Viktoras Žeimys (1914-1997): Footballer, Cook, Telephone Technician, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

More than one year before the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, at Fremantle with 839 Displaced Persons on board, about to settle in Australia, in 1996 the Mūsų Pastogė Australian-Lithuanian newspaper was publishing reminiscences.

One of them was from Viktoras Žeimys, a professional footballer in Lithuania and even in Germany before selection for Australia. Let’s translate what Viktoras wrote from his Lithuanian.

Professional footballer in Germany

“I lived in the Rotenburg DP camp in the British zone of Germany. [Rotenburg is about 45 km west of Bremen, more by road]. At the end of July 1947, when emigration to Australia began, I did not think of emigrating there because I played football for the German team, and the club urged me to stay in Germany — they would give me a good job, I would live closer to my homeland ...

“In the camp, those who wanted to emigrate were examined by Dr Ivinskis. He advised me to emigrate. He said — you will not play football all your life, but there you may find a better life. When I decided to go, he filled out the necessary forms and checked my health.

“After that, they sent me to Hanover to check my health and political past, and after a few weeks, to the Diepholz camp, where they mainly checked my lungs, blood, etc. Later, my health was also checked by Australian emigration and UNRRA officials.

[Viktoras’ selection papers for emigration to Australia have been lost, so we no longer have access to what Dr Ivinskis or the others wrote, nor a photograph of the footballer from those days. Further, we don’t know what the Australian officials recorded about his arrival in Germany or his work there or earlier. We do know that he passed the medical exams or we would not be writing about his now.]

“During the last inspection, we had to take off our underwear and raise our hands — they checked whether we had SS signs (tattooed blood groups on our arms, near our armpits). [Lots of the men with whom Ann was able to talk twenty years ago spoke about raising their arms so that they could be checked for the blood group tattoo, but Viktoras is the first so far to put this aspect of the checking for migration to Australia into writing.]

“We received our personal documents, and a few days later we were taken to the port of Bremerhaven, where we boarded the beautiful USAT General Stuart Heintzelman. Goodbye to our homeland, Lithuania, goodbye to Europe!

The Mūsų Pastogė caption for this photograph said that it was taken in Bremerhaven,
just before boarding the Heintzelman, and Žeimys was second from the left:
we think that meant that he's the one in the light-coloured coat with the shrug

Mūsų Pastogė captioned this photograph, "Five future Australians on board": Žeimys was fourth from the left and Teresevičius was next to him, but Žeimys could no longer remember
the other names 49 years later — do you recognise anyone?

Source: Mūsų Pastogė

A Soviet Submarine!

“Upon entering the Red Sea, rumours spread on the ship that a Soviet submarine was following us and, possibly, wanted to sink us. Of course, these were just rumours, and on November 28, 1947, we arrived in the port of Fremantle, Western Australia, having spent 28 days on the journey.

Viktoras Žeimys, identity photography from his 1947 Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

“After spending [nearly] a week in a military camp near Fremantle, on December 5, we boarded the Australian warship HMAS Kanimbla. We were taken to Melbourne. From there we took a train to Bonegilla, Victoria, an emigrant camp set up in a former barracks. I was put to work in the kitchen.

Google's Gemini AI thinks that the man on the far left of this photo of Bonegilla staff,
most of them working in the kitchen, could be Viktoras Žeimas

Source:  Collection of Galina Vasins Karciauskas

From Bonegilla to Bathurst to Tully, Queensland

“A few months later, when an emigrant camp opened in Bathurst, NSW, I was with a group of other workers who were transferred there. I worked as a cook again.

“Later, I worked for a season in the sugar cane harvest in Queensland, but, not having made a fortune, I returned to the kitchen.

“In 1949, I was sent to the Army Cooks School. After graduating, I worked as a cook in an army unit, where I completed my two-year government contract. But even after graduating, I did not give up my job as a cook and worked at the Sydney Yacht Club, and from 1952 to 1979 — at the NSW Post Office.”

Viktoras Becomes an Australian Citizen

The digitisation of Australian Government gazettes by the National Library of Australia’s Trove service shows that Viktoras was amongst the very first from the General Stuart Heintzelman to apply for and be granted Australian citizenship. He received his citizenship certificate on 5 June 1953, only 6 months after he became eligible.

He then lived on Hugh Street, in the Sydney suburb of Belmore. The Australian citizenship means that Ancestry.com allows us to follow any changes of address or occupation until 1980, the year of the last digitised electoral roll. During this period, he and his wife continued to live at the same address, while Viktoras continued to record his occupation as telephone technician. By the time he died, though, the family had moved into the neighbouring suburb of Belfield.

Mūsų Pastogė correspondents have filled in more of Viktoras’ life. “AVK” for example, undertook the sad duty of an obituary after Viktoras died before that 50th anniversary, one month after his 83rd birthday, on 17 July 1997.

Chef? Footballer! Telephone technician ...

AVK pointed out that while Viktoras worked at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron club in Kirribilli, he had the opportunity to cook lunch for Sir Robert Menzies. He received a very large tip from the Prime Minister that afternoon.

AVK explained that Viktoras was a member of the Sydney branch of Ramovė, the organisation for former members of the Lithuanian military. His military speciality had been communications. After completing his military service, he worked for the Lithuanian Post Office and was an active athlete. As a member of the Lithuanian football team, he travelled all over Europe.

[While AVK described Viktoras, apparently also known as "Stasys", as a member of the "Lithuanian football team", we have been unable to find him in any lists of players for Lithuania in the late 1930s.  It looks as if Viktoras was good enough to travel with the squads but never had the opportunity to take to the field in any FIFA-recognised international match for Lithuania.]

Viktoras Žeimys in military uniform

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

We also learn from AVK that Viktoras’ speciality with the Lithuanian and NSW Post Offices was as a telephone technician. Abandoning his cooking career, despite Prime Ministerial patronage, indicates that Viktoras found the challenges of sorting telecommunications problems more to his liking than the challenges of new recipes.

Return to Lithuania

In 1991, Viktoras returned to Lithuania for the 4th World Lithuanian Games. Mūsų Pastogė published 3 articles about this visit. The first was based on an interview in the Mūsų Pastogė office and appeared on 1 July 1991.

The footballer about to return to Lithuania

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Viktoras was asked what prompted him to return to Lithuania. To that he replied, love of one’s native land, youthful memories, the desire to participate in the 4th World Lithuanian Games, and also the opportunity to meet with footballing friends. He hoped to renew acquaintances about whom he had dreamed in exile for more than forty years.

Viktoras explained that he started to play for the Žemaitis team in his home town, Kretinga, when he was only 13 years old. Given that he was born on 14 June 1914, this would have been in 1927. Three years later, he was invited to join the Klaipėda team, Švyturis. That was in 1936, he said, meaning that 6 years were lost somewhere in the explanation.

in 1938, the chairman of Kaunas football club, Kovas, asked him to join this team. He played there until the war began.

Viktoras had been told that former sports people in independent Lithuania were invited to participate in the opening of the 4th World Games in Kaunas. He was waiting excitedly for that day and hour.

The second article in Mūsų Pastogė, on 23 September, repeated an article in the Klaipėda city newspaper, which also was called Klaipėda. Their honoured visitor had started a Sydney football team in 1954, later coached Australian football players [meaning members of the national team?], and then coached juniors. However, he had said goodbye to active football completely in 1971, when he was 56 or 57.

The third report was published on 2 December 1991. During the opening ceremony for the Games in Klaipėda, 77-year-old sports veteran Viktoras Žeimys walked onto the field, knelt down and kissed the green grass. Before the War, he had played there many times with his father, he told Robertas Mackevičius, who was responsible for the stadium’s maintenance.

When he left, Viktoras handed Robertas 100 dollars and told him, "Tidy up our field, I really want everything to be beautiful here like before."

Robertas Mackevičius did not spend this money on the maintenance of the grass. When it was necessary to pay salaries to the stadium employees one month later, and “the winds were whistling through the bank account”, he took those dollars to the bank and exchanged them for roubles. Mentally thanking the Australian Lithuanian, he paid modest salaries to his small group of colleagues.

Robertas consoled himself with the thought that he still had 38 light bulbs left in the storeroom.

Still supporting Kovas at 80

In April 1995, the sports reporter for Mūsų Pastogė noted that Viktoras was still involved in sports. He was always present when the Sydney team, Kovas, trained. He always supported the athletes with donations and took care of their problems. He was unable to attend to the 1995 World Lithuanian Games but he had donated $50 to the athletes who were going and wished them good luck. [The Reserve Bank of Australia advises that, 30 years later, $50 would buy a basket of goods and services worth nearly $110.]

Viktoras the Scout

Two years later, after Viktoras’ death, an initial report in Mūsų Pastogė noted that he also had been a scout in his youth. In 1933, on 17 August, he had participated in a massive rally in Palanga, Lithuania, which brought together Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, and a contingent of 650 British Scouts and Guides with nearly 2,000 Lithuanian Scouts and Guides. The British delegation was received by the President of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, at his official summer residence in Palanga, and a street was named in Baden-Powell‘s honour.

The end, and the family

Viktoras was not well in the last few years of his life, so he was rarely seen at Lithuanian events in Sydney — apart from training sessions for Kovas, it would seem. His cause of death was a heart attack.

Viktoras Rufinas Žeimys was buried on 21 July 1997 in the Lithuanian section of Rookwood Cemetery after a funeral service conducted by Fr Jonas Girdauskas. The chairman of the Sydney Ramovė branch, Antanas Vinevičius, farewelled him on behalf of his comrades. We note that his name was Australianised for the burial: Victor Rufin Zeimys.

He met and possibly married his younger wife, Anna Katerina in Germany. She died 14 years after him and is buried with him.

We know that they had at 3 children, 2 daughters and a son. That’s because a daughter accompanied Viktoras on his 1991 return to his homeland and the 4th World Lithuanian Games. Sadly, the son, John Phillip, born in March 1954, lived for only 63 years, dying in March 2017. His ashes rest in a wall among other Lithuanians in Rookwood Cemetery. We hope that the 2 daughters, named as Anna and Elizabeth in the obituary by AMK, are doing well.

The father with whom he played football on the grass of the Klaipėda field was Juozas, who had married Marijona Zmidaitė according to the details on an American Expeditionary Forces DP Registration Form completed for Zeimys somewhere in the south west of Germany in October 1945. That form also reports that he left in December 1945 for a DP camp in Freiburg in the French Zone of Occupation. Perhaps he had heard that the Displaced Persons there were keen on football.

SOURCES

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Žeimys, Viktoras’ Document ID 69001742, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/69001742, accessed 22 June 2026.

Alfas (1995) ‘Sportas’ (‘Sport’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 17 April, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1995/1995-04-17-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

Australian Cemetery Index, Name/Cemetery Search https://austcemindex.com/?family_name=zeimys&cemetery=1150, accessed 21 June 2026.

“AVK” (1997) ‘A † A Viktoras Rufinas Žeimys, 1914.6.14 – 1997.7.17’ (‘RIP Viktoras Rufinas Zeimys’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 1 September, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-09-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection, ‘Viktoras Zeimys’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203728731, accessed 21 June 2026.

CM/1 No.207702 ‘Zeimys’ 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from SA, Folder DP3618, names from SEJMICKI, WACLAW to ZEZNELOVICH, Shaban (1), ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/69001743, accessed 22 June 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1953) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 16 July, p 1978 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232810367/25083994, accessed 22 June 2026.

Find a Grave ‘Anna Katarina Zeimys’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180428496/anna-katarina-zeimys, accessed 21 June 2026.

Find a Grave ‘John Phillip Zeimys’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/272633188/john-phillip-zeimys, accessed 21 June 2026.

Find a Grave ‘Victor Rufin Zeimys’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180428497/victor-rufin-zeimys, accessed 21 June 2026.

Mundrys, Virgilijus (1991) ‘Kai pristinga pinigų …’ (‘When money is tight...', in Lithuanian) Respublika, 12.10.1991, reprinted in Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 2 December, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1991/1991-12-02-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (1991) ‘“Pašaukė tėvynės ilgesys”’ (‘“Called by longing for the homeland”’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 23 September, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1991/1991-09-23-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (1995) ‘Mirė a.a. Viktoras Žeimys‘ (‘Died, RIP Viktoras Zeimys’) Sydney, NSW, 28 July, p 7, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-07-28-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; ZEIMYS VIKTORAS, ZEIMYS, Viktoras : Year of Birth - 1914 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 737, 1947-1958 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203728731, accessed 24 June 2026.

National Football Teams, 'Lithuania, Lietuva:  Players of Lithuania in 1938' https://www.national-football-teams.com/country/108/1938/Lithuania.html, accessed 28 June 2026.

National Football Teams, 'Lithuania, Lietuva:  Players of Lithuania in 1939' https://www.national-football-teams.com/country/108/1939/Lithuania.html, accessed 28 June 2026.

Reserve Bank of Australia, Inflation Calculator, https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualDecimal.html, accessed 20 June 2026.

Ryerson Index, Search for Notices https://ryersonindex.org/search.php, accessed 21 June 2026.

“V.A” (1991) Pasiilgau gimtosios žemės (‘I Miss My Native Land’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 1 July, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1991/1991-07-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

Žeimys, Viktoras (1996) ‘Pirmieji metai Australijoje, Emigrantu į tolimqjq Australiją’ (‘First Years in Australia, Emigrant to distant Australia’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 5 August, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-08-05-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 June 2026.

Romanas-Karolis Ragauskas (1924-2007) Engineer and Sports Administrator, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

The Kiewa Scheme

The State Electricity Commission of Victoria had been building a hydro-electric scheme south of the Bonegilla camp, in the Kiewa valley, on and off since 1937. It was mostly off due to World War II, so the end of the War led to its resumption in an environment of increasing electricity demand.

Twenty-six of the First Transport men were sent to Kiewa on 14 January 1948, according to their Bonegilla cards. Given that the town of Bogong had been established as the base for construction of the Kiewa Scheme, it’s very likely that the men were sent there, to the Kiewa Scheme rather than the town of Kiewa. This town is only 18 kilometres south of the Bonegilla camp by road. Bogong is another 80 kilometres south, so the men were only a bit more than an hour away from their initial home in Australia.

The environment of the Kiewa Scheme -- here, work on underground Power Station 4

Source:  SECV via Wikipedia

The Kiewa Scheme became the second largest hydro-electric scheme on mainland Australia, after the Snowy Mountains Scheme, so the men were engaged for a significant project. One of them was Romanas-Karolis or Romas Ragauskas.

Romas' birth

Romas was born on 2 January 1924, born in the central Lithuanian town of Kėdainai. That birthdate meant that he turned 24 one month after arrival in Australia, so he was just under the average age of the 839 allowed to land in Australia.

Romas in Germany

The Arolsen Archives have digitised 15 documents relating to Romas’ time in Germany, so we know a lot about it still. His American Expeditionary Force (AEF) DP Registration Record was completed in Assembly Centre 16, which, if that is the same as the Team Numbers on a list available from DPcamps.org, was in Düsseldorf in the North Rhine Region of the British Zone of Occupied Germany. He was registered on 25 August 1945.

The person completing the AEF form has favoured the German language, so the handwriting which might be transcribed as “bauningineur” indicates that Romas stated that he was a Bauingenieur, a “building” or civil engineer. Given his youth, this could have been the field in which he had been training in his city of previous residence, Kaunas, but it is unlikely that he had much practical experience.

On the back of the form, we can read that he was lucky enough to have been dusted with DDT on 8 November 1945. The enthusiasm for this dangerous poison apparently was widespread among the Americans after WWII. Another Displaced Person from the First Transport, someone who had scientific training, Helgi Nirk, blamed her ill health in later life to the amount of DDT to which she had been subject in the camps.

The medical officer for UNRRA Team 35 checked his health that day, with Team 35 equating to Dieburg in the American Zone.

A second AEF form was completed in Darmstadt on 14 January 1946. It gives his occupation as “Student polit.”, possibly political science. A contributor to this blog, Jonas Mockūnas, argues that it is more likely to mean that he was a student at a polytechnic.  His polytechnic may well have been Darmstadt's Technical High School:  see below.

This form was completed in DP Camp 502, Darmstadt, according to a clear rubber stamp. The DPcamps.org list of UNRRA teams says that Team 502 was in Stuttgart, still more than 75 minutes away by modern, fast train. It looks like the UNRRA list is not a reliable guide to the camp numbers after all.

A third AEF registration has been partially typed in Darmstadt on 5 February 1946, making it much easier to read. For instance, it is now clear that Romanas’ mother was Palmira Ragauskienė, née Baliunaite, while all the forms show clearly that his father was Martinas.  (The Lithuanian spelling for his mother's name would have been Palmyra while his father was Martynas.)

Romanas’ occupation on this form again was student. And his destination is handprinted, relatively clearly, as Kranichsteiner str 59 (59 Kranichsteiner Street), Darmstadt, Grosshessen, Deutschland. Unfortunately, the additional handwritten remarks at the bottom of the form are not so easy to read.

Google Street View shows 59 Kranichsteiner Street as a private building on the corner of Kittler Strasse, possibly built to house a shop on the ground floor originally. As a student, Romanas now was “free-living”, the term used for Displaced Persons who were not housed in the camps.

Wait, there’s a fourth AEF form, apparently a typed copy of the 5 February one, but without the handwritten remarks. It has an addition in German, though, which confirms that Romanas was studying at the institution then called the Technical High School, but now the Technical University of Darmstadt.

A list shows him as a Lithuanian who was issued with documents in Darmstadt, also in the American Zone, on 5 February 1946. Another digital document is one page of a 3-page list of Lithuanians, nearly all students at the Technical High School. There are 46 of these students, but Vytautas Skidzevičius is not one of those named. This list does not have a date but another, dated 14 July 1947, has him still at the Kranichsteiner Strasse address, still studying, but having been in Brandenburg “during the War”. Another card confirms the Brandenburg presence in May 1945.

There are at least 2 copies of this ID photo of Romas Ragauskas in existence still;
one has written on the back, "Darmstadt, 15.5.47"

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The remainder of the 15 documents are duplicates, one way or another – but it is better to have duplicates than no records at all, which is the case for many of the Displaced Persons we have looked at already.

Interview for Australia

The summary of his interview with the selection team for migration to Australia, on 14 October 1947, shows that he "fled from the Russian regime" rather than being forcibly evacuated. His is one of the cases where the details of his decision to depart, the route he took, any travel companions, have not survived.

The summary recorded that Romas had only 4 years of primary education and 5 years of secondary. The team failed to record his tertiary education. Still, they realised that he had the sort of experience that they could downgrade to potential builder’s labourer.

His knowledge of English was said to be “nil” at the time of his interview. He probably focussed hard on learning the language during the 4 weeks on board the Heintzelman and 5 weeks in the Bonegilla camp.

Romas' early work in Australia

After completing his two-year employment obligation with the State Electrical Commission of Victoria, it was 26 October 1949 in his case. Was else do we know about Romanas? For a start, since the Kiewa Scheme was civil engineering, he may well have stayed on.

However, he probably was offered better pay by the SRWSC at Eildon, in Victoria, where he moved in November 1949. Ann, as a former Victorian, interprets SRWSC as State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.  Here, potable water for the city of Melbourne was a focus, in addition to irrigation and hydro-electricity.

He stayed at Eildon until June 1950. By July 1950, he was living in Melbourne and working as a civil engineer with the Commonwealth’s Department of Works and Housing.

Marriage and family

He married a Lithuanian, Danutė Balnionytė on 17 November 1952, in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral. They lived at 19 Chapel Street, St Kilda, an inner Melbourne suburb. Danutė had arrived in Australia in April 1949. They had one son.

Danutė Balnionytė's ID photo on her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Citizenship

The Melbourne Argus and Age newspapers of 21 November 1952 carried an advertisement from Romanas, as then required by law, announcing that he intended to apply for naturalisation. It said that he had been resident in Australia for 5 years, which was close enough, being only one week short. The National Library of Australia’s Trove digitisation service has not captured the notification in the Commonwealth Gazette that he had received Australian citizenship. The file on his citizenship application still held in the National Archives of Australia shows that he received citizenship on 30 July 1953.

Recognition as an engineer?

We know from the life story of the first former DP in this blog, Estonian Ernst Kesa, that Australia had no registration or recognition of overseas qualifications system for engineers at this time. We also know already that Romas’ occupation from 1950 was civil engineer. In 1954, he and his wife left Melbourne for NSW, where he spent eleven years working in various construction jobs.

Romas was able to work as an engineer on the construction of the Glenbawm and Grahamstown dams, still significant suppliers of water in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. His previous Australian work experience on the Kiewa Scheme, with the SRWSC and the Commonwealth Department of Works all would have helped get additional engineering employment.

In a Newcastle, NSW, meeting of the Australian Lithuanian Community for the area, R. Ragauskas was elected to be the delegate to the Community’s national congress in October 1958. When Danūte received Australian citizenship, on 3 December 1958, her address was given in the Commonwealth Gazette as Glenbawm Dam, via Scone.

Glenbawm Dam

Source: WaterNSW

Return to Melbourne

In 1965, the couple decided to return to Melbourne. Danūte's mother, brother, sister, and many friends and acquaintances lived here. Glenbawm Dam, via Scone, does not sound like an address where there were many like-minded people with whom to socialise. The education of their growing son may have been an issue also.

Romas starts sports administration

In 1970, Jonas Tamošiūnas, who was then the chairman of the Melbourne Lithuanian sports club Varpas, asked Romas to organise a golf competition for the 21st annual Australian Lithuanian sports festival. Until then, there had been no golf competitions at sports festivals. All the golfers gathered at the Albert Park golf course. Most of them were from Geelong at the time, with only a few from Melbourne. Romas was the winner of the golf competition he organised.

Jonas Tamošiūnas approached Romas again as the presidents of all the Lithuanian sporting clubs were starting an Australian Lithuanian Physical Education Union (ALFAS) board. Romas became the first secretary in 1971-1972. He was appointed chairman in 1973. Having been assured that there would not be much work involved, Romas found himself developing statutes for ALFAS and sports festivals and organising the first Australian Lithuanian trip to America.

In 1973, he was elected to the board of the Melbourne sports club Varpas and became its chairman, except for 1975, when he was the club's treasurer, until 1980.

Basketball player

Basketball results published Tėviškės Aidai in during 1975 show that Romas wasn’t just administering sporting groups, he was scoring lots of goals on the court too. Various photographs in Lithuanian-language newspapers show that Romas wasn’t tall, but at 5 feet 9 inches or 170 centimentres, he was not short either. He probably made up in agility on the basketball court what he lacked in height.

Engineers and Architects

In 1974, Engineer R. Ragauskas was elected chairman of the Australian Lithuanian Engineers and Architects Melbourne group. This group had existed for 15 years but had limited its activities to its professional members. A dinner on 21 July was organised to change this, and the majority of the 30 people attending were not professionals. Two members spoke about their work.

Chemist Kestutis Lynikas, who worked in the Reserve Bank's banknote issuance branch, gave an introduction to the production of Australian banknotes. Bronius Vingrys, an engineer with the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), detailed the provision of water to the city. Both talks were well illustrated and two short, colour MMBW films were screened. The evening finished with coffee, cakes and wine, and a committee which hoped not to “return to the darkness of the past”.

Sports administration again

When the Lithuanian Days festival came to Melbourne in December 1976, Romas was the natural choice for sporting events co-ordinator.

The Melbourne Lithuanian Days 1976 organising committee with
Romas Ragauskas in the middle of the back row; also in this photograph,
second from the left in the middle rown, is Karolis Prašmutas' daughter, Birūte

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

In 1981, Viktoras Adomavičius became chairman of the board of Varpas, and Romas again took up the leadership of the ALFAS during 1981-82. In 1984, he was again Varpas chairman and secretary in 1985.

After a break, in 1989-91, Romas again chaired ALFAS. This time, together with the Australian Lithuanian athletes, he participated in the 4th World Lithuanian Sports Festival in Lithuania. For his hard work, he was awarded the titles of honorary member of the Melbourne Lithuanian Sports Club Varpas and a medal of honour from ALFAS.

At a 1996 Geelong sports day, Romas stands in front of a line of other
ALFAS medal of honour recipients

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Later engineering career

Three classified advertisements in the Canberra Times, of September 1985, August 1988 and October 1990, shows that R. Ragauskas then was working for Roche Brothers Pty Ltd of St Kilda Road, Melbourne. In 1985, this company was organising the forecourt finishes for two areas of the now permanent Parliament House in Canberra, so was calling for subcontractors and suppliers interested in participating.

The 1988 advertisement was for subcontractors for work on the Mulwala Explosives Factory in Mulwala, New South Wales. The 1990 advertisement was for another important project near Canberra, a deviation to the Hume Highway south of Goulburn, New South Wales.

In the 1985 advertisement, Romas was named as “Ron Ragauskas”. His may well have been the office job of preparing tenders for these and other construction projects. In October 1990, he was still in the workforce at the age of 66.

There may well have been many of these advertisements in other Australian newspapers but Australian copyright laws mean that the Canberra Times is the only major city newspaper digitised by the National Library’s Trove project for the period from 1955 to 1995.

It has to be noted that Romas also was a frequent contributor to various appeals for financial support, for instance, for the Mūsų Pastogė newspaper.

Later life

He and his wife were still participating in and winning golf tournaments for Australian Lithuanians in 1999. This is the only time we see Dana mentioned in her own right, apart from a literal ‘wife in the kitchen’ comment on another activity. This probably was meant to be a thank you, but does not read well given the tremendous support Danūte must have given Romas over 54 years of marriage.

Romas passed away on the 15 January 2007, 13 days after his 83rd birthday. A notice was published in the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper on 17 January 2007.

Danūte died on 4 June 2016, aged 86, as notified in the Herald Sun of 7 June 2016. That notification names her son as Stan, possibly an Anglicisation of Stasys. He and his wife, Diana, had 4 children, grandchildren for Romas and Danūte.

In 2006, a perpetual trophy competition in basketball in the name of Romas Ragauskas was created. It is between the Melbourne Varpas Lithuanian Sports Club and its Geelong counterpart, the Vytis Lithuanian Sports Club.

CITE THIS AS: Pocius, Daina and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) ‘Romanas-Karolis Ragauskas, Engineer and Sports Administrator’ https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/romanas-karolis-ragauskas-engineer-and-sports-administrator.html.

Sources

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736986 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736986, accessed 11 October 2025.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736987 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736987, accessed 11 October 2025.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736991 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736991, accessed 11 October 2025.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736992 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736992, accessed 11 October 2025.

Alekna, Ignas (1976a) ‘Pranešimas iš Australijos, Mes dar esame gyvi’ (‘Message from Australia, We are still alive’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Žiburiai (Lights of Homeland) Mississauga, Ont, 20 May, p 2 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1976/1976-05-20-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Alekna, Ignas (1976b) 'Australijos Lietuvių Dienos Melbourne' ('Australian Lithuanian Days Melbourne', in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 4 October, p 1  https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1976/1976-10-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 13 October 2025.

AS (1982) ‘Newcastle Kronika’ (‘Newcastle Chronicle’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 13 February, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1982/1982-02-13-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 11 October 2025.

Canberra Times (1985) 'Advertising' 7 September, p 16 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12825394, accessed 13 October 2025.

Canberra Times (1988) 'Advertising' 13 August, p 36 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102043242, accessed 13 October 2025.

Canberra Times (1990) 'Advertising' 13 October, p 32 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122316695, accessed 13 October 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’, Canberra, 7 May, p 1569 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/25980619, accessed 6 October 2025.

Kesminas, A (1990) (No title) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 29 January , p 6, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1990/1990-01-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 October 2025.

‘Liste 2, Nationalitat: Litauen’ (‘List 2, Nationality: Lithuanian’, in German) 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 70305937 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70305937, accessed 11 October 2025.

Liuga, B (1958) ‘Newcastlis, Visuot. Susirinkimas’ (‘Newcastle, General Meeting, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 13 October, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1958/1958-10-13-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 October 2025.

L-tis, A (1977) ‘Pabaltiečių Sporto Šventė,’ (‘Baltic Sports Festival’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 23 May, p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1977/1977-05-23-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Marčiulionytė, Z (1996) 'Sportas, Dėkojame!' ('Sport, Thank You!', in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 1 April, p 6, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-04-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 13 October 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1993) ‘Romanas Ragauskas’ (In Lithuanian) Sydney, 21 June, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1993/1993-06-21-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 October 2025.

My Tributes, 'Death Notice for Ragauskas, Danute' https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/death-notices/ragauskas-danute/3981317/, accessed 11 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A435, Class 4 correspondence files relating to naturalisation, 1944-1950; 1950/4/4124, RAGAUSKAS Romanas Karolis - born 02 January 1924 – Lithuanian, 1950-1953 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6958809, accessed 10 October 2025.

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; 645, RAGAUSKAS Romanas-Karolis DOB 2 January 1924, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005872, accessed 10 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956: RAGAUKAS ROMANAS, RAGAUSKAS, Romanas : Year of Birth - 1924 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 1019, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203913544, accessed 10 October 2025.

'Original collection', 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 70305945 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70305945, accessed 11 October 2025.

PB (1974) ‘Melbourno Inžinierių Veikla’ (‘Melbourne Engineering Activity’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 18 February, p 8, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1974/1974-02-18-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Prašmutas, K (1972) ‘Mes Dar Gyvi Lietuviai’ (‘We Lithuanians are Still Alive’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 4 December, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1972/1972-12-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 10 October 2025.

‘Ragauskas, Romanas’ in War Time Card File (Registration cards, employees’ record books, individual correspondence) A-Z, 2.2 Documents on the Registration of Foreigners and the Employment of Forced Laborers, 1939 - 1945 / 2.2.2 Various Public Administrations and Companies (Documents related to individuals), ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 74421802, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/74421802, accessed 12 October 2025.

Ryerson Index, https://ryersonindex.org/search.php, accessed 6 October 2025.

Stufe II, Liste B' (Level 2, List B), 'Stadtkreis Darmstadt, Gemeinde Darmstadt' ('Urban District Darmstadt, Community Darmstadt)', 'Nationalität Litauen, Blatt 3' ('Nationality Lithuanians, Page 3, in German') 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 70305941 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70305941, accessed 11 October 2025.

Stufe III, Liste 3  ('Level 3, List 3) ‘Litanen (Blatt 3)’ (‘Lithuanians, Page 3’, in German), Excerpts from Files of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Darmstadt, 1.2.2 Prisons, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 12070656 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/12070656, accessed 11 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1973) ‘Melbournas’ (Melbourne, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 22 May (No 19) p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1973/1973-nr19-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1975) ‘Sportas, Melbournas’ (‘Sport, Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 28 October (no 41) https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1975/1975-nr41-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (Lights of Homeland) (1971) ‘Lietuviai Pasaulyje’ (‘Lithuanians in the world’, in Lithuanian) Toronto, Ontario, 4 March, p 4 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1971/1971-03-04-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 10 October 2025.

“Varpas” Committee (2009) ‘Melbourne Lithuanian Sports Club “Varpas” will be hosting the annual Melbourne “Varpas”v Geelong “Vytis” Mini Festival at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre’ Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 7 October, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/2009/2009-10-07-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

W, Alex (2009) ‘Geelongo ‘‘Vytis” ir Melbourne “Varpas” surengė mini krepšinio šventę’ (‘Geelong's ''Vytis'' and Melbourne's ''Varpas'' held a mini basketball celebration’, in English apart from headline) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 4 November, p 5 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2009/2009-11-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Borisas Dainutis (1918-1960): Always prepared, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 15 August 2025.

This is the story of the founder of Lithuanian scouting in Australia. It is a story of commitment and persistence.

Borisas in Lithuania

Borisas Dainutis was born on 11 August 1918 in Vilnius, still the capital of Lithuania until 1920 after Poland seized it. Given the continued fighting from 1918, it was no surprise that the family moved to Panevėžys, in the centre of Lithuania. Borisas grew up and finished high school there.

In 1939, he completed military training. In 1940, he commenced construction studies at the Vytautas the Great University in Kaunas, in the Technical Studies faculty. The German occupation closed the University in 1943 when Lithuanians refused to raise an SS battalion, so Borisas did not complete his studies there. He resumed them in Germany in 1946 but, again, they were interrupted by his departure for Australia.

Germany, Australia and Scouting

His Personal Statement and Declaration completed in Perth the day after his arrival on 28 November 1947 describes his occupation as “building engineer". For the Melbourne Age newspaper, which published a report on his scouting activities on 27 December 1949, he was a civil engineer.

Apparently, he left behind in Germany no documents that the Arolsen Archives could digitise, so we don’t know how he initially was describing his departure from Lithuania. The selection interview report for migration to Australia says simply that he “fled from Russian regime” and reached asylum in September 1944.

He had been a scout from school days and continued while in a displaced persons camp in Hanover, Germany. He was invited to be the head of the scouts in his camp.

Borisas Dainutis in scout uniform

Source:  Australian Lithuanian Archive

He worked in that position for half a year and devoted a lot of time and energy in this role. In 1948, he was awarded a scout medal, the Lelijos Ordinas (Order of the Lily). It is awarded to a scout leader who has shown great merit for at least three years and for being active for at least ten years at any scout level.

Borisas organises Scouts

The Lithuanian Scout Society appointed him as its representative in Australia. While on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman coming to Australia, he organised the scouts on board. Given that there were 45 in addition to him, this would have kept him busy.

And while the Heintzelman was coming to Australia, on 7 November the Minister for Immigration honoured Borisas with a special mention in the press release in which he told Australians about the impending arrivals.

In Australia, Borisas had the difficult task of registering scouts scattered all over Australia and organising them into units. From the Bonegilla migrant camp, he was writing to Australian scout officials to establish how the Lithuanian scouts could operate in Australia as a distinct group.

First two jobs in Australia

Borisas was one of 187 men sent from Bonegilla to pick fruit in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. He left the Bonegilla camp on 29 January. We’ve noted in another blog entry that he did not return to the Bonegilla camp until 5 May, nearly 4 weeks after the last of the other 186. His employer was Messrs Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona.

He had another 5 weeks in the Bonegilla camp in which to continue his scouting organisation until being sent to his next employer. On 16 July he set off on his own to the Dookie Agricultural College in Victoria. It is less than 50 kilometres east of Ardmona, where he had spent 3 months already.

He wasn’t going to be there on his own. Two Lithuanians, Jonas Kildisas and Mecislovas Tutlys had left Bonegilla for Dookie three weeks earlier. The three were to be joined by Vytautas Sakalauskas in early September and Jonas Asmonas three weeks later.

Borisas continued his scouting campaign from Dookie. He would write drafts of his scouting correspondence on Dookie College letterhead and then get someone to correct his English.

Borisas' use of Dookie College letterhead

                Source:  Australian Lithuanian Archive

He would apologise for his errors and not understanding the culture as well as he would have liked. He persevered, writing to Australian scouting officials and even the Chief Scout in Britain to get a Lithuanian branch of scouting in Australia.

First Pan-Pacific Scout Camp, Yarra Brae, Victoria

Algirdas or Algis Liubinskas, left, and Borisas or Boris Dainutis, right

at the First Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree, Yarra Brae, Victoria, 1948-49

Source:  Weekly Times, Melbourne, 5 January 1949

After just over a year in Australia, Borisas organised a Lithuanian scout troop to attend the first Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree on the Yarra Brae property in Wonga Park, Victoria. It commenced on 29 December 1948 and continued for 12 days. The Melbourne Age of 27 December reported that Borisas with 29 other scouts had moved in already on Christmas Day. He would have had his 45 fellow scouts on the Heintzelman as a starting point for this, but all would have had to seek successfully some leave from their employers.

A souvenir of the Yarra Brae camp
                                    Source:  Australian Lithuanian Archive

After the Government contract

After completing his work contract as a medical orderly at the Dookie Agricultural College at the end of September 1949, Borisas settled in Melbourne.

He actually was selected in Germany for employment as an urgently needed builder’s labourer. It’s not clear, therefore, why he finished up working as a medical orderly instead, except that he probably had first aid training from his scouting activities. Also, the Bonegilla cards are notable in not showing any of the selected builder’s labourers actually been sent to work with builders.

He was interviewed by the Good Neighbour magazine in 1950. The magazine reported that “After two years in Australia, 31-year-old Boris Dainutis has seen more of the country than many Australians. In his native Lithuania before the war Boris did his travelling by cycle. He finds Australia much too big for that and has bought a motorcycle. On it he tours Victoria at weekends; he visited Sydney from Melbourne on his holidays and next Christmas hopes to tour Tasmania … Boris worked as a fruit picker and medical orderly under contract. Now he has chosen a job with a dry-cleaning company …”

Lithuanian Scouts in Australia

From 1949 to 1953 he was head of Lithuanian scouts in Australia and, later the head of its press department. He led another Lithuanian troop to the 1955-56 Pan-Pacific Jamboree at Clifford Park in Victoria, and also to the 1958-59 National Camp at Mornington, Victoria.

He attended many other scout camps, assisting at them as an instructor or official. One of these activities made it into the press in March 1949, when the Kyabram Free Press reported that Borisas had been the special guest at a cub camp at the Kyabram Scout Hall. He had led the cubs in a number of games and in play-acting.

Borisas becomes an official Australian

Borisas was one of those keen to become an Australian citizen. The two required advertisements appeared in newspapers in November 19, less than five years after his arrival. He had to wait another 6 months though before he took his oath of allegiance before a magistrate, on 12 May 1953.

Work, Study, Marriage

At the time of his application for naturalization, Borisas was working as an assistant to a surveyor. Both were employed by the Victorian Lands Department.

Given his tertiary education in Lithuania and Germany, it was not surprising that he thought to at least work as a draftsman in Australia. To prepare, he studied surveying and drawing at the Royal Melbourne Technical College (now the RMIT University). He then found work as a draftsman with Victoria’s State Electricity Commission.

In 1952 married Elena Šteinartaitė and purchased a house in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg. A daughter and son were born to the couple.

Illness and Death

As his first decade in Australia ended, Borisas was feeling more and more ill. In hospital it was found that his kidneys were damaged and inoperable. This was in the days before kidney transplantation was available in Australia and when dialysis was still in its infancy.

He was only 41 years old when he died on 29 March 1960 at the Prince Henry Hospital. As his daughter had been born in December 1958 and his son in December 1959, they both were babies still at the time of his death.

He was interred in the Fawkner cemetery, Melbourne. His funeral was attended by Lithuanian scouts, who formed a circle about the grave to sing the traditional evening song, Ateina Naktis.

It is sung at the end of every day at scout camp as a prayer.  The words mean, “The night has come, the sun has set from the hills and forests, from all the land. Sweet dreams, go to sleep, God is here”.

Russian, Ukrainian and Estonian scouts attended too, no doubt grateful for the precedent in ethnic community scouting set by Borisas for Lithuanians. His grave was decorated with many wreaths and several farewell speeches were given by community members and family.

Elena was buried with him 58 years later. Their grave is marked by the Australian version of their names, Boris and Helen.

Australia has gained through the training and discipline still acquired by those involved in the Lithuanian branch of scouting here.

Sources

Age (1948) ‘Canvas Tent City Rises at Wonga Park’ Melbourne, 27 December, p 4 https://www.newspapers.com/image/124518561/ accessed 15 June 2025.

Age (1952) ‘Advertising, Public Notices’ Melbourne, 13 November, p11 https://www.newspapers.com/image/123319339/ accessed 15 June 2025.

Ancestry.com ‘Boris Dainutis in the Victoria, Australia, Marriage Index, 1837-1962’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/61649/records/2214455?tid=&pid=&queryId=8c597349-35d6-48c7-8922-61ee55dda6e4&_phsrc=lkA14&_phstart=successSource accessed 15 June 2025.

Baltutis, V, Poželaitė-Davis, II, Jonavičius J, Mockūnienė B & Pusdešris, P (1983) 'Australijos Lietuvių Metraštis II [Australian Lithuanian Yearbook II (in Lithuanian)]' Adelaide, Australijos Lietuvių Bendruomenė ir Australijos Lietuvių Fondas, pp 325 – 328.

Context Pty Ltd (2005?) ’Yarra Brae, Place No 262’ in Manningham Heritage Study pp 687-9, http://images.heritage.vic.gov.au accessed 14 June 2025.

Good Neighbour (1950) ‘Meet a New Australian’, Canberra, 1 October, p 3 https://www.newspapers.com/image/901721676/ accessed 15 June 2025.

Krausas, A (1960) ‘Vyr. Skaut. Borisas Dainutis’ (‘Chief Scout Borisas Dainutis’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, 29 April, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-04-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 15 June 2025.

Kyabram Free Press and Rodney and Deakin Shire Advocate (1949) ‘Scouts and Cubs' Kyambram,10 March, p 15 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article270432677 accessed 15 Jun 2025.

Popenhagen, Luda (2012) 'Scouting' in 'Australian Lithuanians' Sydney, New South Publishing, pp 251-53

Queensland Times (1948) 'Pan-Pacific Jamboree Great Gathering of Boy Scouts in Victoria', Ipswich, 20 December, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117112254 accessed 15 June 2025.

Sun News-Pictorial (1952) ‘Advertising, Public Notices’ Melbourne, 13 November, p 22 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/279921260 accessed 15 June 2025.

Weekly Times (1949) 'Scouts at Jamboree', Melbourne, 5 January, p30 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224886070 accessed 9 July 2025.

Zalys, B. (1996) ‘Pėdsekys, LSS Australijos rajono 50-meciui artejant’ [‘Footprints, As the LSS Australian District approaches its 50th anniversary’, in Lithuanian] Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, 18 November, p 5 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge /archive/1996/1996-11-18-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 19 Jun 2025.

Jonas Jakaitis (1919-2010), Australian Citizen, by Ann Tündern-Smith and Rasa Ščevinskienė

Jonas Jakaitis was one of the 62 men from the First Transport, General Stuart Heintzelman, sent to Bangham in South Australia to work for the SA Railways.  He became an Australian citizen at the same 1953 Adelaide ceremony as his fellow SAR worker, Hugo Jakobsen.  At the time, they were photographed together for posterity by the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper.  What else do we know about him?

Hugo Jakobsen (left) and Jonas Jakaitis (right) at their 15 April 1953 citizenship ceremony

Source:  Adelaide Advertiser, 16 April 1953

Rasa Ščevinskienėhas found an index to the South Australian Railways (SAR) records which shows that, having started with the others at Bangham on 15 January 1948, Jonas left the SAR on 11 July 1952.  He had been released from his work contract earlier though, on 30 September 1949.

From the Adelaide News newspaper of the day after Jonas obtained Australian citizenship with Hugo, 15 April 1953, we know that Jonas now described his occupation as ‘motor mechanic’. 

Jonas was born in Lithuania on 4 July 1919.  Rasa has discovered a 1942 census of Lithuania online, which tells us that he was the oldest of four children fathered by Juozas Jakaitis.  Jonas and his sister Ona, born in 1924, had a mother who had died when they were young. 

Naturally Juozas looked for another mother for his children and married again, in March 1930.  With Agota, he had two more children, Augustinas, born in 1930, and Marijona, born in 1937.

The family lived in the tiny village of Ziliai, which is 7 kilometers from a much larger settlement of Kiduliai.  Ziliai now is about 11 kilometers from the post-WWII border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, between Lithuanian and Poland.  Jonas always stated that Kiduliai was his birthplace, probably because his mother was more likely to find a midwife or other assistance there.

The census took place in April 1942.  It recorded that Jonas, aged about 23, and Ona, aged about 18, were already in Germany.

However, Jonas’ selection documents for migration to Australia say that he arrived in Germany in June 1944.  While this certainly is earlier than the more usual September-October 1944, it is not 1942.  Perhaps Jonas and Ona had returned to Ziliai when circumstances seemed better, only to decide to leave again.

The selection papers record that Jonas had had the basic 4 years of elementary school and was suitable to be a ‘medium labourer’ in Australia.  His occupation at the time of interview, on 24 September 1947, was ‘motor mechanic’ and he had been working at this occupation for the previous 13 months.  He previously had been a driver in Lithuania for 2 years.

His Lithuanian, of course, and German language skills were regarded as fluent, while his English was marked ‘fair’.

Jonas Jakaitis identity photograph from his selection papers

Source:  NAA:  A11772, JAKAITIS Jonas DOB 4 July 1919

Up to the point of his naturalisation ceremony on 15 April 1953,  a card kept in the Adelaide Office of the Department of Immigration records his changed of employer and residential address.  This was required under the Alien Registration Act 1947.

 

From this record, we can see that his first and last reported employment was with car manufacturer, General Motors Holden (GMH), where he was employed as a labourer.  He worked as a machinist at Pope Products from 19 November 1949 and several smaller companies for nearly 5 years.  He obtained the specialised position of fitter and turner with the South Australian Brush Company, better known as SABCO, from 16 August 1952 but only for two months.  He then moved back to GMH, again with the job title of labourer, but maybe because the pay was better.

 

That 19 November 1949 employment date with Pope Products and the later employment information conflict with the SAR record of Jonas staying in its employment until 11 July 1952.  A human error will have occurred with one of the records.  Of the two, the Department of Immigration record is likely to be the more accurate since Jonas would have had to report each change in address or employer in person.

 

We know little about the rest of Jonas’ life in Australia except that, in 1960, he donated £1 to a collection in support of Adelaide’s Lithuanian House.  The Reserve Bank of Australia says that what £1 would buy in 1960 would cost more than $35 now.  Perhaps we could think of Jonas’ donation as putting forward $50 now.

Jonas left a widow, Adele Milita, when he died on 1 April 2010 aged a remarkable 90 years.  His funeral took place on 12 April.  He is buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Enfield Memorial Park.  

With a previous family name like Adele Milita Gleichforsch, his widow probably was a Baltic German but she also had been born in Lithuania.  Her German background would explain why a card kept by a Lithuanian Catholic priest lists her and the two older children of the family as ‘Eveng’ or Evangelical Lutheran.

The third child was born 8 years after the previous one.  Given that the oldest was born in 1946, when we understand Jonas to have been single, this could well be a melded family, with Adele bringing into it the two older children from a previous marriage.

Adele also lived to a robust age, 92, dying on 5 July 2015.  The Find A Grave Website photograph of Jonas' plaque in the Enfield Park shows a blank besides his name.  The exact place of burial is not recorded.  Adele’s place of burial is recorded as being within the Catholic section, despite her Lutheran faith.  In all probability, Jonas and Adele now rest side by side.

SOURCES

Advertiser (1953) 'Thrilled To Become Australians' Adelaide, 16 April, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48284822 accessed 10 April 2025.

 

[Church card], ‘Jakaitis, Jonas’, held by Australian Lithuanian Archives, Adelaide.

 

Find A Grave, ‘Adelle Milita Gleichforsch Jakaitis’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/202129584/adelle_milita_jakaitis accessed 9 April 2025.

 

Find A Grave, ‘Jonas Jakaitis’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154554810/jonas-jakaitis accessed 9 April 2025.

 

Government of South Australia, State Records (2021) ‘Index, GRS 10638, Record of employment sheets – South Australian Railways’

https://www.archives.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/830188/GRS_10638-index-I-L.pdf  accessed 9 November 2024.

 

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, 1947-47; 93, JAKAITIS Jonas DOB 4 July 1919, 1947-47 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005526 accessed 10 April 2025.

 

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-56; JAKAITIS JONAS, JAKAITIS, Jonas : Year of Birth - 1919 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GENERAL HEINTZELMAN : Number – 493 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203620759 accessed 10 April 2025.

 

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-76; JAKAITIS JONAS, JAKAITIS Jonas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-53

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9187517 accessed 10 April 2025.

 

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4878, Alien registration documents, alphabetical series, 1937-65; JAKAITIS J, JAKAITIS Jonas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-53 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4077737 accessed 10 April 2025.

'Personal file of JAKAITIS, IONAS, born on 4-Jul-1919, born in KIDULIAI', 3.2.1. / 79213085 / ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/79213085 accessed 10 April 2025.

 

Reserve Bank of Australia, ‘Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator’, https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html accessed 9 November 2024.

 

Šeimos Surašymas 1942 Metais (Family Census in 1942) (Search Results for Jakaitis Jonas) https://eu3.ragic.com/genealogija/census/3/13586.xhtml accessed 9 November 2024.

 

The Advertiser (1953) ‘Thrilled to Become Australians’ Adelaide, 16 April, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48284822 accessed 9 November 2024

 

The News (1953) ‘13 Migrants to Become Aussies’ Adelaide, 15 April, p 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134289724 accessed 9 November 2024.