In my very first blog entry more than 4 years ago now, I advised that Australia's first refugees from World War II in Europe had reached Australia on 28 November 1947. Even some of the passengers had forgotten the date and used to contacted me for confirmation.
The report below on the arrival at Fremantle, the passengers' stay at two former Army camps in Perth and their departure from Fremantle on 2 December, after a stay of less than 4 full days (4 nights and 3 days as the tourism industry now has to tell us) comes for a file held by the Western Australian office of the National Archives of Australia (NAA).
The file, series PP482/1 item 82, is called General Heintzelman – Nominal Roll – Arrived Fremantle 28 Nov 1947. I bought a photocopy of its contents around 20 years ago, before digitising NAA files became a possibility. Some good person has paid now to have it digitised, so you too can read through the whole file here.
Meanwhile, below is one of the highlights, on pages 88-89 of the digitised version.
s.s."General Stuart Heintzelman".
Fremantle - 28.11.47.
The Commonwealth Migration Officer,*
The Commonwealth Migration Officer is informed that the U.S. Transport "General Stuart Heintzelman" arrived at Fremantle on 23.11.'47 [sic] from Bremerhaven and had on board 843 persons travelling to Australia under the agreement signed between the Commonwealth Government and C.I.R.0.**2. On arrival the ship was boarded by the Quarantine
Medical Officer and Officers of this Department, and after the
Quarantine inspection it was found that two passengers - Mr.
Stephanus Markelis and Miss Salma Pochla were considered by the
Medical Officer to be suffering from Mental Instability, and one
passenger, Mr. Karl Tarik, was suffering from Interstital Keratitis
of the left eye. The Medical Officers considered that in these
cases the people were unlikely to recover and they were prohibited
from landing in Australia. They subsequently returned to Europe
in the ship, leaving Australia on 30.11.'47.
3. Another passenger ... was
suffering from V.D. but the Medical Officer stated that in this
case the man would respond to treatment in one week. He was
subsequently landed into the Fremantle Public Hospital for
treatment, detained there until 2.12.'47, and taken on board
H.M.S."Kanimbla" on 2.12.'47 and placed in the ship's hospital
for further treatment pending his arrival in Victoria.
4. Immediately the ship was boarded, I was informed
that a cable had been received by the Master from Germany relating
to Miss Irina Traubers. The message read - “Irina TRAUBERS
nominal roll No.829 ineligible on grounds of Security. Must not
be allowed to land. Should be brought back on return journey.
De Witt Chief of Transportation for Higham." This woman was
prohibited from landing and returned to Germany on the ship,
leaving Fremantle for Overseas on 30.11.1947.
5. After the medical inspection, all male passengers
who were landing were issued with a red or green ticket to wear
in the lapel of their coats to indicate to which camp they had
been allocated. The women who were all to be lodged at Grayland
were not issued with these tickets.
6. We also issued them with a typewritten slip of
paper on which the men were asked to indicate the size of their
shoes and the women, several body measurements. This was done to
enable the Department of Supply & Shipping to inform Melbourne of
the necessary sizes of clothing to be prepared and issued on the
arrival of the Displaced Persons at Bonegilla Camp. A Representative of a clothing factory estimated the size of the men's
clothing by watching them debark.
7. On the completion of the debarkation, officers
of the Supply & Shipping Department expressed their appreciation
of our co-operation in this matter, and appeared very pleased
8. The ship, having been granted pratique***, berthed
at 0930 hrs. but owing to some trouble being experienced with
the gangway (it fell down once and had to be moved once to allow a wharf
crane to pass) debarkation did not commence until 1030 hrs.
9. On debarkation, passengers were directed by our officers
through wharf shed doors into the shed where a Customs examination of
their hand baggage was carried out, and when completed they embussed
for the Camps. This operation was entirely successful and completed
at 1230 hrs, the last bus load arriving at the camp in time for lunch
at 1300 hrs.
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| The Heintzelman passengers finally get to 'debark' into a former fruit export shed which still stands next to Western Australia's Maritime Museum in Fremantle Source: Collections of Irina Vasins Kakis and Galina Vasins Karciauskas |
10. On arrival at the camps the people were conducted to their
living quarters. 398 persons were accommodated at Graylands Camp and 441 persons at Swanbourne Camp.
11. During the night the heavy baggage was sorted in the shed
by representatives of Gills' Transport Coy, and transported to the
respective camps where it was ready for Customs examination at 0900 hrs
on 29.11.'47.
12, The Customs examination was carried out on the day of 29.11.'47
and officers of this Department completed Forms A.42 for all passenger
on the same day. Certificates of Identity were left with the passengers
to enable identification to be easily established on arrival at Bonegilla
and so expedite the work of Alien Registration Officers at that Camp.
13. On Sunday night, 30.11.'47, all those migrants who wished
attended a free picture show at Claremont, and a dance organised by 6 K.Y. Broadcasters, was given on Monday night.
14, On Monday morning all heavy baggage was loaded and
transported to the wharf for loading into "Kanimbla",
15. The onward movement for embarking in "Kanimbla" commenced
at 0900 hrs. on 2.12.'47 and all passengers were checked on board the
ship by 1130 hrs, when passenger lists and Forms A42 completed, were
handed to Mr. Weale from the Melbourne office who was to travel East
in the ship. S.S."Kanimbla" sailed from Fremantle at 1800 hrs. on
2.12.'47 with 839 migrant passengers on board.
16. The migrants seemed happy and pleased at the reception
they had been accorded in the camps, and expressed their appreciation
of the efforts that had been made on their behalf***.
FOOTNOTES
* 'The Commonwealth Migration Officer', to whom this report is addressed, would have been the most senior official in the Perth Office of the Department of Immigration.
** C.I.R.O. stands for 'Commission for the International Refugee Organization', usually called the PCIRO or Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization at this time. See https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210602198s004-c010 for a brief explanation.
*** Pratique? Oxford Languages, as it calls itself now, says that the word is 'historical' (indeed!) and means 'permission granted to a ship to have dealings with a port, given after quarantine or on showing a clean bill of health.'
**** Our author does not detail the 'reception they had been accorded in the camps' nor 'efforts made on their behalf'. Elmar Saarepere remembered, however, that locals had arranged that their first dinner be served using starched linen and cutlery from the best hotel in Perth. There was an orange waiting at every place. All were seated at the same time, and waited upon by hotel staff with a white napkin over one arm.
Someone who witnessed the Heintzelman arriving and who later became a senior Immigration official, Ian Mckenzie, told me that the Western Australia (WA) Government thought that all of the passengers would be staying to work in WA. This might explain the special arrangements for the first dinner.
I have yet to find any correspondence between the WA Premier of the time, Ross McLarty, and the Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, but we can be sure that it would be interesting reading.
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