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.