Lithuanians on the First Transport After 25 Years, by Karolis Prašmutas trans. Ann Tündern-Smith

[I have taken the liberty of editing what Google Translate has done to an article which Karolis Prašmutas wrote for Mūsų Pastogė in December 1972, to commemorate 25 years since the Lithuanians on the First Transport reached Australia.  I trust that the Prašmutai and anyone else who understands the Lithuanian language either forgives me or quietly provides corrections.

Did Karolis write a commemoration?  He finished with an important question, but it seems that subsequent generations and new arrivals from the old country have answered it positively for him.  The same applies to the continuation of the Latvian and Estonian communities in Australia.

What I find particularly interesting about this article is that it starts with Karolis acknowledging that the First Transport was an experiment.  The composition of future migration intakes depended very much on how Australians greeted the first group.  We are blessed that the welcome was warm, changing the face of Australia in the 78 years since.                                                                                                              Ann]

WE LITHUANIANS ARE STILL ALIVE

A group of Lithuanians left the shores of old Europe from Bremerhaven 25 years ago. The then Australian government admitted the first immigrants (political refugees) exclusively as a pilot group for the implementation of a further immigration program. 

Since Australia, like other countries, had many economic difficulties after the War, and there was a particularly large shortage of residences, the first group of Lithuanians (and all Baltics) was selected from unmarried people.  It was easier to deal with residential issues for this group. 

In the Lithuanian group, the number of women was very irrational in relation to men, but the Lithuanian men remained Lithuanian men and the majority created Lithuanian families, which still speak Lithuanian today. The shores of Australia were reached on 28 November 1947. 

After visiting Western Australia, we had to sail further east to Melbourne on the semi-invalid Australian ship Kanimbla.  In the port of Melbourne we were personally met by the then Minister of Immigration, Mr. Arthur Calwell. 

Although Mr. Calwell welcomed us quite warmly and the sun was scorching hot, the Australian land was cold for every Lithuanian and held an uncertain future, even more so since the leftist working class of Australia opposed the “Balts”. 

In military terms, the First Transport group was supposed to create a bridgehead for  further and more numerous compatriots to move to Australia.  The aforementioned bridgehead of the First Transport was successfully completed, as a result of which a considerable number of Lithuanians settled in Australia.  Is this how it was all supposed to end? 

No, just as an army unit, having moved across a river or other natural barriers, having accomplished its task, never withdraws from the battle, but even more actively joins the main group for further campaigns. 

Also in this case, the first Lithuanian group, even after 25 years, has not been melted by the merciless environment, but has remained distinct and unique.  Undoubtedly, some of them have gone to the Other Side, some have become indifferent to everything, closing themselves like chickens in an egg, but a large percentage today are still steadfast in Lithuanian work.

They understand their task, what was required of them 25 years ago, when our national leaders sending them overseas repeated, remember that you were born Lithuanians and remain so, even if cruel winds blow you about, do not rest, work for the Freedom of the Nation, because you have lost that freedom and no one will give it to you as a gift.

Those words still ring in our ears today, although they touched our eardrums long, long ago. Here we recall only the participants of the First Transport of Victoria (because I do not know about other States), whose names are always mentioned in Lithuanian activities, or in preparations.

Today passengers on the First Transport belong to or lead several national activities boards and organizations.  Here they are: Mrs Viltis Kružienė, Kazys Mieldažys, Povilas Baltutis, Vytautas Šalkūnas, Napoleonas Butkūnas, Karolis Prašmutas, Romas Ragauskas, Juozas Keblys and Petras Morkūnas. 

Although they are not tired after 25 years and do not complain about their heavy contribution to national activities, for how long? And where are the others?  First Transport colleagues themselves should answer that question.

Click on the original article to read a more legible version

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Jonas Bimba (1926-2011), Long Life Despite Scares, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

Jonas Bimba was one of the 62 men from the First Transport sent to the sand and scrub at Bangham, near Wolseley in South Australia, to serve out their work contract with the Australian Government by widening a rural railway track.

He was born on 31 October 1926, in a village with his family name, Bimbos, in the Panemunėlis Eldership* of the Rokiškis Municipality. His family were farmers. Jonas had at least one younger brother.

As the second Russian occupation approached Jonas, together with an uncle from Klaipėda, took a ship to Germany.

While in Berlin he was intercepted by a German patrol and taken into the Army. For a time, he looked after the troop’s horses in Hanover.

As the front approached, and the German Army retreated, Jonas simply took off his uniform and joined other refugees. He lived in several displaced persons camps.

His uncle had relatives in America and was able to emigrate to the United States. Jonas’ request to go there was rejected.

In his American Expeditionary Force (AEF) DP Registration, he said that he had an uncle in the United States. That uncle might have been a brother to the uncle who went to Germany with him, so a close enough relative for the Americans. Mere uncle for Jonas could have been too distant in American eyes. Jonas ended up in Australia on the First Transport.

Jonas in Germany, photo from his selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

When interviewed by Australia’s selection team, he advised that he had completed 6 years of primary education plus 2 years at a trade school learning to be an electrician. That ship to Germany with his uncle had become “forcibly evacuated by (the) Germans”.

In Germany, he had been a “lumber worker” for half a year and a labourer for a full year. He had worked as an electrician in Lithuania for only half a year.

None of those occupations approximate the šaltkalvis recorded on the AEF form. That word translated directly into English as “whitesmith”.

In case you, like us, have never come across the opposite of blacksmith before, it further translates into someone who works with metals which are not iron or steel, like tin or pewter, silver or lead. It applies also to tradesmen plating iron with tin, including for the drainage elements on the outside of buildings. The copper used by electricians does not get a mention though.

Either Jonas was versatile in his training and experience or a mistake had been made.

He was described as being fluent in Russian as well as Lithuanian, while his English and German skills both were fair.

He nearly missed out on Australia too, because of high blood pressure, but was declared fit in the end.

This photo of Jonas probably was taken in December 1947,
in the Bonegilla camp

Source:  National Archives of Australia

After the Bangham days were over, he lived in Adelaide for a while, Brisbane and Melbourne, but finally settled in Sydney.  Jonas married a Lithuanian, Margarita Blažytė, and had a family.

He became an Australian citizen on 11 March 1958, when he was living at 18 Fisher Street in the Sydney suburb of Petersham.

He did not participate in most Lithuanian activities, but all the time was a supporter and a regular visitor to Sydney Lithuanian Club. There was one group, however, in which he was particularly active, according to a series of reports in the Mūsų Pastogė newspaper during 1987 to 1995: the Darius and Girėnas shooters association.

In 1982, KPB in the Tėviškės Aidai newspaper reported that Jonas had been attacked and robbed at a Sydney railway station. His leg was broken in the attack and $350 was stolen before the robbers fled. Mūsų Pastogė reported that he had been admitted to Marrickville Hospital as a result of the attack.

Despite this vicious event, he was one of the survivors who attended a dinner to celebrate 50 years since the arrival of the First Transport in 1997 in Sydney – or, as they put it, 50 years since the start of the Lithuanian community. Any member of the Bauzė family or Jonas Mockūnas in his early Lithuanians blog can tell you that there were Lithuanians in Sydney before December 1947, but perhaps they were too few and isolated to form a community.

Jonas Bimba in later life
Source:  Mūsų Pastogė, 26 January 2011

The funeral of the Jonas Bimba took place on 14 January 2011 at Rookwood Cemetery. This was more than 84 years after his birth, so that high blood pressure did not matter in the long run. It was nearly 30 years after the violent robbery which, if anything, might have had the effect of shortening an even longer life.

He was cremated and his ashes were to be transferred to Lithuania. As we write, their placement has not made it onto Lithuania’s Website for the deceased, Cemety.lt. It is possible that they were scattered.

FOOTNOTE: * An eldership is the smallest Lithuanian local administrative unit, part of a municipality, equivalent to a ward in the United States or parts of Australia.

CITE THIS AS: Pocius, Daina and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/jonas-bimba-1926-2011-long-life-despite-scares.html.

SOURCES

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Jonas Bimba’, in Folder DP0362, names from BIMANIS, ELZA to BINDELS, Jan (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps; ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 66606458, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/66606458, accessed 3 October 2025.

KPB (1982) ‘Iš Mūsų Parapijų, Sydnėjus’ (‘From our Parishes, Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland), Melbourne, 10 July, p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1982/1982-07-10-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 3 October 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1982) ‘Informacija, Pastaruoju Metu Sydnejuje’ (‘Information, Recent Times in Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 14 June, p 12 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1982/1982-06-14-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 3 October 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (2011) ‘A A Jonas Bimba’ (‘In Memoriam Jonas Bimba’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 26 January, P ?

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772,     Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 40, BIMBA Jonas DOB 31 October 1926 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005478, accessed 3 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-1976; BIMBA JONAS, BIMBA Jonas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Unknown per Unknown, 1951-1951, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7187427, accessed 4 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956: BIMBA JONAS, BIMBA, Jonas : Year of Birth - 1926 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 440 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203666752, accessed 4 October 2025.

Žalys, B (1997) Sydnėjus atšventė atvykimo 5O – mėtį (‘Sydney Celebrated 50 years since the Arrival’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 1 December, p 3 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-12-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 4 October 2025.

Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Hospital history

The site on which this hospital was built has housed a hospital since the 1890s.  The family which owned the site bequeathed it to the government in 1937 so that a public hospital could be built on it.  The first government-owned and run hospital was opened as a general hospital for the Australian Army in 1941.  It was known as the Yaralla Military Hospital after the name of the property on which it was built.

After World War II, it became a hospital which specialised in the needs of returned service personnel.  The name was changed to Repatriation General Hospital, Concord.

First Transport refugees sent there to work, 1948

Voldemars Briedis, a Latvian who had been a medical student, was sent there on 7 April 1948, specifically to work as a medical orderly.  He had been working at the Bonegilla camp already from 8 December, so the day of arrival the previous year.  His English was good enough for him to have been nominated by cable from Berlin as one of 15 suitable for work as teachers or interpreters.

Voldemars was accompanied to his new workplace by another Latvian, Ojars Springis, and 4 Lithuanians:  Bronius Šaparas, whose story we have just looked at, plus Jurgis Arlionis, Ceslovas Sviderskas and Vladas Navickas.  All except Voldemars had been sent off the the fruit-picking exercise in the Goulburn Valley first.

This is what the entrance to the Repatriation Hospital looked like
when the First Transporters were sent there

Source:  Photograph by Frank Hurley, National Library of Australia

At this stage, I understand that Ojars and Vladas moved later to Tasmania, so Ramunas Tarvydas should have something to say about them.  They are on the list in From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, but he has nothing more to add.

The Hospital today

The Hospital is now a district general hospital, on Hospital Road in the Sydney suburb of Concord.  It is a teaching hospital of the Sydney Medical School of the University of Sydney.

Location of Concord Hospital

Source:  Wikipedia Maps

CITE THIS AS:  Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) 'Repatriation General Hospital, Concord', https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/repatriation-general-hospital-concord.html.

SOURCES

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office;  A445, Correspondence files, multiple number series (policy matters), 1922-1968; 174/4/8, Bonegilla Centre - Education of New Australians, 1947-1945  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=75444, accessed 3 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia:  Migration Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956.

Tarvydas, Ramunas (1997) From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, Fifty years of Baltic Immigrants in Tasmania, Hobart, Baltic Semicentennial Commemoration Activities Organising Committee, pp 158-187.

Wikipedia, 'Concord Repatriation General Hospital'   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Repatriation_General_Hospital, accessed 3 October 2025.

Bronius Šaparas (1909-1970), Airman Grounded, by Rasa Ščevinskienė with Ann Tündern-Smith

Bronius Šaparas was a pilot in independent Lithuania between the World Wars, a senior non-commissioned Air Force officer who trained also as a radio telegraphy operator.  He was sufficiently important to have his later civilian work noted also.

An example is these paragraphs from ‘Lėktuvai Percival Q6’ (‘Percival Q6 Aeroplanes’) by Saulius Štulas and Jonas Monkevičius, translated from Lithuanian by Rasa.

Civil aviation, Lithuania

“When purchasing the planes, it was planned to connect Kaunas and Klaipėda, adding Palanga during the summer season, but in the spring of 1939, when the Germans occupied the Klaipėda region, only Palanga remained.

Wikipedia articles say that 2 of the 27 Percival Petrel Q6s ever built were sold to 
Lithuanian Air Lines, which operated during 1938-40, one plane named Stepas Darius
and the other, Stays Girėnas, both here
with possibly the terminal of the Air Lines' Kaunas hub behind them

Source:  Lietuvos Aviacijos Istoria 1919-1940 m.

“A small station with two rooms was built at the Palanga airfield — for radio equipment and for the crews to spend the night.  A radio operator, V. Jackūnas, was assigned to service the station, who maintained contact with the flying plane and sold tickets to those returning to Kaunas.  The price of a one-way ticket was 38 litas - similar to the price of a second-class train ticket.  The plane took off from Kaunas at about 3-4 pm, and flew back to Kaunas at 8 am the next day.

“Over the three months of the 1939 flying season, planes on the Kaunas-Palanga-Kaunas route made 218 flights, flew 48,200 km, transported 784 passengers, 3,546 kg of luggage, and 3,476 kg of mail.  After the season ended in Palanga, the Air Traffic Inspectorate agreed with Latvia to start communication between Kaunas and Riga.  In Riga, radio operator Šaparas, who spoke Latvian, was appointed to receive planes and handle other matters.  Planes flew to Riga daily, carrying passengers, if any, and mail.”

S (Simas?) Mockūnas wrote separately in his memoir (again translated by Rasa) that, “... In Riga, a radio operator named Šaparas, who spoke Latvian, was assigned to receive our planes and handle other matters.  We flew every day, transporting passengers and mail if we found any ...”

One of the Percival Q6s went to Australia, sold to the Civil Aviation Board in May 1938

Source:  Airways Museum

Bronius' youth

An obituarist has written that Bronius was born on 26 January 1909, in Riga, where his parents lived at the time.  However, anywhere that Bronius himself nominated his birthplace, he gave it as the Lithuanian town of Skapiškis, in Rokiškis county.

It could be that the family moved to Riga in his infancy, given that both were part of Tsarist Russia at the time.  The obituarist advised that the family fled the chaos of World War I from Riga to St Petersburg, where Bronius finished elementary school. After the War had passed, they settled in or returned to Skapiškis, where Bronius continued his education until he was drafted into the Lithuanian Army.

Bronius dreamed not only of flying around the world, but also into space.  The dream came partly true, as he reached the rank of pilot non-commissioned officer while in the Army.  After completing his military service, he joined civil aviation and also studied Social and Political Science at the Vytautas the Great University, Kaunas.

Young adult Bronius

Bronius married Genovaitė Kazlauskaitė on 10 October 1936 in the church in Kudirkos Naumiestis.  He was still a non-commissioned pilot in the Air Force, living in Kaunas. His mother, maiden name Ona Vaiciekauskaitė, had died while his father, Antanas Šaparas, had moved to Brazil.  He was already 27 years old, but his bride was only 16.  Their daughter, Jūratė Regina, born on 27 October 1937 in Kaunas.

The next public record is from a 1942 census and shows Bronius Šaparas living with his wife Genovaitė and daughter Jūratė Regina on Vytautas Street in Prienai, a rural municipality just south of Kaunas.  The census shows that Bronius had finished high school and now worked as a supplier at the Sudavija brewery.

In the later 1944 summer, as the battle front moved past Prienai, the Sudavija brewery was blown up during a German air raid.  It would have been time for this family to retreat westwards, to Germany.

Bronius in Germany

An Arolsen Archives digitised record shows that the date they left was 10 August 1944. The document also shows that they had lived in Kaunas until the end of 1940, before moving to Prienai. In Germany, they lived in the Dillingen Displaced Persons camp. Of the two towns called Dillingen in Germany, it is more likely that they were in Dillingen an der Donau, or somewhere in the surrounding Dillingen district in Bavaria, in the far south of Germany.

Another Arolsen Archives document describes Bronius as a radio-telegraphist, who knew the Lithuanian, German, Russian and Polish languages. Given that apparently he lived in Riga until he was 5 or older and worked there as an adult, we think that someone forgot to include the Latvian language, which S Mockūnas said that Bronius spoke.

By October 1947, Bronius was being interviewed for possible resettlement in Australia. He made the grade and was one of 439 Lithuanians boarded onto the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman. This ship left Bremerhaven for Fremantle, Western Australia, on 30 October 1947.

Bronius Saparas from his Bonegilla card

Source:  Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup

On the passenger list, under marital status, it looks like an S and a D have been overtyped against Bronius’ name. That is to say, it was assumed he was single, like nearly all the passengers, until someone pointed out that in fact he was divorced. The divorce is confirmed by the marriage of Genovaitė Sapariene to Vytautas Musinskas, on 14 August 1948, again recorded on a document digitised by the Arolsen Archives. Genovaitė and her daughter, Jūratė Regina, later emigrated to the USA. There Jūratė Regina married a Mr Bagdonas.

Bronius starts life in Australia

Like one-quarter of the Heintzelman men, Bronius’ first job in Australia was picking fruit. In his case, he worked for VR McNab of Ardmona for two months, returning to the Bonegilla Centre on 1 April 1948. Within the week, he was one of a group of 4 men sent to provide labour to the Concord Hospital in Sydney. At that time it was known as the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, and operated by the Australian Government’s Repatriation Department, which is to say that it was for military service personnel who were injured or sick.

Bronius marries again

In 1949, Bronius Šaparas and Sofija Butkeviciutė were married by priest Petras Butkus. There was a separate marriage at the Registry on 14 January, a Friday.

Sofija had also been born in 1909, some eight months after her husband. The Lithuanian spelling of her first name is Zofija, but she must have changed the initial letter in Australia to make it easier for those in her workplace, for a start.

A Mūsų Pastogė obituarist was to write some 52 years after the marriage that she was a “Lithuanian woman of very strong character”. The Tėviškės aidai obituarist said, when her husband died, that she was a “a hardworking and healthy-minded woman”. She gave her occupation as dressmaker. In Lithuania, her last job was in a grocery shop. She had arrived in Australia on the Second Transport, the USAT General MB Stewart, on 12 February 1948.

Zofija Butkeviciute, in early 1948, from her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

When Sofija sponsored a cousin who also was a refugee in Germany, in May 1948, she had given her occupation as domestic staff member at the Concord Hospital. They both gave their usual place of residence on the marriage certificate as the Repatriation Hospital, Concord, although their paths may have crossed already at the Bonegilla camp before Bronius went fruit-picking. Their daughter Karmen (or Carmen to the Aussies) was born in February 1950.

Bronius in the community

Lithuanians living in the western Sydney suburb of Wentworthville and its surrounds met to establish a new Eldership of the Australian Lithuanian Community 23 August 1953. The meeting was chaired by J. Gardis and its secretary was Bronius. After brief discussions it was decided to temporarily establish the Eldership, and the following year to transform it into a District. Bronius and J. Gardis were elected as the 2 deputy Elders at this meeting.

Bronius’ next milestone was naturalisation, alongside Sofija, on 10 June 1958.

The house in which the Šaparas family was living at the time Bronius and Sofija applied for naturalisation:  49 Ringrose Avenue, in a suburb then called Wentworth, now Greystanes

Source:  Google Street View

Bronius and Sofija make a living

Like Juozas Šuopys, the Šarapas family got into Sydney real estate. Unlike Juozas Šuopys, the Šarapas family turned at least one large residence into a boarding house, where food as well as lodgings were available for singles. Boarding houses were used by couples too, until they had saved enough for a deposit on their own home.

Both Bronius and Sofija renovated the houses that they bought, before Sofija organised the residents’ meals and anything else with which she could help, including the laundry.

Bronius' ill-health

It was in October 1968 that Bronius experienced his second heart attack. He was admitted to hospital for surgery. Pulmonary thrombosis – blood clots on the lungs – were identified also. Around the same time, Sofija received serious head and arm injuries in a traffic accident.

After she began to recover, she tripped in the yard of one of the houses, fell and broke her other arm. Their daughter was at home, probably because it was summer school holidays in Australia, so she nursed both the parents. The family was able to continue to look after their tenants fully despite these accidents.

One year later, in October 1969, Bronius was reported to be in hospital again but in improving health.

Bronius dies

His heart gave out finally on 2 May 1970, during another hospital visit. This was at the time when Karmen was in her last year of secondary education in a Catholic girls' high school and preparing for her final exams.

On May 5, Father Petras Butkus, the priest who had married Bronius and Sofija, assisted by priest Martūzas, conducted Bronius' funeral service at the Lidcombe Catholic Church. Father Petras’ sermon for the large crowd gathered described Bronius’ life and his value to the Lithuanian community and to the church.

Bronius' photo from his Tėviškės Aidai obituary

Source:  Tėviškės Aidai

The coffin was escorted to Rookwood Cemetery. After prayers, Stasys Pačėsa delivered a farewell speech on behalf of the local Ramovė ex-servicemen’s group, while Major Garolis’ farewell came from all Lithuanian pilots.

Sofija dies

Thirty-one years later, in November 2001, Sofija joined her husband in the same Rookwood plot. Sofija was from Samogitia, which is Žemaitija to Lithuanians. Writing about the 3 Smilgevičius First Transport refugees from Samogitia, Daina Pocius told us that a Žemaitis trait is stubbornness: they never give up when in trouble and stubbornly pursue a goal. That sounds like Sofija’s focus on running her boarding house or houses.

Sofija Šaparienė in later life

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Indeed, writing (in Lithuanian) in Mūsų Pastogė in 1976, Vladas Miniotas said, “It is not for nothing that Samogitians were revered in Lithuania for their stubbornness, diversity of opinions and hospitality. Such Samogitians have remained in exile even today. And as an example, I can present Mrs. Sofija Šaparienė, who lives in Sydney.

“Poor Zosiu [familiar version of Zofija] did not give up [after the death of Bronius], even though with tearful eyes she was trying to finalise her business interests and move on to rest, creating … a more comfortable nest for a single life. Which she managed to do, buying beautiful houses in the Burwood area, near the railway station and right next to the shops.”

Vladas was writing after Sofija had hosted what he called "a feast” for her friends and new neighbours after her successful downsizing. During this occasion, all stood for a minute of silence in memory of Bronius.

Either Vladas or the newspaper headed his report “Žemaitė Nepražus”, meaning in English, “A/The Samogitian woman will not die”, an apt tribute to Sofija. Rasa adds that the Samogitian stereotype includes calm, reservation, yet stubbornness and “a determined person who stands by their word”.

Their headstones

In her obituary, Sofija was described as a comedian who enjoyed fishing. The Lithuanian text on Sofija’s headstone means in English, “Where the land is green and the cuckoo alights, there is my dear native Lithuania” and she is honoured by her daughter and granddaughter.

Wife and daughter were able to honour Bronius on his headstone, where the text means, “You flew over your native land, but a foreign land shelters you for eternal rest”.

The Saparas headstones in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

Source:  Milly McCarthy on Find A Grave

CITE THIS AS Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann  (2025) 'Bronius Šaparas (1909-1970), Airman Grounded' https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/bronius-saparas-1909-1970-airman-grounded.html.html

SOURCES

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Bronius Saparas’, in Folder DP3545, names from SHAPAR, FEDOR to SAPINZAN, Adolf (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 68944276, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68944276, accessed 2 October.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Jurate Saparas’, in Folder DP3545, names from SHAPAR, FEDOR to SAPINZAN, Adolf (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 68944249, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/68944249, accessed 2 October.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Zofija Butkevičienė, in Folder DP0583, names from BUTITTA, Francesco to BUTKO, Wiktor (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 66746793, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/66746793, accessed 2 October.

AVK (2001) ‘A†A Sofija Šaparienė’ (‘In Memoriam, Sofija Saparas’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), 26 November, p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2001/2001-11-26-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 1 October.

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Bronius Sarapas’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203706449, accessed 29 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) ‘Certificates of Naturalisation, Canberra, 16 October, p 3476 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240882506/25978042, accessed 28 September 2025.

Find A Grave, ‘Bronius Saparas’, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150623528/bronius-saparas, accessed 29 September 2025.

Metrikai.lt, ‘Bronius Šaparas’ [Naumiestis (d. Kudirkos Naumiestis) RKB 1936, įrašas 48, (Naumiestis (now Kudirkos Naumiestis) Roman Catholic Church 1936, Record No 48] https://www.metrikai.lt/index.php?title=Bronius+%C5%A0aparas&F6=Naumies%C4%8Dio+%28d.+Kudirkos+Naumies%C4%8Dio%29+RKB, accessed 28 September 2025.

Miniotas, V (Vladas) (1970) ‘AA Bronius Šaparas’ (‘In Memorium Bronius Šaparas’) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 16 June (No 22), p 3 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1970/1970-nr22-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

Miniotas, V (Vladas) (1976) ‘Sydnejus, Žemaitė Nepražus‘ ('Sydney, A Samogitian Woman Will Not Die‘) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 9 October (No 40), p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1976/1976-nr40-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 1 October 2025

Mockūnas, S. (1971) ‘S. Mockūno prisiminimai, Iš transporto piloto prisiminimų’ (‘Memories of S. Mockūnas, Memories of a Transport Pilot’, in Lithuanian) in Lietuvos Aviacijos Istorija 1919 - 1940 m (Lithuanian Aviation History 1919 – 1940, in Lithuanian) https://www.plienosp Iš transporto piloto prisiminimų arnai.lt/page.php?306, accessed 28 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 673, SAPARAS Bronius DOB 26 January 1909, 1947-1947.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Western Australia Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series, 1926-1952; 82, GENERAL HEINTZELMAN - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers, 1947-1952 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196, accessed 3 October 2025. 

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; BUTKEVICIUTE ZOFIJA, BUTKEVICIUTE, Zofija : Year of Birth - 1908 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GENERAL M.B. STEWART : Number - W 1854, 1948-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203671693, accessed 29 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; SAPARAS BRONIUS, SAPARAS, Bronius : Year of Birth - 1909 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 1047 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203706449, accessed 3 October 2025.

'Personal file of MUSINSKAS, VYTAUTAS, born on 10-Jul-1920, born in PADIVITIS and of further persons', 3.2.1 IRO “Care and Maintenance” Program, DocID: 79509673, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/79509673, accessed 2 October 2025.

'Personal file of SAPARAS, BRONIUS and of further persons’, 3.2.1 IRO “Care and Maintenance” Program, DocID: 79692768, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/79692767, accessed 1 October 2025.

'Personal file of SAPARAITE, REGINA, born on 27-Oct-1937', 3.2.1 IRO “Care and Maintenance” Program, DocID: 79692760, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/79692760, accessed 2 October 2025.

Šeimos Surašymas 1942 Metais (Family Census 1942) ‘Šaparas Bronius’ https://eu3.ragic.com/genealogija/census/3/55560.xhtml, accessed 30 September 2025

SP (1970) ‘Ramovėno Kapas’ (‘An Ex-Serviceman’s Grave’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 15 June 1970 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1970/1970-06-15-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 1 October 2025.

Štulas, Saulius and Monkevičius, Jonas "Lėktuvai Percival Q6" (‘Percival Q6 Aeroplanes’) in Lietuvos Aviacijos Istorija 1919 - 1940 m (Lithuanian Aviation History 1919 – 1940) https://www.plienosparnai.lt/page.php?82, accessed 28 September 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1968) ‘Sydnėjaus Kronika’ (‘Sydney Chronicle, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 29 October, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1968/1968-nr43-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1969a) ‘Sydnėjaus Kronika’ (‘Sydney Chronicle, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 21 January (No 3), p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1969/1969-nr03-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1969b) ‘Sydnėjaus Kronika’ (‘Sydney Chronicle, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 21 October (No 41), p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1969/1969-nr41-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

V (1953) ‘Nauja Seniūnija’ (‘New Eldership’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 2 September, p 4 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1953/1953-09-02-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 29 September 2025.

Vilčinskas, Romas (2022) ‘Pramoninės aludarystės Prienų krašte pėdsakais’ (‘In the footsteps of industrial brewing in the Prienai region’, in Lithuanian) Naujasis Gėlupis, 28 June, https://naujasisgelupis.lt/pramonines-aludarystes-prienu-kraste-pedsakais/, accessed 29 September 2025

Wikipedia, ‘Concord Repatriation General Hospital’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Repatriation_General_Hospital, accessed 28 September 2025

Wikipedia, ‘Dillingen an der Donau’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillingen_an_der_Donau, accessed 28 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Percival Petrel’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Petrel, accessed 28 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Repatriation Department’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repatriation_Department, accessed 28 September 2025.

Rapolas Braškus (1921-1960), an early death, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Kidney Disease

Rapolas Braskus was one of the First Transport refugees who died early, in his case from kidney disease rather than an accident. He was only 38 when he died, although wrongly described as 39 on his Rookwood gravestone (which also has misnamed him!)

Nowadays, someone like him would be a priority candidate for a kidney transplant and would live a much longer life after his illness was cured. Another Lithuanian from the First Transport who died less than one month earlier than him from kidney disease was Borisas Dainutis, the founder of Lithuanian scouting in Australia. Kidney transplantation in Australia was only in its infancy when these two men were lost.

Rapolas Braškus, photograph from Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

First employment in Australia

Rapolas was chosen at the Bonegilla camp by the Commonwealth Employment Service to be sent to the Styx River Sawmill operated by Ebor Sawmills Pty Ltd. Even the name of the River should have been a warning. A separate blog entry will look at the company and its sawmills in more detail.

Donation

In late 1952, perhaps at Christmas, or early 1953, Rapolas donated 6 shillings to the Australian Lithuanian Community Fund, as acknowledged by Mūsų Pastogė on 14 January 1953. Converted to modern decimal currency, 60 cents does not buy much anymore, but it was likely to have been more than 5 per cent of Rapolas’ weekly income in 1952-53.

Citizenship

At the time he was granted Australian citizenship in 1959, Rapolas, then finding it easier to be known by Australians as Ray, was living in Sydney. He gave his address as 129 Stanmore Street in Strathfield. That exact address does not exist any more, but his home may have been the 1880s two-storey terrace house at 129 Stanmore Road, Stanmore.

Family

He had been born in the village of Gailiušiai, near the city of Molėtai, on 5 September 1921, to Juozapas Braškus and Zofija née Paulavičiūtė. They now are buried together in the Molėtai old cemetery. If their headstone is accurate (unlike their son’s in Rookwood), they had a daughter also – Antanina.

Rapolas has the wrong first name on this headstone in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery,
and has been granted an extra year of life

Source:  Find A Grave by Family Tree Finder

Burial

Rapolas was buried in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery at the expense of the Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society. He had arranged to leave the entirety of his probably small estate to this organisation, having no relatives in what was then known as the Free World.

His funeral was attended by the women who had cared for him in his last illness, from Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society, other compatriots and former colleagues from the Braeside Hospital, Stanmore, and Newcastle Hospital. The service was conducted by Sydney’s Lithuanian priest, Father Petras Butkus.

CITE THIS AS: Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/09/rapolas-braskus-1921-1960-early-death.html

SOURCES

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup ‘Rapolas Braskus’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203683762, accessed 27 September 2025.

Cemety, ‘Zofija Braškienė’ https://cemety.lt/public/deceaseds/391194?type=deceased, accessed 27 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 18 June, p 2150 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240999254, accessed 27 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Molėtų RKB gimimo metrikų knyga‘ (‘Molėtai Roman Catholic Church birth registry book, in Lithuanian ) (1921, 152, pages 466, 467, record 152, Rapolas Braškus) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext/view/267697864, accessed 27 September 2025.

Find a Grave, ‘Raymond S Braskus’, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148907306/raymond-s-braskus, accessed 27 September 2025.

Musu Pastoge (Our Haven) (1953) ‘Tautos fondo atstovybės pranešimas’ (‘Announcement from the National Foundation Representative Office’, in Lithuanian) Sydney,14 January, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259359667, accessed 27 September 2025.

Musu Pastoge (Our Haven) (1960) ‘Apleido Pačioje Jaunystėje (Abandoned in his Own Youth, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 29 April, p 6 http://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-04-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 27 September 2025.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1960)‘Mirė Rapolas Braškus‘ (‘Rapolas Braškus Died’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 11 May, p 6 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1960/1960-05-11-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 27 September 2025.

Albinas Kutka (1908-1992), Master Builder and Benefactor, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 4 October 2025.

Most of the Displaced Persons from the First Transport sent to South Australia to work stayed there, even after their obligation to work where directed finished on 30 September 1949. Albinas Kutka was different: he moved to Sydney. From the suburb of Canterbury he moved to Bankstown, a suburb with its own airport for light aviation. Undeterred by the noise, he moved even closer to Bankstown Airport, in Condell Park.

Albinas was able to get recognition from the authorities as a master builder. Together with fellow Lithuanian, Vytautas Mickevičius, he was responsible for the construction of a Lithuanian retirement village in the far south of Sydney, Engadine. Rather than being adjacent to an airport, this location is adjacent to Royal National Park, Australia’s first, and only the second in the world after Yellowstone in the USA.

In old age, Albinas sold the Condell Park home and moved into one of his own buildings in the Lithuanian retirement home in Engadine.

Albinas' youth

He had been born on 9 April 1908 in the village of Lukniai, near Vyzuonos in the Utena district. He was one of 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls, born to farmers Kazimieras Kutka and Agota Kutkienė, whose maiden name was Macionytė.

Albinas lived all of his youth on the family farm until called away for military service at the age of 21. He earned the rank of junior sergeant. Eight years later, in 1937, he again was drafted into the army to refresh his training. He continued to work on the farm until the beginning of World War II. When the Soviet entered Lithuania for the second time, in 1944, he retreated to Germany.

Albinas Kutka's ID photo on his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Albinas in Germany

The Arolsen Archives hold 4 documents naming Albinas, 3 of which understate his age by exactly 10 years. What can be gleaned from them is that he was in Munich between 13 August 1945 and 6 February 1946, during which his occupation was Waldarbeiter, forest worker or woodcutter or, in American, lumberjack. He also lived for a while in a town called Vilsbiburg, which is just under 90 Km northeast of Munich, and Stade, a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany, at the opposite end of his country of refuge.

His American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Displaced Person’s registration record was filled out on 23 August 1945, but the place where it was completed is blank (unless P.A.P.Cl. 124 still can be decoded*). Another date on this form is of interest though, because its month and year suggest that 10 August 1944 was the date that he reached Germany, that is, almost one year before he was recorded in Munich. Given that its Arolsen Archives’ DeepLink number is just one more than the form which states that he is in Stade, this city may well be where he was registered as a Displaced Person.

The AEF recorded his preferred occupation not as farmer, like his father, but Tischler, German for carpenter.  Possibly he had done a lot of building on his parents' farm.

It is possible that he moved from Stade to the Munich district to get as far away as possible from the Soviet occupiers of eastern Germany and his homeland. He reported for interview by the first Australian migration selection team at the Buchholtz DP camp, though, in the centre of western Germany. 

He impressed the team enough to be included in the First Transport, departing Bremerhaven on 30 October 1947.  At 39 years, he was one of the older passengers.

Albinas and the Sawmill

Albinas’ first job in Australia was in Backhouse, Roebuck Pty. Ltd., The Bonegilla card records this company as being located in a placed called Megan, which sounds more like a girl’s name than a place name to a modern Australia. It really does exist, though, as a community hall and the remains of a railway station, inland of Coff’s Harbour in New South Wales.

The nearest town to Megan is Dorrigo, the headquarters of Backhouse, Roebuck according to a search of digitised newspapers on the National Library of Australia’s Trove Website. The company owned sawmills. 

Albinas left the Bonegilla camp for one of them in 21 January 1948, in a group of 7 men. He was back at the Bonegilla migrant centre on 11March 1948 together with another Lithuanian member of the group, Juozas Bazys, and a Latvian member of the group who was 16-20 years younger than the Lithuanians, Nikolaus Kucina.

Assuming that it took at least a couple of days to travel from Bonegilla by bus or car to Albury, then by train to Sydney, then to Megan if the station was operative in 1948, Albinas, Juozas and Nikolaus had put up with the conditions offered by Backhouse, Roebuck for less than 7 weeks. It was not the type of working with wood that Albinas preferred.

Albinas to Iron Knob

All 3 were sent off to Iron Knob, in South Australia, on 16 March, together with a fourth man who also had given up a career as a sawmill hand. The fourth man was a Latvian, Peteris Mesters, who had been sent to Northern Timbers, Pty Ltd, of Johnson’s Creek, New South Wales. Not surprisingly, Google Maps now can find 10 localities of this name in NSW, only 2 of which are in Sydney. Two certainly are northern, being on the border with Queensland.

Just before WWII, Iron Knob had been described as the largest known deposit of high-grade iron ore in the world. Broken Hill Pty Ltd – but now simply BHP – had commenced mining in the area in 1900.

The group of Lithuanians working at Iron Knob understood the importance of having a newspaper in their own language. They organised a collection to support the creation of Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian). The newspaper thanked them as its first sponsors on 12 September 1948. Albinas had donated ₤1 of the total of £8/5/- given by 10 Lithuanians.

Working together surely brought the Lithuanians there closer together. Even after they left Iron Knob, they kept in touch. For instance, 3 of them advertised on 23 May 1949 in the newspaper Australijos lietuvis that their friend Jonas Puslys, together with Olga Vainoryte, had created a Lithuanian family, so they congratulated them and wish them a sunny life. The three were Rasa’s grandfather, Adomas, and Albinas Kutka as well as Petras Juodka. By May 1949 they were not no longer working together, because Adomas for one was living already in Adelaide.

Jonas Puslys had not gone with the others to Iron Knob though. He started his working like in Australia as a fruit-picker, then had been sent to Australian Newsprint Mills’ Boyer plant in Tasmania. It looks like the connection between these four is earlier than work in Australia. None of them were in the Scouts, so perhaps it goes back to the same camp in Germany or the same locality in Lithuania.

It also looks like these men, along with Povilas Laurinavičius, had discovered the Australian postal system, and it was working for them. Actually, buying stamps and posting letters was sure to have been one of the “Australian way of life” topics covered in the Bonegilla camp English language classes.

Albinas to Adelaide

An Alien Registration record card for Albinas shows that he was released from his contract to work as directed in Australia on 30 September 1949, along with most of the others who came on the First Transport. His next place of employment was the Pier Hotel in Glenelg, suburban Adelaide, alongside Povilas Laurinavičius. Then it was off to 3 Robert Street, Canterbury, New South Wales, an address reported to the Department of Immigration on 27 June 1951.

Albinas to Sydney

Why did Albinas not stay in Adelaide like most of the others sent to South Australia to work out their contract? Another Kutka, Antanas, came to Australia from Germany on the Protea, arriving on 30 September 1948. He was sent to Sydney’s Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board to work. From the information available to us, we cannot tell if they were related but, since both were born in the Utena district, we cannot dismiss this possibility either.

If they were related and communicating with each other, then perhaps from Antanas' description of life in Sydney, Albinas thought he would do better there than in Adelaide.

We know already that he moved from the initial Canterbury address to Bankstown, a suburb with its own airport for light aviation. Undeterred by the noise, he moved to a home even closer to Bankstown Airport, in Condell Park.

On 3 December 1953, the Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) newspaper reported that Albinas was in his second year of successful house construction in Bankstown. The reporter added (in Lithuanian, of course) “His example shows what can be achieved with determination and initiative.”

Ten months later, in October 1954, he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Mūsų pastogė wrote (in Lithuanian) “His face was injured, his head was cut open, and his bicycle was smashed. After spending several days in the hospital, Alb. Kutka returned home.”

Albinas acquired Australian citizenship on 22 June 1967. His address at the time, 47 Cragg Street, Condell Park, shows that he now owned his own home, probably built or updated with his own hands.

Sydney's Lithuanian Retirement Village

Ona Baužienė started campaigning for land on which to build a Lithuanian retirement village when she became the chairwoman of the Sydney Lithuanian Women’s Social Services Association in 1967. We have just met through her recollections 30 years later of meeting the First Transport Lithuanians in the Bonegilla camp.

Her committee started an intensive program of fundraising through catering for community events, raffles and the like. In 1970, the Association was granted land at Engadine on a permanent basis on condition that it be solely used for housing the elderly.

Work on the first two buildings started in 1975 after signing a contract with the builders Albinas Kutka and Vytautas Mickevičius.  A community centre finished in 1978 was financed entirely by the Association’s fundraising plus donations. It included a kitchen, dining room and library.  The remaining 17 residential buildings, for up to two residents each, were completed in 1981, thanks this time to funding from the NSW Government as well as the Association’s efforts.

Albinas (extreme left) and Vytautas Mickevičius help to celebrate the 
completion of the buildings

The topping-out wreath and 2 village buildings, 1981

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

The official opening was on 19 August 1984. The builders, Albinas and Vytautas, brought their topping-out wreath to the opening.

Albinas the Benefactor

Mūsų pastogė advised in April 1982 that Albinas Kutka, a well-known Lithuanian builder recognized by the Australians as a "master builder", had become seriously ill recently and has been hospitalized for a major operation. The patient was recovering rapidly and hoped to return to his home in Bankstown soon. Albinas Kutka was known to local Lithuanians as a generous supporter of the Lithuanian cause.

The words “Albinas Kutka was known to local Lithuanians as a generous supporter” were very accurate, because he had been donating unreservedly to many Lithuanian activities. Messages and thanks from the newspapers can confirm this. Here are some examples.

• Mūsų Pastogė, 12 May 1980: student A. Binkevičius received $200, of which $100 was donated by builder Albinas Kutka.
• Tėviškės aidai, 21 November 1981: “The always quiet and sincere Lithuanian, Albinas Kutka", sent a donation of $100 to the Daina Choir.
• Tėviškės aidai, 20 March 1986: On the occasion of February 16 (Lithuania’s Independence Day) compatriots in Sydney and the surrounding area supported Lithuania’s freedom struggle with their sincere donations. Albinas Kutka’s donation $50 was the largest individual amount received.
• Mūsų Pastogė, 25 October 1988: A. Kutka donated $100 for the trip of Lithuanian dissident, Professor Vytautas Skuodis. Again, this was the largest individual donation.

  

  The photo which accompanied Albinas' obituary
  

  Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Albinas' Last Years

Albinas was already in his mid-70s when the village was opened.  He sold his own house and settled into a unit he had built himself. Since Albinas was single, it was more stimulating for him to live there among Lithuanian acquaintances. In his last four years of his life, his health deteriorated. Doctors recognised his condition as difficult to treat. In the end, he received care in a nearby Calvary (Catholic) nursing home.

Albinas Kutka died on 13 September 1992, and was buried in Catholic Section of the Rookwood cemetery. During his final illness, Albinas was cared for by his neighbour and friend Vincas Kondrackas and his wife. They also took care of the funeral arrangements.

FOOTNOTE:  Perhaps P.A.P.Cl. 124 can be decoded.  Recently I happened upon a list of DP Camps by Team No on the <dpcamps.org> Website.  While it doesn't explain P.A.P.Cl., it does say that Team 124 was located in München, that is, Munich, where other evidence places Albinas also.

SOURCES

‘A.E.F. D.P. Registration Record, Albinas Kutka’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67941909, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/67941909?s=Kutka&t=2739669&p=0, accessed 21 September 2025.

Australijos Lietuvis, (Australian Lithuanian) (1948) ‘Pirmieji Mūsų Rėmėjai’ (‘Our First Sponsors’, in Lithuanian) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321942, accessed 21 September 2025.

Australian Cemetery Index, ‘Kutka’, https://austcemindex.com/?family_name=kutka, accessed 21 September 2025.

'Australian Lithuanian History, Australian Lithuanian newspaper’ https://salithohistory.blogspot.com/2008/12/, accessed 21 September 2025.

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Albinas Kutka’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203624970, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘CM/1 264719, Family name, Kutka, Citizenship, Lith’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67941908, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67941908, accessed 21 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1967) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 2 June, p 5863 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241018768, accessed 21 September 2025.

Dainos Choro Valdyba (Daina Choir Board) (1981) ‘Sydnėjuje, Dainos Chore‘ (‘In Sydney, Daina Choir’ in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai, (The Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 21 November, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1981/1981-11-21-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian ) (1908, Vyzuonos church, page 113, baptism record number 51, Albinas Kutka) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267507212/276386482/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=113, accessed 21 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian) (1899, Gaižiūnai church, page 71, baptism record number 158, Antanas Kutka) phttps://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267506507/276386475/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=71

Find A Grave, ‘Albinas Kutka’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149476069/albinas-kutka, accessed 21 September 2025.

Juodka, Petras, Ivanauskas, Adomas and Albinas Kutka (1949) ‘Drauga Jona Pūsli …’ (‘Friend Jonas Puslis … ’, in Lithuanian) Australijos Lietuvis (The Australian Lithuanian) Adelaide, 23 May, p 22, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321235, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘Land/Stadt/Kreis Vilsbiburg, Form 10, ITS 247’, 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, DocID: 70255471, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70255471, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘München Kreis, Kategorie III, Form 7’, 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, DocID: 70073263, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70073263, accessed 21 September 2025. [Also at https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/70073530.]

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven)(1954) ‘Sydnėjus’ (‘Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 27 October, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259359692, accessed 21 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1980) ‘Redakcijos pastaba’ (‘Editor’s Note’) Sydney, 12 May, p 3 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1980/1980-05-12-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1988) ‘Aukos’ (‘Victims’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 25 October, p 7, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1988/1988-10-25-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

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