Updated 9 February and 6 April 2025
Alfonsas, known as Alf, was born on 19 January 1914 in Šiauliai, in the Lithuanian district of Joniskis, where he spent his youth. Life was not easy for him, so he emigrated to Germany in 1935.
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| Alfonasas Ragauskas' identity photo on his migration application form, 1947 Source: Sestokas, Welcome to Little Europe |
There he lived in even more difficult conditions, working hard until 1947, when he immigrated to Australia on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman.
At least that is what his anonymous obituarist in the Teviskes Aidai edition of 17 May 1988 had been led to believe. Teviskes Aidai was a national Australian Lithuanian Catholic newspaper published weekly in Melbourne; it now is published fortnightly.
What the obituarist wrote contrasts with the more usual story that Ragauskas gave to the Australian three-man panel selecting Displaced Persons for the first voyage to Australia. The paper record from his interview says that he arrived in Germany in December 1943, having been "forcibly removed by the Germans".
The two versions are not incompatible, if Alf in 1935 was the equivalent of a modern backpacker. Aged only 21 in 1935, Alf would have missed his family and friends. He possibly stayed in Germany long enough to make good money, then returned home. We have to hope that he did this before September 1939, when the German military invaded Poland, the nation between his temporary residence and his homeland.
Alternatively, Alf may have learnt the back story expected of the DPs being interviewed for Australia before his turn came. In this case, he had to remember the story -- or forget the previous German residence -- in future dealings with Australian officials.
None of this prevented Alf from becoming an ideal settler in Australia and contributor to his new home. And there is no mention of time in Germany before 10 December 1943 in Alf's application for Australian citizenship, lodged on the first available date, 1 December 1952. Any time in Germany in 1935 must have been too brief to mention (or forgotten).
In addition, Alf had been so keen to become an Australian citizen that he was one of those who first enquired in September 1949, as soon as he was freed from his contract to work here.
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| Alfonasas Ragauskas' identity photo on his Bonegilla card, 1947 Source: NAA, A2571, RAGAUSKAS, Alfonsas |
His first job was in the State Electricity Commission of Victoria’s Yallourn open-cut brown coal mine. Later he became an electrician in the power plant, then a pump operator until retirement.
Alf was a resident of Yallourn North when he applied for Australian citizenship. He renounced previous allegiances and was granted Australian citizenship there on 23 July 1953.
In Josef Šestokas’ book, Welcome to Little Europe: Displaced Persons and the North Camp , Josef’s father, Juozas, writes about the Yallourn camp where both he and Alf lived initially, “All were single men. They were accommodated in tents under pine trees behind the school. Local people were friendly and welcoming.”
Alf wrote in Juozas’ autograph book, presumably in Lithuanian, in 1955, “Really we are happier here, but you could only appreciate that if, having lost your country and your people, you were so hospitably welcomed as victims of war.”
While working at Yallourn, Alf met his wife, Agota and they married in 1962. They later moved to Kew, Melbourne. Josef Šestokas reports that they were thought not to have had children.
Alf led a quiet life, keeping dairy goats and chickens in his large backyard. He was remembered in his obituary as a fun, friendly and helpful. Although his life he was full of difficulties and surprises, he was able to overcome all these obstacles.
Alf died at Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne on 28 April 1988, aged 64, and is buried in Kew Cemetery, now known as Boroondara General Cemetery. Agota was buried with him when she died 4 years later.
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| Headstone on the grave of Alfonsas and Agota Ragauskas, Boroondara General Cemetery, Melbourne Source: Boroondara General Cemetery |
References
Anon (1988) ‘AA Alfonsas Ragauskas (in Lithuanian)’ Tėviškės Aidai [The Echoes of Homeland] Melbourne, 17 May, p 7.
Boroondara General Cemetery, Grave Locator, <Ragauskas>, https://boroondaracemetery.discovereverafter.com/ accessed 23 January 2025.
National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A435, Class 4 correspondence files relating to naturalisation, 1939-50; 1949/4/4224, RAGAUSKAS Alfonsas - born 19 January 1914 - Lithuanian, 1949-53 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6944679 accessed 9 February 2025.
National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, 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; 245, RAGAUSKAS Alfonsas DOB 19 January 1914 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005655 accessed 6 April 2025.
National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla] 1947-1956; RAGAUSKAS, Alfonsas : Year of Birth - 1914 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 641, 1947-1948, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203913539 accessed 24 January 2025.
Sestokas, Josef (2010) Welcome to Little Europe, Displaced Persons and the North Camp, Little Chicken Publishing, Sale, Victoria, pp 1, 87, 261. [This now is out of print but a digitised version can be read at https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Welcome_to_Little_Europe/PqDgc5KKfvIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Welcome+to+Little+Europe&pg=PT58&printsec=frontcover accessed 24 January 2025.
