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

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

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

Source:  Private collection

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

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

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

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

How Helmut Assimilated

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

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

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

His Marriage

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

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

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

Helmut's photograph from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

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

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

Helmuth Plays Australian Football

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Helmuth Becomes an Australian Officially

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

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

Helmuth's Residence and Occupations

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

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

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

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

Helmuth's Children

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

Helmuth Becomes a  Public Servant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Deaths

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

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

The plaque for Betty Nurmsalu in the Sunbury Cemetery

Source:  Robby in Find a Grave

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

Susan the Star Designer

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

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

Source:  Sydney Morning Herald

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOOTNOTE

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

SOURCES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 610, NURMSALU Helmuth DOB 10 February 1927, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005841, accessed 26 May 2026.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:  Private collection

The Thornton Photograph

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

Edvardas' Youth

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

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

Source:  National Archives of Australia

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

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

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

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

Edvardas is Forced into Germany

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

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

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

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

Off to Australia and to Thornton

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

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

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

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

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

Edvardas Marries

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

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

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

Irene Lapinskas' photograph from her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

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

Edvardas Becomes an Official Australian

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

Edvardas' Death

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

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

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

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

Irene Dies

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

Irene’s ashes now rest with those of Edvardas.

SOURCES

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

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

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

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

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

Births Deaths Marriages Victoria ‘Search your family history’ https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/search-your-family-history, accessed 19 May 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection ‘Edvards LAPINSKAS’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203623575, accessed 20 May 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection ‘Irene A Ozolins’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203720313, accessed 20 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 19 February, p 647 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240997718/25979702, accessed 19 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 9 April, p 1219 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240998361, accessed 19 May 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Edvardas Lapinskas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244566373/edvardas-lapinskas, accessed 20 May 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Irene Austra Lapinskas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244566374/irene-austra-lapinskas, accessed 20 May 2026.

Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) (1949) ‘Aukos Mūsų Pastogėi‘ (‘Donations to Mūsų pastogė', in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 16 February, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1949/1949-02-16-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 20 May 2026.

Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) (1954) ‘Soc. Glog. Mot. Komiteto Melbourne pravestos rinkliavos metu, vokietijoje pasilikusiems tautiečiams sušelpti, aukojo’ (’During a Collection by the Social Welfare Committee in Melbourne, Donations Were Made to Help Compatriots Still in Germany, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 17 March, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259360041, accessed 20 May 2026.

My Tributes ‘Death Notice for Lapinskas, Irene’ [Herald Sun, 13 September 2000] https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/tributes/notice/death-notices/lapinskas-irene/3728212/, accessed 20 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A435, Class 4 correspondence files relating to naturalisation, 1944-1950; 1949/4/5567, LAPINSKAS Edvardas – Lithuanian, 1949-1949.

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; 170, LAPINSKAS Eduardas DOB 27 June 1914, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005591, accessed 19 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; LAPINSKAS EDVARDS, LAPINSKAS, Edvards : Year of Birth - 1914 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 567, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203623575, accessed 20 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; OZOLINS IRENE A, OZOLINS, Irene A : Year of Birth - 1923 : Nationality - LATVIAN : Travelled per - CASTEL BIANCO IV : Number - 223954, 1950-1951, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203720313, accessed 20 May 2026.

Wikipedia ‘Celle’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celle, accessed 19 May 2026.

Bernardas Matkevičius (1922-1992) A Labourer's Life, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Bernardas first job in Australia

We’ve met Bernadas Matkevičius already. He was a workmate of Juozas Nakas, when both were employed by CJ Webb, Row & Anderson at Thornton, in northeast Victoria’s timber country. He was the truck driver in the June 1948 photograph below.

Aged 24 when selected for Australia and 5 feet 11 inches tall, that’s 180 centimetres, he would have had the physique for which the selection team were looking. We can’t tell you anything more about his selection at this time, as his papers are yet to be digitised.

While they were still working at Thornton, Bernardas, Juozas Nakas and a third Lithuanian in the photograph below, Edvardas Lapinskas, subscribed to the fledgling Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Lithuanian-Australian newspaper by sending £3 each. That may well have been a large slice of their savings. It was appreciated by the newspaper, which thanked them publicly in its 16 February 1949 edition.

Bernardas is in the cab with fellow workers Lithuanian Edvardas Lapinskas on the left, an Estonian, probably Helmut Nurmsalu in the middle and Lithuanian Juozas Nakas on the right:
the message on the back of this photo printed on postcard paper was dated 19 June 1948
and sent from Thornton, Victoria, where the group worked

Source:  Private collection

Later employment and residence

There is no citizenship file on the National Archives of Australia’s RecordSearch Web service and no digitised announcement in the Commonwealth Gazette of Bernardas becoming an Australian citizen. He clearly did, though, as he is on electoral rolls from 1963 to 1980. (Later rolls have yet to be digitised.)

The digitised rolls enable us to see where Bernardas lived and his stated occupation. In 1963, he was a rubber worker who lived on Bayswater Road, Wantirna, in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs. By 1968, he was living on nearby Orchard Road in Bayswater and had become a labourer.

Bernardas' photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

In 1977, he had moved again, to the suburb of Heathmont but was still a labourer. In 1980, he was still at the Heathmont address and a labourer.

We can see that Bernardas was already a rubber worker in 1957 and, probably, 1956 from a Victoria Government Gazette. The issue for 9 January 1957 contains a notice from Dunlop Rubber which includes Bernardas in a list of people for whom the company held unclaimed money. This may have been because of a pay rise where the retrospective amount was not included in his pay packet, or some other problem with his pay. The amount was only 7 shillings and 11 pence, but probably could have bought him several beers after work.

At the time, he was recorded as living in the inner, then industrial suburb of Port Melbourne, likely to have been close to his place of work.

Bernardas' early life

Also in 1957, in October, Mūsų Pastogė published a notice for him, saying that it had news for him from S. Daugėliškis. Senasis Daugėliškis was his birthplace, a village in the Ignalina district, Utena County in Lithuania.

Bernardas was a Christmas present to his parents, Anupras Matkevičius and the former Izabelė Peciulevičiūtė, as he arrived on 24 December 1922. This happiness was followed by sadness though, as Izabelė died only 19 months after his birth, on 24 July 1924. She was aged 39.

She had already born two older sons, Edmundas around 1913 and Jonas around 1917. He also had 3 half-sisters. We have this information because someone has been interested enough in him and his family to include their details on a family history Website, geni.com.

Bernardas' death

Bernardas was only 69 when he died at Heathmont on 15 October 1992. Unfortunately, whoever gave his name to officialdom misspelled it as Beranardas Markevicius. That also is how is burial in the Yan Yean Cemetery on 22 October is recorded.

At least the Melbourne Lithuanian-language newspaper, Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland), knew the correct spelling of his name when it carried a report of his death and burial in its 27 October 1992 issue.

Bernardas’ death certificate shows that he died from heart disease, and that he also was known as Ben Markevicius. Maybe he had noted that Australians found Markevicius easier to say than Matkevicius. But the death certificate also contains the incorrect Beranardas spelling of his forename.

Not surprisingly, given the low income occupations since his arrival in Australia, Bernardas’ final occupation was given as pensioner.

His grave is unmarked still. Presumably his estate was not large enough to cover the costs of a grave marker. Also, he may have died intestate, that is, without a will. We think this was the case since an online search for a possible will held by the Public Records Office of Victoria did not produce any results under either the proper spelling of his name or the misspelling.

Bernardas' burial site is in the middle of this photograph

Source:  Geoff F on Find A Grave

His grave might be a pauper’s grave.

SOURCES

Ancestry.com, ‘All Census & Voter Lists results for Bernardas Matkevicius’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/?name=Bernardas_Matkevicius&location=5027&priority=australian, accessed 26 March 2026.

Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria [search for Beranardas Markevicius’ (sic) death] https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/69a880855cdccbdd88c2952f/results?q=efamily, accessed 26 March 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Bernardas Matkevicius’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203611495, accessed 26 March 2026.

Electronic Archive Information System, ‘Švenčionių dekanato gimimo metrikų knyga’ (Svencionys Deanery Birth Register, in Lithuanian) [Bernardas’ birth is recorded in the Senasis Daugėliškis church 1922 register, on page 66 as number 187] https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext/view/267143226, accessed 26 March 2026.

Find a grave, ‘Beranardas Markevicius, Yan Yean Cemetery’) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231620463/beranardas-markevicius?_gl=1*w6jern*_gcl_au*ODk2ODA1MDgxLjE3Njg0MTYwMDM.*_ga*MTU0MjMxMjQ3Mi4xNzM3Mzk2NDY1*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czAzMTNiOWM0LTA0NjEtNGFhZi05NzkxLTU1MDM1ZGRjMzY0NSRvMjYkZzEkdDE3NzI2NTA0NjQkajU5JGwwJGgw*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czAzMTNiOWM0LTA0NjEtNGFhZi05NzkxLTU1MDM1ZGRjMzY0NSRvMjYkZzEkdDE3NzI2NTA0NjQkajU5JGwwJGgw, accessed 26 March 2026.

Geni.com ‘Bernardas Matkevičius’ https://www.geni.com/people/Bernardas-Matkevi%C4%8Dius/6000000070489407928?through=6000000070492006821, accessed 26 March 2026

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1949) ‘Aukos Mūsų Pastogei’ (‘Donations to Musu Pastoge’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 16 February, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1949/1949-02-16-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1957) ( ‘Pajieškojimai‘ (‘Searches‘, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 14 October, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1957/1957-10-14-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

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; 482, MATKEVICIUS Bernardas DOB 24 December 1922, 1947-1947.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MATKEVICIUS BERNARDAS, MATKEVICIUS, Bernardas : Year of Birth - 1922 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 857, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203611495, accessed 26 March 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1992) ‘Iš mūsų parapijų, Melbournas‘ (‘From Our Parishes, Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 27 October, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1992/1992-nr42-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

Victoria Government Gazette (1957) ‘Dunlop Rubber Australia Limited, Register of unclaimed money held by Dulop (sic) Rubber Australia Limited, 108 Flinders-street, Melbourne’ Melbourne, Vic, 9 January, p 117 https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/vic_gazette/1957/22.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

Vikipedija, ‘Senasis Daugėliškis’ in Lithuanian, https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senasis_Daug%C4%97li%C5%A1kis, accessed 24 March 2026.

My family's memories of Juozas Nakas (1923–1975) by Diana Bučiūtė

Diana Bučiūtė, who lives in Lithuania, is a niece of Juozas Nakas. 

Juozas Nakas was born on 17 March 1923, on a Lithuanian farm, as the second of 5 children. This farm was next to the Tapiališkis village in the district of Zarasai. In 1930, the family moved to the village of Velniakalnis, close to the town of Rokiškis. Juozas spent the rest of his time in Lithuania there.

Juozas Nakas (right rear) with his family, 1937-38

Source:  Private collection

In Rokiškis he attended school and later worked as a manager of the Lietūkis shop, Lietūkis being the Lithuanian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives.

In 1940, Lithuania was occupied for one year by Soviet forces. They were repelled in June 1941 by the forces of Nazi Germany. According to memories of Juozas’ elder brother, Osvaldas, in 1943, “The Germans wanted some military help and Lithuanian politicians probably considered that a Lithuanian military unit would be useful for reestablishing Lithuanian independence. So, our famous Plechavičius made a deal with the Germans to draft Lithuanians who could be used only within Lithuanian borders. About 12,000 men volunteered.

"The Germans broke the agreement and started to round up the men for paramilitary work in Germany and other places. When news of round up spread, the majority of men escaped. The Germans caught only around 3000, but they including my brother”.

Juozas' sister Birute is 95 years old and still lives in Lithuania. She remembers that she went to see her brother when he was imprisoned in the Rokiškis primary school building. Juozas came to the window, and she spoke with him from outside. It was the last time when she saw her brother.

Juozas Nakas in Lithuania, 1940

Source:  Private collection

In 1944, war swept Juozas’ brother, Osvaldas, to Germany. According to his memories, he was trying to find out where Juozas might be, so on 3 February 1945 he went to Berlin, to the Lithuanian information centre (Central Stelle) on Friedrich Strasse, but he found no address for his brother. “And then a Fliegeralarm [air raid siren] sounded, so everybody on the streets started to run to hiding places ... I went to my U-bahn [subway] station. Later I found out that this was the biggest bombing of Berlin, with a thousand planes participating”.

Like other refugees, Osvaldas lived in Displaced Persons (DP) camp.  He had the job of camp leader. “A big part of the job was to screen and accept new applicants for living in our camp. One new applicant, when he came in, asked me whether I had a brother named Juozas (Joseph). 

"He told me that Juozas was hospitalised in Norway with a fracture of spine.  The accident happened when soldiers were transported from Norway to Germany and cargo fell on him when he pretended to be brave and did not move from a dangerous area.  I had not known where my brother was for about 2 years since he had been taken away by the Germans as a member of General Plechavičius' army. 

"Now I had a chance to get in touch with my brother, but no mail was allowed to other countries. So I asked Major B for help.  He sent my letter to a Consul in Norway, asking him to locate my brother. I received my brother’s address, in a hospital. My brother had registered as a civilian. 

"Soon all foreign or German refugees were transported to Germany, including my brother when his fractures had healed. The rule was that you could claim your relative if you could support him.  So I wrote a statement that said I am Juozas' brother and, as a camp leader, I can guarantee his support. I needed to travel to to the city of Kiel to pick him up. It was a great reunion.”

Juozas in Germany, 1945

Source:  Private collection

As Osvaldas wrote in his letter to his sister Birutė from Düsseldorf, dated 12 June 1947, he corresponded with Juozas from January 1946, and in the [northern] summer of 1946 they met at last and settled together.

Osvaldas (left) with Juozas in Germany

Source:  Private collection

Osvaldas was accepted into the Academy of Medicine in Düsseldorf. In letters written in 1947 to his sisters he mentioned that he visited Juozas in the city of Stade.

In his memoir he wrote, “My brother was quite restless in the DP camp and he signed up for emigration to Australia, England and Canada, but Australia was the first one to accept him, so he emigrated to Australia before I graduated. He used to send me some money from Australia.”

Osvaldas graduated in 1948 with a MD [Doctor of Medicine] degree, and emmigrated to the US in 1949.

Juozas Nakas arrived to Australia on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, on 28 November 1947, aged 25.  After a few days' stopover in Perth, Western Australia, he travelled with the other 838 DPs accepted for resettlement to eastern Australia on an Australian navy ship, the Kanimbla.  On 8 December, the group arrived at the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre in northern Victoria, where they lived until a decision was made on where they would work under the contract they had signed in return for resettlement.

Juozas was one of 12 men selected to work for a timber company, CJ Row Webb & Anderson, leaving Bonegilla on 14 January 1948.  The company was headquartered in the suburb of South Melbourne, but its forestry operations were in central Victoria.  Even today, the road trip between Bonegilla and Thornton takes more than two and a half hours.  There is no other means of travel between these two small places. 

Juozas (right) with CJ Row, Webb & Anderson colleagues at Thornton in 1948;
Lithuanians Edvardas Lapinskas at left and Bernard Matkevičius in the truck cabin look on,
while the man in the white shirt is an Estonian, probably Helmut Nurmsalu

Source:  Private collection

Back then you could have your photograph printed onto the other side of
preprinted postcard paper, which Juozas has done in this instance,
although it looks like the message to Osvaldas was sent inside an envelope

Source:  Private collection

On 4 May 1955 in Melbourne, Juozas married Alice Patricia Pierce, of Irish origin. He wrote to his brother that he was happy to have a hardworking, serious, honest wife and that they had bought a house in Richmond, Victoria. He became an Australian citizen on 26 January 1964, Australia Day.

Juozas (left) with Alice and a friend, Melbourne

Source: Private collection

For more than ten years, Osvaldas in USA, as well as his parents and two remaining sisters in Lithuania had no news about Juozas. In 1974, Osvaldas met a woman from Australia in Chicago who had known Juozas earlier. She promised to try to find him. This woman found Juozas, called him and gave him Osvaldas' address. So Osvaldas at last received a letter from Juozas and informed his sisters, “He writes that he is well, he still works at the port, he has his own house, already fully paid for, he has four children” (letter to Birute, 16 December 1974).

Osvaldas let Juozas know that their parents had passed away. On Christmas Eve in 1974 he called Juozas, and they had their first conversation in 27 years.

Juozas in Melbourne, a photograph sent to Osvaldas in 1974

Source:  Private collection

Osvaldas and his sisters were very happy at last to have news from their brother but he was already ill and passed away in Melbourne on 21 January 1975, aged only 52. He was buried in Springvale Cemetery.

Juozas' name has been added to the Welcome Walls of migrants who came by sea through Fremantle, at the West Australian Maritime Museum which is located there

Source:  Private collection

OTHER SOURCES with Rasa Ščevinskienė

‘Bonegilla migrant experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, Juozas Nakas’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203717189 accessed 17 March 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia (1964) ‘Gazette’, Canberra, 7 May, p 1675 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241032399/25999342 accessed 17 March 2025.

Find A Grave, ‘Joseph Nakas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231347053/joseph-nakas accessed 17 March 2025.

Find A Grave, 'Alice Patricia Nakas‘ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231347052/alice-patricia-nakas accessed 17 March 2025.

Government of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum Welcome Walls, 'NAKAS, Juozas (Joseph), Fremantle Panel 132‘ https://museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls/names/nakas-juozas-joseph accessed 17 March 2025.

‘Nakas, Juozas, AEF DP Record’ [‘American Expeditionary Forces Displaced Persons Record’] 3.1.1.1 / 68379412 / ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68379412 accessed 17 March 2025.

‘Nakas, Osvaldas, Refugee/Displaced Person Statistical Card’ 3.1.1.1 / 68379417 / ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/68379417 accessed 17 March 2025.

Wikipedia, Povilas Plechavičius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Povilas_Plechavi%C4%8Dius accessed 26 March 2025.