Kostas Kuzmickas (1920 - 1989) and Justina (Gustine) Kuzmickienė (Kuzmickas) (1922 -2014), a Yugoslav among the Balts? by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 10 August 2026.

How did a Yugoslav, and a married one at that, get herself into the first group of single, Baltic Displaced Persons – refugees by today’s standards – brought to Australia?

This article will look at what the records tell us, but we can say in advance that it will not come up with a definitive answer.

First, who was the Yugoslav? Justina Čuček or Čiuček was born in Varaždin county, Croatia, on 30 September 1922. Her father was Antun (or Antanas, if the form was completed by a Lithuanian), mother Matilda, formerly Alužan. She had trained as a nurse. She spoke Lithuanian and German according to an American Expeditionary Force (AEF) DP Registration Record completed on 30 August 1945, that is, one month before her 23rd birthday.

Kostas Kuzmikas was 2 years older, although one source has him only 4 months older. He was born in Papiškiai village, Anykščiai district, Lithuania, on 22 May 1920 (or 1922) to Antanas and Apolonija, formerly Misiūnaitė. He last place of residence in Lithuania was Gasčiūnai village in the Šiauliai district. He spoke Russian as well as German and Lithuanian and, according to his Bonegilla card once he had reached Australia, his English also was good. He was tailor or a railway worker (records differ—and, who knows, maybe he tailored railway uniforms) who had married Justina on 27 June 1945 in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. Although both were Catholics, it was a civil wedding in the local registry office. And it also occurred only weeks after the end of WWII in Germany, which was on 8 May 1945.

Kostas and Justina from their Bonegilla cards

Source:  National Archives of Australia and NAA

German officials seem to have Germanised Justina’s name to Gustine Tschtutschek, their phonetic spelling of its pronunciation. This spilled over into a report in the Melbourne Catholic newspaper, the Advocate, in January 1948.

The reporter clearly misunderstood postwar conditions in Germany. They wrote,

At the conclusion of the Mass, the Archbishop blessed the marriage of a young couple named Kostas Kuzmickas and Gustine Tschtutschek. This young pair had already married whilst they were in a concentration camp, but their hostile gaolers would not allow a priest to bless their union, so they had to be content with a civil marriage. Under the circumstances, the marriage was a valid one, but the faith of these good people is so sound that they eagerly sought the blessing of a priest on the union at the first available opportunity. Their fidelity was rewarded beyond their highest hopes, for their civil marriage of the concentration camp was ultimately blessed by an Archbishop.

Archbishop Simonds blesses the Bonegilla marriage between Justine and Kostas

Source:  Advocate

The fact that Justina was regarded as a Lithuanian after her marriage is not a surprise in the context of citizenship and nationality laws (often but not always the same thing) from 75 or more years ago. As a general rule, a woman was seen as having taken on her husband’s citizenship after marriage. Justina had become a Lithuanian in the eyes of anyone who knew about her marriage, and probably under Lithuanian and German law too.

Explaining how a married woman joined her husband in a party supposedly composed entirely of single people is not so easy to understand. Subterfuge was likely to have been involved. Each of the applicants was interviewed individually. Justina would have attended her interview with the 3 Australians on the selection panel without Kostas. Could her Lithuanian language skills have been so good that the interpreter assumed she was a native speaker? Perhaps instead there was a private exchange in Lithuanian with the interpreter, then playing along with Justina’s need to accompany her husband to Australia.

Anyone with a beginner’s knowledge of Lithuanian could see on an alphabetical list of the Heintzelman passengers that a Kuzmikiene had been married to a Kuzmikas — perhaps Kosmas. Maybe the 3 Australians lacked even that basic knowledge, and none of the Lithuanians who were helping the selection process volunteered to inform them.

Further, the story presented to the interview panel on 15 October 1947 was that she was a widow, with the maiden name of Cucek. It would not have mattered that her maiden name was not Lithuanian as, legally, she still held her deceased husband’s citizenship. The panel probably believed this without further questioning. Their focus was a legal one, on people who were unwilling or unable to return to their country of citizenship, of legal protection, not their place of birth.

Justina was well educated too, with 8 years of elementary schooling and 2 years of secondary. Her present occupation was nursing, and she had been doing this for 4 years, that is, from some time in 1943, while war was being waged. The languages in which she claimed fluency were Lithuanian, Slovenian and German.

Note the Slovenian language, not Croatian. We’ve seen above that Justina’s birthplace, was in Croatia, but her last permanent residence was in Celje, Slovenia. Inhabitants of both regions, which became Socialist Republics within Yugoslavia in November 1945, were predominantly Roman Catholic, like the Lithuanians.

She said she had arrived in Germany in April 1941, “forcibly evacuated by the Germans”. Kostas too had been “forcibly evacuated by the Germans”, but not until November 1943. Her presence in Germany from the spring of 1941 increases the possibility that this is where they met.

The thinking behind wanting the first group of Displaced Persons to Australia to be single probably was that it would be easier to place unmarried people in positions that Australians would not take or other areas of great need than to worry about placing the spouse (and maybe family) nearby. However, the 4 marriages in the Bonegilla camp before the end of 1947, including the Kuzmickas marriage blessed by the Archbishop of Melbourne, with another 3 in January, must have made officials have another think.

It seems that Justina and Kostas had a religious marriage ceremony before Archbishop Simmons blessed them, as their Bonegilla cards both say that they were married on 20 December by Father JC Awburn. He was the parish priest from Wodonga, who initially looked after the spiritual needs of the Catholics in the Bonegilla camp which the Church looked for a German-speaking priest.

Kostas and Justina finally were found positions together to which they departed on 6 February 1948, after 2 months in the Bonegilla camp. Their destination was Beechworth in rural Victoria, where they were to work for the Zwar Brothers tannery. They were sent along with 2 others, a Lithuanian and an Estonian, on 6 February 1948, so we can speculate that the Commonwealth Employment Service had been having a hard time finding placements for this group. The group must have satisfied the Zwar Brothers’ management though, because another Lithuanian was sent on 15 February and a fifth on 26 February.

There is a detailed history of this business on the Web already.

The Zwar Brothers tannery in Beechworth:
the dominant mode of transport suggests this photo was taken some time before 1948

Source:  Beechworth History Timeline

On 2 August 1957, Kostas and Justina together became Australian citizens, while resident at 66 Ardmillan Road, Moonee Ponds.

We can catch up with Justina and Kostas through a Lithuanian Entrepreneurs profile published in Tėviškės Aidai in June 1959. They owned what Australians call a mixed business, sometimes milk bar or a deli, on Melrose Street, North Melbourne. Sometimes this sort of business is called a corner store, and theirs did indeed stand on a corner.

The older portion of this property housed the Kuzmickas corner store on
Melrose Street, North Melbourne:
the date on the building is 1889, meaning that it was almost 70 years old
when the couple purchased it and perhaps in need of some repairs

Source:  Google Street View

The report is implausible at the point where we are told that Kostas had purchased the shop in early 1948. We already know what Kostas and Justina were doing in early 1948, and it was not amassing a deposit on the purchase of a shop. Given that they were living in the nearby suburb of Moonee Ponds when they became Australians in August 1957, it is possible that “1948” is a typographic error for 1958.

There is no reason to think that Justina had not working under contract like Kostas, perhaps in the Beechworth tannery but perhaps originally providing domestic assistance in the manager’s home. A letter from the Department of Immigration in November 1949, in response to a form notifying intention Justina’s intention to apply for Australian citizenship, was addressed to her at a Department of Mental Hygiene at Beechworth, meaning that she had found employment at the Beechworth Mental Hospital. Justina and Kostas would have been a two-income couple in 1948-49, which certainly would have helped them save to buy property early.

The Tėviškės Aidai report explains that Kostas obtained work in the Hilton Hosiery factory, also in North Melbourne, when they moved to Melbourne after their contracts ended. His Alien Registration file in the Melbourne office of the National Archives of Australia contains his most recent Alien Registration Certificate, a blue-covered, passport-like book. It contains two entries only, to say that Kostas had reported that he was working for Hilton Hosiery only on 10 May 1956, when he lived at an address in East Keilor, in outer Melbourne, not yet allocated street numbers.  We might find out what work Kostas was doing before that date when the National Archives opens more files for this couple.

Owning a shop as well, from early 1958, meant that the family again had a second income, while their daughter Ramunė-Marija, who was two and a half years old, could stay with Justina when her mother worked.

Mrs Kuzmickienė was of Yugoslav nationality, the reporter noted, but spoke Lithuanian perfectly, so that it was impossible to tell from her speech that she was not Lithuanian. The reporter was "introduced" by the older daughter, Ona-Gražina, 7 years old, who also "chattered" Lithuanian beautifully. One could only be surprised and delighted by such Lithuanity of the family, especially now that there were families where both parents were Lithuanian and the children could barely "translate" a Lithuanian word. (The quotation marks are from the original Lithuanian-language text.)

Although the shop was small, both it and the storeroom next to it were overflowing with goods. The store was mainly administered Mrs. Kuzmickienė. Mr. Kuzmickas, on shift work, could only help for a few hours a day during the opening hours. They had hired workforce of one, a young Lithuanian boy still in school. When asked if he was satisfied, Mr Kuzmickas replied: "The profit from trade gives us a second salary. Since my wife, due to her family situation, cannot leave the house anywhere, we feel very well off in this regard."

And indeed they would have been, compared with the many married couples were the wife was following society’s expectations of staying at home without additional paid employment.

Kostas’ employer, Hilton Hosiery, had been founded in Melbourne in 1936 by Len G Smith as Hilton Knitting Mills, which produced women’s stockings in silk, rayon and fine cotton. There was no nylon for nylon stockings available during WWII, as it all was being used in parachutes and their rip cords. The company expanded in 1947 when nylon did become available, moved beyond legwear to undergarments in the mid-1950s, and at times also made socks for men as well as women and fine knitwear.

It's possible that Kostas never used the main entrance to the Hilton Hosiery company premises,
as it may have been reserved for managers and salespeople:
the sawtooth roofline to the left of this photo is the location of the factory with its own entrance

Source:  State Library of Victoria image a19349 via Pittwater Online News

Hilton merged with the British giant, Courtaulds, in 1969 but this company then went through a period of pressure from tariff reductions, increasing foreign imports and rising local costs. It was wound up at the end of the century and the land on which it operated was sold for apartments. The building which replaced the Hosiery business occupies the same footprint and is called Hilton Hosiery Mills. The new building did not have to include the art deco entrance to the old so it, sadly, was demolished.

As men used to qualify for the age pension in Australia when they had their 65th birthdays, it became a de facto retirement age. We do not know if Kostas continued to work with Courtaulds Hilton Limited until he turned 65 in May 1985 or left earlier. Perhaps he and Justina figured before this that they could afford to run the corner store together and still make a good income.

Justine had told a reporter from the Advocate newspaper that she hoped that her future work would take her among children. She worked as a nurse in a kindergarten conducted by the Red Cross in one of the DP camps in Germany. She possibly was nursing, with children as well as adults, at the Beechworth Mental Hospital.  Now with her own young daughters to look after, perhaps her wish had been fulfilled again, at least until they were older.

Kostas was yet another an active Scout leader from the First Transport, who has been entrusted with the duties of head of the district and of district supply department.

Mūsų Pastogė published a special Melbourne edition on 9 May 1962. Among the donors it thanked for supporting the edition were J and K Kuzmikas, who still were running a shop selling fruit, vegetables and confectionery, on Melrose Street, North Melbourne.

Kostas died 27 years later on 10 May 1989, at a relatively young age, 12 days before his 67th birthday. He had been a distinguished volunteer for Lithuanian scouting. He was buried by an Australian priest in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery in southeastern Melbourne.

Justine or Justina Frances Kuzmickas lived another 25 years, to the good age of 91, but died on 4 April 2014. She too was buried in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, with her husband.

A relationship which had started when both were in their very early 20s, and which had been tested by the requirements for early migration to Australia from the chaos of post-WWII Germany, had certainly stood firm through other tests until Kostas’ death 45 years later. Despite that subterfuge to get Justina into Australia with Kostas, the couple had contributed to their new home through their work, to the North Melbourne community through their shop, and to the future through their 2 daughters.

CITE THIS AS: Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2026) 'Kostas Kuzmickas (1920 - 1989) and Justina (Gustine) Kuzmickienė (Kuzmickas) (1922 -2014), a Yugoslav among the Balts?'

SOURCES:

Advocate (1947) ‘300 Catholics Among Baltic Immigrants, Lithuanians Attend First Mass at Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre‘ Melbourne, Vic, 27 December, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/172493478, accessed 7 August 2026.

Advocate (1948) 'Joyous D.P.’s Greet Bishops at Bonegilla', Melbourne, Vic, 8 January, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/172493804, accessed 7 August 2026.

‘American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) DP Registration Record, Kuzmickas, Kostas’ 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File, Postwar Card File (A-Z), Cards extracted from files subsequently, DocID: 87900627, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/87900627, accessed 5 August 2026.

‘American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) DP Registration Record, Kuzmickiene, Justina’ 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File, Postwar Card File (A-Z), Names in "phonetical" order from KR, DocID: 67949088, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67949088 and https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67949089, accessed 7 August 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection, ‘Kuzmickas, Kostas’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203625136, accessed 7 August 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection, ‘Kuzmickiene, Justine’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/2036251367, accessed 7 August 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 24 April, p 1255 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240891861, accessed 7 August 2026.

Elektroninis Archyvų Informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archives Information System), Ukmergės dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga' (Ukmerge deanery church birth register book', in Lithuanian [1920 Kavarskas church birth record Nr. 76]) p 87, https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267626965/280278724/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=87, accessed 7 August 2026.

Find a Grave, ‘Justina Frances Kuzmickas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231320325/justina_frances-kuzmickas, accessed 7 August 2026.

Find a Grave, ‘Kostas Kuzmickas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231320326/kostas-kuzmickas, accessed 7 August 2026.

‘Heiratsurkunde, Eisenbahnarbeiter, Kostas Kuzmickas und Rotkreuzschwester, Gustine Tchutschak’ (‘Marriage Certificate, Railway worker, Kostas Kuzmickas and Red Cross Nurse, Justina Cucek, in German’ 2.2.2.2 Official Certificates (marriages and deaths), western zones, general, Official Certificates (marriages and deaths), western zones, general https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/76792919, accessed 5 August 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1962) ‘Melbourno numeris‘ (‘Melbourne number’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 9 May, p 1 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1962/1962-05-09-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 August 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration (Central Office); A435, Class 4 correspondence files relating to naturalisation, 1944-1950; 1949/4/4865, KUZMICKAS Justine – Lithuanian, 1949-1949 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6965090, accessed 7 August 2026.

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; 575, KUZMICKAS Kostas DOB 22 May 1920, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005810, accessed 7 August 2026.

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; 752, KUZMICKIENE Justina DOB 30 September 1922, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005911, accessed 7 August 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Victorian Branch; B78, Alien registration documents, 1948-1965; 1957/KUZMICKAS K, KUZMICKAS Kostas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per USAT General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-1957 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4275356, accessed 7 August 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; KUZMICKAS, Kostas : Year of Birth - 1920 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 949, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203625136, accessed 7 August 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; KUZMICKIENE JUSTINE, KUZMICKIENE, Justine : Year of Birth - 1922 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 1121, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203625137, accessed 7 August 2026.

Pittwater Online News (2012) ‘Hilton Lingerie – Slips’ 21 -27 October https://www.pittwateronlinenews.com/collectors-corner---hilton-lingerie---slips.php, accessed 7 August 2026.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of the Homeland) (1959) ‘Lietuviai Verslininkai, Kuzmickų Kolonialinių Prekių Krautuve‘ (‘Lithuanian Entrepreneurs, Kuzmickas Corner Store’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 10 June, p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1959/1959-06-10-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 6 August 2026.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of the Homeland) (1989) ‘Is Mūšų Parapijų‘ (From Our Parishes‘, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 23 May, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1989/1989-05-23-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 6 August 2026.

Victorian Government Gazette, G37 (2014), 'Estates of Deceased Persons' Melbourne, Vic, 11 September, p 2037 https://resources.reglii.com/VGG.2014.9.11.G37.pdf, accessed 8 August 2026.

Vladas Paškevičius (? – 1953), early death for a coal train driver, by Ann Tündern-Smith and Rasa Ščevinskienė

Vladas told Australian officials that he born on 22 June 1915. His selection documents for migration to Australia from post-WWII Germany say that he had completed 3 years of primary school and 8 years of secondary education.

Such a lengthy secondary schooling normally would mean some sort of specialisation, but there are no further hints in his selection papers. In his book on the Baltic refugees sent to the Latrobe Valley, Welcome to Little Europe, Josef Šeštokas says that Vladas had acquired a university education in Kaunas, but presumably was not himself given further details.

Vladas had the standard “Forcibly evacuated by the Germans” explanation for coming to Germany in his selection interview report. He must have been doing some work of value to the German military when it was decided to retreat.

At the time he applied to migrate to Australia, he was in Camp Riga in Lübeck in coastal Germany. Judging by its name, its main inhabitants were Latvians.

Once he got to Australia on the First Transport and to the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre, he nominated his brother Bronius as his next of kin. Bronius was living in a different DP camp to that of Vladas but also in Lübeck.

Vladas Paskevicius colourised photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Vladas was seen as an appropriate choice for working the Moe brown coal deposits with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, headquartered in Yallourn in Victoria’s southern Latrobe Valley. He left the Bonegilla camp on 15 January 1948.

His first accommodation outside the Bonegilla camp probably was little different to the Bonegilla camp in its comforts. It was the North Camp in the town of Yallourn North. Josef Šeštokas goes into more detail about the camp in his book.

By 1953, Vladas had moved on the Eastern Road Hostel, Yallourn East. Josef says that he was known to have high blood pressure. While showering at the end of his afternoon/evening shift, on 24 February, he suffered what was thought to be a cerebral haemorrhage.

He was found around 7 am the next day, and taken to the Latrobe Valley Community Hospital. He died there at 11 am without regaining consciousness. That was only 5 years after arriving in Australia and when Vladas was aged only 38, according to the date of birth given to Australian officials.

The report on his passing in the Lithuanian language Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian) says, however, that he was aged 47 at the time. This started Rasa on a hunt through Lithuanian births recorded in church registers. In the Pumpėnai registers, she found a record for Bronius, born in 1896, and his brothers, Stanislovas (1899) and Aleksandras in (1901). A sister, Vanda, was born in 1908. There was no record for Vladas, either in the Pumpėnai books or those for Raudondvaris, where the Australijos lietuvis obituary said he had been born.

We have looked in the Arolsen Archives as well. They have digitised records relating to Bronius, but the two men called Vladas Paskevicius are distinguished by different details. One has different parents to Bronius and our Vladas, while the other was a tailor on a ship to America with his wife.

Our Vladas is included in an Arolsen Archives document about Bronius and his family, this time with the 1915 birthdate of 6 April. Rasa has conducted a search based on that date too, but again without results.

Rasa has added the siblings’ details, including Vladas’ name, to a record for Bronius in Geni.com, in the hope that another genealogist one day will add Vladas’ accurate birth details, supported by documentation.

Vladas would have been driving a train like one of these two,
shown being loaded by a coal dredge at the Yallourn open cut mine,
photographed by someone unknown in 1948 or earlier

Source:  Wikipedia

He must have been an astute saver because, according to Josef Šeštokas, before his death he had bought a house in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood for his mother and 3 brothers, whose migration he had sponsored.

Bronius would have been one of them, as we know from Vladas’ own Bonegilla card. He had arrived in Melbourne on the General AW Greely, sister ship to our General Heintzelman, on 12 May 1950, with his wife, Elena, and sons, Rimautas and Bronius. The Henrikas Paškevičius who arrived on the Anna Salen on 30 July 1950 with his wife, Irena, may well be the Henrikas who was the son of Bronius and Elena.

There are no files in the National Archives of Australia’s Record Search for Bronius and Vladas’ brothers, Stanislovas and Aleksandras, nor their mother, Teodora. Josef Šeštokas was relying on what he was told by North Camp residents still alive when he was researching about 20 years ago, as well as the accessible National Archives files. It is looking like the house which Vladas generously bought in Collingwood was not for his mother and 3 brothers but for one brother, Bronius, along his wife and 3 sons, one of whom also had a wife.

Bronius, in his turn, looked after Vladas, arranging for his body to be transported to Melbourne and buried in the Roman Catholic Section of Melbourne’s Fawkner Memorial Park, two days after his death.

Elena died only one year after her brother-in-law, Vladas, also at a young age, this time 45. Bronius had her buried in the same plot as Vladas. Sadly, there is now a small stone recording Elena’s life but nothing for Vladas. Probably commemorating his wife was all that Bronius and his family could afford at the time. The need to record Vladas’ burial in the same plot probably was overtaken by other events.

The grave of Pladas (sic) Paskevicius and his sister-in-law, Elena,
in Fawkner Memorial Park

Source:  Patricia C on Find A Grave

Bronius, is should be noted, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Lithuanian Army who had been responsible for two major victories in Lithuania’s war of liberation, in 1919, earning 2 Vytis crosses for his actions.

Vladas’ obituary describes him as sensitive to every Lithuanian cause, a generous donor and a zealous subscriber to the Lithuanian press. Leading a sober and orderly life, he was only interested in politics, theatre and music.

His innate modesty, self-absorption, and perhaps a sense of sudden death, it was said, did not allow him to express himself in local Lithuanian cultural and social life, although undoubtedly he had the abilities and intellectual qualities for this. He lived quietly in his last years and died quietly.

He had been an active member of the Riflemen's Union and its choir in Lithuania. In exile in Germany, he was as an administrative worker in a Displaced Persons camp.

A fellow First Transport arrival, writing about life in Yallourn ten years later, noted that both Vladas and another early death, Antanas Pranauskas, were sensitive and generous to Lithuanian affairs and passionate lovers of the Lithuanian press.

The death certificate for Vladas, and documents for Bronius, name different parents to those nominated for the other Paskevičius on the First Transport, Zigmas. These two were distantly related only, if at all. Gemini.ai says that Paskevičius is relatively frequent surname across Lithuania, while not in the top ten. It is widely distributed throughout the country, with notable concentrations in larger urban centres.

CITE THIS AS: Tündern-Smith, Ann and Ščevinskienė, Rasa (2026) ‘Vladas Paskevičius (? – 1953), early death for a coal train driver’ https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2026/08/vladas-paskevicius-1953-death-for-coal-train-driver.html.html.

SOURCES:

AEF (American Expeditionary Force) DP Registration Record, ‘Paškevičius, Bronius’, Folder DP3032, names from PASKES, ALEXANDER to PASMIONKA, Stanislaw (1), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from P, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68537817 (Bronius PAŠKEVICIUS (sic)) https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68537817, accessed 29 July 2026.

Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian) (1953) A†A Vladas Paškevicius (In memoriam Vladas Paskevicius, in Lithuanian) Adelaide, SA, 18 April, p 8n https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280312301, accessed 29 July 2026.

Find a Grave, ‘Pladas (sic) Paskevicius’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212502440/pladas-paskevicius, accessed 29 July 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1959) ‘Gyvosios Mozaikos Gyvos Ištrupėlės (Pirmųjų Transportų Lietuviai Yallourne)’ [Living Mosaics Living Bugs (First Transport Lithuanians in Yallourn) in Lithuanian] Sydney, NSW, 13 February, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1959/1959-02-13-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 29 July 2026.

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; 422, PASKEVICIUS Vladas DOB 22 June 1915, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5162091, accessed 29 July 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956, PASKEVICIUS VLADIS, PASKEVICIUS, Vladis (sic) : Year of Birth - 1915 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 802, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203724932, accessed 5 August 2026.

‘Personal file of PASKEVICIUS, BRONIUS, born on 10-Jan-1896, born in PANEVEZYS and of further persons’ 3.2.1.1 CM/1 Files originating in Germany, CM/1 files from Germany, A-Z / Files with names from PARZYCH, DocID: 79569041, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/79569041, accessed 5 August.

Šeštokas, Josef (2010) Welcome to Little Europe: Displaced Persons and the North Camp, Sale, Vic, Little Chicken Publishing, p 82.

‘Vladas Paskevicius’ 1953, Death certificate of Vladas Paskevicius, 25 March 1953, Reg. no. 19671/1953, digital download, [Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria] (https://bdm.vic.gov.au), Melbourne.

Aleksandras Gabecas: In the “Promised Land”, Australia, translated by Ann Tündern-Smith and Jonas Mockūnas

Ann used Google Translate and her English language skills to draft a translation, but asked our Lithuanian-speaking, Rosebery expert, Jonas Mockūnas, to clean up her efforts and thanks him for the result.

Aleksandras' story

The journey [to Australia] and the impressions it left were interesting for us, but they were not yet life in Australia itself.

Today, it has been two and a half months since we came to Australia, but we only started working on January 17. Until then, we lived in Bonegilla, 600 miles north of Victoria’s capital city, Melbourne,* in an Australian Army camp, which in appearance did not differ much from the DP camps in Germany.

Only the nature is a bit different. There are so-called "gum trees" and other trees that look like willows. There are no spruces, pines, birches, maples, or other European trees here. Maybe they are grown as ornamental trees in gardens, parks, or near houses.

We were constantly visited by various journalists, bishops, photographers, filmmakers, ministers, and all sorts of people in the Bonegilla camp. During that time, we learned English, swam, had scout bonfires, played basketball, held swimming competitions, sailed, gave concerts, organized a three-nation show, and, most importantly, ate and dressed well.

At the beginning of January, they began to divide us into work groups. I, along with 6 other Lithuanians and 5 Latvians, ended up with the Tasmanian zinc mining company, Electrolytic Zinc. On January 17, we 12 were sent to Tasmania in planes as there was a seamen’s strike going on.

They settled us in northwestern Tasmania, about 12 miles from the Rosebery zinc mining town, in the middle of forests and wild mountains. The only road here is the railway. Rosebery is the only town that has no other communication than the railway, which is also run by a private company.

Uncredited, but highly likely to be Aleksas Gabecas' mind map of his trip to Rosebery

Source:  Skautu Aidas

Currently the newspapers here write a lot about the use of emigrants for new road construction work.

As I mentioned, we live in the mountains and in impenetrable forests. Our camp is on the slope of a mountain and consists of 8 cabins and 2 tents. We live in pairs in the cabins, which really are only tin shacks as it is not cold here and the snow melts as soon as it falls in winter.

I happen to live with Romualdas Krausas, who is our camp cook and who also says hello to you. At the moment he is making Lithuanian pancakes and suggests that I try them. All right!

This drawing was captioned, 'Mūsų brolių stovyklos vartai Tasmanijoj', which can translate as
'The entrance to our camp in Tasmania'

Source:  Skautu Aidas

Each day we travel 2 to 4 miles from our camp into the mountains to our workplaces. Here we cut, dig, clear, blast or burn the forest to build a new road to future large zinc mines. We work 40 hours a week. Every other week on Fridays, we get a free day to go shopping in Rosebery. We get paid for that day as well. Saturdays and Sundays are free from work. After all the deductions, we get five pounds and 15 shillings in our hands each week. Compared to others, we are quite well provided for.

The food is good, especially since one of us cooks it according to our preferences in a European way, because the Australians, despite having so many good things, don't really know what to do with them. In general they are backward, in music, in art, in clothing and in other areas. Everything that is modern and new comes from America or England.

Given the ladle crossed with the pickaxe, this looks like Aleksandras' rendition
of the hut he shared with the group's cook, Romualdas Krausas --
note that the chimney is freestanding although approached from inside the hut,
which is to offer the hut some protection if the chimney catches fire

Source:  Skautu Aidas

In general, Australia is a land of great extremes and a new future. Even in the wild grasslands, forests and mountains you can see modern trains, buses, cars, etc.

Food here is quite cheap. You can live for a week on a pound. A man's suit costs from 4 to 10 pounds. If made by a tailor, the price would be from 10 to 20 pounds. Only those things that are imported from overseas are expensive here. For example, take musical instruments: an accordion costs from 20 to 100 pounds, a radio from 20 to 30 pounds. Watches are priced from 20 to 100 pounds, if they are gold, of course. Simple ones only cost from 10 to 30 pounds.

The only problem here is with accommodation. We and many mountain workers live in blocks or tin shacks, because the government does not allow the construction of any slum dwellings and cannot keep up with the demand for modern houses. However, the climate here is warm and many Australians are happy to live in tents during the summer.

If you met me, you wouldn't recognise me. Living far from the city, I have grown a beard, bought two guitars even, and a radio. In my free time I draw, play or write letters.

Tomorrow, is 16 February [Lithuania’s Independence Day]. With that day's earnings, we will send a parcel to Germany for other DPs and remember our homeland with those struggling there.

The most senior people in the zinc company have promised to come and listen to our songs and music. This evening we will rehearse.

In closing, I wish all fellow scouts fair winds and can report that the 12 Vyčiai [Rover Scouts] scattered throughout Australia have not forgotten their scout promise, no matter where they are.

I am always prepared! 

Aleksandras Gabecas

FOOTNOTE:  *Bonegilla in fact is only about 200 miles (335 kilometres more or less, depending on which route you take) from Melbourne and it definitely is northeast, not north, making us wonder how much training in navigation this Rover Scout had received.  As for Rosebery, there now is a road and no railway.  Aleksas' guess for the distance here was closer to the what the modern traveller finds:  68 miles (110 kilometres).

SOURCE:  Gabecas, Aleksandras (1948) '4. „Pažadėtoj Žemėj“ Australijoj' ('4. In the "Promised Land", Australia', in Lithuanian) Skautu Aidas (Scouting Echo), Augustdorf bei Detmold, Germany, 15 June, pp 30-31 https://www.spauda2.org/skautu_aidas/archive/1948/1948-Nr05-06-SKAUTU-AIDAS.pdf, accessed 24 July 2026.

Jonas Urbonas on This is How the Meetings were Held: The Third Meeting of the Scouts, translated by Rasa Ščevinsienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 1 August 2026.

[Ann Tündern-Smith acknowledges much help from Google Translate for her paragraphs.]

We start the meeting late in the evening by a blazing fire, on the shore of the Lake.*

Twelve scouts gather. We begin the meeting with the troop's official announcements. Once these solemn announcements—sad, yet filled with resolve and love for the Fatherland—have been read, Borisas Dainutis reads a report in which he sheds light on the foundations of the Lithuanian nation and our tasks as scouts in distant Australia. The annoying smoke from the fire does not distract our thoughts and we immediately solve a few questions about the future.

Our leader, Borisas, invites us to repeat the scout's motto. After the subdued voices of the repetition, he invites us to tie a second knot in our scarves, as a symbol of our love for our Motherland and a reminder to sacrifice only for it. And this knot will be untied only when, having made the greatest sacrifices for the Motherland, we return to our dear homeland.

Tomorrow the first swallow will fly away from us into an unknown future. It is Brother (Vytas) Kunčiūnas. By the burning bonfire we say goodbye to him and the other brothers who are preparing to leave this emigrant camp.

Jonas Urbonas was already 26 years old when he left Bonegilla 2 days after Vytas

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Brother Kunčiūnas' words, full of deep sincerity, touch the heart of every Scout. He remembers the last moments spent in the Homeland, the separation from his parents, and the tears rolling down his cheeks do not allow him to finish his farewell speech.

Then we all part ways and leave the gardens of the homeland, hoping to return to the homeland again before the storms of war hit. We are tightly bound by our mutual promises, although the weapons of war do not ring and we are not pursued by the occupiers and our goals have already changed, but we are united by common ideas, we dare to meet in camps and at conventions. Although the vast distances and various obstacles separate us, we press on, wishing our brother Vytas good luck and travel to join others at the Pacific Jamboree. After the traditional words are said, we leave the campfire.

I have no doubt that everyone felt our family togetherness this evening. They felt the bond that binds us tightly with mutual promises. Although only a few meetings have passed by this bonfire, they will become symbolic. These three bonfires will smoulder in us and remind us of the great promise: to God, to the Homeland and to our Neighbour. So, to work, brothers, we are still laden with the tasks of the Homeland.

Let us be prepared!

J. Urbonas, 6 January 1948, Bonegilla

* Ann has evidence from elsewhere that the locals really were very worried about whether the Baltic newcomers would understand how dangerous fire was in their new environment, as reported by Jonas Motiejūnas in the previous entry. Presumably, the fire on the shore of Lake Hume did not get out of control, but we still have to hope that the Scouts, being prepared, had lots of buckets on hand.

SOURCE: Urbonas, Jonas (1948) ‘3. Taip vykdavo sueigos: Trečioji vyčių sueiga’ Skautu aidas (Scouting Echo) Augustdorf bei Detmold, Germany, 15 June, pp 29-30 https://www.spauda2.org/skautu_aidas/archive/1948/1948-Nr05-06-SKAUTU-AIDAS.pdf, accessed 24 July 2026.

Jonas Motiejūnas on How the Lithuanian Scouts in Australia Started, with Ann Tündern-Smith (with much help from Google Translate and Gemini.ai)

Updated 1 August 2026.

Back in August last year, we looked at the life of Jonas Motiejūnas, who had been made leader of the Lithuanian men on the First Transport in the Diepholz camp where all had been gathered to await their departure to Australia one week later.

Jonas Motiejunas' ID photograph from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

We have also looked at how Borisas Dainutis, chosen by the Lithuanian scouts' organisation in Germany to lead the scouts going to Australia, devoted himself to a campaign of having them recognised as a discrete unit within the Australian scouting movement.  That was in July last year.

Photograph of Borisas Dainutis attached to his selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Now these two themes come together, in an article written by Jonas for a scouting publication in Germany detailing how the scouts organised themselves while on the General Heintzelman and in their first days in Australia.  It is in English below, with lots of help from Google Translate and Gemini.ai.

The first meeting of the Lithuanian Scouts going to Australia took place on 9 November 1947, on board our ship, General Stuart Heinzelman, passing through the Suez Canal. The scout authorised to take care of the Lithuanian scouts travelling to Australia, Assistant Section Leader Borisas Dainutis, took over the duties of the leader, choosing Assistant Section Leader Algirdas Liubinskas as his deputy.

Algirdas Liubinskas (left) and Borisas Dainutis at the First Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree,
Yarra Brae, Victoria 1948-49

Source:  Weekly Times, Melbourne, 5 January 1949

Here, the idea of dividing the scouts into groups was introduced. It also was decided to strictly monitor the behaviour of the scouts and, if necessary, to immediately remove them from scouting, because our task as the first Lithuanian scouts is to represent our homeland and its culture in the best possible way.

On the evening of 10 November, the next meeting took place on the deck of the ship.  After reading the orders to the group, its leader reminded everyone in warm words of the tasks of the Lithuanian scouts in Australia.  He highlighting the consequences of good behaviour and scouting for our nation and for the future of the country.  

Scout and folk songs echoed on the ship and the waves of the Red Sea, uniting the scouts of the new company in close friendship. It was proposed to think about the name of the group and prepare for a bonfire.

On the evening of November 14, on the deck, while the ship was sailing in the Arabian Sea, there was a joint meeting of the younger scouts and senior scouts. In the official proceedings, order No. 3 was followed by a rendition of the anthem, "Lithuanians we were born".

The leader read a long essay by Lord Baden-Powell about the tasks and duties of a Venturer Scout.  At intervals, there was singing.  On this occasion, the leader once again urged us, in sharp words, to think carefully about remaining in the ranks of the scouts, because the tasks were great and the duties heavy.  Participation in the national dance group was clarified and it was asked to prepare performances for the next meeting.  Finally, the Vyčiai song (the anthem for the Rover Scouts) was performed.

On 15 November, the management met, with the participation of the Girl Scouts' leader, Konstancija Brundzaitė.

The leaders of the groups were ordered to collect personal information and scouting knowledge from the scouts, to repeat all scout knowledge in the groups and to prepare for a joint public bonfire with the Latvians and Estonians. 

After discussion, it was agreed that the Vyčiai (Rover) badge must be worn below the Union badge near the left pocket. The name of the society should express our irrepressible desire to return to the homeland. The meeting was concluded with a minute of silence, remembering our native land and our Vyčiai duties to it.

In the evening of 19 November, a joint meeting of Venturer and Rover scouts was held. Many did not participate.  The songs intended to be sung at the joint bonfire were rehearsed.

The long-awaited joint Lithuanian-Latvian-Estonian bonfire was held on the upper deck of the ship  on 22 November at 7 pm.  All free seats were occupied by passengers interested in the bonfire. The IRO representative, Lithuanian Captain Žibās, and the ship's commander with his team watched the performances from the bridge. 

The countless Estonians performed especially beautifully.  The Lithuanians were weak, especially in singing, although two-thirds of the participants were from our country.  Not enough effort and practice!

I cannot discuss the bonfire program in more detail, because the wind caught hold of my sheet of notes, lifted it to the top of the mast and blew it into the ocean. 

The bonfire was led by Lithuanians, Assistant Section Leader Algirdas Liubinskas and Senior Sea Scout Patrol Leader Aleksandras Gabecas.

In  Fremantle, on 30 November, in order to get acquainted with the newly arrived scouts, the Australian Sea Scouts’ District Commissioner, Brother Jack, arrived at the Swanbourne camp.  There, some of our men had spent a few days of rest after a 10,231 nautical mile (18,948 kilometre) journey.  He invited several senior scouts to go and see the Sea Scout headquarters.  It was agreed immediately to hold a joint bonfire in the evening.

The Australians liked our program at the previous evening's bonfire so much that they invited us to repeat it during the scout hour on radio on the evening of 1 December. The hastily gathered Lithuanians and Estonians went by train to the radio station.  Balanda Dulaityte (already Mrs Liubinskienė, although this was not known to the authorities) explained our origin and arrival in English .

The sailors' march was sung, and Juozas Songaila played a medley of national melodies (on his piano accordion). The Estonians sang several songs. Everywhere we were shown great sincerity.

None of these three Skaudu Aidas articles mention the arrival in Melbourne
but Gabecas' article includes this photograph of Australian Girl Guides
waiting to greet the Lithuanian scouts;
there's at least one equally interesting element in the upper right,
which looks like a young lady in a very short skirt for the times and white boots

Source:  Skaudu Aidas

In the Bonegilla camp, on 18 December, a Chief Scout representative from Melbourne, another scouting official and a Girl Scout leader came to visit. Having greeted the scouts of all three nationalities who had gathered together with kind words, he was pleased that Australia had received many new scout leaders, whom it lacked. A few songs were sung in the visitors' honour.

Later on 18 December, scouts of the city of Albury visited. Unfortunately, due to the long drought, the danger of bush fires was so great that we had to be content with a kerosene lamp.

Here I should note that in Australia, bushfires are quite frequent and cause very great losses, as entire grain farms, sheep and cattle herds burn, and it is very difficult to fight the fire when everything is completely dry. 

Again, there was a singing session.  Aleksandras Gabecas performed excellently with a string of bottles tied to a pole and filled with water.  The Australian leaders were presented with our scouting publications, and they rewarded us with fruit.

On 4 January 1948, there was another meeting, during which a tracking exercise was conducted.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  This story ends abruptly, perhaps due to a decision by the editor of the publication in which it appeared, Skautų Aidas or Scouting Echo, published during 1923-2023 and, in 1947, being edited in a DP camp in Augustdorf bei Detmold, Germany.  I thought it might be because the next item, by Jonas Urbonas, might continue the story without a break.  It does not.  Instead, it is about a campfire on 6 January when the Scouts farewelled their "first swallow", Vytas Kunciunas, who was off to Pyramid Hill.

We've already used some of that article in a biography of Vytas in this blog, when we found it reprinted in Mūsų Pastogė some 50 years later.

What is missing from this sequence is the drowning of Aleksandras Vasiliauskas on 4 January 1948 and his funeral, in which the scouts played a leading role, on 5 January.

NOTE:  This is the second item in a series written by Lithuanian Scouts who resettled in Australia.  We have not translated the first item, as it is about the voyage to Australia on a later Transport.  The second item, on a campfire at Bonegilla in early January was written by Jonas Urbonas and the third, from Aleksandras Gabecas, is about moving to his first job in Tasmania (at Rosebery, about which Jonas Mockūnas has written already.)

CITE THIS AS:  Motiejūnas, Jonas (1948) (How the Lithuanian Scouts in Australia Started) Translation and comments from Ann Tündern-Smith with Google Translate and Gemini.au.

SOURCE:  Skautų Aidas (Scouting Echo) (1948) 'Įspūdžiai Is Kelionės Australijon, 2. Jau Laive' ('Impressions From a Trip to Australia, 2. Already on Board', in Lithuanian) Augustdorf bei Detmold, Germany, 15 June, p 29 https://www.spauda2.org/skautu_aidas/archive/1948/1948-Nr05-06-SKAUTU-AIDAS.pdf, accessed 17 July 2026.

Jonas Antanaitis (1923 -2008), the Canberra one, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Jonas Antanaitis is or was such a common name for Lithuanians that there were 2 of them born on the same date in exile in post-War Germany. They even had fathers with the same name, Antanas Antanaitis. The birthday they had in common was 16 November 1923. Fortunately, we can tell them apart because their mothers had different names.

That’s even though it is obvious that officials in Germany got them muddled. The one whose mother’s maiden name was Stase Gaspariunaitė had been born in Krekenava and wanted to go to Australia (which actually was a rare first choice). His usual occupation was Farmer. He was sent to the United States with his wife and 2 children on 14 September 1950.

The other one gave his first choice for resettlement as “Democratic Lithuania Free From the Occupation”. He had been born in Surviliškis, Kėdainių County, to a mother whose maiden name was Morta Kaspariniukė, but raised by his grandmother. His usual occupation was Agricultural Worker. As an unmarried man, he was lucky enough to be able to leave camp life in Germany in October 1947, on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman bound for Australia. One of his forms has been marked with “his” later departure date for the USA.

The wrong Jonas Antanaitis has been sent to the USA
in the Displaced Persons records held by the Arolsen Archives

Source:  Arolsen Archives

There was an older Jonas Antanaitis, born in June 1908, who came to Australia too.  We'll do our best to keep them all separate.

After 5 weeks including Christmas 1947 and New Year’s Eve 1948 in the Bonegilla camp, our Jonas was one of the 26 men, including 12 Lithuanians, sent to work on the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme in northeast Victoria on 14 January. This project has been discussed earlier, but we are yet to find any material on their living and working conditions.

Jonas Antanaitis from his 1947 selection papers for migration to Australia

Source:  National Archives of Australia

An obituary published more than 60 years after his arrival in Australia says that he was a painter while contracted to the Australian Government to work where sent. “Where sent” included the city of Geelong in Victoria. He moved to the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme, even larger than the Kiewa Scheme where he had started and located in southeastern New South Wales. Had he been a native bird, he would have found that flying roughly 150 Kilometres due west from wherever he was in the Snowy Scheme would have brought him back to his eastern Australia starting point, the Bonegilla camp.

On Australia Day 1965, Jonas became an Australian citizen from an address in Cooma, New South Wales, that is, from the nearest town to the Snowy Mountains.

It was while he was living in and near the Snowy Mountains that he often came to the Canberra Lithuanian Club to chat with compatriots over a glass of beer. Eventually he moved to Canberra, in 1968 according to the Canberra Lithuanian Community records. 

There he met his Polish friend Stefanie, with whom he lived for over 30 years, until his death on 8 April 2008.

He chose to live in Narrabundah, then a very southern suburb in Canberra and on the highway to the Snowy Mountains.  Presumably, return trips were a priority in his thinking.

The Canberra Lithuanians had scant information about Jonas’ life and family in Lithuania, because he was reserved and did not talk about himself. This was confirmed by his life partner, Stefanie. For instance, they thought that he came from Zarasai County, not the birthplace he had nominated on 1945 American forms.

They understood that Jonas was serving in a Lithuanian army unit on the Eastern Front in 1941. As the Germans moved in, his unit withdrew to Romania. After the war, Jonas settled in the Goettingen refugee DP camp in the British zone, according to what was known to the Canberrans. This is interesting, because the documents which the Arolsen Archives have been able to digitise show him in the American Zone, in Assembly Centre 513, Weilheim, as of 20 December 1945.

There are at least 8 places in Germany called Weilheim. ChatGPT is confident that the Weilheim with Assembly Centre 513 was Weilheim in Oberbayern. You can find more details about this historic town in Wikipedia.

The interview for possible resettlement in Australia recorded that he had arrived in Germany in August 1944, presumably ahead of a Soviet advance. His reasons for coming to Germany were summarised as “to avoid Russian occupation of his country”.

He had 5 years of primary education, so one year more than the minimum, and was seen as suitable for work – would you believe, in the light of our 1 July entry – for “medium work” as a Builder’s Labourer. His application form for Australia says that the work he had done included “Building Appra.” (Building Appraisal or Approval?) and Technical Drawing for one year each in Lithuania, and one year of farm work in Germany. He said that he was fluent in Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and German.

After moving to Canberra, Jonas gradually became involved in community and Lithuanian Club events. When the Club needed a painter, it knew where to turn.

In 1982, he joined the Canberra branch of Ramovė, the organisation for former members of the Lithuanian military. In 1990, when the Ramovė members built an Unknown Soldier monument in the garden of the former Lithuanian Clubhouse, Jonas helped with the construction work and painted the wall. He was also on the Club Board from 1993 to 1995.

This page 1 photograph celebrating 40 years of the Ramove Canberra branch was published
in Mūsų Pastogė 6 weeks after Jonas' death:  He is 3rd from the left and
the Chairman, Liudas Budzinauskas, is next to him, 4th from the left

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė 

Jonas was a sincere, friendly, pleasant person to talk to, but at the same time he openly expressed his opinions according to his obituarist, Liudas Budzinauskas, Chairman of the Canberra Ramovė branch.

In 2008, after intestinal surgery, he felt good, but then died unexpectedly on 8 April.

The photograph of Jonas published with his obituary shows a much younger man
than the one in the Ramove photo

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Jonas Mockūnas, Chairman of the Lithuanian Community of Canberra, and Liudas Budzinauskas, both spoke at his funeral in the Tobin Brothers chapel, Kingston. They expressed their deepest condolences to Stefanie, her family, friends and relatives.

His body subsequently was cremated, so his ashes now rest in the Sister Kenny Wall in Norwood Park in Canberra.

In his obituary, Liudas expressed the hope that Jonas Antanaitis would be remembered for a long time. This short biography is another endeavour towards that purpose.

SOURCES

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection ‘Jonas Antanaitis’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203674045, accessed 3 July 2026.

Budzinauskas, Liudas (2008) ‘In Memoriam, A†A Jonas Antanaitis’ (‘In Memoriam, RIP Jonas Antanaitis’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, NSW, 30 April p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2008/2008-04-30-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 1 July 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1965) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, p 1670 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241019937?searchTerm=%22Antanaitis%20Jonas%22, accessed 3 July 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Jonas Antanitis’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/263467192/jonas-antanaitis, accessed 3 July 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (2008) ‘Canberros “Ramovei” — 40 metų‘ (‘Canberra Ramove — 40 years old’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 21 May, p 1 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2008/2008-05-21-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 3 July 2026.

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; 11, ANTANAITIS Jonas DOB 16 November 1923, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=5005454, accessed 3 July 2026.

Wikipedia 'Weilheim in Oberbayern' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weilheim_in_Oberbayern, accessed 3 July 2026.