We've noted already that the Western Australian public and, probably, Western Australian public officials, thought that all of the passengers were going to stay in their state. It therefore was politic to oblige at least one Western Australia employer with a group of new employees.
In fact, three employers were supported, all in the timber industry one way or another. They were Bunning Brothers (now known nationally and in New Zealand), Millers Timber & Trading Co Ltd and the State Saw Mills. Between them, they were supplied with 30 workers. All left the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre on 15 January 1948. That was after a 5-week stay in the Bonegilla camp and about 6 weeks since they had left Western Australia on the Kanimbla.
The first notice of their impending arrival was given 10 days before they left for Western Australia. Given the size of the report and its placement at the bottom of page 8 of the local daily newspaper, maybe the disappointment wasn't so great after all.
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| The second paragraph contains the first news of the return of 30 men to WA |
Regardless of their previous experience (at least one placed elsewhere had been a senior manager), they would all start on the bottom rung of the timber industry as labourers, a sawmillers’ spokesman told the West Australian newspaper. They would receive union rates of pay (as mandated by the Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, and the best way of ensuring their integration into the workforce anyhow).
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| Source: West Australian, 6 January 1948, page 7 |
On the same day, 6 January, the West Australian ran an editorial in support of the new Baltic arrivals and European migration generally. This was important, given how focussed migration plans had been on sourcing Britons until Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, had visited Europe in the middle of the previous year. It meant that an influential voice in Western Australia was supportin Calwell's new direction
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| The West Australian's editorial in support of migration from Europe Source: West Australian, 6 January 1948, page 7 |
The West Australian reported 2 days after they left Bonegilla that they were expected in Perth two days later, on January 19. Their destinations would be the towns of Pemberton, Jarrahdale, Treesville and Manjimup. (Two of those names do sound like settlements started specifically for the timber industry.)
Like the previous two notices, this one was tucked away, again on page 7.
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| Source: West Australian, 17 January 1948 |
The Perth evening newspaper, the Daily News, gave them much more prominence on their day of their arrival, with a photograph and report on page 2. Indeed, there was page 1 prominence given to one of the men, former Estonian Albert Kaddatz. I hope we can look at him in more detail soon.
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| Page 2 news with a photograph this time! Source: Perth Daily News, 19 January 1948 (Click on the image for a more legible version in a new webpage) |
All of the men with their potential employers are listed below.
| Bunning Brothers | |
| Gerhard Gruscin | Lithuanian |
| Anskis Reizgys | Lithuanian |
| Edvardas Rimkevicius | Lithuanian |
| Zenonas Sakalinskas | Lithuanian |
| Juozas Sadauskas | Lithuanian |
| Kostas Sanda | Lithuanian |
| Anton Kokins | Latvian |
| Janis Reinholds | Latvian |
| Olgerts Rutkis | Latvian |
| Millers Timber & Trading Co Ltd | |
| Hugo Poldemaa | Estonian |
| Izidors Puzulis | Latvian |
| Janis-Benedikts Plaudis | Latvian |
| Vladis Norberts | Latvian |
| Juozas Mozuras | Lithuanian |
| Jonas Plestys | Lithuanian |
| Zigmas Plukis | Lithuanian |
| Algirdas Pranckunas | Lithuanian |
| Antanas Preimonas | Lithuanian |
| Stasys Rastutis | Lithuanian |
| State Saw Mills | |
| Albert Kaddatz | Estonian |
| Algirdas Undzenas | Lithuanian |
| Juozas Savikas | Lithuanian |
| Augustinas Semiotas | Lithuanian |
| Kazys Sinkevicius | Lithuanian |
| Alfonsas Slionskis | Lithuanian |
| Bronius Smaliorius | Lithuanian |
| Alfredas Sutkevicius | Lithuanian |
| Jurgis Tucinskas | Lithuanian |
| Pranas Vysniauskas | Lithuanian |
Once again, the number of names do not match the claimed numbers involved. There are no 30 people above, but 29.
The explanation in this case is the missing Bonegilla card for Alfonsas Sadauskas. We already know his story, thanks to a son, Vidas, who says that Alfonsas was sent to the Mundaring Weir area about 40km east of Perth. What we don’t know is which of the three employers sent him there.
He was not necessarily employed with Juozas Sadauskas, who appears not to have been a relative. In fact, the name Sadauskas is so common that 3 people called Juozas Sadauskas, but with different dates of birth, migrated to Australia under the IRO Mass Scheme.
Just as we now have linked Alfonsas Sadauskas’ story to the mention of his name above, we’ll link other stories to their names above as they come to hand.
SOURCE
National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series; 82, General Heintzelman - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 27 June 2025.
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