Albinas Kutka (1908-1992), Master Builder and Benefactor, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 4 October 2025.

Most of the Displaced Persons from the First Transport sent to South Australia to work stayed there, even after their obligation to work where directed finished on 30 September 1949. Albinas Kutka was different: he moved to Sydney. From the suburb of Canterbury he moved to Bankstown, a suburb with its own airport for light aviation. Undeterred by the noise, he moved even closer to Bankstown Airport, in Condell Park.

Albinas was able to get recognition from the authorities as a master builder. Together with fellow Lithuanian, Vytautas Mickevičius, he was responsible for the construction of a Lithuanian retirement village in the far south of Sydney, Engadine. Rather than being adjacent to an airport, this location is adjacent to Royal National Park, Australia’s first, and only the second in the world after Yellowstone in the USA.

In old age, Albinas sold the Condell Park home and moved into one of his own buildings in the Lithuanian retirement home in Engadine.

Albinas' youth

He had been born on 9 April 1908 in the village of Lukniai, near Vyzuonos in the Utena district. He was one of 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls, born to farmers Kazimieras Kutka and Agota Kutkienė, whose maiden name was Macionytė.

Albinas lived all of his youth on the family farm until called away for military service at the age of 21. He earned the rank of junior sergeant. Eight years later, in 1937, he again was drafted into the army to refresh his training. He continued to work on the farm until the beginning of World War II. When the Soviet entered Lithuania for the second time, in 1944, he retreated to Germany.

Albinas Kutka's ID photo on his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Albinas in Germany

The Arolsen Archives hold 4 documents naming Albinas, 3 of which understate his age by exactly 10 years. What can be gleaned from them is that he was in Munich between 13 August 1945 and 6 February 1946, during which his occupation was Waldarbeiter, forest worker or woodcutter or, in American, lumberjack. He also lived for a while in a town called Vilsbiburg, which is just under 90 Km northeast of Munich, and Stade, a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany, at the opposite end of his country of refuge.

His American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Displaced Person’s registration record was filled out on 23 August 1945, but the place where it was completed is blank (unless P.A.P.Cl. 124 still can be decoded*). Another date on this form is of interest though, because its month and year suggest that 10 August 1944 was the date that he reached Germany, that is, almost one year before he was recorded in Munich. Given that its Arolsen Archives’ DeepLink number is just one more than the form which states that he is in Stade, this city may well be where he was registered as a Displaced Person.

The AEF recorded his preferred occupation not as farmer, like his father, but Tischler, German for carpenter.  Possibly he had done a lot of building on his parents' farm.

It is possible that he moved from Stade to the Munich district to get as far away as possible from the Soviet occupiers of eastern Germany and his homeland. He reported for interview by the first Australian migration selection team at the Buchholtz DP camp, though, in the centre of western Germany. 

He impressed the team enough to be included in the First Transport, departing Bremerhaven on 30 October 1947.  At 39 years, he was one of the older passengers.

Albinas and the Sawmill

Albinas’ first job in Australia was in Backhouse, Roebuck Pty. Ltd., The Bonegilla card records this company as being located in a placed called Megan, which sounds more like a girl’s name than a place name to a modern Australian. It really does exist, though, as a community hall and the remains of a railway station, inland of Coff’s Harbour in New South Wales.

The nearest town to Megan is Dorrigo, the headquarters of Backhouse, Roebuck according to a search of digitised newspapers on the National Library of Australia’s Trove Website. The company owned sawmills. 

Albinas left the Bonegilla camp for one of them in 21 January 1948, in a group of 7 men. He was back at the Bonegilla migrant centre on 11March 1948 together with another Lithuanian member of the group, Juozas Bazys, and a Latvian member of the group who was 16-20 years younger than the Lithuanians, Nikolaus Kucina.

Assuming that it took at least a couple of days to travel from Bonegilla by bus or car to Albury, then by train to Sydney, then to Megan if the station was operative in 1948, Albinas, Juozas and Nikolaus had put up with the conditions offered by Backhouse, Roebuck for less than 7 weeks. It was not the type of working with wood that Albinas preferred.

Albinas to Iron Knob

All 3 were sent off to Iron Knob, in South Australia, on 16 March, together with a fourth man who also had given up a career as a sawmill hand. The fourth man was a Latvian, Peteris Mesters, who had been sent to Northern Timbers, Pty Ltd, of Johnson’s Creek, New South Wales. Not surprisingly, Google Maps now can find 10 localities of this name in NSW, only 2 of which are in Sydney. Two certainly are northern, being on the border with Queensland.

Just before WWII, Iron Knob had been described as the largest known deposit of high-grade iron ore in the world. Broken Hill Pty Ltd – but now simply BHP – had commenced mining in the area in 1900.

The group of Lithuanians working at Iron Knob understood the importance of having a newspaper in their own language. They organised a collection to support the creation of Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian). The newspaper thanked them as its first sponsors on 12 September 1948. Albinas had donated ₤1 of the total of £8/5/- given by 10 Lithuanians.

Working together surely brought the Lithuanians there closer together. Even after they left Iron Knob, they kept in touch. For instance, 3 of them advertised on 23 May 1949 in the newspaper Australijos lietuvis that their friend Jonas Puslys, together with Olga Vainoryte, had created a Lithuanian family, so they congratulated them and wish them a sunny life. The three were Rasa’s grandfather, Adomas, and Albinas Kutka as well as Petras Juodka. By May 1949 they were not no longer working together, because Adomas for one was living already in Adelaide.

Jonas Puslys had not gone with the others to Iron Knob though. He started his working like in Australia as a fruit-picker, then had been sent to Australian Newsprint Mills’ Boyer plant in Tasmania. It looks like the connection between these four is earlier than work in Australia. None of them were in the Scouts, so perhaps it goes back to the same camp in Germany or the same locality in Lithuania.

It also looks like these men, along with Povilas Laurinavičius, had discovered the Australian postal system, and it was working for them. Actually, buying stamps and posting letters was sure to have been one of the “Australian way of life” topics covered in the Bonegilla camp English language classes.

Albinas to Adelaide

An Alien Registration record card for Albinas shows that he was released from his contract to work as directed in Australia on 30 September 1949, along with most of the others who came on the First Transport. His next place of employment was the Pier Hotel in Glenelg, suburban Adelaide, alongside Povilas Laurinavičius. Then it was off to 3 Robert Street, Canterbury, New South Wales, an address reported to the Department of Immigration on 27 June 1951.

Albinas to Sydney

Why did Albinas not stay in Adelaide like most of the others sent to South Australia to work out their contract? Another Kutka, Antanas, came to Australia from Germany on the Protea, arriving on 30 September 1948. He was sent to Sydney’s Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board to work. From the information available to us, we cannot tell if they were related but, since both were born in the Utena district, we cannot dismiss this possibility either.

If they were related and communicating with each other, then perhaps from Antanas' description of life in Sydney, Albinas thought he would do better there than in Adelaide.

We know already that he moved from the initial Canterbury address to Bankstown, a suburb with its own airport for light aviation. Undeterred by the noise, he moved to a home even closer to Bankstown Airport, in Condell Park.

On 3 December 1953, the Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) newspaper reported that Albinas was in his second year of successful house construction in Bankstown. The reporter added (in Lithuanian, of course) “His example shows what can be achieved with determination and initiative.”

Ten months later, in October 1954, he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Mūsų pastogė wrote (in Lithuanian) “His face was injured, his head was cut open, and his bicycle was smashed. After spending several days in the hospital, Alb. Kutka returned home.”

Albinas acquired Australian citizenship on 22 June 1967. His address at the time, 47 Cragg Street, Condell Park, shows that he now owned his own home, probably built or updated with his own hands.

Sydney's Lithuanian Retirement Village

Ona Baužienė started campaigning for land on which to build a Lithuanian retirement village when she became the chairwoman of the Sydney Lithuanian Women’s Social Services Association in 1967. We have just met through her recollections 30 years later of meeting the First Transport Lithuanians in the Bonegilla camp.

Her committee started an intensive program of fundraising through catering for community events, raffles and the like. In 1970, the Association was granted land at Engadine on a permanent basis on condition that it be solely used for housing the elderly.

Work on the first two buildings started in 1975 after signing a contract with the builders Albinas Kutka and Vytautas Mickevičius.  A community centre finished in 1978 was financed entirely by the Association’s fundraising plus donations. It included a kitchen, dining room and library.  The remaining 17 residential buildings, for up to two residents each, were completed in 1981, thanks this time to funding from the NSW Government as well as the Association’s efforts.

Albinas (extreme left) and Vytautas Mickevičius help to celebrate the 
completion of the buildings

The topping-out wreath and 2 village buildings, 1981

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

The official opening was on 19 August 1984. The builders, Albinas and Vytautas, brought their topping-out wreath to the opening.

Albinas the Benefactor

Mūsų pastogė advised in April 1982 that Albinas Kutka, a well-known Lithuanian builder recognized by the Australians as a "master builder", had become seriously ill recently and has been hospitalized for a major operation. The patient was recovering rapidly and hoped to return to his home in Bankstown soon. Albinas Kutka was known to local Lithuanians as a generous supporter of the Lithuanian cause.

The words “Albinas Kutka was known to local Lithuanians as a generous supporter” were very accurate, because he had been donating unreservedly to many Lithuanian activities. Messages and thanks from the newspapers can confirm this. Here are some examples.

• Mūsų Pastogė, 12 May 1980: student A. Binkevičius received $200, of which $100 was donated by builder Albinas Kutka.
• Tėviškės aidai, 21 November 1981: “The always quiet and sincere Lithuanian, Albinas Kutka", sent a donation of $100 to the Daina Choir.
• Tėviškės aidai, 20 March 1986: On the occasion of February 16 (Lithuania’s Independence Day) compatriots in Sydney and the surrounding area supported Lithuania’s freedom struggle with their sincere donations. Albinas Kutka’s donation $50 was the largest individual amount received.
• Mūsų Pastogė, 25 October 1988: A. Kutka donated $100 for the trip of Lithuanian dissident, Professor Vytautas Skuodis. Again, this was the largest individual donation.

  

  The photo which accompanied Albinas' obituary
  

  Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Albinas' Last Years

Albinas was already in his mid-70s when the village was opened.  He sold his own house and settled into a unit he had built himself. Since Albinas was single, it was more stimulating for him to live there among Lithuanian acquaintances. In his last four years of his life, his health deteriorated. Doctors recognised his condition as difficult to treat. In the end, he received care in a nearby Calvary (Catholic) nursing home.

Albinas Kutka died on 13 September 1992, and was buried in Catholic Section of the Rookwood cemetery. During his final illness, Albinas was cared for by his neighbour and friend Vincas Kondrackas and his wife. They also took care of the funeral arrangements.

FOOTNOTE:  Perhaps P.A.P.Cl. 124 can be decoded.  Recently I happened upon a list of DP Camps by Team No on the <dpcamps.org> Website.  While it doesn't explain P.A.P.Cl., it does say that Team 124 was located in München, that is, Munich, where other evidence places Albinas also.

SOURCES

‘A.E.F. D.P. Registration Record, Albinas Kutka’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67941909, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/67941909?s=Kutka&t=2739669&p=0, accessed 21 September 2025.

Australijos Lietuvis, (Australian Lithuanian) (1948) ‘Pirmieji Mūsų Rėmėjai’ (‘Our First Sponsors’, in Lithuanian) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321942, accessed 21 September 2025.

Australian Cemetery Index, ‘Kutka’, https://austcemindex.com/?family_name=kutka, accessed 21 September 2025.

'Australian Lithuanian History, Australian Lithuanian newspaper’ https://salithohistory.blogspot.com/2008/12/, accessed 21 September 2025.

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Albinas Kutka’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203624970, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘CM/1 264719, Family name, Kutka, Citizenship, Lith’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67941908, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67941908, accessed 21 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1967) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 2 June, p 5863 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241018768, accessed 21 September 2025.

Dainos Choro Valdyba (Daina Choir Board) (1981) ‘Sydnėjuje, Dainos Chore‘ (‘In Sydney, Daina Choir’ in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai, (The Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 21 November, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1981/1981-11-21-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian ) (1908, Vyzuonos church, page 113, baptism record number 51, Albinas Kutka) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267507212/276386482/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=113, accessed 21 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian) (1899, Gaižiūnai church, page 71, baptism record number 158, Antanas Kutka) phttps://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267506507/276386475/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=71

Find A Grave, ‘Albinas Kutka’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149476069/albinas-kutka, accessed 21 September 2025.

Juodka, Petras, Ivanauskas, Adomas and Albinas Kutka (1949) ‘Drauga Jona Pūsli …’ (‘Friend Jonas Puslis … ’, in Lithuanian) Australijos Lietuvis (The Australian Lithuanian) Adelaide, 23 May, p 22, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321235, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘Land/Stadt/Kreis Vilsbiburg, Form 10, ITS 247’, 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, DocID: 70255471, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70255471, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘München Kreis, Kategorie III, Form 7’, 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, DocID: 70073263, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70073263, accessed 21 September 2025. [Also at https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/70073530.]

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven)(1954) ‘Sydnėjus’ (‘Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 27 October, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259359692, accessed 21 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1980) ‘Redakcijos pastaba’ (‘Editor’s Note’) Sydney, 12 May, p 3 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1980/1980-05-12-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1988) ‘Aukos’ (‘Victims’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 25 October, p 7, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1988/1988-10-25-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series, 1926-1952; 82, GENERAL HEINTZELMAN - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers, 1947-1952 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196, accessed 21 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Central Office; MT29/1, Employment Service Schedules, 1947-1950; 21, Schedule of displaced persons who left the Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla Victoria for employment in the State of South Australia - [Schedule no SA1 to SA31], 1948-1950, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=23150376, accessed 21 September 2025.

Rep (1953) ‘Bankstownas’ (‘Bankstown’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 3 December, p 4 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1953/1953-12-03-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Reisgienė, Martina (trans. Petras Viržintas) (2024) ‘Sydney Lithuanian Women’s Social Services Assoc. Inc‘, SLIC (Sydney Lithuanian Information Centre) https://www.slic.org.au/Community/sydlithwomen.htm, accessed 21 September 2025.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (1984) ‘Australija, Oficialus Lietuvių sodybos atidarymas‘ (‘Australia, Official Opening of the Lithuanian Home’) Mississauga, Ontario, 2 October, p 4 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1984/1984-10-02-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Valdyba (The Board) (1981) ‘Vainikuota Lietiivių Sodyba’ (‘The Topped-Out Lithuanian Home’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 5 July, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1981/1981-07-05-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Vinevičius, A. (1992) ‘Mūsų mirusieji, Su Ramovėnu A. Kutka Atsisveikinant’ (Our Dead, Farewell to Ramovė Member A. Kutka’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 28 September, p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1992/1992-09-28-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025

Wikipedia, ‘Stade’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade, accessed 25 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Topping Out’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topping_out, accessed 25 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Vilsbiburg’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilsbiburg, accessed 25 September 2025.

Kostas Bušma (1923-83): Another man in a photo by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 11 August and 9 September 2025.

Kostas Bušma is third from the right in this photograph sent to his family in Lithuania by Rasa’s grandfather, Adomas Ivanauskas, in Australia. This made her interested to find out who this man was and about his fate.

The photo was most likely taken during some Lithuanian gathering or celebration, because three of the four men in it are known to be Lithuanian. It was probably taken when her grandfather lived in Melbourne.

On the left is Rasa's grandfather's girlfriend, Beryl, then Rasa's grandfather, Adomas Ivanauskas, then an unknown man, then Kostas Bušma, then an unknown woman, then Julius Petkinis;
we believe that this photograph was taken in Melbourne

Source:  Collection of the author

Kostas before Australia

The man third from the right was born on 1 October 1923 in Gailiskiai village, Skuodas district, Lithuania. Kostas Bušma’s parents were Juozas and Veronika, maiden name Janutyte. This information is from his birth record in Ylakiai church. On his birth record, his first name is Konstantinas. By his time in Germany, he had shortened this name to Kostas to make it simpler.

Unfortunately, the German Arolsen Archives has no digitised documents about Kostas or Konstantinas Bušma. The record of his interview for possible migration to Australia says that he was “forcibly evacuated by the Germans”, however. Perhaps, like Juozas Abromaitis, he was seized from the street or a workplace to be sent to dig trenches for German soldiers.

The record of interview also states that he had completed the basic 4 years of primary school education in Lithuania. In addition, he had attended 2 years of trade school, studying to be a mechanic.

He had worked as a locksmith in Lithuania from 1939, so from when he was 16, until 1944. He also found work as a locksmith in Dresden, Germany, from 9 October 1944 until May 1945. Perhaps his evacuation to Germany was not as forcible as that of Abromaitis, after all, especially if he did not leave Lithuania until the July-October period like most of the others.

He had been employed as a car mechanic for 9 months before his interview. His place of employment was the REME Workshop, Wetter. REME stands for Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the branch of the British Army which maintains its equipment.

A Website established by former members of the British Army of the Rhine points out that the lowest military rank at Wetter was Sergeant, as 35 officers supervised 1745 local civilians. Since the Website goes on to talk about the local community without mentioning Displaced Persons, that military rank and those numbers may have applied when the workshop was at its peak, not necessarily in 1947. Nonetheless, the base would have been a large employer of locals in that year, probably taking on Displaced Persons in preference to the recently defeated enemy.

Kostas almost did not make the selection for the first group of Displaced Persons to travel to Australia. The interview record states that he is “temp. medically unfit”. The reason apparently is “W.R.” and a “blood test was still to come to hand”. Near the bottom of the record, “Rejected” has been covered in typed crosses and replaced by “A”. It is not possible to enquire further into the lack of fitness because, perhaps unique among all the selection documents for the First Transport, the medical papers are missing.

Kostas’ start in Australia

Kostas’ Bonegilla migrant camp card confirms that he arrived in Australia with the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman on 30 October 1947. Another early document is USAT General Stuart Heintzelman passenger list from National archives of Australia. This shows that Kostas Bušma left Germany for Australia from Lintorf DP camp in the British zone.

Kostas Bušma's identity photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  Bonegilla Migrant Experience

Kostas’ first job in Australia was with the South Australian Department of Woods. He left Bonegilla camp in a party of 33 men on 7 January 1948, sent to Mount Gambier, just over the western border from Victoria. The men started work on 9 January 1948 and were paid a £5.12.6 salary each week.

On 19 November 1948, Kostas applied for a transfer to the "Rocket Range". By this The District Employment Officer, Mount Gambier, recording the application, probably meant the Woomera range, also in South Australia. Probably Kostas had found out from other Lithuanians working there that the pay was much better as civilians earned at least £9-10 per week. He was told on 20 January 1949 that his application had not been approved.

Kostas disappears

The District Employment Officer advised his Regional Director in Adelaide in November 1949 that Bušma had disappeared from his employment on 12 February 1949 and his current whereabouts were unknown. Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration, having been advised of his disappearance on 25 February, had located him in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. He had been told to return to Mount Gambier but that effort must have been given up by June. In that month the Adelaide Office of the Department of Immigration transferred his file to the Melbourne Office.

Kostas and kindness

Two newspaper reports, as well as the photo which starts this tale, show that Kostas sometimes mixed with other Lithuanians. On 10 May 1955, the newspaper Mūsų Pastogė in an article on List of Donors reported that Kostas Bušma had donated 10 shillings for Lithuanians remaining in Germany. On 11 December 1963, the same newspaper in another List of Donors reported that he had donated another 10 shillings, this time for the Australian Lithuanian Community. The size and frequency of the donations indicate a man with not much money to spare.

Kostas becomes an Australian

Kostas Busma acquired his Australian citizenship on 3 April 1960. His address at the time was 81 Robert Street in Northcote, a Melbourne suburb. At this time, we lack information on where Kostas lived between his Albert Park address in mid-1949 and his 1960 Northcote address, let alone what work he did, with one exception.

The exception is due to Kostas telling fellow workers that “England is on her last legs, and it wouldn’t be long before we take over”. The place where he said this was the Government Aircraft Factory (GAF), back when planes actually were made in Australia. Special Branch of the Victorian Police thought that the comment was worth bringing to Immigration’s attention; ASIO (the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) advised that this was not a security issue.

Kostas’ work

He probably was working in the GAF’s main premises at Fisherman’s Bend, next door to the place of his arrival at Port Melbourne, 12 years earlier. He may have been helping to assemble English Electric Canberra twin-jet tactical bombers or Jindivik jet-powered radio controlled target drones. In any event, he was in much more suitable employment, as a former locksmith and motor mechanic, than when he was cutting down trees or otherwise working with timber near Mount Gambier.

Australian electoral rolls for around every five years from 1963 until 1980 confirm that Kostas continued to live in Melbourne, at addresses which were close to each other. On the other hand, 6 known addresses from 1960 onwards indicate someone who moved frequently because he was renting his accommodation.

The occupations given on the electoral rolls were machinist, process worker, body builder and body maker. ‘Process worker’ is someone doing repetitive tasks, maybe on a production line, in a factory. ‘Bodymaker’ and ‘body builder’ may refer to someone helping to manufacture cars or, in Kostas case, aeroplanes. The cars' bodies are their shells, excluding the mechanical parts. Perhaps this term was used also in plane construction.

We think that Kostas lived alone and had no relatives in Australia. There is no-one else with the same family name at any of his addresses.

Kostas’ death

His death certificate says that he died on 11-13 August 1983, aged 59. In the Melbourne newspaper Teviskes aidai, on 19 August 1983, a notice said that Kostas Bušma had died during the previous week in Melbourne, wrongly said to be aged 58.

With no-one looking for him, the police had taken him to the crematorium. A Mr Arlauskas had cared enough to report this to the community. Kostas would have been taken to a morgue, not a crematorium, as he was not to be cremated or buried until a post-mortem had been held and enquiries to locate relatives had been exhaustive.

From the death certificate, we can find out that Kostas died while living at yet another address, 24/82 Nicholson, Fitzroy, Melbourne. This was a 3-storeyed house built at the height of Melbourne’s wealth, in the 1880s. From Kostas’ unit number, 24, we can tell that it had been subdivided into at least 24 units, 8 per floor. From later evidence, it seems that these were rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Kostas' final address, 82 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy

Source:  Google Maps Streetview

At least the formerly grand home was in a grand position, across the road from the parklands surrounding Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building. This was built in 1879-80 to house the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880-81 and also was the home of the Commonwealth of Australia’s first parliaments, from 1901 to 1927. We have to hope that Kostas was well enough to appreciate this grandeur.

If Kostas could not see the Royal Exhibition Building from an upstairs window,
this is how he would have seen the neighbour from the front door of 82 Nicholson Street;
the commemorative World Heritage Site banner being an addition from 2004 or after

Source:  Donaldytong on Wikipedia

The death certificate says, ‘Not any’ against ‘occupation’, and this also was left blank on the 1980 electoral roll. Kostas was too young to be eligible for an aged pension, but he might have been receiving another type of income, for example, a government pension if he was too ill to work.

The death certificate also says that Kostas was buried only on 30 September 1983. This 6-week gap was because the police searching for relatives in Australia. It also was because he died when no-one else was present, so the law required a post-mortem examination and inquest into the death. The inquest was held another 6 weeks after the burial, on 14 November 1983.

The coroner declared that Kostas had died from “a traumatic sub-dural haemorrhage on (sic) the evidence adduced I am unable to say how the Deceased came to sustain the injury.” That was after examining depositions from 7 witnesses, 3 of whom were residents of the same address. One was a frequent visitor to this address and another its owner. A policeman and the doctor who conducted the post-mortem made up the numbers.

Only one of the witnesses was Lithuanian: he was Vytautas Matulaitis, the pensioner who had identified Kostas’ body. He confirmed that Kostas had an invalid pension, the type available to Australians who are too ill to work. As Vytautas lived on the opposite side of Melbourne’s Central Business District to Kostas, we have to hope that they used to meet at the Lithuanian club in North Melbourne, so with other Lithuanians also.

Vytautas swore under oath that he had known Kostas for 20 years, that is, since around 1963. Another friend must have been Mr Arlauskas, initial or first name not given, but possibly Victorian resident Juozas, who cared enough to report Kostas’ fate to Tėviškės aidai. Yet another friend, Rasa’s grandfather, Adomas Ivanauskas, had left for Western Australia and died earlier, in 1980.

Kostas’ neighbours in the rooming house added that he had few friends, presumably based on his lack of visitors to this address. They and the building owner said that he was a heavy drinker, particularly after pension payday.

His next-door neighbour had been woken by a noise outside his door before midnight on 10 August. He found Kostas there, lying on his back, snoring, on the floor with blood splashed on a nearby wall. He asked another neighbour to help him move Kostas into his own room, but that neighbour refused, so the next door neighbour went back to bed. Some hours later, after he woke again and found Kostas in the same position outside his door, he held him under the armpits to drag him back to his bed. He managed to manoeuvre Kostas onto his bed. Kostas was still bleeding from the nose.

The owner of the rooming house came 2 days later to collect the rent. Kostas didn’t answer the door but the next door neighbour came out of his room and told the owner about the incidents of the earlier night. The owner managed to break through a panel of Kostas’ door and saw that he seemed to be dead. He then called the police.

No-one had seen how Kostas received the head injury, but the police did no regard the circumstances as suspicious. That is to say, that they thought Kostas had injured himself when drunk rather than being hit by another person. This explains why the coroner concluded that he was “unable to say how the Deceased came to sustain the injury”.

Kostas’ body had been taken from the morgue for burial by the Government contractor on 28 September. This was after police enquiries could not find any relatives and his assets were regarded as not being valuable enough to pay for his burial.

He now rests in the Fawkner Memorial Park, Melbourne, in a grave marked by someone else's name.  What will have happened, we know from the fate of Rasa's grandfather, is that 2 or 3 people may have been buried in the same plot at the same time.  It looks like another of these people, Roman Kosuszok, possibly another former Displaced Person, a refugee like Kostas, was fortunate enough to have someone who cared enough to pay for a small plaque and mark the graves border with stones and wood.

Kostas is sharing a public grave in the Fawkner Memorial Park with three other people

Source:  Erin D on FindaGrave

As victims of war, they and anyone else with them deserve a better fate than this.

CITE THIS DOCUMENT AS:  Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) 'Kostas Bušma: Another man in a photo' https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/08/kostas-busma-another-man-in-photo.html.

Sources:

Ancestry.com, ‘All results for Kostas Busma’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Kostas_Busma&event=_australia_5027&keyword=Electoral+roll&searchMode=advanced accessed 5 February 2025, starts with Australia, electoral rolls 1963, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1980.

Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, ‘Deaths in the State of Victoria’, No 26004/83, Kostas Busma, obtained from https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/login, accessed 5 February 2025.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Kostas Busma’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203671575 accessed 5 February 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1960) 'Certificates of Naturalization’ 30 June, p 2269 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240549078 accessed 5 February 2025.

Find a Grave ‘Kostas Busma' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212416517/kostas-busma accessed 11 August 2025.

Lithuanian State Historical Archives, ‘Skuodo dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga,1923-01-01 - 1923-12-31’ in Lithuanian [Church birth register of the Skuodas deanery, 1.1.1923 – 31.12.1923] https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267602721/316266594/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=85 accessed 5 February 2025. [Kostas Bušma’s birth record is on page 85, record number 176.]

National Archives of Australia: Collector of Customs, Western Australia; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series, 1926-52; 82, GENERAL HEINTZELMAN - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 – nominal rolls of passengers, 1947-52 [page 26 ] https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 5 February 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Branch Office/Regional Administration, South Australia; D1917/0, Correspondence files, annual single number series with "D" prefix, 1945-1954; D15/49, Displaced persons - survey to determine apparent absconders, 1949-51 [pages 89, 104] recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=426077 accessed 3 August 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Central Office; MT29/1, Employment Service Schedules, 1947-50; 21, Schedule of displaced persons who left the Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla Victoria for employment in the State of South Australia – [Schedule no SA1 to SA31] 1948-1950 [page 100] https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=23150376 accessed 5 February 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė [Our Haven] (1955) ‘Soc. Globos Mot. Dr-jos Melbourne Vajaus Vokietijoje Pasilikusiems Lietuviams, Aukotojų Sąrašas’ in Lithuanian [Soc. Guardianship of the Mother of Dr. Melbourne for Lithuanians Remaining in Germany, List of Donors]’ Sydney, 10 May, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259362346 accessed 5 February 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė [Our Haven] (1963) ‘Aukos A. L. Bendruomenei’ in Lithuanian [‘Donations to the A. L. Community] Sydney, 11 December, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1963/1963-12-11-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 5 February 2025.

PROV, VA 2807 State Coroner's Office, VPRS 24/P0001 1983/1704 Given name : Kostas; Family name : Busma; Cause of death : Traumatic sub-dural haemorrhage; Location of hearing : Melbourne 1983-1983 https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/020E49DD-F1C6-11E9-AE98-D33BEF04B52E.

Tėviškės aidai [The Echoes of Homeland] (1983) ‘Īš Mūsų Parapių’ in Lithuanian [‘In our Parishes’] Melbourne, 19 August, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1983/1983-08-19-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 5 February 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Royal Exhibition Building’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Exhibition_Building accessed 5 February 2025.

Juozas Abromaitis: The unknown man in the photo by Rasa Ščevinskiene and Ann Tündern-Smith

Rasa has worked out that Juozas Abromaitis is the middle of the three men in the photograph sent by her grandfather Adomas Ivanauskas from Australia.  The photo was most likely taken during some Lithuanian gathering or celebration, since all the men in the photo look Lithuanian.  Therefore, she was interested to find out more about this man and his fate.

From the left, Julius, now known to be Julius Petkinis, his wife-to-be, Barbara,
Juozas Abromaitis, Adomas Ivanauskas' girlfriend, Beryl, and Adomas, Rasa's grandfather

Source:  Private collection

Juozas was born on 5 January 1913 in the town of Krosna in Lithuania, making him one of the older men on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, already aged 34.  His parents were workers, Jonas Abromaitis and the former Ieva Adinaviciute.

In the Marijampole church on 16 may 1936, Juozas married Albina Dulskyte.  The record states that both were workers living in Marijampole.  During 1939-1944, Juozas Abromaitis worked in a brick factory in Marijampole.

On 27 September 1944, he was caught by the Germans while walking along a street in Marijampole and taken to Germany to dig trenches.  This is action is an example of what is summarised as "forcibly evacuated by the Germans" in the record of his interview by the selection team for Australia in October 1947.

During 1945 he lived in Dresden, moving to Kassel during 1946.

While Juozas was in Germany, he tried to find his wife, relatives and friends.  We know this from an advertisement in the newspaper Ziburiai on 18 May 1946, which said in Lithuanian, "Abromaitis Juozas, Kassel Oberzwehren, Mattenberg Camp, is looking for his wife Albina, brother-in-law Kulbokas Stasys and acquaintances."

He left Bremerhaven for Australia with 842 other Baltic refugees on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman on 30 October 1947, arriving in Australia on 28 November 1947.

Juozas Abromaitis' identity photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

His first job in Australia was with the South Australian Department of Engineering & Water Supply (E&WS) in Adelaide.  He left Bonegilla camp, Victoria, on 7 or 8 January 1948 and with 63 or 64 other men who were sent by train to Adelaide.  This was the first group of migrants sent by Australian government to work outside the camp.  The men were on wages of £5.12.6 per week and their average age was 24.  Juozas‘ 35th birthday was just before the departure date.

The Adelaide Mail newspaper of 14 February 1948 said "Sixty-five eager young Baltic migrants camped in a paddock at Bedford Park are waiting for responsible authorities to teach them.  Only two men could speak English well.  Camp interpreter Olaf Aerfeld said, 'The boys would like to mix with people and become Australians some day, but most are young and very shy.  The language difficulty is stopping them from meeting Australians'."

Another report in the Mail one week later said, "While nothing was done officially this week to help the Balts, private citizens called on the strangers in their Bedford Park camp, invited them to their homes, offered to help teach them English.  They agreed to take 30 Balts in the first class at the Teachers Training College, and to arrange more than one night class a week if necessary.  Mr. Ashton said Engineering and Water Supply Department engineers had been trying to improve the Balts knowledge of English by mixing them with Australian workers, and some already had a smattering of the language."

These newspaper reports show that not knowing the language was a big problem for the Balts.  Juozas Abromaitis was one of those who had a hard time learning English.  On 5 April 1949, the Mount Gambier Border Watch newspaper carried an article headed Town Too Strange, about Juozas Abromaitis.

"The bearded stranger who solemnly walked along Mount Gambler's Commercial Street yesterday spoke three languages but none of them English and so he found the town 'too strange'.  His name was Juozas Abromaitis, a 37-years-old Lithuanian who had come to Australia from Java and had arrived in Mount Gambier on Sunday.  He speaks Russian, Polish and Lithuanian, but when addressed in English or French shyly turns his head to one side and murmurs, 'No understand'.  Juozas Abromaitis has come to the South East to work with CF Duncan and Co, (who ran a timber mill producing match sticks from pine logs) at Nangwarry, but does not know how long he will stay there.  He thinks he will go to America.“

His arrival from Java must have been a reporter‘s mistake because Juozas did not know how to explain himself well.

An Alien Registration card from the South Australian Department of Immigration officre says that Juozas was released for his contract to work in Australia on the new date decreed by the Minister for Immigration, 30 September 1949.  The first employment recorded on this card is not with CF Duncan and Co but Australian Berry Baskets, also of Nangwarry.  That is the only employer recorded for the next 4 years, when Commonwealth Railways at Port Augusta gets mentioned.

He may have moved to western Victoria for a short while, since both Portland Junction and Wannan are written on the card, in the same handwriting as the name of another First Transport man, Albertas Gedutis.  There are no dates for this record, but it was after August 1951 and before September 1953.

The Port Augusta record is from November 1953. Juozas was in Whyalla in May 1954, recorded as living at H27, SMQ.  That set of initials stood for Single Men‘s Quarters.  Exactly 10 years later, the address becomes H27, Tanderra Hostel, so it looks like a change of name rather than a change of address.  BHP Whyalla has been recorded as the employer against the 1964 address.  BHP Whyalla appears against a 1967 record foer the same residential address.

Juozas did not go to the USA but acquired Australian citizenship on 15 May 1968.  His address at that time was still H27, Tanderra Hostel.

He died only 4 years later, on 18 August 1972, and is buried in the Whyalla Cemetery.  The South Australian Government‘s Births, Deaths, Marriages Website cannot find a death certificate for him.  He was aged 59 at the time and had been working as a labourer for the previous 24 years, so we have to assume that the cause of death was natural causes and lots of hard work.

Juozas Abromaitis' grave marker in the Whyalla Cemetery probably was purchased by
friends from the Tanderra Hostel or his work, but now is rusted beyond recognition

Source:  FindAGrave photograph by Rosie

Sources

Border Watch (1949) 'Town too strange', Mount Gambier, 5 April, p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78629466 accessed 2 August 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1968) 'Certificates of Naturalization as Australian Citizens' Canberra, 22 August, page 4717 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241058110 accessed 2 August 2025.

ePaveldas, 'Krosnos RKB gimimo metrikų knyga' ['Krosna RKB birth registry book', in Lithuanian] [Juozas Abromaitis' birth record is number 3, p 453.] https://www.epaveldas.lt/preview?id=1470%2F1%2F3 accessed 1 August 2025.

Find a Grave, 'Juozas Abramaitis (sic)' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223298825/juozas-abramaitis accessed 2 August 2025.

Lithuanian State Historical Archives, ‘Marijampolės RKB santuokos metrikų knyga' ['Marijampole RKB marriage registry book', in Lithuanian] [Juozas Abromaitis' marriage record is 56, p 31] https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/289271690/298053012/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=31 accessed 1 August 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 513, ABROMAITIS Juozas DOB 5 January 1913, 1947-1947, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005753 accessed 2 August 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-1976; ABROMAITIS JUOZAS, ABROMAITIS Juozas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-1968, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7183234 accessed 2 August 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Central Office; MT29/1, Employment Service Schedules, 1947-1950; 21, Schedule of displaced persons who left the Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla Victoria for employment in the State of South Australia 1948-1950 (page 106) https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=23150376 accessed 2 August 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947 - 1956; ABROMAITIS JUOZAS, ABROMAITIS, Juozas : Year of Birth - 1913 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN HEINZELMAN : Number – 888, 1947-1948 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8119310 accessed 2 August 2025.

Mail (1948) 'Balts Feel Free After Prison Camp Horrors', Adelaide, 10 January p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55903813 accessed 2 August 2025.

Mail (1948) 'No English Lessons For Eager Young Balts', Adelaide, 14 February, p 24 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55909057 accessed 2 August 2025.

Mail (1948) 'English Classes For Balts Arranged', Adelaide, 21 February, page 24 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55905295 accessed 2 August 2025.

'Personal file of ABROMAITIS, JUOZAS, born on 5-Jan-1913, born in KROSNA Arolsen', 3.2.1/DocID: 78864234/ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/78864232?s=abromaitis&t=2815320&p=1 accessed 1 August 2025.

Unearth Whyalla 'Cemetery Search' https://www.whyalla.sa.gov.au/services/community-facilities/cemetery/cemetery-search?action=grave&id=614811 accessed 2 August 2025.

Ziburiai (1946), 'Paieškojimai' ['Searches', in Lithuanian] Augsburg, 18 May, p 5 2195.  https://spauda2.org/dp/dpspaudinys_ziburiai/archive/1946-05-18-ZIBURIAI.pdf accessed 1 August 2025.

Domas Valancius (1922-1980): A wanderer who died young by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Domas Valancius was born in Pauosniai village, Plunge district, Lithuania, on 21 June 1922, to peasant parents Jonas and Ona Valancius. Ona’s maiden name was Grismanauskaite.

Domas’ name was Dominykas on the birth record, but he probably chose the shorter version of Domas to make it easier to say and spell. English language equivalents would be Dominic for Dominykas and Dom for Domas.

Domas Valancius' birth record on 21 June 1922, in Plunge church, Lithuania

Source: Lithuanian State Historical Archives

From an Arolsen Archives record, we know that Domas Valancius was in the British zone after World War II ended. During the War, from 6 December 1943 to 31 March 1945 he had worked for the Gerwerkschaft Dorn in Herne, Germany. The Gerwerkschaft Dorn produced screws, nuts and rivets for the mining industry, the railways and the bridge, ship, wagon, vehicle and agricultural machinery construction industries. It is highly likely that Domas had not volunteered for this work but had been sent to it under some form of military escort.

The entrance to the Gerwerkschaft Dorn on Dornstraße in 1921

Source:  Herne von damals bis heute

Domas appears to have been interviewed twice about his interest in resettling in Australia, on 6 and 10 October. The form used for his 6 October interview did not ask him about his education, but it did ask for his occupation and the length of time for which he had been engaged in this. The interviewers recorded that he was a factory worker who had been doing this type of work for 4 years.

At the time of the interview, he was living in a Displaced Persons’ camp in Solingen, about one hour’s drive south of Herne. If he was working still in a factory, it was quite likely to be one in Solingen, famous since mediaeval times for the manufacture of blades, starting with sword blades.

The form did ask for Domas’ previous occupation, to which the typed answer was ‘nil’. This suggests that he was student whose studies, like those of so many others, were interrupted abruptly by the German military seizing him to work for them. At least it was a factory in his case, not digging ditches under fire.

The 10 October form did ask about his education, which elicited a ‘4 years of primary school’ answer, basic for a Lithuanian of Domas’ age. If you knew that Australia was looking for labourers, you would not want to boast about your higher education. Perhaps that is why Domas did not give more information.

Domas' identity photo from his selection papers
Source:  NAA: A11772, VALANCUS DOMAS

He left Bremerhaven for Australia with 842 other Baltic refugees on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman on 30 October 1947 and on 28 November 1947 he arrived to Australia.

From the General Heintzelman nominal rolls of passengers it is known that Domas’ last place of residence in Germany was in the city of Lintorf. His Bonegilla card noted that he had a fiancee, Loni Klingbeil, who was living in Wuppertal-Hammerstein, Germany.

Domas’ first job in Australia was in Western Sawmilling Pty Ltd, in Rylstone, NSW. He left Bonegilla camp on 20 January 1948 for Rylstone. This is still a small town on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, behind Newcastle. Only 3 men were sent to this employer, the other 2 being Rasa’s grandfather, Adomas Ivanauskas and an Estonian, Leonard Jaago.

Leonard must have felt put out if the two Lithuanians started to talk to each other in their native tongue, but at least he could ask them in German to tell him what they were discussing.

Domas was being paid a wage of £6/2/6 per week, more than some others were getting in their new jobs. He and Adomas might have found the work or the management disagreeable, though, because they returned to the Bonegilla camp on 12 April 1948. Maybe the volume of work had run down. Regardless of Domas’ and Adomas’ reasons, Leonard stayed behind at Rylstone.

The Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) staff in the camp knew immediately what to do with the two returning men. They were added to the group being sent 3 days later to Iron Knob in South Australia to work with a company then known as Broken Hill Proprietory Limited – but now simply BHP.

The group of 12 included Romualdas Zeronas, about whom we have written already for this blog. Rasa thinks that Domas and her grandfather would have become friends by now, especially as they left Rylstone together, and they would have included Romualdas in their friendship.

A new paper, Australijos lietuvis, carried a notice about supporting it with donations of money on 12 September 1948. The group of Lithuanians working in the Iron Knob mines immediately understood that they needed to help. After receiving their wages, they put together a pile of money and sent it to the newspaper. One of them was Domas Valancius, who donated 5 shillings.

Domas had first written to the Minister for Immigration about sponsoring his fiancé to move to Australia on 10 February 1948, that is, just over 2 months after arriving at the Bonegilla camp and 3 weeks after leaving it for Rylstone. A file was raised for the first letter and any ensuing correspondence, as was normal Australian Public Service practice. The existence of this file means that we have a report from the Port Augusta District Employment Officer to his superior in Adelaide, dated 21 September 1948, about Domas and another Lithuanian from the First Transport, Petras Juodka.

The Employment Officer, EJ Puddy, wrote that he had travelled to Iron Knob following a phone discussion with the Registrar of the Broken Hill Proprietory Limited company. There he had first talked with Broken Hill’s Iron Knob foreman. Both Domas and Petras were said to have ‘given quite a lot of trouble on and off the job’.

Both had been before the Iron Knob court where they had been fined for disorderly behaviour in a public place. This had been the result of a brawl in Broken Hill’s mess rooms. It is interesting that a privately owned place was considered a public place for the purpose of the court appearance, unless the brawl continued on a public road outside.

Puddy reported that the foreman had told him that Domas was ‘of an argumentative and repulsive nature’. Domas was considered the leader with Petras a follower, despite Petras having been before the local court one more time than Domas. The foreman thought that Petras would settle down if separated from Domas.

The local policeman told Puddy that he thought it would be necessary to transfer both of the men ‘as there appeared to be a feeling amongst others that there was trouble ahead.’

Puddy and the foreman then interviewed the two men together. Puddy wrote that Petras ‘was very repentant, but (Domas) did not appear to care what happened to him’.

The company agreed to give the men one week’s notice and told them that they would have to pay their own fares to Adelaide in order to visit the CES there. Their ‘services were terminated’ on 23 September.

A handwritten note from an official using initials only reports that Domas, saying that he wished to return to Germany, had caught the express train eastwards on the night of 25 September. He had stated that he was returning to the Bonegilla camp. The purpose of the note was to instruct others to take no further action on Domas’ wish to sponsor his fiancé to Australia until they knew more about his plans.

And that what appears to have happened. There was no further action, although Domas had found a guarantor for Loni among his Australian colleagues at Iron Knob. He did not, however, meet the basic requirement of having been resident for at least 12 months before sponsoring. By persisting in finding a guarantor, he showed no sign of understanding the residence requirement, which had been explained by letter. He was advised also that someone else would have to find the money to pay for Loni’s passage, since apparently she was not a Displaced Person. In all of this frustration, Loni might have found another special friend anyhow.

Domas arrived at the Bonegilla camp for a third time on 27 September. On 8 October, the Bonegilla camp’s Assistant Director signed a note to the head Immigration official for South Australia, reporting the arrival and stating that a report on Domas also had been sent to the head office of the Immigration Department. The files on Domas which have been digitised so far do not contain that report. It might still be waiting to tell us more about how Australian officials saw Domas on a Central Office file about Bonegilla activities.

This time it took the CES staff nearly one month to find another job for him. On 26 October, he was sent to Standart Portland Cement Company Limited, at Brogans Creek, NSW. That’s probably a typing mistake for ‘Standard Portland Cement’.

On Domas’ Bonegilla card, Brogans Creek is described as ‘near Charbon’. Charbon is a tiny village 17 kilometres north of Brogans Creek by road. It is interesting to note that Domas’ original destination, Rylstone, is only 25 kilometres north by road. Geographically, Domas was back almost where he had started in Australia.

In June 1949, a newspaper called the Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative carried, in its ‘Rylstone and Kandos News’ columns, a report from the Kandos Court of Petty Sessions. Two Lithuanians, Domas Valancius and Bronius Latrys were fined on 25 May for ‘behaving in an offensive manner’. Domas was fined 10 shillings with 10 shillings costs while Bronius lost £2 with 10 shillings costs.

Clearly the two were not drunk, or they would have been charged with a difference offence, like ‘drunk and disorderly’. One legal firm gives as examples of offensive behaviour, ‘yelling, swearing, urinating, pushing and shoving or being part of an aggressive or rowdy group’. This must be in or near a public place or school.

Having received the larger fine, Bronius, whose family name actually was Latvys, probably was the noisier of the two. As he was 10 years older than Domas, perhaps he thought that he had the right to yell at Domas and the latter yelled back.

Kandos is a small town only 6 kilometres south of Rylstone and 3 kilometres north of Charbon. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 1263. While Domas had stayed at Iron Knob for only 5 months, it looks like he was still with the Portland Cement company after 7 months.

Less than 3 months later, Domas was before the Kandos Court of Petty Sessions again. This time he had been drinking and, according the arresting and prosecuting Sergeant of Police, using such bad language that the Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative refused to print it. 

The Lithgow Mercury of 1 September 1949 also found the story interesting enough to reprint it. It could see a humourous side to Domas’ behaviour on the night of 12 August, when Domas was caught easily because he had fled into a fowl yard.

The Lithgow Mercury reports on Domas, 1 September 1949, page 6

Source:  Trove

(Click image to view in another tab and enlarge to read)

The absence of further court reporting does suggest that Domas adhered to his promise not to drink alcohol. He had also been with Standard Portland Cement for 10 months, and perhaps was about to be released from his obligation to work in Australia shortly, at the end of September 1949.

He was in the news again in March 1953, having moved from inland of Newcastle, an industrial city north of Sydney, to the vicinity of Wollongong, another industrial city but south of Sydney. The bicycle he was riding near his Port Kembla home was hit by a car. He suffered head injuries and abrasions to the face. He was taken to the Wollongong Hospital.

Or was he on a motorcycle? That was how another newspaper reported the incident.

He acquired Australian citizenship on 24 January 1961. He was still living at Port Kembla, but at a different address. His addresses now could be followed on electoral rolls. In 1963, he was still at his 1961 address. By 1968, he had moved again but still was very close to his 1961-63 address. After that, electoral rolls have not been digitised.

Searching the Ryerson Index for any Valancius death notices reveals only one. It is that of Domas, who had died on 12 May 1980 in the Bundanoon district of NSW. He had moved inland again, southwest of Port Kembla.

Domas was only 57 years old at the time of his death.

Whoever was the executor of any estate that Domas left did not realise that he had taken out a life insurance policy. That is why his name was included in a list of unclaimed money published in a Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 7 years later, on 29 June 1987.

Anyone who has a life insurance policy is unlikely to have died without leaving a will, so there must have been an executor. We have to hope that any money due to Domas or his heirs found its way to its rightful place.

Sources

Lithuanian State Historical Archives, Rietavo dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga, 1922-01-01 – 1922-12-31 [Birth register of churches in the Rietavas deanery, 1922-01-01 – 1922-12-31] https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267502635/297161654/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=195 [Domas Valancius’ birth record in Plunge church is on page 174, record number 107].

Arolsen Archives, City region of Herne: Report on Employed Foreigners, Category A, Lithuanians, Documents from Australijos lietuvis (1948) ‘Pirmieji Mūsų Rėmėjai’in Lithuanian [‘Our First Sponsors’], 12 September, page 10, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321942 accessed 30 January 2025.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, Domas Valancius https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203712436 accessed 30 January 2025.

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Illawarra Daily Mercury (1953) 'Cyclist Hurt in Collision' Wollongong, NSW, 17 March, p 7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134041121 accessed 25 February 2025.

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National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; VALANCIUS DOMAS, VALANCIUS, Domas : Year of Birth - 1922 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 875, 1947-48; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203712436 accessed 26 February 1925.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Western Australia; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series, 1926-52; General Heintzelman — arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 — nominal rolls of passengers, 1947–52, page 16 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 28 January 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Central Office: MT29/ 1, Employment Service Schedules; Schedule of displaced persons who left the Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla Victoria for employment in the State of South Australia - [Schedule no SA1 to SA31], page 49 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=23150376 accessed 30 January 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-47; 500, VALANCUS (sic) Domas DOB 21 June 1922, 1947-47 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1834240 accessed 26 February 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1947-76; VALANCUS (sic) DOMAS, VALANCUS (sic) nDomas - Nationality: Lithuanian Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-48 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7174218 accessed 26 February 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D401, Correspondence files, multiple number series with 'SA' prefix, 1946-49; SA1948/3/512, VALANCUS Domas - application for admission of relative or friend to Australia - KLINGBEIL Loni, 1948-53 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=12455258 accessed 26 February 2025.

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W&Co. Lawyers, ‘Behave in an Offensive Manner’ https://wcolawyers.com.au/behave-in-an-offensive-manner-nsw/ accessed 25 February 2025.

Wikipedia ‘Solingen’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solingen accessed 25 February 2025.