Vaclavs Kozlovskis Escapes Pyramid Hill! translated by Monika Kozlovskis

Vaclavs taped this ticket to yet another Pyramid Hill entertainment into his diary
without further comment

PYRAMID HILL, 3.11.48, Wed

I washed my clothes and cursed to myself at such a ridiculous job. After all if I was married, then this washing headache would be over. Often enough lately I’ve played with thoughts of marriage, I think the devil is rearranging my clear thinking. But this problem isn’t as simple as it seems. It would be nice to come home after work to my wife’s clean, nicely furnished house, but that would mean giving up my idea of the sea. A seaman’s life would put off the possibility of marriage for a while at least - how will I unravel this damned knot? I’m already twenty-four years old, how much longer will I have to wander the world alone? But a wife would, after all, hinder a short return to Latvia, you could even say that it would be completely out of the question. Where can I find the solution to these damned problems?

PYRAMID HILL, 6.11.48, Sat

What an unpleasant day. The whole disaster began in the morning, when I woke to find something pressing my heart in an iron fist. Trying to ignore the pain, I got up and went outside, but had to come straight back to bed, because multicoloured circles span before my eyes and I felt that I was about to die. I had cramps and lost consciousness.

When I woke after a few minutes, I was half-sitting at the table and Lembit was holding me with both hands to prevent me from battering the walls - apparently I was also thrashing about. Then I suddenly felt hot, then sweated with cold shivers. I felt so bad that they sent for the doctor. But by the time he got here I felt much better and when he came the second time I was just getting up. I spent a few hours shooting rabbits, then went to look at the exhibition, although I still felt fairly weak.

PYRAMID HILL, 7.11.48, Sun

As is usual on weekends, today the wind blows fiercely again, this time mixed with desert dust. I feel as if I’m broken - all my bones are stiff and my back aches, it’s difficult to bend. It’s too windy for tennis, I’m too tired for table tennis, Anita is working until eleven, and as a result I was home by seven

PYRAMID HILL, 8.11.48, Mon

Memories and sadness flood my heart with renewed strength, my thoughts fly far away to my silent homeland once more, and unable to be called back, linger with my family. A small piece of paper, which a few months ago my sister held in her hands, today lies in my callused palm and pours warm waves into my heart, but my soul floods with new unbearable longing.

When the red tyranny ends, I’ll take the first chance I have to be amongst my loved ones again, to gladden my grey-haired mother and let young Ivars ride on my back as he did once, before the long lonely years…. if only the red tyrant’s power would end, if only there was the possibility for however brief a moment to be among my near and dear ones. But fate is merciless and people even more so. I can’t even write to my family for fear they’d be persecuted. When will this diabolic oppression end? If only it would end before the red beast has time to destroy and swallow everything that is so dear! Am I really fated to never again see my father and dear mother, to whom I’ve caused such worry? Please, God, protect her, and help her to endure these dark days!

PYRAMID HILL, 18.11.48, Thurs

We’ve received welcome news - our “hard labour” period has been shortened to eighteen months, so I’ve only six months left to slave, until 28 May. This news has been announced over the wireless and also written in the newspaper, and the boss and fat Maloney talk about it as well, so I’ll have to believe it.

In Germany increasing numbers of people are fleeing death by escaping to the western sector. It would be interesting to know where it will all end. Meanwhile the DPs have a good life in Australia and create all sorts of trouble.

One of 3 newspaper clippings which Vaclavs had taped into his diary at this point;
the others were headlined "50 Balts to Work at Sugar Factory" and "30,000 From East In DP Camps"

Source:  Sun News-Pictorial, Melbourne, 8 November 1948 through Trove

BENDIGO, 19.11.48, Fri

I didn’t go to work today for I’d arranged to travel to Bendigo to collect my suit. In the morning the boss appeared, and dismissing my ideas of travelling by train, offered to drive me in his own car. He brought some changes with him - next week Percy, Edgar, Kukusinski and the tall Ukrainian will leave us. This is solely the work of the foreman and I’m angry, but what can I do about it? It only strengthens my resolve to leave here after Christmas. The drive proceeded very enjoyably and by two I was in the familiar hotel. My business took up most of the afternoon, and I made it to the pub only just before closing time. After all I had to christen my new suit, which turned out very well. Later in the evening I went to the cinema, then fell into the soft hotel bed.

BENDIGO, 22.11.48, Sun

Now the soup’s begun to boil - this evening the boss arrived and said that Percy is leaving tomorrow morning. Although this was nothing unexpected, suddenly my blood began to boil, and I said that I’m leaving too. Antanas [Martisius?] joined me, then almost all the others, and we went to the boss with our announcement. The boss became angry and waved his hands in the air, but I was angry too and I couldn’t help him, he has to be satisfied with our decision. It’s just as well that yesterday we all drank together to celebrate our first year in Australia, as it turns out it was our farewell celebration as well.

PYRAMID HILL, 23.11.48, Mon

I’d decided to go to Bendigo this morning, but the foreman arrived, and knocking politely at the door saying good morning, told me that at eleven the boss and the employment officer would be here. If that’s the way he wants it, then I waited - it saved me an unnecessary trip to Bendigo. But Snell arrived alone. This didn’t interfere with us having a good exchange of words and clarifying to our listening boss that the only reason we want to leave is because of the foreman McDonald and his two sons. The boss blushed and paled, but what’s that to me. We just want the issue to be resolved somehow and to stay here until Christmas, but we became too heated and we’ve let off too much steam, there’s no going back.

Except for Lembit, Faterir and Gurski, we all received our accounts and didn’t worry overmuch that Snell raced off as if he was on fire. And why wouldn’t he, when suddenly all the work in the quarry stops? Let McDonald and his two sons make three hundred yards a day! Of course, this particular path costs good money, no-one’s going to pay us for the days we don’t work and I’ll no longer get four shillings and fourpence per hour, but I have to stand by my friends. Although I’m not so happy to leave this easy detonating job, which I could have put up with quite easily until Christmas, there are only six months left and after that I would be leaving anyway.

BENDIGO, 24.11.48, Tues

The day has come for me to leave Pyramid. I walked around to say goodbye to my friends. This parting wasn’t at all that pleasant - all the Australians are on our side and cursed the boss. On top of everything else, we found something new to curse, for we were told we had to hire a car from town to take our bags to the station, even though there were several free ones standing in the quarry.

A final wave of the hand, a final glance at the mountain through the train window, then Pyramid Hill also became part of my past. Snell had already advised the employment officer about our arrival, so by four everything was in order and we were each clear about our destinations. Kukusinski has been given a dustless job because of his eye problem and the rest are going to Mildura, but I’m being sent to somewhere near Hamilton. All I have to do now is to spend tonight in a hotel, and my journey to the new workplace can begin.

Vaclavs Kozlovskis in Pyramid Hill, Bendigo, Kerang, September-October 1948, translated by Monika Kozlovskis

PYRAMID HILL, 5.9.48, Sun

I’ve never played so many games before as I did today. It started with tennis at two in the afternoon, then I moved over to the table tennis and didn’t get home until eleven thirty, so I’m sure I’ll be stiff tomorrow. Yesterday’s newspaper again carried some salient words about the Balts and their prospects in Australia …

PYRAMID HILL, 15.9.48, Wed

It seems that summer has arrived already - since Sunday there has been no wind, there are no clouds in the sky and the bright Australian sun soaks our backs in perspiration. I’m working without a shirt, and only short pants. The cold weather months went quickly, almost unnoticed, will the hot ones speed by so swiftly too?

Source:  Vaclavs' diary, clipped from the
Melbourne Sun-News Pictorial, 15 September 1948, p 3

PYRAMID HILL, 18.9.48, Sat 

Damn it, the newspapers are already reporting problems - it seems that we won’t get out of the soup without the full two years. It’s possible that I’ll have to spend a second year in this same cabin, breaking up the same rocks. I’m going to take every opportunity to change my workplace. Perhaps if I have a good talk with the Employment Officer I could get a somewhat better job, but if not, I’ll get through the second year of “hard labour” as well somehow; after all, is that the only unpleasantness in the world?

Source:  Vaclavs' diary, clipped from

Smith's Weekly 18 September 1948

This morning I’d intended to do some washing, but instead I accompanied the schoolmaster to some sort of bushes to find firewood. This afternoon I arrived at the tennis court early, for today there was a so-called “tournament,” which I had no thoughts of winning. After the game I started a set with a quite young girl, we seem to understand each other well enough. We didn’t finish the set because it became too dark, and after a few more table tennis matches I hurried home in time to empty a bottle of wine before going to the dance. My head felt comparatively dull, and after the dance I had a few more at Fred’s, and got home at two in the morning.

PYRAMID HILL, 19.9.48, Sun

Early this morning Vik shook me to get up to go to church, but how could my head be inclined towards church, when it’s fully occupied with roaring and strange heaviness? I went to tennis in the afternoon, however - by then my head was clear again. After tennis I was invited for dinner, and again I enjoyed Australian hospitality. I really have landed in a country of wonderful people. I enjoyed the music, for the host has a large collection of records with wonderful compositions by the grand masters.

PYRAMID HILL, 20.9.48, Mon

Some peaceful, some fast and stormy winds blow my years into non-existence - today is my twenty-fourth birthday. That may not seem a lot, but I’ve seen and experienced so much that sometimes it seems I’ve become an old man. Except I haven’t achieved anything, I’m still a wanderer of the world, who lives here temporarily and at every moment must have my suitcase packed to continue on my way …

PYRAMID HILL, 21.9.48, Tues

Tonight I went to a concert, and I must say that I’ve never experienced such rubbish before. There was nothing wrong with the concert itself, but after it came reviews, presentations, speeches and more speeches, which lasted longer that the concert itself and dragged on until midnight. It was so boring that I wanted to get up and leave, but just as I was about to, the national anthem played and happily the business was at an end. I’m never going to one of these functions again!

The ticket to the boring speeches

Source:  Inside Vaclavs' diary

PYRAMID HILL, 3.10.48, Sun

My five year anniversary is here, but my God, how it differs from other anniversaries, for it is a sorrowful occasion. Five long wandering and unsettled years have passed since I left my mother’s warm nest, and during all these years troubles have followed me like the moon follows the earth. As well as these troubles I am pursued by longing for I don’t know what; perhaps it’s longing for my home and family. I try to escape the thoughts of home, but I just can’t succeed.

Like it or not my thoughts often fly there and in my heart spreads a sudden, painful fear as to whether I will ever return and see what has become of my native land? I think of my father and also my mother, who I last saw as she wept over my fate, then my hands form into fists and my thoughts feverishly seek something else to think about. Hatred ferments in my heart against the tyrants who separated me from my kinfolk and forced me to wander around the world. Difficult, endlessly difficult it is for the one without a country, home or family. Lately I’ve started to think occasionally of starting my own family, but with what? Australians make expensive wives, and after all I haven’t any money.

PYRAMID HILL - BENDIGO, 8.10.48, Fri

After all I can’t always work, sometimes I have to enjoy a holiday as well, therefore today I travelled to Bendigo. After two hours in a comfortable Australian train I got out at Bendigo station at lunchtime, wondering which street to take to find a hotel. The result of my wondering was that I climbed into a taxi which quickly drove me to the “Metropolitan” hotel, where a fat, courteous woman asked me to spell my names, wrote them in a book and showed me my room. After lunch, I went shopping and looked around the city with all its 40,000 inhabitants.

Not the postcard in Vaclavs' diary but another view, from 1920, of the centre of Bendigo, 
called Charing Cross after the "centre" of London

Source:  Wikipedia

The town is very appealing, it has many streets, and an amazing number of young, smiling lasses. If I could only get to know one, I’d stay here longer if it was possible to do so. I’ll have to try to wheedle a job in Bendigo next year from the Employment Office. I’d like to live here, even though I would spend my money faster here than living in Pyramid’s isolation. I went into a clothing store, Ashman’s, but couldn’t find a suit I like, so I chose a light blue striped cloth, and went to be measured for a suit to be made for me. I was led into the tailor’s shop itself and was amazed when I saw about fifty young girls working there, one of whom will sew my summer suit in six weeks.

Vaclavs' receipt for his suit, scanned from his diary

Next I looked for a watch, and after looking through three shops, found what I wanted in the fourth. Although it cost me twelve and a half pounds, I like it and paid for it. I wandered around some more, bought some shoes in the American style as well as a few more trifles, then it was time for dinner. Afterwards I tried to find a bar, but they all close at six and there isn’t a night local in the whole of this wide city, it’s quite amazing. Although here and there in large red electric letters I saw the signs “Bar,” all you can buy in such places are milk and ice cream, therefore the only thing I could do tonight was walk to the cinema and afterwards enjoy the comfort of the soft hotel bed.

BENDIGO - PYRAMID HILL, 9.10.48, Sat

My wallet twenty-five pounds lighter and my holiday over, I began the return journey. Of course, first I went into a bar to make up for yesterday, and made it to the station only ten minutes before my train left. It feels quite strange when people call me “sir,” but I’ll have to get used to it, after all I’m no longer a DP, and I pay the taxi driver with my own money. I half-dozed in the carriage almost all the way, but despite this when I climbed out at Pyramid station my head still hadn’t cleared. It only cleared a little when after the usual tennis games we emptied the cherry brandy and wine bottles and went to the dance. I don’t know why I didn’t enjoy it this time, even though I danced every dance, I don’t know what the matter was. Perhaps the Bendigo lasses have left their impression on me?

PYRAMID HILL, 12.10.48, Tues

It’s amazing that such a tremendous wind can blow here - at night it shakes the whole cabin and jolts my bed, so that it seems the whole lot will fly off to the devil. This afternoon five new men arrived, but they aren’t the hoped-for Balts. Only one is a Lithuanian; the rest are three Poles and a Ukrainian. They seem to be good people, but we’ll have to wait and see.

PYRAMID HILL, 16.10.48, Sat

This afternoon my tennis team played at Calivil North courts, so I had to ride ten miles to get there. As it turned out I had to play against Pyramid, and my own team. There was no dance this evening so we played table tennis at the café.

PYRAMID HILL, 26.10.48, Tues

Summer’s here in earnest now - this week suddenly began with unbearably fierce heat, and it doesn’t seem to want to disappear. At night I have to remember how to sleep when it’s thirty degrees. Due to the heat, time lags and work hours crawl forward like snails, much more slowly than they did on cool days. Often I have to put my watch to my ear to make sure it hasn’t stopped. A difficult time lies ahead. I have no desire at all to stand on my feet breaking rocks, sweating while the hot sun beats down. Worst of all is the hot southerly wind, which doesn’t provide the least relief, and the water bottle is quite warm. I don’t have any appetite at mealtimes.

KERANG, 27.10.48, Wed

As it turned out, today the schoolmaster was going to a conference in Kerang and he told me there were two free seats in his car. I have to visit Kerang at least once, so without much ado Vik and I were standing by the big shop shortly before eight, and within the hour we were in Kerang. Of course, our first business was with the Employment Office. We explained how “bad” our situation is, complained about the “heavy” work and low wage, but nothing helped. Although he promised to do whatever was in his power and said that he will suggest a change in workplace to the government, he added that it will be very difficult to arrange. He said that in accordance with the contract we must work a full two years, and that he had grave doubts as to whether anything will eventuate concerning a change.

It seems that the only way to change jobs is to pack all our belongings and return to Bonegilla, but whether I would take such a stupid step, I doubt myself. After all it’s not that bad in the quarry, perhaps I will be able to survive the next year as well, only I’ll have to go much slower than I did this year. After all if I try, during the coming year I’ll be able to save two hundred pounds. I do want to go somewhere else, but you can’t have everything you want. After we left the old office building we wandered around town, bought a few items and found a few bars. By five we were seated in the car again driving home.

PYRAMID HILL, 30.10.48, Sat

One whole year has passed since I last rode in a German cattle car and since I took my last step on the European continent. Whether I will ever return is in the hands of Destiny. This anniversary really lends itself well to remembrance - it rained all afternoon. In the evening I rode to the café to play table tennis, and again the road splattered my bicycle with mud. I don’t know how I made it to Fred’s - I was drunk as a lord coming home

Vaclavs Kozlovskis in Pyramid Hill, August 1948, translated by Monika Kozlovskis

PYRAMID HILL, 1.8.48, Sun

I prayed for rain, but as usual when it’s needed it doesn’t arrive, and at ten minutes to two we left home, with me wondering how things will turn out. First of all we met Jan and Barreli going in the opposite direction. They told me to come to the tennis court straight away, and we kept walking. Velma and the other girls had already gathered and so we started playing basketball. Who knows, maybe everything will be all right, I told myself, because the first tennis court was taken and the other didn’t have a net. But unfortunately it wasn’t all right- after some ten minutes Jan and the other girl showed up and, looking in our direction, started putting the net up. I definitely had to go over there, but couldn’t think up a reason to leave. This reason came of its own accord, quite unexpectedly.

Apparently with my nervousness and poor playing I annoyed Velma a little - she went to the other end of the court, and sent the little lass in her place. If that’s how it is - I put Krysis in my place and walked over to the tennis court. I occupied many hours with the racquet and ball, and I must say that this game is better than any other I’ve played in Australia. In future I’ll have to stick with tennis. It doesn’t matter that Velma and the others are annoyed, sooner or later their anger will burn itself out, especially if it peaks next Sunday, when even Vytas is supposed to come and play tennis.

PYRAMID HILL, 8.8.48, Sun

I turned the calendar and judged by the date that the fierce southern wind, which rattles the Australian dentures every morning, is still supposed to be blowing. But not always does what’s written on paper coincide with the truth - an ever-clearer smile is beginning to appear on the sun’s face. Less and less she seeks cover behind the clouds, and more and more surely her warriors engage in combat, hurling brilliant boomerangs and incandescent spears to stab the quickly fleeing strength of winter.

We have sung many songs of praise of winter, and cursed summer too often, therefore these spears attack us too. It seems the time is near when the last of winter’s strength will be beaten, then the brilliant boomerangs and whitehot spears will turn their full force against us, leaving little white water blisters on our skin once more. The sun will smile widely as she tyrannises, while our sweat pours down and we search for relief in the waterhole’s brown water, waiting patiently until the next winter monarch invents an atom bomb and comes to deliver us again. My body weapons factory, with increasing tempo, is desperately attempting to convert my thick northern blood to thin southern blood, but this job, despite the urgency, is occurring damned slowly.

Today I rose at eight. Yesterday I had a drop too much, and as a result of the gin and beer I became completely stupid, but today like a miracle my head is quite clear. At ten thirty I said a few quiet prayers in the church, after that I had lunch with the local schoolmaster, who kindly invited me. He is a very nice person, which perhaps is the reason I feel so comfortable in his company. This afternoon I played tennis again, this time it turned out quite well. I was so carried away by the game that I returned home completely exhausted, but better acquainted with several pleasant people.

The longer I live here, the clearer it is to me that Australia really is becoming my home. Whether I want to or not, now and again I compare both countries, and each time I conclude that it’s better in Australia. What is waiting for me in my distant northern land if I return? Even in peace time it was difficult to find work, the wages were low and the living conditions weren’t much good. Could I earn a bicycle or a wireless there, in one month? And what’s wrong with living here? I don’t have to worry about finding a job, everything is cheap and abundant. Would it really be worthwhile to return now, or even later, to the wreckage, and begin my life all over again? I’m too old for that, and too tired of this constant starting up of new lives.

But despite everything, home is home; it will always pull me, and precious memories will always remain. After all, I spent my happiest childhood days there, and all my family is there. Will Destiny lead me back one day?

It seems as if the wheel of time is somehow turning awry, and all is not right with the change in weather, for on work days the sky is clear and the weather itself is fine without wind, but as soon as Saturday is here, then it’s usually raining. Today instead of rain, a fierce wind blew, considerably testing the strength of the papering inside my cabin. Although it’s difficult riding against the wind on bicycles, the three of us struggled to the tennis court, for after all, we’d promised to play. We had little hope of anyone else turning up, but miraculously a car soon drove up and out of it climbed four girls with their tennis racquets. Might as well: we started playing, but it was too difficult to control the ball in the strong wind, so after an hour we stopped our fruitless running after the balls that we hit over the fence.

On our way home we turned into the local pub for a few beers, but these “few beers” turned into a party, which continued on even after the pub’s formal closing time. By the time the pub’s doors were behind us, a huge swarm of bees had begun humming in my head. At the crossroads we met Jim’s wife, who said that next Saturday it’s her birthday, but she can’t have a party at her house, therefore she’d like to have it in our kitchen, and invited us as well.

PYRAMID HILL, 15.8.48, Sun

A huge wind is blowing again today, it’s a wonder as to when it will stop. I stayed home all day and pottered around. It’s cold and my head aches a little…

PYRAMID HILL, 21.8.48, Sat

From everything only sadness remains And pale dust and ashes, cover it all My hands are tired - I cannot light the fire My eyes are blinded - they are sore and cannot see. From everything only emptiness remains, And the ash from dying embers drifts onto the ground. What I longed for yesterday - today I don’t desire, The lips I pined for, the kiss will never come. From everything only disappointment remains. You ask yourself and wonder: was that reality? With a dim mirror you exchange glances Like Judas, hating yourself, as you tie a noose around your neck. Only emptiness, disappointment and sadness remain.

One after the other the days rush by, the weeks pass and the months are overlaid with the quilt of the past, and the powerful river of time is unstoppable. Her waters wash away all pain, joy and sorrow; all that remains is an empty person, who walks along the bank against the current, without peace. Another week has flowed past, and so I have also come closer to my own inevitable peace. The remaining months will also pass like this, and then from the Pyramid days as well, only memories, several photos in my album and words in my journal will remain….

After the usual tennis game and short rest at home, Vik and I half-emptied a liqueur bottle and went dancing in a light mood. I happened to dance with the dark-haired lass, and often my eyes met her dark twinkling ones, and her face screwed up in smiles. Can it really be that Fate plans to send her to Melbourne at the start of next month! That’s no good, then there will no longer be any girl left here who I really like. But nothing can be changed - the flow of Time’s river is unstoppable, and it never stops echoing : “From everything only emptiness, disappointment and sorrow remains…”

At tonight’s dance lottery tickets were being sold, this time for the Red Cross. I bought two; who knows, perhaps I’ll win a house, and settle into my life in earnest? The receipt I’ve taped into this book is testimony that I’ve posted two pounds as a payment on a dancing course. Although I now know almost all the local dances, it would still be worthwhile to learn them perfectly. It will be very interesting to see how I can learn by mail, without music or a partner?

PYRAMID HILL, 22.8.48, Sun

Oh, quiet church, your sombre, holy walls let me forget worldly things for a while; they enclose me in peace, why search anywhere else… and Mary, clothed in such a beautiful, holy dress! This afternoon I smiled back at the black-haired lass again as we played tennis. In the late afternoon an enormous wind blew up, driving before it a large pile of sand. The wind came from behind us, so we hastily began our ride home.

PYRAMID HILL, 24.8.48, Tues

Work is work, and play is play - tonight Vytas and I emptied the remaining liqueur and went dancing again. Of course, the liqueur wasn’t enough, and some beer and nice wine joined it from our friends’ direction, and with each glass my mood improved. As usual at a large dance, all the women were wearing long dresses, so it paid to be careful. The schoolmistress’s dress was so long that whether I wanted to or not, I couldn’t dance with her without treading on it, but should I worry about that? If she can’t wear a shorter dress, let her go home!

PYRAMID HILL, 31.8.48, Tues

It’s no good drinking on workdays like that - today I’m sleepy and my head aches. No work has been done in the quarry since the middle of last week because all the vehicles have broken down, so this morning I occupied myself with the old task of restacking the iron. This afternoon I finally returned to the peace of the quarry. The crusher isn’t working and the trucks don’t come, so we crawled into a corner while one of us went up to look out for the boss.

But the rogue obviously wasn’t being careful, for the boss swanned up completely unnoticed and immediately his “blessing” followed. Thus it turned out that we had to practically warn our sentry of the boss’s arrival.

While the boss was in the quarry we applied ourselves industriously, and continued production for an hour or so after he left, until it started raining, and we once more crawled under the shelter until work finished. Around five Father O’Connor came to visit us. He is a likeable man and knows the communists well; on Sunday he will hold a service for our loved ones and families.

This Australian wind is terrible - it comes from I know not where, blows, almost tips us off our feet and tries to wrench my cabin roof into the air. The buffeted cabin walls make the table shake so it’s difficult to write anything, the roof paper flaps, and all the cabin joints rattle.

From this page of Vaclavs' diary but from an unknown newspaper
(Click once if you want to read a larger copy in a new browser page)

Helmut Nurmsalu (1927-2014): Assimilated Australian, Father of Star Designer, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Helmut is the fourth First Transport arrival recorded in the Thornton photograph turned into a postcard which Juozas Nakas sent to his brother, Osvaldas, still in Germany, in mid-1948. Helmut is the one sitting on the truck's step.

Helmut sitting on the truck's step with (left to right)
Edvardas Lapinskas, Bernardas Matkevičius and Juozas Nakas

Source:  Private collection

When I started to look for public evidence to add to that part of Helmut Nurmsalu’s life recorded in the files of the National Archives of Australia, I thought that it was scant. I thought his life story would be a brief one.

That was because I started by looking through the digitised Estonian-language newspapers which that country’s national library has made available on line through its Digar Website. While this produced 14 Results which included the Helmut Nurmsalu name, 13 of them were recent mentions of a person living or recently deceased in Estonia.

Our Helmut was included only in a 1948 list of Estonians refugees who had resettled already in Australia, published at the end of the year in a Swedish newspaper, Stockholms-Tidningen Eestlastele (a mixture of Swedish and Estonian which translates as Stockholm Newspaper for Estonians).

Then I discovered how much of his life was recorded in Australian publications digitised by Australia’s National Library in its Trove collection. I realised that the picture was very different.

How Helmut Assimilated

When the Federal Government took the lead in immigration matters after World War II, the official settlement policy was assimilation. Immigrants were expected to “forget the past, look forward to the future”.* Fortunately, the Government forgot to tell the immigrants much about this, as they set about starting new community groups or building on existing ones, publishing newspapers in their own languages and so on.

Some individuals – or were they individualists? – went their own way. We probably can describe Helmut as one of them, someone who assimilated although he possibly did not know that this was what he was doing. It must have started before July 1950. That’s when his engagement to marry a young Australian woman was announced by an advertisement in Melbourne’s Argus newspaper.

His intended was Elizabeth (Betty) Robinson, third daughter of Mr and Mrs RV Robinson of Sunbury. It was then a rural town, with a population of around one thousand, 38 kilometres northeast of Melbourne’s central business district. (Today it is more like an outer suburb of Melbourne, with many residents commuting by rail into the city for their work.)

His Marriage

The marriage took place on 5 February 1951 in Melbourne’s leading Catholic church, St Patrick’s Cathedral. Helmut had stated that he was a Protestant, most likely a Lutheran, before migration to Australia. In contrast, he is listed as a Roman Catholic on the passenger list (“nominal roll”) for the voyage of the Heintzelman. He may or may not have been required to convert to Catholicism before the marriage.

Having the marriage ceremony reported by newspapers probably required relatives to contact the social pages editor. That looks like what Betty’s family did, as reports subsequently appeared in two Melbourne newspapers, The Age and The Argus, on 7 February 1951.

The focus in the Argus article was on bridal wear, although the groom’s origin in the Estonian town of Türi got a mention. The Age added descriptions of the clothes worn by 2 bridesmaids and a flower girl, it named the best man and a groomsman, and it added a reception which followed Hotel Federal. What a contrast to what Helmut had endured during World War II, which had ended less than 6 years earlier!

Helmut's photograph from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Both partners to the marriage were living in Sunbury. Helmut’s occupation was stated to be Process Worker (someone who carries out repetitive operations in a factory) while Betty was Receptionist.

Might the couple have moved then to rural Omeo? The National Archives of Australia’s RecordSearch Web function can find files relating to one Nurmsalu only, our Helmut. In all cases, his first name is spelled with an addition H on the end, the German spelling. The Estonian T has a soft sound anyhow, more like our D, so Estonian orthography sees no need to add an H where German and even English writers often do. For example, the newly independent Estonian Government had to write to the Australian Government to beg it not to spell the English version of its name as ‘Esthonia’. There’s a whole file on that topic in the National Archives.

Helmuth Plays Australian Football

Back to Omeo, in rural Victoria’s far east. Actually, even more rural, to a town called Ensay on the Great Alpine Road, located between Swift’s Creek and Bruthen. If Australia had villages, this would be one, with a population of 109 in 2016. The local Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal reported on an Australian Rules football player with the family name Nurmsalu during the 1953-54 season.

He was named first as ‘H. Nurmsalu’, one of Ensay’s goalkickers, in the 1 June 1953 issue. He was named as one of Ensay’s 3 best players for the game. In the 15 June issue, he was named again as one of the goalkickers and best players for the team, although without an initial this time. His team reached the semi-finals played on 15 August 1953, losing to their Swift’s Creek rivals, when he again kicked one goal and was one of the best 6 players for the Ensay team.

For those readers more familiar with the type of football which Nurmsalu may well have played previously, soccer to Australians, jalgpall (literally, football) in Nurmsalu’s mother tongue, there are 18 players on an Aussie Rules team. This means that the top 6 are the best one-third, not more than half.

At the end of the season in August, votes for the Best and Fairest Player in the Omeo District League were tallied. Helmut was not the winner, but he scored a respectable 8 votes, enough to get a mention in the report in the Bairnsdale Advertiser. From this we learn also that his playing position was ruckman, normally the tallest player in the team whose main job is to contest the ball when play is not moving, particularly the centre bounce at the start of the game and boundary throw-ins after the ball leaves the playing oval.

Helmuth’s height according to his Bonegilla card was only 5 feet 6 inches, which is below 1.7 metres. The medical report completed at the Babenhausen camp before Helmut was accepted for migration to Australia says that he was taller, 1.8 metres (5 feet 11 inches, translated to the measurements still used in the USA). That could be tall enough to be a ruckman in a shorter community. (Babenhausen got a mention in our second last entry because Martha Donald, soon to travel to Australia on the same ship as Helmuth, moved to the same camp.)

At the start of the next season, 22 May 1954, Nurmsalu was again one of the goalkickers for Ensay and one of the team’s 4 best players. In the next Saturday’s game, he did not kick a goal but once again was one of the 5 best players. He was the team’s best goalkicker in the 26 June game, with 2 against Swift’s Creek, and of course one of the 3 best players, but his team lost heavily. The final score was Swift’s Creek 17 goals, 7 behinds for 109 points, while Ensay scored only 6 goals, 7 behinds for 43 points.

That’s the last we can read of Nurmsalu playing for the Ensay football team. However, the likelihood that it’s our Helmut is supported by Betty’s presence on the local Commonwealth-State electoral roll for the Division or Province of Gippsland in 1954. Her place of residence was Ensay North (apparently Ensay was much larger back then) and her occupation was Home Duties.

Another 1954 Electoral Roll, dated 25 February 1954 like the Ensay one, has Betty resident at 45 Waverley Street, W5 (Essendon), for the Commonwealth Division of Maribyrnong and the State Assembly District of Moonee Ponds. One of those two rolls was incorrect.

Helmuth Becomes an Australian Officially

The next public record is the grant to him of Australian citizenship in a ceremony on 16 October 1957. His address at the time was on Nepean Highway, Aspendale, now back in greater Melbourne. At nearly 30 kilometres southeast of the edge of Melbourne’s central business district, it was almost as far in the opposite direction as Sunbury was to the north west. A car trip between the two to visit Betty’s family would still take more than 2 hours today.

Helmut officially became Helmuth with his new citizenship. Maybe he just gave up trying to spell it the Estonian way. Maybe putting the H on the end helped other people to pronounce it in a way which sounded more Estonian. Maybe it helped them to stop saying his name as if it was protective headwear.

Helmuth's Residence and Occupations

He first appeared in a 1958 electoral roll, with Elizabeth, for Gisborne, the next town on the railway line beyond Sunbury. He had become a Linesman by occupation. The interesting thing about that is it was the occupation given by his father-in-law on the marriage certificate. Robert (Bob?) Robinson must have introduced Helmut to this work.

His occupation on the Personal Particulars of Person Wishing to Migrate to Australia form completed in Germany was given as Agricultural Work. It records no previous occupation but the AEF DP Registration Record, also completed in Germany, also in September 1947, records his previous occupation as Locksmith.

Maybe Helmut played more Australian Rules football with local teams. We don’t know if he did as not all the small newspapers with local circulations have been digitised for the National Library of Australia’s Trove Web service.

Helmuth and Elizabeth stayed at the same address for the 1963 roll, but moved to another home in Gisborne for 1967 and subsequent rolls, until 1980. The electoral rolls beyond that year have not been digitised yet.

Helmuth's Children

An interesting addition to the 1977 rolls in the appearance of Susan Mary Xavier Nurmsalu, who must have turned 18 on or after 21 March 1973. That’s the date on which Australia’s voting age was lowered from 21. According to Betty’s gravestone (see below) Susan is the middle child of Betty and Helmuth. Her older sister, Helene, does not appear at all on the electoral rolls as Helene Nurmsalu: perhaps she married before she became old enough to vote. Their younger brother, James, must have enrolled after the 1980 rolls closed.

Helmuth Becomes a  Public Servant

During this time, on 17 May 1973, the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette included a notice which said the Helmuth Nurmsalu had been appointed to the Department of Civil Aviation as a Fitter and Turner.  A later Gazette, published on 8 October, said that his appointment had dated from 20 February.

Helmuth was now an Australian Public Servant, at the age of 46. Having previously married an Australia, played Aussie Rules and become an Australian citizen, how much more Australian could Helmuth become?

He also had changed his occupation from Linesman to Fitter and Turner. Presumably he had been upgrading his skills and perhaps practising what he had learned in Estonia 30 or more years previously. Maybe he had the help of his father-in-law again.

Within a few months, Helmuth found out how the Public Service worked. In August he received a provisional promotion to a supervisor position. On 15 November, the Gazette announced that his promotion had been cancelled, with someone else being promoted to the position after going through a formal process of appeal.

He did try again, but it was 9 years later. The Gazette of 29 July 1982 announced that the has been promoted to Senior Fitter and Turner in the Department of Aviation (as it was called now) with effect from 24 June that year.

Public Servants are eligible to retire with superannuation (a pension to which they have contributed part of their salary) from the age of 55. In Helmuth’s case, that would have been on 10 February 1982, so clearly he had stayed on. Not having joined the Public Service until he was in his 40s, he did not have as much superannuation accumulated as someone who had started in their 20s or teens. The compulsory retirement age then was 65, so Helmut may well have stayed in his secure job until February 1992.

There should be a record of his retirement in an issue of the Gazette digitised by the National Library. If there is, it has been missed by the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process.

Deaths

Betty died on 22 April 1995. She was buried in the Sunbury Cemetery, under a plaque which names Helmuth, the three children and two grandchildren. It is in the shape of an open book, with the right page still blank and waiting for Helmut’s details. 

This should mean that he is with us still but contributor to this blog, Rasa Ščevinskienė, has found a death notice in a rural newspaper using the Ryerson Index.  The Great Lakes Advocate, published in the Gippsland town of Forster, carried the notice for Helmuth, also known as Charlie, on 12 March 2014, so he probably died soon after his 87th birthday.  Either he had moved back to Gippsland, where life certainly would have been more unhurried than in Melbourne, or someone remembered him from the Aussie Rules football days.

The plaque for Betty Nurmsalu in the Sunbury Cemetery

Source:  Robby in Find a Grave

Of the 3 children, Susan achieved national fame as the designer of a self-titled women’s clothing range.

Susan the Star Designer

The September 1993 appearance of the first Aboriginal model on the front cover of the local edition of Vogue magazine is regarded as a turning point. The model was Elaine George; her apparel was a white top by Susan Nurmsalu.

Elaine George with the September 1993 Vogue cover
featuring her in a Susan Nurmsalu top

Source:  Sydney Morning Herald

Susan’s Web presence indicates that she was designing tailored women’s workwear, jackets and coats, and using higher-quality natural fibres. Her output appears to have been aimed at professional women and was sold through boutiques and higher end chain-stores.

Sadly, her individual designing career did not last long. A 1997 issue of the Commonwealth Gazette carried a notice under the Federal Corporations Law, announcing that a receiver and manager had been appointed to Susan Nurmsalu Pty Limited. This meant that the company had been unable to pay a loan on time.

Susan moved on to design for Trent Nathan. This company, founded by a designer of the same name in 1980, had evolved into one where the brand was more important than the designer. It kept its new designer away from publicity.

The deregistration of Susan Nurmsalu Pty Ltd was announced in an ASIC Gazette (published by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission) on 18 October 2005. That was around the time that Susan left Trent Nathan. I’m guessing that she then was aged around 50, with decades of creativity left in her.

There has not been publicity about her since. Susan's skills as a designer remain on display, though, with clothing bearing her name still available on auction Websites.

Her siblings do not have a Web presence, either, unless under changed names. We can but wish all of them the best.

FOOTNOTE

* This quotation comes from a headlines after the arrival of the Heintzelman passengers in Victoria via the Australian military ship, the Kanimbla.  See, for example, the Courier-Mail of 15 December 1947.

SOURCES

‘AEF DP Registration Record, Nurmsalu, Helmuth’ Reference Code 03010101 17 193, Folder DP2908, names from NUN, Leiger to NUSBARD, Don (2), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from N, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68445396, accessed 25 May 2026.

Age (1951) ‘Bride in Pink’, Melbourne, Vic, 7 February, p.7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204966878, accessed 24 May 2026.

Ancestry ‘All Census & Voter Lists results for Nurmsalu’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/?name=_Nurmsalu&birth=_Australia&residence=_australia_5027, accessed 24 May 2026.

Argus (1950) ‘Engagements’, Melbourne, Vic, 4 July, p 9 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22913198, accessed 24 May 2026.

Argus (1951) ‘… And the Bride Wore’, Melbourne, Vic, 7 February, p.7 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23042111, accessed 24 May 2026.

ASIC Gazette (2005) ‘Company/Scheme deregistrations’ Sydney, 18 October, p 69 https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1314613/ASIC41A_05.pdf, accessed 25 May 2026.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1953) 'Omeo District League: Swift’s Creek win First Game of Season: Omeo Defeated by Benambra', Bairnsdale, Vic, 1 June, p 8 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269553315, accessed 24 May 2026.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1953) ‘Ensay Inaccurate Down to Omeo: Benambra Win Again' Bairnsdale, Vic, 15 June, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/269552237, accessed 24 May 2026.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1953) 'Omeo District League, Swift’s Creek Defeat Ensay in First Semi-Final', Bairnsdale, Vic, 17 August, p 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269548234, accessed 24 May 2026

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1953) 'Omeo District League, Max Prendergast (Benambra) Wins Best and Fairest', Bairnsdale, Vic, 17 August, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269548191, accessed 24 May 2026.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1954) 'Omeo District Football League: Omeo’s 9 Goal Last Term Gives Them Win', Bairnsdale, Vic, 24 May, p 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269521159, accessed 24 May 2026.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1954) 'Omeo District League: Benambra’s Run of Wins Broken', Bairnsdale, Vic, 31 May, p 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269524811, accessed 24 May 2026.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and East Gippsland Stock and Station Journal (1954) 'Omeo District League: Benambra Go Down to Omeo', Bairnsdale, Vic, 28 June, p 6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269525964, accessed 24 May 2026.

Carruthers, Fiona (2005) ‘What's in a name?’ Australian Financial Review https://www.afr.com/politics/whats-in-a-name-20050826-jkb6n, accessed 24 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 8 May, p 1439 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240891979/25976027, accessed 22 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1973) ‘Appointments, Retirements, Dismissals’ Canberra, ACT, 17 May, p 49 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241065574, accessed 24 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1973) ‘Provisional Promotions’ Canberra, ACT, 2 August, p 120 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240776760, accessed 25 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1973) ‘Appointments to the Public Service’ Canberra, ACT, 8 October, p 12 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240845126, accessed 25 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1973) 'Promotions—Section 50 (9)' Canberra, ACT, 15 November, p 90 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240846117/26080466, accessed 26 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1982) ‘Provisional Promotions’ Canberra, ACT, 29 July 1982, p 62 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/26363598, accessed 26 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1982) 'Confirmation of provisional promotions', Canberra, ACT, 29 September, p 92 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242098094, accessed 23 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1997) 'Susan Nurmsalu Pty Limited (Receiver and Manager Appointed)' Canberra, ACT, 18 November, p 3381 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246948137, accessed 23 May 2026.

Courier-Mail (1947) 'Balts Start Life Afresh Here', Brisbane, Qld, 15 December, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49657309, accessed 26 May 2026.

Find A Grave, ‘Elizabeth Nurmsalu’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/220415883/elizabeth-nurmsalu, accessed 25 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Governor-General; A11804, General Correspondence of Governor-General (excluding War files), 1912-1927; 1921/183, Esthonia [Estonia], 1920-1921.

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; 610, NURMSALU Helmuth DOB 10 February 1927, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005841, accessed 26 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; NURMSALU HELMUTH, NURMSALU, Helmuth : Year of Birth - 1927 : Nationality - ESTONIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 984, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203732700, accessed 26 May 2026.

Ryerson Index, Search for Notices https://ryersonindex.org/search.php, accessed 27 May 2026.

Sunday Age (1996) ‘What’s New’ Melbourne, Vic, 28 January, p 38 https://www.newspapers.com/image/120496213/?article=3a2e0319-268f-4a4d-8c30-b615438be1d6&xid=5904&terms=Susan_Nurmsalu&ancestry=true, accessed 25 May 2026.

The Fashion Spot, ‘Vogue Australia September 2023 : Tarlisa Gaykamangu by Robbie Fimmano’ https://forums.thefashionspot.com/threads/vogue-australia-september-2023-tarlisa-gaykamangu-by-robbie-fimmano.412187/#post-30981405, accessed 24 May 2026.

Singer, Melissa (2020) ‘The 'risky' Vogue cover that made history but almost never happened’ Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, NSW, 26 September https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-risky-vogue-cover-that-made-history-but-almost-never-happened-20200918-p55wxo.html, accessed 23 May 2026.

Wikipedia ‘Ensay, Victoria’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensay,_Victoria accessed 22 May 2026.

Wikipedia ‘Türi’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BCri, accessed 24 May 2026.

Edvardas Lapinskas (1914-1975): Agricultural Expert Turned Sheet Metal Worker, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

We have met Edvardas Lapinksas briefly already. He was standing on the left of a photo of 4 First Transport employees of the Melbourne timber company, CJ Webb, Row & Anderson. They were photographed together with one of the company’s trucks at Thornton, northeast of Victoria’s capital city of Melbourne.

The photograph again, with Edvardas Lapinskas standing on the left,
Bernardas Matkevicius in the cab, at the wheel,
Juozas Nakas standing on the right, and their Estonian friend,
probably Helmut Nursalu, seated.

Source:  Private collection

The Thornton Photograph

In June 1948, another of the men, Juozas Nakas, wrote on the back of one copy of the photo and sent it to his brother, Osvaldas, in Germany. That is why we still have access to the photo.

Edvardas' Youth

From Edvardas’ Particulars of Person Wishing to Migrate to Australia form among his selection papers, we find that he was born in Dusetai Zarasai, Lithuania, on 27 June 1914. At 33, he was one of the older men selected for migration.

Edvardas Lapinskas' photograph, colourised,
from his 1947 selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) DP Record for Edvardas says that his parents were Bronius and Stase, whose family name before marriage was Jerulyte.

His previous occupation was described by the seldom used word, ‘functionary’. The best synonym we can offer is ‘official’. The Australian equivalent could be ‘public servant’. Whether he worked for the Lithuanian Government before the war, or at a more local level, has to be guessed.

Languages spoken were Lithuanian and Russian. Given that his Particulars of Person form said that he had arrived in Germany one year earlier, it is surprising that the languages do not include German.

The Australian interview summary says that Edvardas had completed his 4 years of primary school, plus 5 years of an agricultural school.

Edvardas is Forced into Germany

The Particulars of Person Wishing to Migrate form contained Edvardas’ statement that he had served in the Lithuanian Army for one and a half years. Presumably, this was when the Lithuanian Army was fighting against Soviet forces and therefore supporting the Germans. It explains why his interview summary says that he was one of those “forcibly evacuated by the Germans” to their homeland, arriving in September 1944.

The AEF Record was completed on 4 September 1945, and bears a rubber stamp saying ‘Source 51 dPACs, Wolterdingen’. There are at least 2 places called Wolterdingen in Germany; the use of the British initials, DPAC, for Displaced Persons Assembly Centre, suggests the northern one in the British Zone, near Soltau, between Hamburg and Hannover.

It was known as 51 after it became a Baltic camp under IRO administration from July 1947 to June 1950. Edvardas was there still when he had his medical examination for migration to Australia on 13 September 1947.

Another German language document suggests that in 1945, after the War, Edvardas was one of the men employed mending roads in the town or district of Celle, less then 50 Km south of Soltau.

Off to Australia and to Thornton

Both Celle and Soltau are near Bremen which, in turn, is near Bremerhaven, from where the ship carrying Edvardas to Australia left on 30 October 1947. Like the rest of the 839 who stayed in Australia, he had a few days in Perth before another voyage to Melbourne and a train trip to Bonegilla. His stay at the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre, its official name, ended on 14 January 1948 when he joined 11 others on the trip to CJ Webb, Row & Anderson’s timber stands in Victoria.

We’ve noted already that Thornton, the place where the timber was waiting to be felled, is nearly 250 road kilometres from Bonegilla. The trip still is at least at least 2 hours 40 minutes in a modern car. It must have been something of a memorable experience for the 10 men being driven there in January 1948, given the condition of the roads then.

At this stage of our investigation, we assume that the 12 men stayed at their Thornton camp until at least 30 September 1949. That was the date on which the Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, had decided that they could be released early from their contracts to work where sent since their work had been so helpful. Certainly, the 3 Lithuanians, Nakas, Matkevicius and Edvardas Lapinskas, were there still in early 1949.

We know that because they subscribed to the fledgling Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) Lithuanian-Australian newspaper by sending £3 each. That may well have been a large slice of their savings. It was appreciated by the newspaper, which thanked them publicly in its 16 February 1949 edition.

Edvardas also donated £1 to a collection taken up by the Lithuanian Women's Welfare Committee to help Lithuanians still in Germany. He was thanked publicly for this, along with other donors, in the Mūsų pastogė newspaper published on 17 March 1954.

Edvardas Marries

A marriage certificate from Births Deaths Marriages Victoria says that Eduardas (sic) Lapinskas married Irene Austra Ozolins on 12 November 1955.   They were married in the Office of the Government Statist, which is to say that they had a registry wedding, not a church one.  

Latvian Irene had arrived in Australia with her infant son on the fourth migrant voyage here of the Castel Bianco, on 17 December 1950.  She is stated on the certificate to have been divorced in July 1944, presumably in Latvia before she fled.

Edvardas' death certificate reveals that Irene’s maiden name was Dinsbergs.  Of interest is that she had managed to find someone called E. Dinsbergs, clearly a relative, to be a witness at the marriage to Edvardas.  If it was Ernests Dinsbergs, it was her brother or half-brother according to information on the Geni.com genealogy Website.  He had come to Australia more than 18 months before Irene. Alternatively, it might have been her sister-in-law, Elize.

Irene Lapinskas' photograph from her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Given the youth of the son, born in September 1949, the new family started to use the Lapinskas family name for him too.

Edvardas Becomes an Official Australian

Edvardas was granted Australian citizenship on 2 September 1958, when living in the inner western Melbourne suburb of Seddon. That was a little over 10 years after his arrival here. Irene was granted her citizenship on the same date, most likely at the same ceremony, although the powers that be chose to gazette this 6 weeks after Edvardas’ gazettal. Edvardas and Irene probably never got to see this compliance with the law, though.

Edvardas' Death

Edvardas died on 21 November 1975. His death certificate says that he was aged 60. It seems that we have a better idea of his birthdate than the distressed informant: he actually was aged 61.

His home at the time was in the western Melbourne suburb of Altona North, but his death occurred in the nearby suburb of Footscray. As 21 November 1975 was a Friday, it may have been another death at work. It was another death from a heart attack, for someone who was said to have been suffering from heart disease for years.

Thinking of work, his occupation at the time was said to be sheet metal worker. We have to ask if Edvardas ever pined for agricultural work, given the focus of his education as a youth. We presume that he was satisfied where life had led him, given that it was away from the turmoil and dangers of World War II.  On the other hand, did the noise of his workplace take some getting used to after the noise of war?

He was cremated at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery and his ashes were buried there.

Irene Dies

Irene died 25 years after Edvardas, on 10 September 2000, aged 76. She had lived for many years with motor neurone disease. Surviving her were her son, Edvardas’ stepson, his wife and three grandchildren.

Irene’s ashes now rest with those of Edvardas.

SOURCES

‘AEF DP Registration Record, Lapinskas, Edvardas’ Folder DP2293, names from LAPINS, Talivaldis to LAPOSTA, Loreto (1), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from L, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67976906, accessed 20 May 2026.

‘AEF DP Registration Record, Ozolinš, Irene’ Reference Code 03010101 18 144, Folder DP2981, names from OZOLINS, EDE to OZOLINS, Ivars (2), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from O, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68500057, accessed 20 May 2026.

‘Allgemeine Ortskranks … Celle, Sanemann-Celle-Neustadt 74’, Reference Code DE ITS 2.1.2.1 NI 012 11 DIV ZM, Original collection, 2.1.2.1 NI 012 11 DIV Nationality/origin of person listed : Various, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70593430, accessed 20 May 2026.

Births Deaths Marriages Victoria (1955) 'Marriage certificate:  Eduardas (sic) Lapinskas and Irene Austra Ozolins', Registration no. 1408/1955.

Births Deaths Marriages Victoria (1975) ‘Death certificate: Edvardas Lapinskas’, Registration no. 5801/1976.

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