Romualdas Zeronas (1922-1995): Why Tiger? by Rasa Ščevinskienė with Ann Tündern-Smith

When my grandfather, Adomas Ivanauskas, was sent to Iron Knob in South Australia to work for BHP’s predecessor, he did not travel alone. Ten other General Stuart Heintzelman passengers left the Bonegilla camp with him on 15 April 1948. One of them was another Lithuanian, Romualdas Zeronas. 

The Broken Hill Proprietary Company had pegged a claim around Iron Knob in 1897, quite soon after it was founded in the New South Wales town of Broken Hill in 1885. Mining at Iron Knob started in 1900. The iron ore was of such high quality that it is claimed that it led to the start of a steel industry in Australia. Mining ceased in 1998, but another company reopened the mine in 2010.

As for Romualdas Zeronas, he was born on 30 September 1922 in Kaunas, Lithuania, although documents from the Third Reich now in the Arolsen Archives have him born in Russia. His parents were Jonas Zeronas and the former Viktorija Sinkeviciute. He had an older brother Viktoras, born in 1920, two younger sisters, Rita and Danute, and a younger brother, Algimantas.

From Arolsen Archives documents, we can see that Viktorija and Viktoras were living separately from Romualdas in Germany. Romualdas was in Oldenburg in the northwest, while his mother and brother were in Uffenheim in the south. Jonas and the younger children are not in these records. 

From these documents we know also that Romualdas arrived in Germany on 22 April 1945. When he stopped travelling west, he had reached the British Zone. His mother and brother, in Uffenheim, were in the American Zone. They may not have realised that Romualdas was in Germany also and he may not have known where they were.

In March 1946, the Lithuanian language newspaper Ziburiai, published in Germany, had an advertisment placed by Romualdas who was looking for his wife, Genovaite Zeroniene. We have been unable to find a marriage record for them. Nor could Romualdas find Genovaite, it seems, since his Bonegilla card describes his marital status as single.

Romualdas’ mother, Viktorija, and brother, Viktoras, moved together to the United States. Romualdas travelled alone to Australia. Romualdas Zeronas left Bremerhaven for Australia with 842 other Baltic refugees on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman on 30 October 1947, arriving in Australia on 28 November 1947.

One week after arriving in the Bonegilla camp, on 15 December 1947, he started working in camp as a kitchen hand. He was no longer needed in this job after 18 January 1948, probably because so many other former Heintzelman passengers has left the camp for their first employment. 

Romualdas Zeronas’ photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

His first job outside the camp was with HE Pickworth of Ardmona, Victoria, picking fruit in an orchard. He left Bonegilla camp in 28 January with others and worked there until the end of March. These days are described in Endrius Jankus’ memoir at https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2023/01/bonegilla-1947-1948-at-last-off-to-work.html

On 1 April, he returned to the Bonegilla camp to wait for his next work assignment. On 15 April 1948 he and the ten others were sent to Iron Knob. His salary was to be £6.8.00 per week.

He left Iron Knob and on 28 May 1948 arrived at the Department of Works and Housing, Phillips Ponds, Woomera, also in South Australia. He worked here as baker.

I think that Romualdas and my grandfather, Adomas, had become friends. This is because Adomas followed Romualdas to Woomera, arriving ten weeks later on 6 August 1948. I expect that Romualdas told Adomas that the pay was better in Woomera.

Woomera was established as a Department of Defence testing facility in mid-1947. Civilians here earned at least £9.10.00 per week.

A nominal roll of persons employed at Woomera says that he was dismissed from here in 1948. Perhaps this former kitchen hand was not quite the skilled creator of daily bread that his employers had wanted.

After leaving Woomera, Adomas went to Adelaide, South Australia’s capital city, while Romualdas to Woodside, east of Adelaide.

Romualdas started working as cook at the Department of Immigration’s Woodside camp for new arrivals on 7 May 1949. He left this employment on 12 October 1949. Along with most other Heintzelman arrivals, he was released early from his contract to work in Australia for two years on 30 October 1949.

On 19 January 1950, he started work as cook in Leigh Creek, South Australia. This was with a South Australian Government authority, ETSA or the Electricity Trust of South Australia. We know that he moved then to the Northern Territory (NT).

Romualdas was a basketballer. At 5 feet 6 inches, according to his Bonegilla card, he did not have the height, but he must have had agility. On 7 March 1952, the Centralian Advocate newspaper had a report about basketball players and their points scored. Romualdas was third on the list. He also was fifth on the list of best and fairest player votes cast by the umpires.

The Centralian Advocate was published in Alice Springs, a vital town in the middle of Australia but still with a population of only 33,000.

His basketball team was called DCA, which I think stood for Department of Civil Aviation. It is possible that this team was based around DCA employees at the Alice Springs airport. As this was a Commonwealth Government department, the team may well have looked for other players with Commonwealth connections, such as a former cook in defence and migration camps.

The Centralian Advocate also carried reports of a player called Johnnie or Johnny Zeronis with the DCA team. Given that the population of Alice in the 1954 Census was less than 3,000 and would have been smaller still in 1951–53 when Zeronis was playing, this name has to belong to our Romualdas Zeronas – especially as one “Zeronas” spelling is preceded by the name “John”.

At the end of the 1951 season, Johnny Zeronis (or Romualdas Zeronas) had come second on the list of players with the most goals scored (Centralian Advocate,1951a).

After 1953, John, Johnny or Johnnie Zeronis or Zeronas disappeared from the Alice Springs basketball reports, possibly because he had moved again. When he granted a Certificate of Australian citizenship on 13 November 1961, his address was care of Railways, Mataranka, NT. 

Mataranka was a town even smaller than Alice Springs, best described as a village if this word was used in Australia, since its 2021 Census population was a tiny 384. The 1963 electoral roll for the Territory District of Elsey showed Romualdas still living in Mataranka, with the occupation of fettler. This was a labouring job, responsible for keeping the local railway lines in good and safe condition, in “fine fettle”.

After Romualdas left Germany, he most likely did not keep in touch with those members of his family who had left for the United States. His mother, Viktorija Zeroniene, died on 6 April 1972 in Chicago. The Lithuanian-Australian newspaper Mūsų Pastogė printed an advertisement on 20 November 1972 seeking Romualdas in connection with his inheritance after her death.

Romualdas died on 29 December 1995 and was buried in Alice Springs Garden Cemetery (Alice Springs Town Council). Sadly, his name was misspelt even in death, although this time it was his first name which suffered. Somehow he had acquired the nickname of Tiger and presumably was well known for the phrase on his plaque, “How to be like that”.

Romualdas Zeronas’ plaque in the Alice Springs Garden Cemetery, NT

Source:  Find A Grave

Sources

Alice Springs Town Council ‘Resident Info, Cemeteries’, https://alicesprings.nt.gov.au/community/residents-info/cemeteries accessed 15 December 2024.

Ancestry.com ‘Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 for Romualdas Zeronas’ https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1207/images/31242_178942__1963001-00398?treeid=&personid=&rc=&queryId=32c35b6e-3b62-48f8-b358-dcbb55432f98&usePUB=true&_phsrc=oIs566&_phstart=successSource&pId=104357994 accessed 13 December 2024.

Arolsen Archives Search ‘Zeronas’ https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/70252657?s=zeronas&t=567404&p=0 accessed 13 December 2024.

Australian Bureau of Statistics ‘Latest release, Mataranka, 2021 Census All persons QuickStats’ https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL70179 accessed 13 December 2024.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience ‘Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup: Romualdas Zeronas’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203730950 accessed 13 December 2024.

Centralian Advocate, The (1951a) 'Basketball Trophy Winners Announced' Alice Springs, NT, 23 March p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59842057 accessed 12 December 2024.

Centralian Advocate, The (1951b) 'D.C.A. Defeat Eagles', Alice Springs, NT, 16 November, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59836286 accessed 12 December 2024.

Centralian Advocate, The (1951c) 'Dodgers Head Basketball Premiership Table', Alice Springs, NT, 19 January p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59839262 accessed 12 December 2024.

Centralian Advocate, The (1952) 'Basketball Position' Alice Springs, NT, 7 March, p 16 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59835438 accessed 12 December 2024.

Centralian Advocate, The (1953) ‘Basketball: Tigers Take Double’ Alice Springs, NT, 20 March https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65172477 accessed 13 December 2024.

Commonwealth of Australia (1962) ‘Gazette, Certificates of Naturalization’, 1 November, page 3839 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241014568/25993941 accessed 14 December 2024.

FindAGrave ‘Romunaldas (sic) “Tiger” Zeronas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/205989861/romunaldas-zeronas#view-photo=197703157 accessed 13 December 2024.

Iron Knob https://ironknob.org accessed 14 December 2024.

Mūsų Pastogė (1972) ‘Paieškojimas ’ (‘Search’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 20 November p 8 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1972/1972-11-20-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 13 December 2024.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D343, Woodside immigration holding camp nominal index cards, 1947-1962; ZERONAS R, ZERONAS Romuldas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Melbourne per General M B Stewart 30 November 1947, 1949-1949 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=33073091 accessed 14 December 2024.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946 – 1976; ZERONAS ROMAULDAS, 1947 – 1950 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=30039454 accessed 14 December 2024.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Central Office; MT29/1, Employment Service Schedules, 1948-1950; Schedule of displaced persons who left the Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla Victoria for employment in the State of South Australia - [Schedule no SA1 to SA31], 1948-1950 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=23150376 accessed 14 December 2024 [page 49].

National Archives of Australia: Investigation Branch, South Australia; D1918, Investigation case files, single number series with 'S' prefix, 1938-1960; S1493/5/2, Nominal roll of displaced persons at Woomera [Long Range Weapons Establishment, Woomera, SA], 1948-1949 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=856767 accessed 14 December 2024 [page 33].

Naujienos (1972) [Advertising, in Lithuanian] Chicago, Illinois, 24 May, page 4, https://spauda.org/naujienos/archive/1972/1972-05-24-NAUJIENOS.pdf accessed 15 December 2024.

Population Australia, Alice Springs Population 2024, https://www.population.net.au/alice-springs-population/ accessed 15 December 2024.

Wikipedia ‘Electoral Division of Elsey’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_division_of_Elsey accessed 12 December 2024.

Wikipedia ‘Iron Knob’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Knob accessed 15 December 2024.

Ziburiai (1946) ‘Teviskes ziburiai’ (‘Lights of the Homeland’ in Lithuanian) Augsburg, Germany, 16 March, page 10, https://spauda2.org/dp/dpspaudinys_ziburiai/archive/1946-03-16-ZIBURIAI.pdf accessed 15 December 2024.

Helmuts Oskars Upe (1926-2018): Sheet Metal Worker by Ann Tündern-Smith

Helmuts Upe was easier to track down than many other First Transport arrivals because he was married to a cousin of a Dutch-born friend of mine.  We spent a couple of September afternoons in 2003 talking in his Gooseberry Hill home in the Perth hills.  A summary of what he told me then follows.

Helmuts Oskars Upe's photograph from his selection papers for entry to Australia

Source:  NAA, A11772, 313

He was born in Riga, Latvia, on 6 February 1926. When he was only 8 years old, his mother was one of several people drowned in a motorboat accident.  Helmut missed his mother deeply.  “A father is useful but a mother is necessary”, he said.

One winter’s night, the boat in which his mother was travelling hit a snag in the river and passengers were thrown overboard. Helmut’s mother could not swim and would have been wearing heavy clothing because of the weather. The cold water would not have allowed her to survive for long. 

Helmut was a keen reader but used to daydream through mathematics classes. When he reached high-school age, his teachers said that he should give up thought of further education. 

While the Soviet Army was invading Latvia for the first time, in 1940, he was already working behind the counter in a hardware shop. Given his now obvious intelligence, it is difficult to say how he would have earned his income had he been able to stay in Latvia.

Even at the still tender age of 14 in 1940, Helmut was politically aware and an active nationalist. He was a member of a group which resisted both the Soviet invasion and the ensuing German occupation. 

He and fellow younger members would play ball games against a high wall, say that of the local church, while the older resistance members were meeting nearby. They stayed on duty, despite the taunts of other youngsters, because they knew that they had to warn their colleagues if the meeting was likely to be discovered.

Given Helmut’s activism, it is not surprising that the likely return of the Soviet Army in September 1944, when he was already 18 years old, saw him travelling westwards. After he got to Danzig on a German ship, he joined the German Army. 

He was in Austria when World War II ended in May 1945. Arrest by the Americans and nine months as a Prisoner of War in the Bad Kreutznach camp followed.

The conditions here without any shelter were so poor, particularly when it was wet, that thousands died. 

Early on, he had to wear the same boots and socks for two weeks without changing. When he and others were finally able to take their socks off, the soles of their feet came off too. They had to move about on their hands and knees for a couple more weeks until new skin grew and hardened.

He passed himself off as a German to ensure that he did not join other Latvians being forcibly repatriated to the now Soviet Latvia immediately after the War. 

Later on he found out that, in his absence, he had been sentenced by a Soviet court to 10 years of hard labour for his resistance activities. Such a sentence might well have been accompanied by 25 years of exile, if the Estonian experience is any guide.

When he and a friend, Peter, were released from the POW camp, they started a wandering life, knocking on doors to ask for food and work. They found that the Germans were always kind to them, sharing the little food that they had. 

One door belonged to a man who had been a general in the German Army. He looked after them first until their health improved and they could do some work in return.

On his application to migrate to Australia, the wandering life was described as '1 year, farm labourer'.  This was after '2 years, merchant' in Latvia'.

At one of the German homes in Worms, in the Rhineland, they met another Latvian.  She recommended that they try one of the camps which were being set up for Displaced Persons. 

This was the name now being applied to the refugees from communism, who could not be called 'refugees' as the Soviet Union was one of the Allied victors in Germany. Helmut and Peter made their way north to one of these camps.

Life there was better, but boring. There was nothing much for them to do during the day. 

Somehow they seized upon the idea of joining the French Foreign Legion and travelled westward to the French Zone of Occupied Germany. They were recruited and started training. It did not take them long to realise that they had made a big mistake.

On parade, they were being asked to swear an oath of loyalty to France. Helmut asked to be excused to go to the toilet. Given permission, he jumped a fence, headed for the nearby railway station and found a train about to leave. 

Peter was with him. It did not matter where the train was going. This was just as well, since the train took them to Switzerland.

So it was over the border, back to Worms and, finally, back to the camp whose boredom they had escaped for a while. One day, somebody told them that there was a notice in the camp office about Australia recruiting migrants. Put me down, Helmut said casually.

In one of the holding camps before he left for Australia, Helmut saw the Chips Rafferty film, The Overlanders. This gave its viewers the impression that Australia was a vast desert. Wondering what he had let himself in for, Helmut was greatly relieved when the film’s action moved to Brisbane. 

As he had no scars or tattoos, he had no trouble passing the medical examination for Australia as well as the interview. 

He noticed on the General Heintzelman that something had gone wrong with the thorough selection processes as there were at least four passengers who could not speak any of the Baltic languages. One of them was one of the men who was sent back. 

What he did not notice was that there were also 114 women on the ship.

Helmut remembers that the men on the ship had Turkish cigarettes which had become mouldy. As they were the same length as American cigarettes, the men took American cigarettes out of their packets and replaced them with the Turkish cigarettes. They used the packets with the substituted cigarettes to pay for goods traded by Arabs who came out to the ship in the Suez Canal. 

It is hard to say who had the last laugh from this deal, as the men found that the brandy bottles which they pulled up in return were filled with tea.

As the Heintzelman sailed, its officers were suggesting that the men among the passengers should volunteer for jobs for the voyage, as they would get letters of commendation at the end. Helmut did not volunteer, as he believed that letters from the crew of the Heintzelman would carry no weight once they were in Australia.

When the Heintzelman berthed in Perth, Helmut remembers local people throwing small buckets of ice-cream up to the passengers. 

The passage across the Great Australian Bight in the Kanimbla was very rough. Few people turned up in the dining room for meals. 

One of Helmut’s friends returned from a meal to report that the ship was serving mushrooms in white sauce. Helmut quickly developed an appetite which overcame his queasiness. 

At the mess table he found, however, that the “mushrooms” were in fact tripe, which he had never eaten before and has not eaten since.

He does not remember mutton on the Kanimbla but it was on the menu in the Bonegilla Camp. He refused to eat it there, and still cannot eat lamb.

Helmut remembers Bonegilla Camp as a time of dreadful food. For example, the residents received only one slice of bread a day. 

The residents believed that the cooks were stealing the food to sell it. They used to walk to the local shop to buy extra food with the five shillings per week which they were paid.

The attitude of the commandant of the Bonegilla camp was, “If you don’t like the food here, go back to where you came from”.  The Bonegilla and Kanimbla experiences contrasted with the good food on the Heintzelman.

Some of the residents used to slip out of Bonegilla to work for neighbouring farmers. Helmut knew three or four others who did this, for fifteen shillings a day, three times their weekly income at the camp.

Helmuts Oskars 'John' Upe at 21, on his Bonegilla card

Source:  NAA, A2571, UPE HELMUTS

Helmut’s first job outside Bonegilla was fruit-picking at Shepparton. He felt well treated on this job. He was fed by his employer as well as being paid £8 per week.

Once he started working, the Germanic forename Helmuts was changed to John for Australians.

He and around twenty others were sent to Tasmania next, to work for the Goliath Cement factory at Railton, near Devonport. He was paid only £5 each week, from which he had to buy his own food.

Helmuts Upe (l) with Ojars Vinklers (r) captured by a street photographer --
they worked together at Railton, Tasmania, so perhaps this was in nearby
Launceston or Devonport

Source:  Helmuts Upe collection

He left Goliath Cement and Tasmania as soon as his two years’ contract was up.  He moved to Melbourne where he was recruited by the Cyclone company and started in sheet metal work. 

He married another Latvian.  They had one son, a journalist who commenced his professional training with a cadetship in Ballarat.  He is married, with two daughters.

Helmut and his wife ran a milk bar together in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe for a while.  This proved more and more stressful, leading to the break up of Helmut’s first marriage. It was at this point that Helmut moved to Perth, in 1966.

He returned to sheet metal work and was involved in major projects, such as the kitchens of the Parmelia Hotel and various hospitals. 

His childhood indifference to mathematics was replaced by skilled awareness of the need to translate architects’ drawing exactly into three-dimensional stainless steel. He was so good at this that he remained in employment one year beyond the then normal retiring age of 65. 

He even taught himself how to use the company’s new computer for his work. 

One day his boss came to him to tell him that he had to leave because the company’s insurers were refusing to cover him any more.  This refusal on the grounds of age may well be against the law now.

Helmut visited Latvia twice after its second independence, in 1992 and 1995. While life for the residents was obviously still difficult, Helmut felt much more at home there than he had in Australia. 

Indeed, he would have returned to Latvia to live if it were not for his wife and son in Australia. 

He enjoyed an active retirement, looking after his own large garden on the summit of one of the hills surrounding Perth and those of many neighbours.

Death came on 9 September 2018, while in the care of a Perth nursing  home, at the advanced age of 92.

SOURCES

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; 313, UPE Helmuts Oskars DOB 6 February 1926, 1947-1947.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; UPE HELMUTS, Upe, Helmuts: Year of Birth - 1906 [sic]: Nationality - LATVIAN: Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN: Number - 709, 1947-1948.

Upe, Helmuts (2003) Personal communications, 3 and 7 September.

Bonegilla 1947-1948: Boxing Day to New Year's Eve (December 26-31) by Endrius "Andrew" Jankus

This is the fourth part of the recollections of Endrius Jankus, a Lithuanian refugee who arrived in Australia on the First Transport, the General Stuart Heintzelman.  Endrius became known as Andrew in Australia.  He was born in Draverna in the south of Lithuania on 7 July 1929.  He died in Hobart, Tasmania, on 23 July 2014.  He sent the full memoir to me in 2012.

26 December 1947 

The second day of Christmas was stinking hot and the sun was burning down on us. Nevertheless, an Australian basketball team arrived to challenge the Lithuanian team. Naturally, the Lithuanian team won. In the late afternoon, the girls from Albury-Wodonga arrived. Someone introduced to us the game of Lotto. Any one who won got 10 shillings, a fortune to us. After that we danced the night away till midnight when the girls left for home. But saying goodbyes took longer, in fact maybe a whole hour. 

27 December 1947

In the morning, I attended English classes until lunch. At lunchtime, Mr Bauza, his wife and a secretary arrived for a visit. Mr Bauza was the President of the Lithuanian Community in Sydney and had migrated to Australia in 1930.* 

We Lithuanians gathered in the Great Hall to hear him welcome us to Australia and describe life in Australia. We had a thousand questions to which we wanted answers. He obliged with clear answers in our own language that everyone understood. 

That night, at 8 pm, the dance started. For some unknown reason, we had a great influx of girls. There were three buses, one truck and a heap of cars full of girls. Well, it was Saturday night when just about everyone in Australia goes out. Or it could have been that the word had spread about our fantastic dancing ability? With the new army boot issue, when you trod on the girl's toes, it made her jump off the floor. At least dancing gave us time to practise our English. 

28 December 1947

It was very hot. Everyone was walking around like a zombie. We spent the day in the Lake (Lake Hume) to get some relief from the heat. At night, at 8 pm, we had a concert. Many luminaries from the area arrived including all the girls whom we had come to know. 

29 December 1947 

I got up early as I had orderly duties in the mess hall at breakfast, lunch and dinner. At lunchtime, I and many others went swimming in the Lake. In the afternoon, it was payday. Each of us collected our five shillings pocket money. I even managed to attend the English classes as well. 

30 December 1947 

On this day our whole English class had been rostered for duty at various places in the camp. I was assigned to the kitchen to wash up the big roasting pans. That was one hell of a job, trying to clean the burnt parts of the pans with no proper implements. All I was handed was a knife and a wash-up rag. 

The kitchen was dominated by pushy Latvians who claimed to be cooks. We thought of them as a bunch of crawlers with very little cooking experience. 

Some of the Latvian kitchen staff with friends, 
probably photographed after Endrius left Bonegilla —
do you recognise any of them? **

At the beginning of my duties, I was allowed to have a meal of whatever I wanted. I chose a pudding, apples and oranges. 

Friendly relations soon deteriorated as one of the cooks kept telling me that the pans were not clean enough. I asked him to show me how it was done. He declined. 

There was a stack of pans, probably more than twenty. In the end, after one more criticism, I threw the pan at him. I told him to clean the pans himself and walked out. 

Naturally, I was reported to the Camp Commandant for shirking my duties. I was told to report to him through the loudspeaker. I ignored the request for most of the day, going for a swim in the Lake and spending some time there. 

Towards evening, the announcer changed his tactics and asked me to come to the office as there was an urgent matter to discuss. Well, I thought, maybe there is some bad news for me. 

I fronted up to the Office and Major Kershaw jumped at me. After raving on for some time, he tweaked my ear and told me that if I had been in his unit, he would have fixed me, whatever that meant. 

That night a furious storm descended on Bonegilla. The barracks rocked and creaked and most of us thought that they might overturn. I think that it was just to frighten us. 

Talking about the kitchen crew comprising mainly of Latvians, I had previous experience with the Commandant. I was asked to be part of a delegation to him with a complaint when three-quarters of the camp was suffering from diarrhoea. 

The Commandant met us outside his office and went into great detail about "a little fly in Australia" that was the cause of it. One fellow elbowed me in the side and asked me to ask the Commandant if you could get VD from this fly. 

The Major went ballistic. He harangued us for some time about how ungrateful we were for their effort to accommodate us. You would think that they had rescued us from certain death. 

We knew what the problem was. The cooking staff drank plenty of milk that was supposed to be for our breakfast and made up the shortfall by adding water to the remainder. We came away from the confrontation shaking our heads.

31 December 1947 

There were English lessons as usual during the day. At 9 pm there was another dance with the usual crew. Our girls and those from Albury-Wodonga arrived and a great time was had by all. It ended at 2 am. Since I was one of the orderlies I had to help to restore and clean the hall. I got to bed at 4 am.

To be continued.

Footnotes

* For more on Antanas Bauže and his wife, Ona, see various Early Lithuanians in Australia blog entries by Jonas Mockunas at https://earlylithuaniansinaustralia.blogspot.com/search/label/Bauze.  In particular, this blog reproduces some text from another Heintzelman passenger, Kazys Mieldazys, who recorded his memories as First Steps in Australia.  Mieldazys wrote that, 

"A large surprise came from the President of the Australian Lithuanian Society, Antanas Bauze.  He had already greeted us by letter at Fremantle.  [At Bonegilla, late December 1947]  he visited us with Mrs Bauze and Mr Kuodis.  A meeting of all the Lithuanians was called, at which Mr Bauze greeted the newcomers, provided some details about life in Australia, and invited all to become members of the Australian Lithuanian Society.  The invitation was warmly embraced and Mr Bauze left with a list of about 400 new members."  [There were 437 Lithuanians among the 839 First Transport passengers who initiated the Bonegilla migrant camp.]

** Kitchen staff photo:  Standing, 5th from left, standing, is Galina Vasins, later Karciauskas; 8th from left, is Irina Vasins, later Kakis, both cleaners.  Double-click on this photograph to see a larger version.

Bonegilla 1947-1948: The Week to Christmas Day (December 19-25) by Endrius "Andrew" Jankus

This is the third part of the recollections of Endrius Jankus, a Lithuanian refugee who arrived in Australia on the First Transport, the General Stuart Heintzelman.  Endrius became known as Andrew in Australia.  He was born in Draverna in the south of Lithuania on 7 July 1929.  He died in Hobart, Tasmania, on 23 July 2014.  He sent the memoir to me in 2012.

19 December 1947 

All the Lithuanians worked hard today to erect and decorate a welcoming portal for the Archbishop of Melbourne who was to arrive in the late afternoon. Another group erected an altar in the Great Hall. 

During the celebration of Mass, one Lithuanian couple took the vows of marriage from the Archbishop. This was the second Lithuanian marriage at the camp.* 

Source:  The Advocate (Melbourne), 8 January 1948 page 7

One elderly Lithuanian woman was offering her daughter to me as a bride and prodded me to "tie the knot". She used the old Lithuanian saying that “two beggars live better than one", or words to that effect. Or "if you have to beg, two beggars will bring home more than one". Nevertheless, I remained a proud bachelor. 

20 December 1947 

The loudspeaker was working overtime and kept repeating the message. We all were called to assemble at the Great Hall as Dr Crossley had something important to tell us. He spoke to us in German and assumed that everyone understood the German language. 

He talked about our contracts, saying that Parliament had decided to increase our obligation to work under government authority to two years, instead of the one year we had been told in Germany. He tried to explain to us that the one-year contract was meant as no less than one year. 

When this drastic news sank in, there was almost a riot. Most of us felt betrayed even before we started work. There was an angry confrontation, with people shouting Nazi slogans at the Professor. He bounced up and down the stage calling us ungrateful immigrants. 

By that time Dr Crossley was screaming and asking us not to take any notice of our sergeants, inferring that some still had influence over us. There were a few ex-sergeants among us, but they were in the minority and certainly had no influence over anyone. He finally left the stage and retreated to the Commandant’s Office. No doubt, he passed the message on to higher authorities. 

A few days later, we were recalled to assemble in the Great Hall and Dr Crossley informed us of changes. Immigrants from the First Transport would have contractual obligations of 12 months, but immigrants on subsequent transports would have to serve two years. 

Unfortunately, this information was not passed on to all the employment bureaus. This resulted in threats of deportation and or imprisonment. When we left our employment after 12 months, we were all threatened with deportation from some of the Anglo-Saxon bureaucracy. The Communist Party’s inspired hatred of us lasted a lifetime. 

At night we had a dance. All the usual local Albury-Wodonga girls arrived. Some had already made romantic attachments with some of the new arrivals. It was becoming boring and the attendance from the men was dropping off. There were never enough girls to go around.

21 December 1947

Today a basketball competition was organised against an Australian team and a Latvian team. Both got a hiding from the Lithuanian Team, as basketball was a national sport in Lithuania and they were European champions. 

At lunchtime, one of the Australians employed at the camp, who used to accompany the girls moving to work in Canberra, died of a heart attack. 

We had a big contingent of Scouts. There were Air, Naval and Rover Scouts and Girl Guides among the Lithuanians. We had a meeting to organise a traditional Scout gathering for the next night starting at 8 pm. 

The centrepiece was always the bonfire with a performance of funny skits, songs and much merriment. It was just like we used to have back home in the pre-war days. Everyone had a job to do, from performing, to singing, to welcoming guests and seating them. We invited the Boy Scouts and friends from the surrounding area. 

22 December 1947 

In the morning I attended the classes organised for us in familiarisation with our new country and English lessons. 

Later, at 8pm, we had our traditional Scouts’ bonfire. Lots of Scouts from around the Albury-Wodonga area arrived and brought us a present, a case of apples. That was very nice of them. We did enjoy chomping into them later. 

The ceremony by the bonfire was an outstanding success and an eye-opener for our visitors. We selected skits which included miming with no interpreting required so that everyone watching could understand. In between, a choir sang old Scouting songs. The words were different to those our audience knew but the melodies were the same. 

The continuous robust acts impressed all our visitors, our teachers, the Commandant and his retinue and the Scouts. Amongst us we had a few outstanding performers. Two fellows carried in a stick from which hung a dozen bottles with various amounts of water in them. The "Maestro" appeared suddenly with two sticks and played the tune of "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean”. The clapping took a long time before it stopped. 

Our "Maestro" played a few more tunes before he called it quits. Most of the audience didn’t know that less than one month earlier we had put on the same performance for the Scouts of Western Australia on one of their beaches. 

We all had worked hard in one capacity or another late into the night and decided to have a rest day. We slept late and spent the day diving and swimming in the Lake, to get away from the infernal heat. 

Inside the corrugated iron barracks was worse than outside. It was like an oven even at night. Most of us took our blankets outside and bedded down in the long grass. That was a good idea until one chap jumped up with a barbaric scream in the middle of the night, just because a friendly snake had slithered inside his primitive bed for a bit of company. That ended the sleeping in the grass episode. 

One another night as we rested on our wire stretcher beds, having a chat with one another with the doors opened at either end for some air, a snake navigated the three steps into our barrack. She was about to enter our space, when someone threw a boot at her and she beat a hasty retreat. 

24 December 1947 

Christmas Eve used to be celebrated throughout our country and most of Europe. It didn’t seem right that Christmas Eve was boiling hot in Australia. It was very unusual for us and it certainly proved to be at Bonegilla. It was obvious that our new bosses either didn’t know the significance of the day or could care less. It was a big disappointment to us. 

That night, all of us gathered in the big hall. A decorated Christmas tree stood there like an orphan. A few streamers hung down from the rafters in a careless fashion. We each received two slices of bread with butter and jam on it and an orange. To drink, we had orange juice. We sat around the Christmas tree and sang carols like we used to do at home or wherever we found ourselves to be on this Holy Night. 

Someone produced a blessed Eucharistic wafer and broke it up in tiny pieces on a plate to go around 400 Lithuanian Catholics. The plate was passed around and each of us licked the end of the finger and retrieved a tiny piece of wafer to put on our tongues. This bound us in unity to our nationality. 

The Commandant, the professor and the teachers wished us a Merry Christmas. At midnight we left the place for our quarters. 

It was a far cry from our country’s tradition, when everything had to be spick and span. Hay was put on the table and a white tablecloth was put over it. The plates were set out, including plates for the recently departed. A candle was lit on their plates to welcome the departed spirits. 

It was a feast for Jesus, with a twelve-course cuisine. That day, no meat was to be consumed. Although the Church allowed the consumption of meat, the people still carried out the old traditions. 

The eating began when the first star appeared in the sky. On an overcast day, the family elder decided when it was time to eat. The twelve dishes started with a pea gruel, a bean gruel, dumplings made from ground wheat, some traditional Lithuanian dishes, dumplings with cottage cheese, cranberry jelly, apple cakes, little Christmas cakes, marzipan and various nuts. To drink there were various fruit juices. The heavy eating was left for Christmas Day. 

25 December 1947 

On Christmas Day at Bonegilla, it rained cats and dogs as they say. The rain stopped in the evening and some of us went for a walk. The day was a non-event.

To be continued.

*  The woman in the illustration looks very like Irena Naujokatiene and the man like Antanas Jurevicius, a Lithuanian couple who were married at Bonegilla on 22 December 1947 by Fr JC Awburn, according to Jurevicius' Bonegilla card.

Bonegilla 1947-1948: The Next Week (December 12-18) by Endrius "Andrew" Jankus

This post continues the recollections of Endrius Jankus, a Lithuanian refugee who arrived in Australia on the First Transport, the General Stuart Heintzelman.  Endrius became known as Andrew in Australia.  He was born in Draverna in the south of Lithuania on 7 July 1929.  He died in Hobart, Tasmania, on 23 July 2014.  He sent the memoir to me in 2012.

12 December 1947

English Classes were organised by a group of university lecturers and the man in charge was Professor Crossley. The professor was from the University of Sydney. He was a short, dumpy fellow who spoke to us in German. We thought that he was a linguist and assumed that all of us could speak German. Probably about three-quarters could understand German, but not many were fluent.* 

In his late 30's but still playing rugby union with the students:
Dr Ralph Crossley from a photograph of the 1939
New England University College rugby team

Source:  http://aussieobserver.blogspot.com/

I was assigned to Class 3a, an advanced class in English. Our teacher was a Mr Lightfoot from Adelaide University, a very nice person. We had to attend four lessons a day. We were taught some English, but also about the strange monetary system of pounds, shillings and pence. We touched on the basic law of the country, the political structure of Parliament and the complicated measurements of rods, chains, feet and miles. 

The professor, Dr RG Crossley, was from the Department of German at the University of Sydney and was the chief instructor of 22 teachers recruited from NSW and Victoria who volunteered to work during their summer vacation to teach the newcomers English and familiarise them with the Australian way of life. 

The official estimate was that 80 per cent of the migrants could not speak English. I would dispute that figure. Of the 839 in our group, that would amount to more than 150 speaking English. There were very few in the First Transport that could speak English. My guess would be that 95 per cent could not speak the language. Most of them could speak and understand a little German. 

We had dances in the Great Hall. Girls from Albury and Wodonga were brought in to complement our somewhat moody girls. Some started quick romances with them. Some came back later after completing their contracts and married them. 

One fellow showing off his swimming capabilities drowned in front of his girlfriend. He was our first casualty in Australia. We buried him with the respect that we always applied to our departed.** 

One barbel latched on to me, but I steered her promptly towards another fellow.***  I wasn’t interested in getting 'chained' just yet. The slogan at that time was Populate or Perish. When we asked the local girls to help with the 'population' part, pointing out that it will be good for the country, the reply was that it might have been good for the country but that it wasn’t too good for them. How unpatriotic! 

15 December 1947 

A heap of journalists and photographers descended on us. They took our photos at the Lake, swimming and diving. Those photos appeared the next day in the newspapers. I didn't see it, but someone told me about it. I was watching a movie in the Hall when a camera was pushed in front of me and I was filmed watching it. Later, a journalist 'corralled' me for an interview.

It's OlgerTs Bergmanis playing with Gunars Berzzarins but
at least this is a photograph of some men for a change:
it's likely to be one of the photographs taken on 15 December 1947

Source:  Sydney Morning Herald via Trove

Camp life went on as usual. I didn’t hear it, but someone informed me and my friends that at 2 am Radio Moscow read out all the names of the people who had arrived in Australia. No doubt the KGB was still interested in the people who got away from them. 

17 December 1947 

I was ordered to offside on the camp’s truck. We drove to the railway station at Albury to pick up clothing and bring it back to the Camp. The second trip we made was to Wodonga to pick up food for the camp. 

At 6 pm we received a surprise visit from the Immigration Minister, Mr Calwell, as we had organised an exhibition of cultural relics from the three Baltic countries. He was impressed. 

At 7.30 pm we had a concert in the Hall. A lot of guests arrived as well. All this was filmed and taped. After the concert, Mr Calwell thanked us for our efforts and appeared to be very pleased. The next morning as we were standing at the clothing store, he waved goodbye to us as he left the Camp. 

Estonians Valter Kongats (left), Tiiu Jalak (later Salasoo, centre) and
Vally Meschin (later Johanson, right) perform one of their folk dances,
Raksi Jaak or Crackerjack, at the concert put together for the visit of
the Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell****

Source:  Collection of Tiiu Salasoo

18 December 1947 

At the clothing store, I was issued with a sports jacket, trousers, army boots, army shirt and two pairs of army socks. Outside the clothing store we had to line up to receive our new outfits. We were called alphabetically according to our surnames. 

The back of Endrius' 'Bonegilla card' confirms the clothing issue;
a later diary entry records that the 2 pairs of pyjamas, hat and
set of braces to hold up the trousers were issued on 23 January —
they were all Army surplus, left over from the end of WWII

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The clothing store was next to the Camp Commandant’s office. In the line there was banter going on in our own language. 

One tall fellow with a booming voice replied to the banter quite often. That must have infuriated our Camp Commandant, Major Kershaw. He came flying out of his office, marched up to the 'booming voice' and punched him in the face saying, 'I am the Commandant'. 

We were astonished that the receiver of the punishment punched him back with the words, 'and I am an emigrant'. The Commandant retreated to his office speechless, and most of us just clapped and shouted 'Bravo'. Not because he had hit the Commandant, but for his ability in the English Language. 

A Scout Master from Albury arrived after lunch to inspect the Scouts and have a word to us. 

That night I was invited by the Albury girls to a dance in their town. About thirty of us went in the Camp’s truck. We saw the same girls who visited us, but a few new ones had joined them. I met a girl called Nancy. She was a good looking Amazon and friendly girl. She even gave me her address. 

The supper was fantastic. We were urged to eat up all the different cakes and biscuits. The problem was that they were too sweet for us. We were not used to so many sweet things, but enjoyed drinking the tea.

To be continued.

Footnotes

* Ralph George Crossley was the Senior Lecturer in German and head of the subject at the University of Sydney, but not a Professor.  Most of the 22 other teachers were his students who had just completed their third year of university studies.

** I have told the story of Aleksandras Vasiliauskas earlier in this blog, at  https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2021/04/aleksandras-vasiliauskas-short-and-sad.html.

*** A barbel is a type of fish found in British fresh waters.  I don't know for which word or words Endrius might have been searching here.  Bar girl?

**** There are videos of Raksi Jaak on the Web.  Since the photograph shows 3 dancers only, I've linked it to a video of the dance performed by a trio.  It seems that, the more dancers you have, the more energetic and athletic it can be.  Watch more energetic versions here and here.