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

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.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Bonegilla 1947-1948: At Last, Off to Work (from 27January) by Endrius "Andrew" Jankus

This post finishes the recollections of Endrius Jankus, a Lithuanian refugee who arrived in Australia on the First Transport, the General Stuart Heintzelman.  Endrius became known as Andrew in Australia.  He was born in Draverna in the south of Lithuania on 7 July 1929 and died in Hobart, Tasmania, on 23 July 2014.  He wrote this memoir in 2012, based on a diary he had kept during his first weeks in Australia.

27 January 1948 

Just after breakfast, the loudspeaker announced the names of all the persons who were being sent fruit picking. My name was among them. 

A little later, we were told to report to the employment office. They issued each one of us with clothing, meat and butter ration coupons and our old and new passports. 

After lunch, each of us was issued with seven and a half shillings. With this money, I bought some tobacco and two airmail letters. This left me three shillings to spend later. 

At 3 pm we were told that we could leave some of our belongings in the storeroom as we will be coming back after the fruit-picking season. I left my little wooden suitcase in the store. 

At night we went for a swim to cool off. 

28 January 1948 

I got up at 6 am and took my blankets back to the store as our departure time was scheduled for 10 am. 

Just before the departure time, four buses arrived to take us to our destinations. We boarded the buses and took off, but had to stop constantly as some of the buses broke down from "old age". 

We stopped at Wangaratta for a while. Some bought sandwiches, others bought the plonk which made us sick. It was well in the afternoon, just before 5 pm, when we arrived at our destination, Ardmona. 

Twelve of us were accommodated in a farmer’s pickers’ barracks. There were two in each small room on two single beds cocooned inside mosquito nets. Mozzies zoomed around all night trying to get under the nets. In the dead of night, they sounded like aeroplanes. 

On our arrival, we were given a meal in a little hut that served as a mess hall. An old man, most likely in his seventies, was our cook. After the meal, we went for a walk to familiarise ourselves with the area. Unfortunately, it was flat as a pancake surrounded by orchards as far as the eye could see. 

I shared a room with AJ, as we have known one another since Bonegilla and the Scout Movement.* 

29 January 1948 

I got up at 6 am, hot and sweaty. The heat seemed to follow us. While most of our families and friends shivered in Europe from the cold, ice and snow, we were sweating in the full brunt of Australia’s summer. 

Breakfast was at 7 am. Then we fronted up for work at the edge of the orchard. The Boss, an overseer, showed us how to pick the larger pears from the tree without damaging the little branches. 

Latvian fruit-pickers from the First Transport in another orchard,
at Grahamvale on the edge of Shepparton, Victoria

Source:  Collection of Arvids Lejins

Each of us was issued with a huge bag to fasten to the body by straps, with an opening at the front. This is where the pears were placed gently, so as not to bruise them. We were also issued with a wooden ladder to reach the top of the trees. Thus equipped, we proceeded to pick the fruit. 

Lunch was at 12 and we started work again at 1 pm, going until 5 pm. 

A group of First Transport fruit-pickers
eating their lunch on the job

Source:  Collection of Arvids Lejins

According to the paper issued by the Commonwealth Employment Bureau at Bonegilla, our pay was three pounds and five shillings for 44 hours a week. Since our arrival we only received only five shillings each week pocket money, so this seemed a fortune to us. 

The "fortune" left us wondering after our first shopping spree in Shepparton with two weeks' pay. A watch of local manufacture cost 11 pounds, shirts were one pound, shoes were two pounds. A parcel of many tinned conserves cost five pounds and ten shillings from a well-known Sydney firm which in specialised in sending parcels to the starving "Poms" but reluctantly accepted our orders to be sent to family and friends left behind in Germany. 

Everything non-British was hated, including the native Aboriginals. We saw a few Aboriginals gathered on the riverbank when a white man appeared and told them to move. It reminded us of our brethren left behind in our country with the murdering Stalinists ordering them around. 

We usually worked until midday on Saturday and spent the rest of the day having a rest and doing some chores, like washing and mending things. Sunday was a free day but many times we worked for the Italian tomato growers picking tomatoes. We got better pay from them. 

Things didn’t work out too well at this place. A week after our arrival, most of us got diarrhoea and we noticed that our bacon and eggs for breakfast were being cooked in a pan full of fat. We gently mentioned to the owner of the property that we appreciated the eggs and bacon for breakfast, but our stomachs could not take cooking them in a massive amount of fat due to the years of starvation. 

The next morning at breakfast, our cook charged into the mess room with a large carving knife and threatened to cut everyone’s throats. We were stunned and our friendship with the cook deteriorated. We laughed after the event and gave him top marks for bravery, for facing twelve young ex-soldiers from different military formations at seventy years of age. 

The other problem which occurred was the switching around of picking rates. On some days or even half days we would be picking at a daily hire rate then suddenly we would be picking at production rate, usually paid by the case at six-pence a case. If it rained, we didn`t get paid at all. We picked there for a month and left for Tatura on 1 March. 

In our picking gang we had one real Australian. He was in his forties, a happy-go-lucky fellow and friend to everyone. He came from Melbourne. He always appeared with a Gladstone bag. In it he had a thermos of "tea" which he used quite frequently. While we went back to the small mess hall for lunch, he remained in the orchard at his work site, no doubt indulging in his "cup of tea". 

Usually in the afternoons we came across him fast asleep under the pear trees. The boss never said anything to him or to us. As I used to talk to him, I was his favorite. 

One day, during a smoko, he offered me a "cup of tea". I could not refuse his friendly offer. I took a sip and my eyes almost popped out of my head. The "cup of tea" was strongly laced with some unidentifiable alcohol. 

Not to appear insulting, I downed the brew and felt sleepy for the rest of the afternoon. No wonder the poor chap used to fall of the ladder and stay there. 

We returned to Bonegilla on 13 March 1948, with our first mission completed. On 18 March, the same group was sent to Tasmania. I believe this was punishment, but for what, escapes me. My relationship with the Commandant at Bonegilla was not very friendly. We could put that down to a clash of cultures.

The end.

Footnotes

* This might well have been Antanas Jurevicius, since the 'Bonegilla cards' for both record that their first job was with Anton Lenne Pty Ltd of Ardmona.  Another possibility is Anicetas Jucius, also sent to Anton Lenne's orchard, but he was not among the scouts on the Heintzelman in a list published in Mūsų Pastogė on 18 November 1996 (in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Heintzelman's arrival and, therefore, the 50th anniversary of Lithuanian scouting in Australia).

** Double-click on the images to see larger versions of them.

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

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

19 December 1947 

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

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

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

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

20 December 1947 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

21 December 1947

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

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

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

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

22 December 1947 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

24 December 1947 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

25 December 1947 

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

To be continued.

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