BONEGILLA, 3.1.48, Sat. A man from the employment department spoke to us in the big hall about our work, and answered questions. It turns out that we’ve been a little deceived - in Germany we were told that we would have to work for one year in a place nominated by the government, and suddenly this one year has doubled.
He pointed out that we signed an agreement specifying we would work in such a job for “at least one year”, and that by Australian law that means two years. If that’s so, that means that “at least one” can become even ten years; they’re simply having us on.
When this was revealed, the entire hall erupted in whistles and uproar, and the speaker hurried to clarify that after the first year we could change our workplaces with the permission of the employment ministry, but he didn’t say if we would be able to get this permission.*
Everyone was very upset and promised to stop work after one year. I intend to do so as well; I won’t let them lead me up the garden path. If I’ve signed up for one year, then I will work for only one, and that’s that!
This afternoon a notice was put up in the employment office, notifying the first work nominations, and my name was amongst them as well. It goes as follows:
1. Anglo Nestles Milk Co, Maffra, Victoria - 10,
2. CJ Row Webb & Anderson, Victoria - 10,
3. Moe Brown Coal, State Electricity Comm. Yallourn, Victoria
4. Masonite Co, NSW - 25
5. State Saw Mills, Perth, West Australia - 10
6. Pyramid Hill Quarries, Victoria - 7
7. South Australian Salt Ltd, Victoria - 10
8. Cheetham Salt Works, Victoria - 10
9. Flax Production Committee, Melbourne - 20
10. Ocean Salt Pty Ltd, South Australia - 6
11. State electricity trust Kiewa, Victoria - 25
12. Dept of Woods and Forests South Australia - 33
13. Miller’s Timber and Trading coy. Ltd. Perth - 10
14. Brunning Bros Perth - 10
15. Australian News Print ltd. Tasmania - 12
16. South Australian Railways South Australia - 65
17. Engineering and Water Supply South Australia - 65
18. Electrolytic zinc Co Tasmania - 12
19. Various Employers, not yet determined, NSW - 105
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Vaclavs added this newspaper clipping to his diary
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The remainder, who haven’t been allocated to a group, will go to pick fruit, and won’t be placed in a permanent job for four to six weeks. My name was amongst the seven going to the rock quarry.
I don’t know what sort of job awaits me there, but I have peace of mind - I’ll be free at last from the crowd; we are three Latvians, 3 Lithuanians and one Estonian. The only unpleasant aspect is the doubling of the work year, but somehow I’ll get through this unexpected complication.
BONEGILLA, 4.1.48, Sun. Strange indeed is a person’s fate - you live and reach for your aims, when suddenly a completely unexpected wave of Fate’s hands occurs, and you can no longer appreciate the beauty of nature.
Today at Albury the blonde Lithuanian Vasilauskas drowned. I shared a cabin on the Heinzelman with him, and we sometimes partied together. Could this agreeable lad ever have imagined, that he would travel to Australia only to drown?
He was chest deep in the water, and suddenly suffered a stroke and drowned. It’s a pity about the young lad, did he really have to go just at the moment that his new life was beginning, after suffering the hardships and horrors of war-torn Europe?**
BONEGILLA, 6.1.48, Tues. Now soon our pleasant holiday will be over and we will have to start working. My name was announced over the loudspeaker this morning — tomorrow I will have to travel to Pyramid Hill, my new workplace.
I went to the office straight away to fill in the required form, then received a hat, pyjamas, coupons and five shillings; early tomorrow morning we’ll begin the two-hundred-mile bus journey.
BONEGILLA, 7.1.48, Wed. I woke at six-twenty, got ready straight away, handed back my bed linen, then carried my belongings to the loudspeaker. All seven of us ate breakfast, then sat in a small car. We drove to Albury, then we handed over our baggage and sat in the bus.
Bonegilla’s representative farewelled us, signalling the end of our carefree relaxation. Now, embarking on this journey, I’m also embarking on my own life; I’ll earn my own wages, and pay for everything myself. I’ve never lived that sort of life before, will I be able to adjust?
Finally the time has come when I can be my own master and ruler of my own destiny, when I can earn my own bread, and not have to be grateful for the crumbs thrown to me by others, and I will no longer have to burden any charitable institution.
After two hundred miles we reached Cohuna town, where the boss of the quarry came to meet us. We drove a further thirty miles in his car, then we were at our new home. The boss seems a very nice person, and he’d made some preparations for us.
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The modern road trip westwards from Bonegilla camp in the east
to Cohuna and Pyramid Hill town takes nearly four hours;
the 1948 bus trip must have taken a hour or two longer on poor roads
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We stopped in front of the farmhouse hired for us, where we’re sharing two rooms. Each man has his own bed, mattress, three blankets and a chair. Apart from these two rooms we also have a bathroom with a bath, a dining room and a kitchen with various utensils as new as if they’ve only just been brought back from the shop, still with the labels on them.
The kitchen table had a pile of food on it, for which we will pay at the end of the month. Food is the only thing we have to pay for ourselves, the house and contents we can use for free. The house even has a telephone, although there’s no electricity - we have to get by with petrol lamps.
The house itself, like all the others in Australia, is very lightly built and consists of only one layer of bricks. The wind blows through the cracks in the walls and floor, but in this heat such ventilation is quite pleasant.
All around our “castle” stretches a field covered in yellow grass. The soil is hard and red; it’s a miracle anything can grow in it. The groundwater, as can be seen from the ponds to water the sheep, is full of mud and the colour of cocoa. That certainly isn’t useable, and our own drinking water is collected in quite a novel way: At the end of the house stand two iron tanks that collect the rainwater from the roof. So, as it happens, we drink roofwater, but I can’t say that it tastes bad. The only thing is that in hot weather it’s warm and unrefreshing, but after all, what water is any good when it’s warm?
The house is five miles from our workplace and six from the nearest town, Pyramid, with its population of four hundred. We’ll eat lunch there in some restaurant, and prepare our own breakfast and dinner at home. We’ll be driven to and from work, and also into the town, even on Saturdays and Sundays, whenever we wish. Our wage is three shillings and threepence for every hour we work.
Everything sounds good so far. We’ll see how it is when we start work.
FOOTNOTES
* For corroboration of the reception of the news that the contracted work period had been doubled, see Endrius Jankus' report for 20 December 1947. The difference in dates might be due to Endrius report being based on notes rather than a diary, like that of Vaclavs. It's also possible that the Latvians like Vaclavs were told separately and later than the Lithuanians, although we might expect such news to travel from one national group to the next via their common German language.
Also, Endrius writes that, "A few days later, we were recalled to assemble in the Great Hall and Dr Crossley informed us of changes. Immigrants from the First Transport would have contractual obligations of 12 months, but immigrants on subsequent transports would have to serve two years." The few days later might have been 3 January, although that actually is 14 days later.
Of the two reports, perhaps Vaclavs should be favoured as far as the date is concerned since it comes from a diary apparently kept on a daily basis. Regardless of the date, both reports tell us how upset the men (and probably women) were.
** For a detailed report on the drowning death of Aleksandras Vasilauskas, please see https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2021/04/aleksandras-vasiliauskas-lithuanian-drowned.html.
*** The diary appears not have been kept on 1-2 January 1948. Too busy celebrating the start of his first full year in Australia?
