Bronius Bukevičius (1915-1990): builder of furniture and community, by Daina Pocius, Ann-Tündern-Smith and Rasa Ščevinksienė

This is the story of a First Transport passenger who became well known around his adopted home town of Hobart and further afield for his singing and his willingness to support his community.

Bronius in Lithuania

Bronius was born in 20 October 1915 in the village of Kumečiai, near Kalvarija in Suvalkija, the southwestern region of Lithuania. His parents were Tomas Bukevičius and Petronėlė nee Pečiulytė. He grew up in a family of five brothers and a sister. 

He finished secondary school, although this is stated to be ‘8 years of elementary school’ on the record of his interview with the selection team for migration to Australia. He then worked in a government office.

In 1944, as the Russians approached, he left with his older brother Juozas for Germany. His Mūsų Pastogė obituarist wrote that he had reside in various DP camps. Arolsen Archives has not been able to digitise any documents for him, so we have no further evidence from that normally useful source. Juozas appears on one list only, which tells us nothing more than the date he embarked on the ship which brought him to Australia.

Bronius embarked on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, on 30 October 1947, or we would not be researching him.

Bronius Bukevičius in his 1947 photograph for his application to migrate

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The Particulars of Displaced Person Wishing to Migrate to Australia form typed up on his behalf in Germany says that he had 10 years of farming experience in Lithuania and 7 months more recent months. Presumably, the Lithuanian farm experience was before, during and after his work in the state office, when he was needed on the family farm or elsewhere in the district.

Bronius' early life in Australia

In March 1949, Bronius lodged an application to sponsor his brother for migration to Australia. Bronius then was working for HV Locke of Premaydena as an Orchard Hand, earning £5/17/6. This was less than the then basic wage of around £6/8/-, so we have to hope that the difference was due to Bronius also received a place to live and meals.

When he applied for Australian citizenship in 1957, he stated that his occupation before coming to Australia was clerk. That fits better with the obituarist’s recollection that he had worked in a government office. His current occupation was joiner, that is, a builder of furniture rather than houses.

Forming a choir on the way to Australia

When he applied for Australia, his German was ‘fair’ but he had no English. The selection team gave him a B+ score, enough to get him out of Germany on the Heintzelman.

On the voyage to Australia, Bronius joined with Kazys Mieldažys and Petras Morkunas to start a 40-man choir. Bronius had been managing a choir called Aušrinė in Germany.

In addition to singing on the ship, the choir performed for an audience of 9 local Lithuanians while the Heintzelman passengers had their 4-day Perth stopover. It continued to perform in the Bonegilla camp until the last of its members were dispersed to their first jobs in Australia. While in this camp, its singing was recorded by Albury’s radio station, which continued to broadcast the songs after the choir had disbanded.

The choir’s history and Petras Morkunas’ later achievements were recounted by fellow First Transport passenger, Kazys Mieldažys, in a celebration of Petras’ 70th birthday published in Mūsų Pastogė in December 1982.

More on his early life in Australia

Bronius’ first job in Australia was Goulburn Valley fruit-picking in Victoria, employed by W Young of Kelvin Orchards. He stayed there for more than 9 weeks, unlike some who came back to the Bonegilla camp after a few days. Then it was off to Tasmania after one day back at the Bonegilla camp. There he was sent to the New Norfolk, upriver from the State’s capital city of Hobart. His Bonegilla card adds nothing to this but Ramunas Tarvydas has him working with the Tasmanian Government’s Housing Department, perhaps a later destination.

A later 1947 photograph of Bronius for his Bonegilla card:
same man, same outfit (his best? but the tie is different)

Source:  National Archives of Australia

However, we know from his sponsorship of his brother, Juozas, that he was working as an orchard hand or assistant at Premaydena in March 1949. This still is nearly 2 hours’ drive from New Norfolk, so Bronius must have been able to move from one workplace to another in Tasmania while still under contract to the Australian Government.

When his contract period was up, probably on 30 September 1949, he moved to Hobart. The obituarist said that he worked as a carpenter in house construction for a Derwent Park company.

From the start, Bronius involved himself in the Hobart Lithuanian community. He was the secretary of the founding meeting for a community organisation. In 1954, by which time the organisation had become the Hobart District of ALB (the Australian Lithuanian Community), he was elected to the board alongside Jonas Motienjūs and Aleksas Jakštas, both of whom we have met already in this blog.

Bronius and the Hobart Lithuanian Quartet

His choral interests were expressed in Hobart’s male quartet. When first making the news in Hobart’s Mercury newspaper on 25 November, 8 and 9 December 1950, he was the first tenor while the other members were Vaclovas Kalytis (second tenor), Karolis Maslauskas (baritone) and Juozas llciukas (bass).

According to a report in Mūsų Pastogė on 23 September 1953, the quartet now had 5 members: Bukevičius, Maslauskas, Kalytis, J. Šlyteris and Aleksas Jakštas. On that occasion, a celebration of what Lithuanians called National Day, on September 8, the author remarked that the singers would be of a high standard if they had a conductor. Unfortunately, he wrote, the Hobart Lithuanian community lacked a musician knowledgeable in choral conducting.

Bronius, his brother and their sister

Bronius’ sponsorship of Juozas was successful. Juozas, also a joiner, was accepted as a labourer and joined Bronius in Hobart. He left Marseille on a ship called the Sagittaire with his passage paid by the International Refugee Organization (IRO, one of UNRRA’s successors), landing in Sydney on 29 July 1949.

Their sister also had fled Lithuania, with her husband and daughter, ending up with Juozas in France. Juozas applied to the Australian Government for them to be accepted as migrants. Questions then arose, including whether they were still eligible for IRO assistance, because otherwise they would have to pay their own fares to Australia. Eventually the sister, brother-in-law and niece emigrated to the USA.

Juozas starred on the lead story on page 1 of Hobart's Mercury newspaper on 12 January 1954.  The occasion was his airport reunion with his wife and two children, whom he had not seen for 11 years.

Bronius 10 years on

In June 1958, Tėviškės Aidai told its readers that Bronius had been seriously injured in a car accident two months previously. Although his health had improved, he had not been able to return to work.

On 5 March 1959, Bronius became an Australian citizen.

The quartet plus one was still performing in 1960, again at a Lithuanian National Day celebration which was reported in the 30 September issue of Mūsų Pastogė. This time, the quartet was again a quintet, with the core of Bukevičius, Maslauskas and Kalytis joined by Stasys Domkus and a later arrival, Bonifacas Šikšnius.

Bronius in later years

In 1963, he along with many others was thanked publicly for contributing a donation to the Australian Lithuanian Community (ALB) for its activities. In his case, he donated £1, the equivalent of around $120 in today’s buying power.

To support the travel of a North American Lithuanian basketball team to Australia in 1964, his donation was £5, not calculated by the Reserve Bank to be worth 5 times as much as his previous donation but still a helpful $180.

Another unhealthy episode occurred in 1971, when he fell and broke a leg. On that occasion, the Tėviškės Aidai correspondent had to report again that he was still in hospital but hoping to go home soon.

Bronius was a member of the Audit Commission of the Australian Lithuanian Community Hobart District in 1973. The thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Hobart District was marked by a gathering in the suburb of Glenorchy in September 1980. Bronius’ name was one of a number singled out for special mention for having served on the board at times over the previous years.

Bronius died on the 10 April 1990, and was thought worth of two slightly different obituaries, one in Mūsų Pastogė for 7 May 1990 and one in Tėviškės aidai for 15 May.  He was cremated in the Cornelian Bay crematorium.  Juozas had died already, on 27 June 1988.

Baltic people and singing

Hobart’s Lithuanian Quartet, anchored by 3 men from the General Stuart Heintzelman, was not the only musical expertise and enjoyment brought to Australia by the First Transport. We know of a Lithuanian quartet or double quartet in Adelaide and Lithuanian choirs in Melbourne.

Sydney-based EMA (Eesti Meeskoor Austraalias, Estonian Men’s Choir in Australia, while ‘ema’ is the Estonian word for ‘mother’) performed for 65 years after its start on the voyage to Australia. At least 2 Latvians on the voyage were trained singers, so it is not a surprise that their Melbourne community founded the Rota choir in 1949, followed by other Latvian communities.

This blog will have more about them as soon as we can put their stories together but, meanwhile, it can be said that, wherever there are Baltic people, there is singing.

FOOTNOTE:  Lithuania's National Day was commemorated after WWI until the chaos of WWII, to promote Lithuanian statehood.  Of course it became but a memory once a Communist government took over.  

The date itself is that on which Vytautas the Great was to be crowned King of Lithuania in 1430.  His crown was seized by Polish nobles opposed to his elevation while on its way from the court of the Emperor Sigismund, so the coronation did not take place.  Lithuania remained a Grand Duchy.

Continued celebration of National Day in Australia was a strong way of opposing Lithuania's WWII fate.

It is still a day of commemoration in modern Lithuania, but not a public holiday. It is most often commemorated today at monuments to Vytautas the Great (for instance in Kaunas, Jurbarkas, Veliuona), in schools, especially those named in honor of Vytautas, and briefly in cultural centres.  Some municipalities conduct short ceremonies, perhaps with flower-laying.

CITE THIS AS: Pocius, Daina , Tündern-Smith, Ann and Rasa Ščevinskienė (2026) 'Bronius Bukevičius (1915-90): builder of furniture and community' https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2026/05/bronius-bukevicius-1915-90-builder-of.html

SOURCES

Augustavičius, S (1990) ‘Mūsų mirusieji, A † A Bronius Bukevičius’ (‘Our Deceased, In Memoriam Bronius Bukeviius’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), 5 July, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1990/1990-05-07-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 April 2026.

Augustavičius, S (1990) ‘Hobartas’ (‘Hobart’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland), Melbourne, Vic, 15 May, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1990/1990-05-15-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 22 April 2026.

Mercury (1950) ‘Lithuanian Quartet’ Hobart, Tas, 9 December, p 6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26744818, accessed 30 April 2026.

Mercury (1954) 'For 11 Years They Dream of This' Hobart, Tas, 12 January, p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27208269, accessed 1 May 2026.

Mieldažys, Kazys (1982) ‘Petrui Morkūnui 70’ (Petras Morkunas 70’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, NSW, 13 December, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1982/1982-12-13-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 26 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1953) ‘Pavykęs minėjimas’ (‘A Successful Commemoration’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 23 September, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1953/1953-09-23-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 22 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1954) ‘Nauja Apylinkės Valdyba Hobarte’ (‘New District Council Hobart’ in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 3 February, p 4, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1954/1954-02-03-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 29 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1960) ‘Hobartas, Tautos šventės minėjimas’ (Hobart, National Holiday Celebration, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 30 September, p 6, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-09-30-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 29 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1963) ‘Aukos al bendruomenei, Hobarto apylinkėje aukojo’ (‘Donations to the community, donated in the Hobart area’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 4 December, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1963/1963-12-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 30 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1964) ‘Aukos, Šisurės Amerikos Lietuvių krepšininkų rinktines kelionės Į Australiją išlaidoms Padengti’ (‘Donations, to Cover Expenses of Lithuanian-American Basketball Team's Trip To Australia’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 23 November, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1964/1964-11-23-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 26 April 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 52, BUKEVICIUS Bronius DOB 20 October 1915, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005488, accessed 8 May 1948.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P3, Personal case files, annual single number series with 'T' (Tasmania) prefix, 1951 - ; T1959/1842, Bukevicius, Juozas, 1949-1951; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4095877, accessed 8 May 1948.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P3, Personal case files, annual single number series with 'T' (Tasmania) prefix, 1951 - ; T1969/2261, Bukevicius, Bronius, 1957-1958; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9592497, accessed 8 May 1948.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P1185, Incoming passenger cards, lexicographical series, 1948-1968; BUKEVICIUS, BUKEVICIUS, Juozas (Lithuanian), arrived Sydney per SAGITTAIRE, 29 July 1949, 1949-1949 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1613685, accessed 8 May 1948.

National Archives of Australia:  Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; BUKEVICIUS BRONIUS, BUKEVICIUS, Bronius : Year of Birth - 1915 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN.HEINTZELMAN : Number - 452 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203669658, accessed 8 May 1948.

Paškevičius, (Juozas?) (1980) ‘Hobartas, Tautos Šventė’ (‘Hobart, National Holiday’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) Sydney NSW, 20 September, p 3 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1980/1980-09-20-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 1 May 2026.

Reserve Bank of Australia ‘Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator’ https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html, accessed 25 April 2026.

Tarvydas, Ramunas (1997) From Amber Coast to Apple Isle: Fifty Years of Baltic Immigrants in Tasmania 1948-1998, Baltic Semicentennial Commemoration Activities Organising Committee, Hobart, Tasmania, pp 66, 161.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1958) ‘Iš Tasmanijos padangės’ (‘From Under the Tasmanian Sky, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 4 June, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1958/1958-06-04-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 21 April 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1971) ‘Hobartas’ (‘Hobart’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 18 May, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1971/1971-nr18-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 21 April 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1973) ‘Hobartas’ (‘Hobart’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 23 January, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1973/1973-nr03-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 21 April 2026

Wikipedia ‘Suvalkija’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suvalkija accessed 21 April 2026.

Vaclovas Kalytis (1918-1967): An Escape, and a Murder, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith with Rasa Ščevinskienė

Vaclovas was one of 22 men from the First Transport who found themselves assigned to the Goliath Portland Cement Company in Railton, Tasmania. He and the others claimed to be unsure of how long they were meant to work to repay the Australian Government for their resettlement in Australia. After they had been undertaking the hard, dusty work there for 14 months, he, and others decided to find the answer.

Vaclovas wrote an article in the Australijos Lietuvis [Australian Lithuanian] newspaper about the experience, titled Kaip mes pabėgom … [How We Escaped …].

Vaclovas Kalytis photograph from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Escaping from Railton

“We [Vaclovas and Kazimieras or Kazys Vilutis] each packed a suitcase, left the factory, took a taxi to the nearest airport, caught a flight to Melbourne and hurried to catch the express train to Bonegilla. Along the way, two more compatriots join us in the same direction.

“After straightening our ties, we stood before the highest officer of the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES), to plead our case.

“The young officer looked us over from head to toe for a long time and, after thinking for a long time, said, ‘You First Transporters want to change your jobs?’ He looked at his watch and said ‘I give you gentlemen 30 minutes to disappear from Bonegilla, if you are still here, I will call the police. Goodbye, you are free to go’.*

“I wasn’t sure if that meant, we were ‘free’ or just free until the police arrived. We didn’t wait around and in ten minutes were on a bus out of there. Returning to Melbourne, we encountered some countrymen who told us about the Dunlop factory. We started the next day.

“The Dunlop factory was very large, employing over 4000 men and women. The wages were good and plenty of opportunity for overtime. Soon there were 15 Lithuanians working there.

“Later we went to the Immigration Department, registered and now, like real Australians, we live as if we were free.”

He ended the article by providing his address and stating that compatriots could get in contact with him if they needed any assistance. The article caused some angst in the community, as his fellow Lithuanians began to think anyone, even recent arrivals, could shorten their working contract by doing the same.

Return to Railton

Vaclovas wrote a follow up letter from Railton, dated 2 May 1949 and published 6 weeks later, stating that his How We Escaped article applied only to the Lithuanians of First Transport, who all were single. In Germany, the First Transporters had signed a contract for one year only, the argument they were using with Australian officials. He asked his compatriots not to ask him about this any more, as he did not know what his future held.

The Immigration Department had contacted them and threatened to have the five men deported to Germany if they did not return to Tasmania. They did return. Vaclovas’ follow up letter indicates that he was back in Railton, so his escape had failed.

Staying in Tasmania

He stayed in Tasmania, but he moved around between residences and jobs. Signs of this is advice in the Launceston Examiner newspaper, in October 1952, that W Kalytis was in a group of 5 presenting a ‘hula dance’ at a fundraiser on Flinders Island. Two months later, Mrs W Kalytis of Whitemark, the one town on Flinders Island, had been a passenger on a trip to mainland Tasmania with her baby daughter. We assume that the Examiner’s Country News reporter or a typesetter had problems separating V’s from W’s.

Vaclovas' Youth

Vaclovas was born on 15 September 1918. His selection papers for Australia say that he was born in Leningrad, in Russia. He spent his youth in the village of Norkūnai near Utena, however, where he finished 4 years of school. When he grew up, he moved to Ukmergė and Kaunas and worked as a sales clerk. During the war he served in the anti-aircraft unit.

He also had worked on farms. The selection papers say that he had done this for four years in Lithuania, and that it was his present occupation in Germany as of mid-October 1947.

By the 1944 northern summer, he must have been working in a factory, however, because the record of his selection interview for Australia says, “Moved with his factory to Germany”.  After the War, he found accommodation in one of 5 Displaced Persons camps in Lübeck, which together housed almost 10,000 refugees.

Early Days in Australia

From there, he arrived in Australia in the First Transport. More than 7 weeks in the Bonegilla camp, included 2 days in January when a health worry was checked at the Albury General Hospital. Shortly after, on 28 January 1948, he was assigned to pick fruit for Messrs Turnbull Brothers in Ardmona.

He returned to Bonegilla after 3 weeks and soon after found himself working as a kitchen hand at Bonegilla for just over one month. It was not until 8 April that he was sent to Railton in Tasmania and the Goliath Portland Cement Company with 8 compatriots.

Vaclovas the Singer

As soon as he arrived in Tasmania, he organised a Lithuanian choir at the cement factory. His obituarist wrote that, “He sang to anyone who would listen”.

We have already read that the Burnie newspaper on 2 October 1948 reported a Railton function to celebrate one of Lithuania's national days. Tarvydas writes that the singing was led by Vaclovas Kalytis and the women joining in the national dances were locals who had been taught the steps by Railton’s Lithuanian men. Kalytis kept the music going at other gatherings with his piano accordion.

The next year’s public Lithuanian national day celebration is described in more detail by Genovaitė Kazokas in her PhD thesis on Lithuanian Artists in Australia 1950-1990. She wrote, "In September, 1949, the fifteen Lithuanian men working in Railton celebrated Lithuanian Day by organising a Lithuanian folk-art exhibition, the first ever held in Tasmania, and by performing national songs and dances. Invited guests included local clergy and Mr. Davies-Graham, the manager of the Railton Cement Works where the Lithuanians were employed.

"Young local Tasmanian women, trained by the Lithuanians, partnered the men in folk dancing and the small male choir was trained and conducted by Vaclovas Kalytis. The programme also included a talk on Lithuanian history by Napoleonas Butkunas.

"The male choir was invited to sing at several Catholic churches in the district. The official Catholic newspaper published a complimentary report on the men's cultural abilities and activities."

After moving to Hobart, Vaclovas was one of the founders of the Lithuanian community there, but was more famous for forming the Hobart Lithuanian Quartet. In addition to Vaclovas, (second tenor), it included Bronius Bukevičius, (first tenor), Karolis Maslauskas (baritone), and Juozas Ilčiukas (bass).

In December 1950, the quartet sang carols and folk songs at the Hobart City Hall for the Christmas function for New Australians. (Arthur Calwell, the Minister for Immigration, had asked the press and public to call the Displaced Persons New Australians instead of the universal “Balts” or “reffos”.)

For several years the quartet sang Lithuanian songs in Hobart, sometimes on stage, sometimes on the radio, and introduced Lithuanians to the Australian public. When the quartet disbanded, Vaclovas’ voice was still heard whether it was in the community commemorations or ceremonies.

As money was always short, Lithuanians would help each other with building their houses on weekends. Vaclovas assisted his friend Antanas Viknius build his house in Orchard Lane, Hobart. At the end of work on Sunday, the workers would sit down for a meal and drinks. Vaclovas would take out his accordion. According to Ramunas Tarvydas, the sound of the singing would be so loud that it would carry almost one kilometre to Kenbrae Avenue, Glenorchy, to another group of Lithuanians. They would hurry over and join the party.

Life and Death

He married Rita had two daughters and a son. When he was fulfilled all requirements for Australian citizenship on 4 June 1963, the family was living in Kingston, an semi-rural area 10 kilometres south of Tasmania’s capital, Hobart. (It was 11 minutes by road north of Electrona, about which we have written recently.)

They were neighbours to Margot Paterson, who wrote in detail about their life there. She reveals that, on 11 September 1967, Vaclovas was murdered in Hobart, only days before his 49th birthday. It seems that his likely killers were known, but never arrested or charged.

He had been working with Electrolytic Zinc at Risdon, upriver from Hobart.  He had become a cyanide specialist, which was a one-man job.  He seldom had contact with fellow workers except during the brief handover at the end of the shift.  He had a 40-minute wait in Hobart for the bus south to Kingston.  So it was natural to have a couple of drinks in the nearby pub while he waited, which gave him a spot of adult male company.  Unfortunately, he also had become very generous is shouting rounds at this pub.

One evening, two young men insisted on giving him a lift home instead of letting him take the bus.  After he failed to arrive home, he was found the next morning on Sandy Bay Beach, with many injuries and near death after a bashing.  His recovery took many weeks but, eventually, he was able to return to work.  His English was much improved by his many weeks in hospital.

The two young thugs were jailed, as they had been identified by Vaclovas' fellow drinkers at the pub.  They were released on parole two years later.  On that day, Vaclovas failed to come home and family and a neighbour spent fruitless hours searching for him.  The phone call to say that he had been found dead came the next morning.  The inquest found that he had been killed by a single blow to the head.

This time, no-one was arrested as likely to have been involved in his murder.

This death, of course, was a great shock to his wife and children. His two daughters were studying at high school and his son was still in primary school.

In Vaclovas’ obituary he was described as a typical ‘Aukštaitis’ (eastern highlander); cheerful, a singer, friendly, active and energetic but with an easy and carefree manner. He left behind an aging mother and many relatives in Lithuania, as well as a brother in the United States of America.

The children have become achievers, with one an artist, another a published author, music and film director and producer who has become a therapist, while the third became the head of an information technology company. However, the middle child, artistic Diana, died of cancer on 6 March 1983, aged 30.

Margot Paterson's "The Road to the Farm" is well worth reading, especially its Chapter Chapter 3, which covers her view of the Kalytis family's life as her neighbours.

Footnote

* Povilas Niaura’s son Stephen has obtained copies of documents prepared by Ramunas Tarvydas (see Sources) and amended by staff of the Railton company now known as Cement Australia. One amendment shows that Vaclovas Kalytis and Kazimieris (Kazys) Vilutis both ‘absconded’ on 14 February 1949. Two more absconded on 28 February 1949: Antanas Viknius and Endel Uduste, an Estonian. Another Lithuanian who ‘absconded’, on 16 March 1949, was Edmundas Obelevicius. Perhaps there was some hanging around Melbourne for at least two weeks until a group of 4 had enough courage to present together before the CES official in Bonegilla.

By the time Ramunas wrote up his notes, he had changed the group which ‘absconded’ from Railton to Kalytis, Vilutis, Viknius, Endrius Jankus and Vytautas Stasiukynas. The typed note against Endrius’ name says ‘Explosives Engineering’, the name of the company he had founded. Vytautas Stasiukynas ‘left of own accord’ rather than ‘absconded’ on the same date as Antanas and Endel.

We know in some detail what then happened to Endrius, who is not known to have found employment with Dunlop. That detail is reported on page 32 of Ramunas Tarvydas book’ and in this blog, in the entry on the life of Endrius.

On the other hand, those who have reported on the life of Vytautas Stasiukynas, a veterinarian who left Australia for Colombia in 1950, have avoided the detail of his 1949 interactions with the CES.

As far as Arthur Calwell, Minister for Immigration was concerned, the official should have found members of the group employment in areas of reported need somewhere else. This certainly is what happened in the cases of Adomas Ivanauskas, Rasa’s grandfather, and his friend, Domas Valancius, when they returned to Bonegilla on 12 April 1948. Did the official react differently to Vaclovas and his companions because they had waited until February 1949? Had the official not been advised what he should have been doing should a case like this occur?

Sources

Advocate (Burnie, Tas), 'Migrants celebrate national day', 2 October 1948, p 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69190232, accessed 13 July 2023.

AK (1967) ‘AA Vaclovas Kalytetis’ [‘RIP Vaclovas Kalytis, in Lithuanian] Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, 11 November, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1967/1967-11-06-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 28 March 2025.

Examiner (1952a) 'News from the Country' Launceston, 18 October, p 16 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52918517, accessed 8 September 2025.

Examiner (1952b) 'Country News' Launceston, 23 December, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52927170, accessed 8 September 2025.

Kalytis, Vaclovas (1949a) ‘Kaip mes pabėgom …’ [‘How we escaped …’ in Lithuanian] Australijos Lietuvis [Australian Lithuanian], Adelaide, 11 April, p 9 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/31542465 accessed 25 March 2025.

Kalytis, Vaclovas (1949b), ‘Kaip Mes Ten Iš Tikruju "Pabėgom”’ [‘How We Really "Escaped" From There’, in Lithuanian] Australijos Lietuvis [Australian Lithuanian] Adelaide, 23 May, p 11 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321227 accessed 25 March 2025.

Kazokas, Genovaitė (1992) 'Lithuanian Artists in Australia 1950-1990, Vol 1, p 328 https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Lithuanian_artists_in_Australia_1950-1990_Vols_I_and_II/23205632?file=40902071, accessed 8 September 2025.

DPCamps.org ‘DP Camps in Germany – L’ http://www.dpcamps.org/dpcampsGermanyL.html accessed 25 March 2025.

Mercury (1950) ‘Lithuanian Quartet’, Hobart, 9 December, p 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26744818 accessed 28 March 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; 391, KALYTIS Vacslavas (sic) DOB 15 September 1918, 1947-47 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005687 accessed 28 March 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria], 1947-56; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla],1947- 1956; KALYTIS VACSLAVAS, KALYTIS, Vacslavas : Year of Birth - 1918 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 775, 1947-48, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203640629 accessed 28 March 2025.

Paterson, Margot (2020) ‘The Road to the Farm, Chapter 3’ https://alexpaterson.net/anecdote/TRTTF_3.htm accessed 7 September 2025.

Tarvydas, Ramunas (1997) From Amber Coast to Apple Isle: Fifty Years of Baltic Immigrants in Tasmania 1948-1998. Hobart, Baltic Semicentennial Commemoration Activities Organising Committee, p 64.

Railton, 1948: Goliath Portland Cement Company from Endrius Jankus' collection, by Ann Tündern-Smith

First published on 15 July 2023, updated on 2 December 2023, 23 February and 25 November 2024, and 26 January and 8 September 2025.

During his 11-12 months working for the Goliath Portland Cement Company in Railton, Tasmania, Endrius Jankus collected photographs taken by another of the refugees.  Presumably, he purchased these at the going rate, around 5 pence per photograph, as calculated from information he provided in his translated diary entry, published here in the Bonegilla 1947-1948: Another Two Weeks, from New Year's Day (January 1-13) blog entry.  Probably, it was 6 pence or half a shilling for an individual photo, with a reduced rate for bulk purchases.  So here are the photos.

A group of Goliath Cement workers in 1948; From the left, Mindaugas Sumskas, a local, Povilas Niaura, Vaclovas Kalytis, Endrius Jankus, Kazys Vilutis
and (in front) Aleksandras Zilinskas

Smoko while loading a rail wagon of cement
Front: Povilas Niaura; Middle: Mindaugas Sumskas, Aleksandras Zilinskas, Tony Viknius; Rear: unknown, Endrius Jankus with a dark face, Kazys Vilutis, unknown

Lunchtime at the cement factory
 Standing: Povilas Niaura and a local; seated: Endrius Jankus, Aleksandras Zilinskas, unknown, Henrikas Surkavicius, Mindaugas Sumskas

Another 1948 lunch group at the Goliath factory:  Left to right, Endrius Jankus,
Povilas Niaura, Vaclovas Kalytis, Henrikas Surkavicius, Antanas Viknius, 
Kasys Vilutis, Mindaugas Sumskas, Vytautas Stasiukynas

Four of the men have a smoke before a concert at Railton:
Left to right they are Endrius Jankus, Aleksandras Zilinskas,
Kazys Vilutis and Vaclovas Kalytis
(You can view larger versions of any photographs above by double-clicking on them)

The Bonegilla cards of 18 men show that they were sent directly to the Goliath Company at Railton.  Endrius Jankus' card shows that he was sent to Tasmania for fruit picking but we know from the photographs above and other evidence that he then moved onto Railton.  There might be others like that, such as Vaclovas Kalytis and Aleksandras Zilinskas. Comparing names from various sources, I have come up with a list of 22, consisting of 3 Estonians, 5 Latvians and 15 Lithuanians:

Napoleonas Butkunas

Endrius Jankus

Vaclovas Kalytis

Mykolas Kartanas

Armands Laula

Johannes Liiberg

Povilas Niaura

Edmundas Obolevicius

Juozas Peciulis

Jonas Razvidaukas

Harolds Ronis

Alfred Saik

Antanas Simkus

Vytautas Stasiukynas

Evalds Stelps

Mindaugas Sumskas

Henrikas Surkevicius

Endel Uduste

Helmuts Upe

Antanas Viknius

Kazys Vilutis

Ojars Vinklers

Aleksandras Zilinskas

As recounted in Paul (Povilas) Niaura's story, the initial accommodation was in Goliath's single men's camp.  At first, they moved into the existing huts, but new ones for the new arrivals soon were built.  Ray Tarvydas says that, after wood and tools for making furniture were provided, it was Anton Viknius who showed the others how to do it.

Ramunas adds that, at first, most worked in the factory or the quarry, where the work was harder but the pay better.  Henrikas Surkevicius was promoted to the analytical laboratory after 3 months.  A document from post-WWII Germany made available by the Arolsen Archives shows that this is not a surprise:  his occupation was recorded there as 'Chemiker' or 'chemist'.

What is surprising is that a younger brother apparently left a gold mine in Canada to join Henrikas at Goliath Cement!  On his Bonegilla card, Henrikas recorded his next of kin as a brother, Teodoras, whose address was Picle (sic) Crow Gold Mines, Picle Crow, Ontario.  Teodoras has his own Bonegilla card showing his arrival in Australia on 24 March 1949 on the Mozaffari and his departure from Bonegilla on 6 June 1949 for Goliath Portland Cement Co Pty Ltd, Railton, Tasmania.

Perhaps Henrikas thought that his brother was headed for the Pickle Crow Mines but this turned out to be a plan which lapsed.  Arolsen Archive documents show Teodoras in Germany in 1946 and his 1949 Mozaffari voyage brought Displaced Persons from Germany who had travelled by train to Naples in Italy.

Someone has typed onto Teodoras' Bonegilla card 'none' in the Address of Next of Kin field, but his older brother in Australia was still working at Goliath.  Papers which appear to be working documents created by Ramunas Tarvydas have been acquired recently from the Goliath office through Stephen Niaura, son of Povilas (Paul).  Ramunas has recorded that Henrikas left Goliath on 30 June 1950.  His younger brother arrived one year earlier, on 8 June 1949, and stayed for more than the contracted 2 years, not leaving until 2 October 1952.

One of Ramunas' papers shows that 5 of the men 'absconded' during February 1949, so after only 9 months of labour at Railton.   Another 6 'left of own accord' during March and subsequent months.  These numbers do not include Endrius Jankus.  The labour expected of them could well have been way too hard after the wartime and post-war years of deprivation.

As per Endrius Jankus' story, the Commonwealth Employment Service may have tracked down the absconders and early leavers, to insist that they were not free to chose where they wanted to work.  They had been brought to Australia to fill vacancies which the Government had decided were in the national interest.  Finding where they were sent next probably will be difficult after the destruction of personal employment files, unless their absconding finished up on a policy file still held by Australia's National Archives.

By 2 October 1948, the local Burnie newspaper was reporting on a Railton function to celebrate one of Lithuania's national days.  Tarvydas writes that the singing was led by Vaclovas Kalytis and the women joining in the national dances were locals who had been taught the steps by Lithuanian men in the list above.  Kalytis kept the music going at other gatherings with his piano accordion.

Lithuanian migrants celebrate a national day,
with help from their Latvian, Estonian and Australian friends

Source:  Burnie Advocate, 2 October 1948, p 3

Arthur Calwell's Information Department considered the celebration so important that
it was included in the first draft of its newsletter for migrants, the New Australian

Source:  NAA, CP815/1, 021.148 

A later Lithuanian national day celebration to which the public was invited is described in more detail by Genovaitė Kazokas in her PhD thesis on Lithuanian Artists in Australia 1950-1990.  She wrote, "In September, 1949, the fifteen Lithuanian men working in Railton celebrated Lithuanian Day by organizing a Lithuanian folk-art exhibition, the first ever held in Tasmania, and by performing national songs and dances.  Invited guests included local clergy and Mr. Davies-Graham, the manager of the Railton Cement Works where the Lithuanians were employed.*

"Young local Tasmanian women, trained by the Lithuanians, partnered the men in folk dancing and the small male choir was trained and conducted by Vaclovas Kalytis. The programme also included a talk on Lithuanian history by Napoleonas Butkunas. 

"The male choir was invited to sing at several Catholic churches in the district.  The official Catholic newspaper published a complimentary report on the men's cultural abilities and activities.

"In an unusual move, motivated largely by his recognition of their cultural backgrounds, Mr. Davies-Graham recommended that several of the Lithuanians should be allowed to complete their work contracts in situations that would allow them to utilise their professional qualifications. As a result, one was appointed as an analytic chemist, another transferred as an agriculturist, and others to veterinary positions."** 

It's not a surprise, especially when we consider the folk dancing classes, that the newly arrived Baltic men challenged the local young men for single women.  Tarvydas reports that Aleksandras Zilinskas was supposed to have had two local girlfriends at the same time.  Their former boyfriends challenged Zilinskas to a fight, which he won.  That caused the local lads to gather others to their cause and march on the Baltic men's huts.  They had to be separated by the local policeman, who told them all to shake hands or "I'll bash your heads in".  The policeman prevailed.

We don't know who Aleksandras married but we do know that Mindaugas Sumskas was successful in marrying one of the local ladies.  She was Beverley Barker, daughter of Freda Barker, a widowed schoolteacher living in Railton.  Endrius Jankus remembers that Freda, "... opened her doors to us.  Her knowledge and advice helped many of us especially with problems in English and with government officials".

Another surprise, knowing Baltic habits, is that five of the men were non-drinkers.  A notable example was Edmundas Obolevicius, who was thought to be saving money to return to Europe.  This desire to return was a second reason why he was exceptional.

Tarvydas adds that, "Two more Baltic groups came to Railton later that year, and the last one in 1949".  The small town (2021 Census population still only 1,079) must have seemed very cosmopolitan in the years when it had its additional Baltic population.

We know that Povilas (Paul) Niaura stayed in Railton and that Endrius Jankus travelled to find his own work but returned to Tasmania.  I know that Henrikas Surkevicius and Mindaugas Sumskas moved to mainland Australia.  I've met with Armands Laula in Melbourne and Helmuts Upe in the hills to the east of Perth.  Any news of what happened to the remaining 14 will be received gratefully.

Footnotes

* Lithuania's National Day in February 16.  The only Lithuanian celebration is September might be for the autumn (in Lithuania) or spring (in Australia) equinox.  Napoleonas Butkunas participation in a 20 September 1949 celebration in Tasmania is at odds with the Aliens Registration record showing him reporting to the Melbourne Office of the Department of Immigration on 19 August 1949.  A September 1949 equinox celebration also would have occurred 20 days after the First Transporters were to be released from their 2-year contracts.

** Henrikas Surkevicius' promotion to the analytical laboratory has been noted already.  Any advice on who was allowed to resume their agricultural or veterinary careers would be most welcome.

References

Advocate (Burnie, Tas), 'Migrants celebrate national day', 2 October 1948, p 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69190232, accessed 13 July 2023.

Harasym, R, 'The Pickle Lake Story', Sunset Country, Ontario, Canada, https://visitsunsetcountry.com/history-pickle-lake-ontario-canada, accessed 12 July 2023.

'Henrikas Surkevicius' in Lists of names of the town of Freiburg/Breisgau, Arolsen Archives DocID: 70850177, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70850177, accessed 12 July 2023.

Kazokas, Genovaitė Elena (1992) ‘Lithuanian Artists in Australia 1950-1990, Volume II’, Hobart, University of Tasmania, thesis. https://doi.org/10.25959/23205632.v1

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; Surkevicius, Henricas : Year of Birth - 1913 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 1041, 1947-1948; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203899949, accessed 13 July 2023.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; Surkevicius, Teodoras : Year of Birth - 1913 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - MOZAFFARI' : Number – [unknown], 1949-1949; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203899948, accessed 13 July 2023.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Information, Central Office; CP815/1, General correspondence files, two number series, 1938 - 1951; 021.148, Immigration - From Minister [correspondence with Immigration Publicity Officer], 1947 - 1948, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=263676, accessed 23 February 2024.

Tarvydas, Ramunas, From Amber Coast to Apple Isle: Fifty years of Baltic immigrants in Tasmania, 1948-1998, 1997, Hobart, The author, pp 46-8.