https://www.womenaustralia.info/entries/koobakene-salme/.  Amanda Hickey has written about the life of her Latvian mother, Vera Ludzitis, at https://amandahickey.substack.com/p/a-stolen-story. 

The life of Latvian journalist, Emils Delins, and incidentally, that of his wife who arrived here on the same voyage, Nina-Aurelija Sics, was honoured with an obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald, available at https://www.smh.com.au/national/protector-of-communitys-prosperity-20040419-gdirhx.html. The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published a tribute at https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/news/latest-news/3932-in-memoriam-emils-delins, since Delins served in various consular roles in Australia, culminating in that of Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Latvia to Australia and New Zealand from 1993 until his death.  There is also a brief biography at https://prabook.com/web/emils.delins/566906.  Latvians Online also has a biography, which is unfortunately inaccurate in relation to one date important to this history: https://latviansonline.com/journalist-activist-emils-delins-dies-at-82/.

I intend to post more of lives of First Transport passengers on this blog as time permits.  Meanwhile, I welcome feedback, especially from anyone who can provide detail of the lives of any of the other arrivals on the "First Transport". 

If you are related to someone from the "First Transport", you can join the discussion and memories at https://www.facebook.com/groups/505412590020835/. 

Still wondering if you had a relative on this important voyage?  The complete passenger list is on the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild Website, at https://www.immigrantships.net/v10/1900v10/generalstuartheintzelman19471128_01.html.