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?
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| 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’.
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| Jonas Jakaitis identity photograph from his selection papers |
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.
