First Swallows
The Lithuanians from the First Transport, the General Stuart Heintzelman, who settled in Tasmania from early 1948 onwards, called themselves “the First Swallows”. Not just in Lithuania, swallows are widely regarded as the heralds of spring and the return of warmer weather, so they symbolise renewal, hope, and new beginnings. In Lithuania, their nesting in house eaves is believed to protect the home against fire and evil spirits.
Stasys Domkus qualified as a First Swallow, having been sent to Tasmania on 5 April 1948. This was after he had spent more than 2 months picking fruit in the Victorian orchard of W Young, whose Ardmona business was called Kelvin Orchards.
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| Stasys Domkus, 1947, in a photograph from his selection papers Source: National Archives of Australia |
Stasys works in Tasmania
Stasys’ Bonegilla card does not tell us what he was to do in Tasmania but Ramunas Tarvydas, in From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, says that his first job there was more fruit picking, at a place called Premaydena. Tasmania being the Apple Isle, the fruit in this instance surely was apples.
Stasys may have stayed at Premaydena for several years, since Tarvydas lists his next employment as EZ Risdon from 1952 to 1955. What he was doing in Premaydena when all the apples were picked we do not know. Perhaps he was helping generally around the orchard which employed him or several orchards, because there always is more work to be done.
EZ Risdon is shorthand for the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australia at suburban Risdon in Tasmania’s capital city, Hobart. The EZ Risdon factory had opened in 1918, at a time when there was a shortage of zinc throughout the British Empire. The metal was necessary then for the production of weapons. While the ore came from Broken Hill in northwest New South Wales, the plant was in Tasmania because of the availability of cheap hydroelectricity.
Stasys moved on to the Cadbury’s chocolate factory, staying there for the rest of his working life.
Stasys' family and citizenship
Around that time, on 17 November 1956, Stays married Kristina Petraitytė in the Hobart Cathedral. The reception was in the spacious home of her parents. The house was full of guests, young and old danced and sang Lithuanian songs. The wedding lasted two days.
The Domkus family, parents and 2 sons, Antanas and Juozas, participated in Lithuanian community meetings, picnics, and church. Stasys was secretary of the Hobart Lithuanian community for many years.
Stasys took his oath of allegiance to become an Australian citizen before the Lord Mayor of Hobart on 19 March 1958.
Tragedy struck when Juozas died in a car accident in 1992, followed by Kristina dying of cancer in 1996. Kristina was much younger than Stasys, and only 58 when she died.
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| Juozas Domkas' plaque, which must have been prepared after his mother died in 1996 |
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| Kristina Domkas' plaque in Cornelian Bay Cemetery |
Stasys' death and funeral
Stays spent his last couple of years in The Gardens retirement village. He died on 13 July 1998, aged 77. Ramunas Tarvydas, wrote in an obituary that at least a hundred friends and acquaintances, Lithuanian and Australian, gathered to farewell him. To honour a former soldier, his casket was draped in the three-coloured Lithuanian flag.
After the singing of the Lithuanian national anthem, the casket was escorted from the church by other First Swallows, Irena Jurevičienė (née Naujokatiene), Česlovas Juškevičius, Henrikas Juodvalkis, Povilas Auksorius, Jurgis Valius and Vladas Mikelaitis.
His body was cremated in Cornelian Bay Crematorium. In addition to his son, Antanas, Antanas' wife and their two children, Kristin and Kendall, he left behind his mother-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law.
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| Stasys Domkas' plaque in the Cornelian Bay Cemetery |
Ramunas wrote, “Stasys buvo švelnaus būdo, su humoru, sąžiningas, malonus visiems”. That’s Lithuanian for "Stasys was gentle, humorous, honest, and kind to everyone."
Life in Lithuania and Germany
Ramunas also wrote that he was born in 1920 in Kuršėnai, approximately halfway between the larger towns of Šiauliai and Telšiai in Lithuania. The actual date of birth was 20 October 1920. In addition to their one son, his parents had 3 daughters. The record of his interview by the selection panel for resettlement in Australia says that he received 5 years of schooling, which was one year more than the Lithuanian minimum.
After he finished his schooling, he volunteered to join the Lithuanian army. When the Soviets occupied Lithuania, his unit became part of the Red Army. Later it became part of the German Army, which undoubtedly is how he found himself retreating to Germany in 1944.
At least, this military story is the one recorded by Ramunas Tarvydas in the obituary for Stasys, 50 years after his arrival in Australia. A different story appears on an Australian form titled Particulars of Displaced Persons wishing to Emigrate to Australia completed on 24 September 1947. There, a typist has recorded that Stasys was born in Tauragė, more than 100 kilometres away from Kuršėnai. Tauragė is also the birthplace stated on 2 forms for the Department of Immigration completed in Australis.
Stasys had been working as a labourer for the previous 5 months in Germany. Prior to that, he had worked for 7 years in a meat export factory in Lithuania. Might this have been the Maistas factory in Šiauliai where another man about to board the First Transport, Algirdas Undzenas, had been one of the directors?
Working in a meat export factory might explain also why the Australian selection panel’s report of its interview with Stasys said that he had been “forcibly evacuated by the Germans for labour”. It also said that he had arrived in Germany in September 1944, which was even as the Soviet forces returned to his homeland.
The Arolsen Archives has one document on Stasys which tell us only his Displaced Persons number in addition to his name, birthdate and Roman Catholic religion. There is also a list of Lithuanians in the German town of Amberg, but it gives no birthdates, meaning that we do not know if it is naming our Stasys Domkus or a namefellow born 3 years later. At the time of his interview for resettlement in Australia, Stasys was living in a camp in Buchholz, one of the places where the Australians interviewed.
In conclusion
Regardless of which version of his later years in Lithuania and his move to Germany is closer to the truth, Stasys was an ideal settler who contributed to Australia through his work here and his roles in the local Lithuanian community.
Footnote
Stasys' younger son, Antanas, is now known from the Find A Grave Website to have lived an unfortunately short life. The plaque below shows that he died shortly after his 53rd birthday. His wife, Michelle, died only 5 weeks later.
At least the mention of grandchildren on Antanas' plaque shows that there is another generation of descendants growing up in Tasmania.
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| Antanas Domkus' plaque in the Cornelian Bay Cemetery |
Sources
Find A Grave 'Anthony John Domkus' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212900430/anthony-john-domkus, accessed 21 February 2026.
Find A Grave 'Joseph Phillip Domkus' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212982261/joseph-phillip-domkus, accessed 21 February 2026.
Find A Grave 'Kristina Birgita Domkus' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212987160/kristina-brigita-domkus, accessed 21 February 2026.
Find A Grave 'Michelle Domkus' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212900446/michelle-domkus, accessed 21 February 2026.
Find A Grave 'Stasys Domkus' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/224769074/stasys-domkus, accessed 21 February 2026.
‘Folder DP0842, names from DOMITAR, Radolf to DON, Moszka (1)’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 66913253 (Stasys DOMKUS), ITS Digital Archive/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/66913253, accessed 20 February 2026.
‘Folder 10: DP Listen Amberg’ 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 81961491, ITS Digital Archive/Arolsen Archives DocID: 81961491, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/81961491, accessed 20 February 2026.
‘k.p’ (1956) ‘Hobart Lietuviškos vestuvės’ (‘Hobart Lithuanian Wedding’, in Lithuanian) Teviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, Vic, 29 November, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1956/1956-nr42-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 20 February 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; 66, DOMKUS Stasys DOB 20 October 1920, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005502, accessed 20 February 2026.
National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P3, Personal case files, annual single number series with 'T' (Tasmania) prefix, 1951-; T1971/2200, Domkus, Stasys, 1957-58 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9590631, accessed 20 February 2026.
National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; DOMKUS STASYS, DOMKUS, Stasys : Year of Birth - 1920 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 466, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203655944, accessed 20 February 2026.
Tarvydas, Ramunas (1997) From Amber Coast to Apple Isle: Fifty Years of Baltic Immigrants in Tasmania 1948-1998, Baltic Semicentennial Commemoration Activities Organising Committee, Hobart, Tasmania, p 162.
Tarvydas, Ramunas (1998) ‘Tasmanija’ (‘Tasmania’, in Lithuanian) Teviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, Vic, 4 August, p 8 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1998/1998-08-04-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 20 February 2026.
Wikipedia, ‘Amberg’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amberg, accessed 20 February 2026.
Wikipedia, ‘Risdon Zinc Works’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risdon_Zinc_Works, accessed 20 February 2026.
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