Bolius (Balys) (1924-2011) and Vytautas (Vytas) (1926-1993) Kunčiūnas: Lithuanian brothers or half-brothers? By Rasa Ščevinskiene and Ann Tündern-Smith

Same father, different mothers?

Bolius and Vytautas Kunčiūnas have one record each in the Arolsen Archives.  It shows them as having the same father, Stasys Kunčiūnas and coming from the same place, Raseiniai in Lithuania.  This could either have been a small town with a population of 5270 in the 1923 Census, nearly half of whom were Jewish, or the larger county, part of Samogitia.

The difference is that Bolius’ mother is recorded as Konstancija Bendikaite while Vytas’ mother is said to be Konstancija Šilaikaite.  The two American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) DP Registration Records were signed off with the same signature on the same date (13.10.45) and at the same place, Assembly Center No. 24.

Is it possible that there is a spelling mistake with one of the mother’s surnames?  Rasa says yes, it is possible.  Ann says that the same official filling out both forms on the day, in the same place, makes it unlikely.

Also unlikely is that two successive wives might be called Konstancija, but Ann suggests that this might be one of the reasons why Stays Kunčiūnas , if a widower with a baby son, might have started talking with the second Konstancija.  By the way, there are no online records of a Konstancija Kunčiūnas dying or being buried.

Both young men are recorded as Roman Catholic on the General Stuart Heintzelman passenger list, so there was no possibility of Stasys and Konstancija Bendikaite divorcing in the 1920s, between the birth of Bolius, on 24 April 1924, and Vytas, on 12 September 1926.  Should they have separated, the baby Bolius surely would gone with his mother, so what then were the chances of the two reaching Germany together or both applying for and being selected for the same ship to Australia?

Vytautas Kunčiūnas in Australia

Someone made sure that Vytas travelled under a false name though, because he became Vytas Kuniciunas on the Heintzelman passenger list and in subsequent documents on arrival in Australia.

Vytautas Kunciunas photograph from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

When he left the Bonegilla camp for the Pyramid Hill Quarries on 7 January 1948, the same hand which wrote his destination in flowing script also wrote “unknown” in the space for his next of kin.  Whoever typed out Bolius’ Bonegilla card has recorded “brother, Vitas Kunciunas” in that next of kin space.  Ann notes that “brother” is still shorthand when the accurate relationship is “half-brother” (and also in the case of step-brother).

The person completing Vytas’ card probably had forgotten to ask him.

The evening befoore Vytas’ departure from Bonegilla for Pyramid Hill on 7 January 1948 was memorable enough for Jonas Urbonas to record it in his diary for 6 January.  The entry was republished in the Mūsų Pastogė edition of 5 August 1996, in preparation for the 50th anniversary of Lithuanian scouting in Australia.  The translation of Jonas’ entry reads as follow:

“Tomorrow the first swallow will fly away from us into an unknown future.  It is Brother Kunčiūnas.  By the burning bonfire we say goodbye to him and the other brothers who are preparing to leave this emigrant camp.  Brother Kunčiūnas' words, full of deep sincerity, touch the heart of every Scout.  He remembers the last moments spent in the Homeland, the separation from his parents, and the tears rolling down his cheeks did not allow him to finish his farewell speech.

“Then we all parted ways and left the gardens of the homeland, hoping to return to the homeland again before the storms of war hit.  We are tightly bound by our mutual promises, although the weapons of war do not ring and we are not pursued by the occupiers and our goals have already changed, but we are united by common ideas, we dare to meet in camps and at conventions.  Although the vast distances and various obstacles separate us, we press on, wishing our brother Vytas good luck and a joint flight to the Pacific Jamboree.  After the traditional words are said, we leave the campfire."

Vytautas While in Germany

As for other members of the family, an April 1946 notice in the post-War, Lithuanian language newspaper, Žiburiai (Lights), had Vytas looking for his sister, Aldona Kunčiūnaitė, and brothers Jonas and Algirdas Kunčiūnas.

Vytas was living at 6a Altenberg Strasse, Borghorst, Wesphalia. Vytas added Münster to this address, but this bombed city was close to uninhabitable at the time. Perhaps he was trying to give readers a better idea of where he was than using only the name of the much smaller Borghorst, which also offered support to DPs.

The address also shows that Vytas had found private accommodation rather than living in a DP camp.

Bolius in Germany

A mid-1947 issue of another Lithuanian-language newspaper, Lietuvių žodis (Lithuanian Word) reported on a basketball competition organised by the Reppner YMCA.  B Kunčiunas played on the winning team.  As Repner is some 200 Km from Münster, it is unlikely that Bolius was travelling that distance in the conditions of post-War Germany to play basketball.

It is worth noting that Camp 24, where both Bolius and Vytas were registered in 1945, was a Repner camp for Baltic refugees.  It looks like Vytas moved out of the camp and to Borghorst for whatever reason.

On the other hand, it looks like the brothers were communicating with each other in order for both to be interviewed for the first refugee ship to Australia.  And Vytas wasn’t looking for Bolius as well in that Žiburiai notice because he knew where Bolius was.

Bolius Kunčiūnas in Australia

While Vytas was one of the 7 sent to the Pyramid Hill granite quarry, Bolius was one of 2 sent to the sawmill at Togganoggera in New South Wales.  We recently posted what we know of the other man sent to Togganoggera, Mečys Laurinavičius.   Mečys moved to the NSW capital city, Sydney, but Bolius moved instead to Victoria’s capital, Melbourne – perhaps because his brother headed there when his time at Pyramid Hill was over.

Bolius Kunciunas from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Bolius’ occupation on the AEF DP Registration Recorded was stated to be student. Student of what, you may well ask.  It looks like architecture, because that is where he finished up in Australia.

Presumably he continued his studies when possible while he worked in jobs as relevant as possible.  We draw this conclusion from Bolius being added to the Register of Architects in Victoria in 1964, his 17th year in Australia.  This length of time suggests that he may have had something of a struggle to obtain his registration, as did a fellow architect from the First Transport, Ernst Kesa.  Kesa, however, had qualified as an architect in Europe and was able to work in the field before registration because his qualification also encompassed engineering.

Moving as far away from Melbourne as Darwin in order to do related work shows how keen Bolius was.  We know about his time in Darwin from social notes, Diana’s Diary, in a Darwin newspaper, the Northern Standard.  In March 1953, “Diana” recorded Bolius Kunciunas among the staff of the Drawing Office of the Department of Works who met at a Darwin hotel to farewell one of their number leaving on a holiday.

The online Dictionary of Unsung Architects, in its entry on D Graeme Lumsden, mentions Bolius Kunciunas as an architect “known to have passed through the office over the years“.  Since we cannot find Bolius’ work as an architect mentioned anywhere else on the Web, we could say that there was even less singing about it than about Graeme Lumsden’s work.  Lumsden was based in Melbourne, so Bolius must have left Darwin.

Bolius, also known as Balys to Lithuanians and Bill to Australians, was in Melbourne in 1955.  We know this because that is when he married another Lithuanian, Gražina Natalija, whose family name formerly was Bitė.  He was living in the Melbourne suburb of North Coburg when he became an Australian citizen on 2 May 1957.   Gražina had to wait one month more for citizenship, until 11 June 1957.

Bolius’ electoral roll records from 1963 to 1980 have been digitised by Ancestry.  On 8 March 1963, he and Gražina still were living in North Coburg but, by 19 April, they had moved to from their inner city home to the outer suburb of Nunawading.  On both occasions, his stated occupation was draftsman.  This continued into the 1980 entry, despite his registration as a qualified architect in 1964.

What is different about the 1980 entry is that it includes two more members of the Kunciunas family, male and female, both students but clearly having reached the age of 18. This means that Bolius and Gražina had their two children 18 years before the unrecorded date on which the 1980 roll was made up, that is, in 1958 or earlier.

The Melbourne Immigration Museum has a public artwork that pays tribute to 7000 people who have made the journey to Victoria.  Located in the northern garden of the Museum, its original artwork was designed by a Melbourne-based artist, Evangelos Sakaris, and launched in 1998.  Gina Batsakis led the design for the following stages of the project, which concluded in 2002.  Immigrants were invited to immortalise their own and family names there on payment of $100 for each name.  Bolius and Gražina (nee Bitė) Kunčiūnas and family were among the names so immortalised.

Morta Prasmutiene, widow of First Transporter Karolis Prašmutas, centre,
in the Immigration Museum's Tribute Garden

Source:  Birutė Prašmutaitė in Mūsų Pastogė

Bolius died on 19 September 2011, aged 87, and was cremated in Springvale Botanical Cemetery.  When Gražina died on 1 June 2019, she was cremated there too.  The Cemeteries Trust notes that, in both instances, the cremated remains were collected. They would have no memorial gravestones.

Vytas in Melbourne

Vytas may well have settled in Melbourne before his older brother.  For instance, he married there 2 years before Bolius, in 1953.  His bride was the former Ina Irena Špokevičiūtė.

He and Ina already had become such a part of Melbourne’s Lithuanian community that their marriage was reported in the Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) national, Lithuanian-language newspaper, on 2 September 1953.  Rasa’s translation of the correspondent’s report follows.

“A few weeks ago, the local Lithuanian community was expanded by another Lithuanian family, created by two regular local Lithuanian folk dancers and members of the Aidas choir, Vytautas Kunčiūnas and Ina Špokevičiūtė.

“V. Kunčiūnas has been diligently representing the Lithuanian name in Australia since his performances on the first transport ship.  In addition to folk dances and Lithuanian songs, he is also hardworking in the scout organisation.

“The young Kunčiūnas couple settled in the beautiful Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe, in their own brick house, which they purchased with the joint efforts of the young woman's mother and two brothers.  Good luck to the young couple in continuing to represent the Lithuanian name.”

Vytautas and Ina were naturalised together on 23 January 1958.

Vytas’ and Ina’s electoral roll entries record that they were still at the Ivanhoe address in 1958, when he had “nil” occupation but Ina was working as a nurse.  By 1968 he was living without Ina in Armadale, a suburb about 12 Km south of Ivanhoe, and working as a draftsman.  He most likely got the idea for that career from his brother, Bolius.

The next electoral roll entry, for 1968, has him at the same Armadale address, still working as a draftsman, but this time sharing his flat with Genovaite Kunciunas.  The details for their 1972 entry are the same, while no later rolls for Vytas and wife have been digitised with indexing.   While we have the marriage details for Vytas and Ina, his marriage to Genovaite was too recent for the details to be public yet.

The next news we have of Vytautas is not good.  Tėviškės Aidai reported on 20 July 1993 that he was seriously ill, being treated in the intensive care unit of the Alfred Hospital.  He received Sacraments of the Sick on 11 July.

Vytautas had died before the news of his illness was published.  He passed on 12 July, aged only 66.  The 27 July issue of Tėviškės Aidai reported that the Rosary was said at the Tobin Chapel in Malvern.  The funeral Mass was celebrated by priest Pranas Dauknys at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, West Melbourne, the Lithuanian community’s church, on 15 July.  Vytautas was buried in the Cheltenham Cemetery.  His wife Genovaitė, family and relatives were said to have remained in deep sorrow.

Vytautas and Ina probably had been able to divorce under Australian law, much more liberal than that of Lithuania in the 1920s.  The Ryerson Index records that Ina Kunciunas, still using her married name, died when living at Safety Beach, on the Mornington Peninsula south of the main Melbourne conurbation.   As Ryerson is recording a probate notice published on 2 November 2005 in the Melbourne Age, we don’t know her date of death but can assume that it was earlier in 2005.

Vytautas had moved from the brick home in Ivanhoe and the flat in Armadale to the inner south of Melbourne, the suburb of Elsternwick, before his death.

Vytautas and Bolius Both Scouts

Mūsų Pastogė noted above that Vytas had been “hardworking in the scout organisation”. In fact, both brothers were scouts.  A history of Lithuanian scouting in Australia was published in November 1996 in Mūsų Pastogė, in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of its foundation on the First Transport sailing to Australia.  It reported that the 46 boy scouts and 7 girl scouts on board were divided into 6 troops, with both Balys and Vytas in Troop 3.

Bolius was able to participate in the historic first gathering of Lithuanian scouts at the first Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree on the Yarra Brae property in Wonga Park, Victoria, organised by Borisas Dainutis.  He was recorded there in a photograph of some attending published by Tėviškės Aidai in its preparation for the celebration of 50 years of Australian Lithuanian scouting.

Tėviškės Aidai published this photograph from the First Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree 47 years later, with a caption which reads, translated, "Lithuanian Scout camp at the Pan-Pacific Jamboree near Melbourne, 23.1.49.  From left: Gabrielius Žemkalnis, Vytautas Neverauskas, Viktoras Kučinskas, Benediktas Kaminskas, an Australian priest in a scout uniform, the Bishop of Melbourne,
Dr. J. Simonds; behind the Bishop from the left, Balys Kunčiūnas, behind the Bishop from the right in the back, unidentified, next to the Bishop with a smile, Borisas Dainutis, and at the back right, unidentified.  Next year, 1997, will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the
Lithuanian Scout Union in Australia.

Source:  Tėviškės Aidai 

We do not know if Vytas was able to attend also, as promised by Jonas Urbonas in January 1948.  The Melbourne Age of 27 December reported that Borisas with 29 other scouts had moved in already on Christmas Day.  Vytas may have been among the 22 not included in the photograph above.

SOURCES

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

'AEF DP Registration Record' [Bolius KUNCIUNAS], Folder DP2214, names from KUNCAR, Jan to KÜHNE, Horst (1), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from KR /, DocID: 67916900 (Bolius KUNCIÚNAS), https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67916900, accessed 29 March 2026.

'AEF DP Registration Record' [Vytautas KUNCIUNAS], Folder DP2214, names from KUNCAR, Jan to KÜHNE, Horst (1), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from KR /, DocID: 67916901 (Vytautas KUNCIUNAS) https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67916901, accessed 29 March 2026.

Ancestry.com ‘All Census & Voter Lists results for Bolius Kunciunas’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/?name=Bolius_Kunciunas+&birth=_victoria-australia_30099&location=5027&priority=australian, accessed 6 April 2026.

Ancestry.com ‘All Census & Voter Lists results for Vytautas Kunciunas’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/?name=Vytautas_Kunciunas+&birth=_victoria-australia_30099&location=5027&priority=australian, accessed 6 April 2026.

Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria [1953 marriage of Vytautas Stasys Kunciunas and Ina Irena nee Spokevicius] https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/69c720acba4add19229d3dfe/results?q=efamily, viewed 28 March 2026.

Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria [1955 marriage of Balys Kunciunas and Grazina Natalija nee Bite] https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/69c720acba4add19229d3dfe/results?q=efamily, viewed 28 March 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup ‘Bolius Kunciunas’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203635508, accessed 28 March 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup ‘Vytas Kuniciunas’ (sic) https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203635549, accessed 28 March 2026.

Built Heritage Pty Ltd, ‘Dictionary of Unsung Architects, D Graeme Lumsden (1915-1995)’ https://www.builtheritage.com.au/dua_lumsden.html, accessed 28 March 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1957) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ [Bolius Kunciunas], Canberra, ACT, 3 October, page 2976 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232986663/25082694, viewed 28 March 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ [Grazina Kunciunas], Canberra, ACT, 8 May, p 1438, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240891979/25976026, viewed 28 March 2026.

Immigration Museum, ‘Tribute Garden’ https://museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whats-on/tribute-garden/, accessed 28 March 2026.

Lietuvių žodis (Lithuanian Word) (1947) ‘Sportas’ (‘Sport’, in Lithuanian) Detmold, Germany, 31 July, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/dp/dpspaudinys_lietuviu_zodis/archive/1947-07-31-LIETUVIU-ZODIS.pdf, accessed 28 March 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1953) ‘Nauja šeima‘ (‘New Family’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 2 September, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259363045, accessed 6 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1996) ‘Pėdsekys: LSS Australijos rajono 50-mečiui artėjant‘ (‘Footprint: As the 50th anniversary of the LSS Australian District approaches’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 18 November, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-11-18-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 April 2026.

My Tributes, ‘Funeral Notice for Kunciunas, Bolius’ [Publication: Herald Sun; Date Listed: 22/9/2011] https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/funeral-notices/kunciunas-bolius/3385212/, accessed 6 April 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; KUNCIUNAS BOLIUS, KUNCIUNAS, Bolius : Year of Birth - 1924 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 557, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203635508, accessed 6 April 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; KUNICIUNAS (sic) VYTAS, KUNICIUNAS (sic), Vytas : Year of Birth - 1926 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 556, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203635549, accessed 6 April 2026.

Northern Standard (1953) 'Diana's Diary' Darwin, NT, 12 March, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49484566, viewed 28 March 2026.

Prašmutaitė, Birute (2001) ‘Melbourne Imigracijos Muziejus’ (Melbourne Immigration Museum’ in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 29 January, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2001/2001-01-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 28 March 2026.

Ryerson [Ina Kunciunas] https://ryersonindex.org/search.php, accessed 6 April 2026.

Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, ‘Bolius Kunciunas, Springvale Botanical Cemetery’ https://www.smct.org.au/deceased-search/detail?id=f4310462-509a-ef11-8a6a-6045bdc2c606, accessed 6 April 2026.

Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, ‘Grazina Natalija Kunciunas, Springvale Botanical Cemetery’ https://www.smct.org.au/deceased-search/detail?id=156f3df1-559a-ef11-8a6a-002248957765, accessed 6 April 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1993) 'Iš mūsų parapijų, Melbournas' ('From our Parishes, Melbourne', in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 20 July, p 7 http://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1993/1993-07-20-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 8 April 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1993) 'Iš mūsų parapijų, Melbournas' ('From our Parishes, Melbourne', in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 20 July, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1993/1993-07-27-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 8 April 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1996) ‘Rajono Vadija (‘District Governor’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 6 August, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1996/1996-nr30-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 29 March 2026.

Victoria, Government Gazette (1965) ‘Architects Act, The Architects Registration Board of Victoria, Additions To The Register Made During the Year Ended 31st December, 1964’ [1896, Kunciunas, Bolius] Melbourne, Vic, 3 March, p 468 https://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1965/V/general/14.pdf, accessed 6 April 2026.

Žiburiai (Lights) (1946) ‘Paieškojimai’ (‘Searches’, in Lithuanian), Augsburg, Germany, 27 April, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/dp/dpspaudinys_ziburiai/archive/1946-04-27-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 6 April 2026.

The Kildišas Brothers, Jonas and Adolfas, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

The Kildišas family came from Joniškis, a town and a surrounding municipality of the same name in northern Lithuania. Of the four children in the family, two came to Australia, a married older brother with a 2-year-old child went to America with his family in 1949 and a sister stayed with her parents in Lithuania.

Jonas Kildišas

Jonas died too early, aged only 42, and 2 months after becoming an Australia citizen

Born on 11 August 1921 in Joniškis, he attended a trade school in Klaipėda.  According to the report of his selection interview for resettlement in Australia, this was after 6 years of primary school.  He was at the trade school for 4 years, learning to be a motor mechanic.  He also had worked as a farmer for 3 years, possibly after his arrival in Germany in May 1942.

At the time of his application for resettlement, he had been working as a mechanic and living at the 82 DPAC Voerde.  DPAC stands for Displaced Persons Assembly Centre — a DP camp — and Voerde was a town on the Rhine River, so in the far west of central Germany.   

Jonas Kildišas photo from his selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The languages in which he said he was fluent were Lithuanian and Polish, although he must have picked up some German and English since leaving Lithuania.

From the Bonegilla camp, he was one the many men sent to Victoria’s Goulburn Valley to pick fruit. In his case, he was working for Messrs Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona.  He was one of those who gave up early, returning to Bonegilla on 23 February after little more than 3 weeks away.

He probably was unwell, because he spent the period from 27 February to 5 March 1948 in the Albury District Hospital.

Jonas Kildišas from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

With another Lithuanian, Mecislovas Tutlys, he was sent to Dookie Agricultural College, near the Goulbourn Valley, on 24 June.  His Bonegilla card does not record that he was working in the Bonegilla camp from early March until then but, presumably, he was not left to his own devices after weekday English language classes.

At Dookie, they were joined by Borisas Dainutis in mid-July.   We’ve already described how hard Borisas worked to set up Lithuanian scouting in Australia.  Vytautas Sakalauskas arrived in early September and a fifth Lithuanian man, Jonas Asmonas, came three weeks later.

Jonas later worked in an electric motor workshop, married Eleonora Grabytė and settled in Melbourne.

One morning after breakfast, he thought about going for a walk, but while pulling on his jacket, he felt faint. His wife called the doctor, who diagnosed a heart attack and immediately sent him to the hospital. The attack passed, and he feel quite well. After a couple of weeks, one morning it got worse, and Jonas called a priest. Another attack had started.

Jonas died of heart disease in Prince Henry’s Hospital on 26 June 1964. He is buried in in Fawkner Cemetery.

He left his wife Eleonora and a 4-year-old son, Victor. Victor completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in metallurgy at the University of Melbourne in 1980. Now retired, he describes himself as a “self-taught, high-level, improvisatory pianist and chess player”. He is an internationally known chess player with a FIDE ranking.

Adolfas Kildišas

Adolfas was born nearly 3 years after Jonas, on 8 June 1924.  The report of his selection interview for resettlement in Australia says that he had 6 years of primary school and one and a half years in a trade school, training to be a mechanic.  That training may well have been interrupted by the Russian invasion in June 1940.

The period of time in which he had worked as a motor mechanic was 4 years, so either included some time in Nazi Germany or perhaps back home, in Lithuania.  He also had worked on a farm in Germany for 8 months.  

The application form gave Lithuanian as the only language in which he was fluent, although he must have picked up some German and English after his arrival in Germany in July 1944.

Like his brother, Jonas, Adolfas  was living at the 82 DPAC Voerde,  a Displaced Persons camp in a town on the Rhine in western Germany.   Clearly, they had been able to track each other down.

From the Bonegilla camp, he was sent to work for the South Australian Salt Company, at 191A Victoria Square West, Adelaide, along with 8 others, in January 1948.

Adolfas Kildišas from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Since South Australia has a number of places where salt has been mined historically, including places where salt production continues, we do not know where this group of 9 worked.

A likely place is Deep Creek, on the edge of suburban Adelaide, only 12 Km north of Victoria Square. Another possibility is that he was one of a party of an intended 10 about which the Adelaide Advertiser wrote on 10 January 1948. If they came by train to Adelaide, they would have to take another train back to Murray Bridge, where they were due at the nearby Mulgundawa salt works.

His Adelaide Alien Registration card has Langhorne Creek written on the back without any further information. Langhorne Creek is about 60 Km southeast of Adelaide, near Lake Alexandrina, and is best known now as the third largest wine producing region in South Australia. It is also near the Mulgundawa salt works.

However, the company working at Mulgundawa usually traded under the name of Mulgundawa Salt or Australian Saltworks, not South Australian Salt Company.

Adolfas later worked in the remote outback town of Woomera in South Australia.

He was released from his contract with the Australian Government, along with most of the others from the First Transport, on 30 September 1949.

The Alien Registration card records that he left for Melbourne in mid-1950, residing there for many years. He was a generous donor to the Melbourne Lithuanian Catholic Parish.  We don't know his occupation there but have to hope that it was something he enjoyed, perhaps work as a mechanic.

Later he returned to Adelaide where he passed away on 21 July 2021, aged 97, meaning that he lived for 55 years longer than his brother. His remains were cremated at Centennial Park Crematorium.

Four Lithuanians from the First Transport living in South Australia attended the commemoration of 70 years since the Heintzelman arrived at Adelaide's Lithuanian House on 28 November 2017
L to R:  Aleksas Saulius, Algis Pranckunas, Adolfas Kildišas and Juozas Donela

Photographer:  Daina Pocius

SOURCES

Advertiser (1948) ‘First Party Of Balts Here’ Adelaide, 10 January, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43751686, accessed 19 January 2026.

Australian Salt Works, ‘Operations’ https://www.australiansaltworks.com.au/operations-development, accessed 19 January 2026.

Centennial Park Memorial Search, ‘Kildisas’ https://centennialpark.org/memorial-search/?firstname=&surname=Kildisas, accessed 18 January 2026.

‘Correspondence and nominal roles, done at Bremen-Grohn: transport by ship (USS GENERAL MUIR); transit countries and final destinations: USA’ DocID: 81660950, 3.1.3 Emigrations, ITS/Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/81660950, accessed 18 January 2026.

International Chess Federation 'Victor Kildisas' https://ratings.fide.com/profile/3203352/statistics, accessed 19 January 2026.

Linked In 'Victor Kildisas' https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-kildisas-85013a149/?originalSubdomain=au, accessed 19 January 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; 475, KILDISAS [KILDISIS] Adolfas DOB 8 June 1924, 1947-1947; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005735, accessed 18 January 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; KILDISAS Jonas DOB 11 August 1921, 1947-1947; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005736, accessed 18 January 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1948-1976; KILDISAS Adolfas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-1950; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9183330, accessed 18 January 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2572, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; KILDISIS (sic) ADOLFAS, KILDISIS, Adolfas : Year of Birth - 1924 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 851, 1947-1948; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203625915, accessed 18 January 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2572, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; KILDISAS JONAS, KILDISAS, Jonas : Year of Birth - 1921 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 852, 1947-1948; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203625914, accessed 18 January 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of the Homeland) (1964) ‘A†A Jonas Kildišas’ (‘In Memoriam, Jonas Kildisas’ in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 30 June, p 4, https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1964/1964-nr25-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 18 January 2026.

Wikipedia 'Voerde' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voerde, accessed 19 January 2026.

Rapolas Braškus (1921-1960), an early death, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 25 January 2026.

Kidney Disease

Rapolas Braskus was one of the First Transport refugees who died early, in his case from kidney disease rather than an accident. He was only 38 when he died, although wrongly described as 39 on his Rookwood gravestone, which also has misnamed him, but which at least has the correct date of death.

Nowadays, someone like him would be a priority candidate for a kidney transplant and would live a much longer life after his illness was cured. Another Lithuanian from the First Transport who died less than one month earlier than him from kidney disease was Borisas Dainutis, the founder of Lithuanian scouting in Australia. Kidney transplantation in Australia was only in its infancy when these two men were lost.

Rapolas Braškus, photograph from Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

First employment in Australia

Rapolas was chosen at the Bonegilla camp by the Commonwealth Employment Service to be sent to the Styx River Sawmill operated by Ebor Sawmills Pty Ltd. Even the name of the River should have been a warning. A separate blog entry will look at the company and its sawmills in more detail.

Donation

In late 1952, perhaps at Christmas, or early 1953, Rapolas donated 6 shillings to the Australian Lithuanian Community Fund, as acknowledged by Mūsų Pastogė on 14 January 1953. Converted to modern decimal currency, 60 cents does not buy much anymore, but it was likely to have been more than 5 per cent of Rapolas’ weekly income in 1952-53.

Citizenship

At the time he was granted Australian citizenship in 1959, Rapolas, then finding it easier to be known by Australians as Ray, was living in Sydney. He gave his address as 129 Stanmore Street in Strathfield. That exact address does not exist any more, but his home may have been the 1880s two-storey terrace house at 129 Stanmore Road, Stanmore.

Family

He had been born in the village of Gailiušiai, near the city of Molėtai, on 5 September 1921, to Juozapas Braškus and Zofija née Paulavičiūtė. He died on 22 April 1960, as per his headstone photographed below.

His parents now are buried together in the Molėtai old cemetery. If their headstone is accurate (unlike their son’s in Rookwood), they had a daughter also – Antanina.

Rapolas has the wrong first name on this headstone in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery,
and has been granted an extra year of life, but at least the headstone had the correct date of death

Source:  Find A Grave by Family Tree Finder

Burial

Rapolas was buried in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery at the expense of the Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society. He had arranged to leave the entirety of his probably small estate to this organisation, having no relatives in what was then known as the Free World.

His funeral was attended by the women who had cared for him in his last illness, from Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society, other compatriots and former colleagues from the Braeside Hospital, Stanmore, and Newcastle Hospital. The service was conducted by Sydney’s Lithuanian priest, Father Petras Butkus.

CITE THIS AS: Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/09/rapolas-braskus-1921-1960-early-death.html

SOURCES

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup ‘Rapolas Braskus’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203683762, accessed 27 September 2025.

Cemety, ‘Zofija Braškienė’ https://cemety.lt/public/deceaseds/391194?type=deceased, accessed 27 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 18 June, p 2150 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240999254, accessed 27 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Molėtų RKB gimimo metrikų knyga‘ (‘Molėtai Roman Catholic Church birth registry book, in Lithuanian ) (1921, 152, pages 466, 467, record 152, Rapolas Braškus) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext/view/267697864, accessed 27 September 2025.

Find a Grave, ‘Raymond S Braskus’, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148907306/raymond-s-braskus, accessed 27 September 2025.

Musu Pastoge (Our Haven) (1953) ‘Tautos fondo atstovybės pranešimas’ (‘Announcement from the National Foundation Representative Office’, in Lithuanian) Sydney,14 January, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259359667, accessed 27 September 2025.

Musu Pastoge (Our Haven) (1960) ‘Apleido Pačioje Jaunystėje (Abandoned in his Own Youth, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 29 April, p 6 http://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-04-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 27 September 2025.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1960)‘Mirė Rapolas Braškus‘ (‘Rapolas Braškus Died’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 11 May, p 6 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1960/1960-05-11-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 27 September 2025. Borisas Dainutis

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

Updated 15 August 2025.

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

Borisas in Lithuania

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

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

Germany, Australia and Scouting

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

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

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

Borisas Dainutis in scout uniform

Source:  Australian Lithuanian Archive

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

Borisas organises Scouts

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

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

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

First two jobs in Australia

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

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

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

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

Borisas' use of Dookie College letterhead

                Source:  Australian Lithuanian Archive

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

First Pan-Pacific Scout Camp, Yarra Brae, Victoria

Algirdas or Algis Liubinskas, left, and Borisas or Boris Dainutis, right,
at the First Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree, Yarra Brae, Victoria, 1948-49

Source:  Weekly Times, Melbourne, 5 January 1949

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

A souvenir of the Yarra Brae camp

                                    Source:  Australian Lithuanian Archive

After the Government contract

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

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

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

Lithuanian Scouts in Australia

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

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

Borisas becomes an official Australian

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

Work, Study, Marriage

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

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

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

Illness and Death

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Picking pears for Australia, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 15 August 2025.

One quarter of male Baltic refugees from the First Transport were employed as fruit pickers in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley between January and March 1948.  The Commonwealth Employment Service’s District Office had arranged for them to assist in the fruit harvesting subject to certain conditions, including that they be employed in batches of at least five and that satisfactory board and accommodation had to be provided by the growers.  

 

The Goulburn Valley had only a small quantity of available labour which would have been totally inadequate to harvest the crop.  This would lead to the loss of thousands of pounds worth of fruit.  Most of the refugees, whose average age was 24 years, were employed in the Ardmona area for the harvesting of fresh fruit, canning fruit, and dried fruits.

 

Apricot picking had started early in January, before the Baltic refugees were made available.  The pear picking season was expected to start on 20 January.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday, 28-29 January 1948, 193 Baltic migrants arrived in Shepparton by special buses from the Bonegilla Migrant Camp.  The 193 number is that given by the Shepparton Advertiser newspaper on 30 January: it’s more optimistic than the 187 we found by examining all the “Bonegilla cards” for the Heintzelman group. 

The red dot in the west (right) of this Google map marks Ardmona; the Bonegilla Migrant Experience in the east (left) of this map has been developed from the former Bonegilla migrant camp: the modern trip from Bonegilla to Shepparton takes a little more than two hours so the remaining two and a quarter hours is the trip from Shepparton to Ardmona;
Click on the map for a larger version on another page

Source: Map data © Google

 

The Advertiser journalist wrote that the Goulburn Valley fruit growers were almost unanimous in agreeing that the new workers from the Displaced Persons camps were an “excellent type” and they were “well satisfied with the selection”. The refugees were to be distributed among 30 orchards in the Shepparton and Ardmona district.  Maybe plans had changed since destinations for the fruit pickers were recorded at Bonegilla, since they show only 16 employers.

 

The journalist advised that, at the end of the season, the new workers would be free to accept employment as permanent orchard hands if they so desired.  Wishful thinking!

 

The 16 orchards involved were those of :

 

Anton Lenne of Ardmona,  

 

AW & JF Fairley of Shepparton,

 

Bruce Simson of Ardmona,

 

Dundas Simson Pty Ltd, Ardmona,

 

E Fairley of Shepparton,

 

HE Pickworth of Ardmona,

 

H Hick of Grahamvale,

 

I Pyke of Ardmona,

 

J Nethersole & Sons of Ardmona,

 

JT Goe of Orrvale, 

 

RT Clements of Toolamba,

 

SF Cornish of Ardmona, 

 

TE Young of Ardmona,

 

Turnbull Bros of Ardmona,

 

VR McNab of Ardmona, and

 

W Young of Kelvin Orchards, Ardmona.

 

As for the minimum group size, the Advertiser mentions 3 and that was the number that the Bonegilla cards show going to JT Goe.  They were one Latvian and two Lithuanians, who we have to hope were already great friends.  At least they had German as a common language.

Picking pears,  possibly on the Grahamvale property of Mr H Hick

Source: Arvids Lejins collection

It seems that not all orchard owners were fair to the new workers.  According to the Communist Party’s Tribune newspaper, some were kept in isolated groups and were working a 48-hour week for the same pay as Australians receive for a 40-hour week.  Some of the Balts had thrown in their jobs and returned to Bonegilla early.  

 

Povilas Laurinavičius, who we met in the last blog entry, returned to Bonegilla after 2 weeks only with Anton Lenne of Ardmona.  We don’t know why he returned.  It could have been the hours expected to be worked 6 days a week.  Maybe the outdoor conditions in February heat did not suit him, give that he was 40 years old already.  If that was the reason, it wasn’t taken into account when he was sent a few days later to the Iron Knob mine in South Australia.  Antanas Jurevicius returned from Anton Lenne on the same day.  According to Antanas' Bonegilla card, he had been married in the camp on 22 December, so he probably was keen to get back to his new bride.

Anton Lenne: photograph provided by Marg Spowart to the
Lost Mooroopna Facebook page

Source: Facebook   

Eleven had returned already before these two, the first 6 on 11 February, so after 12 days only at the most working in their new industry.  Five had been working for J Nethersole and Sons, Ardmona, and one for Mrs I Pyke.

Fruit pickers' lunch break, possibly on the Grahamvale property of Mr H Hick
Source: Arvids Lejins collection

A small number of the fruit pickers could not cope with their new-found freedom.  Jonas Razvidauskas appeared before the Shepparton Court on 16 February charged with assault, after he had attacked 3 policemen in the Shepparton Police Station and broken the glasses of one.  He was yet another First Transport man who had had too much to drink, having bought a bottle of wine and consumed it all, after which he could not remember anything.

 

He was said to have torn his own clothes to shreds and to be appearing in clothes borrowed from another prisoner.  He was fined £2 on each of the assault charges and ordered to pay £2 to replace the broken glasses.  This was a total of £8, likely to be more than he was earning each week.  He was one of the employees of Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona, and was one of those sent on to Goliath Portland Cement in Railton, Tasmania afterwards.

 

The Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial newspaper reported an outline only of Razvidauskas’ behaviour in the Police Station but the local newspaper, the Shepparton Advertiser, went into considerable front page detail about the aggression and damage.  

 

It reported also that 2 more of the men appeared before the Court.  Another Lithuanian, Jonas Rauba, was convicted and discharged on a charge of being drunk and disorderly.  An Estonian, Kaljo Murre, faced the same charge and received the same sentence.  Murre claimed that this was the first time he had drunk beer and it would be the last time.  These may well have been “famous last words”.

 

The Bonegilla camp was meant to be dry, although Ann has heard of smuggling and alcohol being allowed for special occasions, like Christmas celebrations and weddings.  If the fruit growers were paying their men a fortnight in arrears, which has been the custom in Australia for a long time, then they would have had their first pay just before the 14-15 February weekend.  It’s now wonder then that 3 were found in public places to have overindulged.  No doubt more drinking went on that weekend in private.

 

Easter 1948 ran from Good Friday on March 26 to Easter Sunday on March 28.  The day before Easter started, the Shepparton paper ran a paragraph headed, Balts on Move (see below).

Source: Shepparton Advertiser, 28 March 1948

 

As for the “itchy feet”, another 23 had returned to Bonegilla before Easter, making 36 in all, but more than 80 per cent were still on the job.  

 

The bulk of the Baltic fruit pickers returned to the Bonegilla camp between 31 March and 7 April, 114 of them.  Another 38 returned on 10 April, leaving one stalwart behind.

 

Borisas Dainutis did not get back to the Bonegilla camp until 5 May, so he seems to have spent nearly another 4 weeks with Messrs Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona.  As he was sent then to the Dookie Agricultural College in Victoria, perhaps he was displaying a great interest in agriculture despite having been selected in Germany has a potential builder’s labourer.  Let’s see what we find when we explore his life story soon.

A Turnbull Brothers fruit box saved by Cartonographer (Sean Rafferty)

Source:  https://ehive.com/collections/5682/objects/939087/turnbull-brothers-orchards

 

On the day that Borisas returned, another rural newspaper, the Riverine Herald, ran an article headed “Balts Appreciated”.  Based on interviews with fruit growers, the Herald estimated that the fruit pickers had saved the Goulburn Valley the loss of thousands of pounds worth of fruit.  “Proof of success of the scheme … (was that) the fruitgrowers (sic) were already voicing their wishes to participate in allocations of migrants next season”.

The fruit growers had not been happy with the front page publicity achieved by Razvidauskas, Kauba and Murre.  The Herald said that, “Expressing disappointment that adverse publicity had been afforded the very small minority of the men who had clashed with the law during their sojourn in Tatura and Ardmona district, … the men were excellent types on the whole and proved themselves highly adaptable to a variety of work.”

There was a sting near the tail of the report:  “It was further claimed that while some instances of difficulties in handling the Balts had been reported, on the average, where reasonable conditions were provided for them, good service had been given.”

What did these fruit growers expect from young men who had just endured 5 or more years of war, sometimes right in the middle of it, digging trenches between the opposing German and Russian sides?  All had been living on restricted rations until they boarded the Heintzelman and therefore were not at their healthiest.  There should be no need to mention also that some of them were more highly educated than most of those making a career of fruit growing and so might have regarded fruit picking as yet another obstacle on the path to a more satisfying future.

SOURCES 

National Archive of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla] (1947-56); https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/SeriesDetail.aspx?series_no=A2571 accessed 17 May 2025 ("Bonegilla cards").

 

National Archive of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla] (1947-56); LAURINAVICIUS POVILAS, LAURINAVICIUS, Povilas : Year of Birth - 1908 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GENERAL HEINTZELMAN : Number – 571 (1947-48) https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203619595 accessed 17 May 2025.

 

Riverine Herald (1948) 'Balts Appreciated', Echuca, Moama, 5 May, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article116540389 accessed 13 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1947) 'Baltic Migrants For The Fruit Harvest, Most Will Work at Ardmona', 12 December, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173900200 accessed 13 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) 'Labor Problem for Fruit Harvest' 6 January, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169556903 accessed 2 June 2025 accessed 2 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) 'Baltic Migrants Arrive' 30 January, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169557378 accessed 2 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) ‘Balt Fights Three Police’ 17 February p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169557746 accessed 17 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) ‘Balts on Move’ 25 March, p1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169558516 accessed 17 June 2025.

 

Sun News-Pictorial (1948) 'Wild After Wine, Balt Fined', Melbourne, 17 February, p 10 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279326226 accessed 2 June 2025.

 

Tribune (1948) 'Balts Work 48 Hrs. For 40 Hrs. Pay', Sydney, 14 April, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208109382 accessed 13 June 2025.