Saliamonas Antanas Martišius (1920-1971), Early Accidental Death, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

Saliamonas Antanas’ life ended tragically, when he was aged only 51.  After work one day, as he tried to cross Macquarie Street near its intersection with Elizabeth Street in Hobart’s business district, he was hit by a bus.

He received serious head injuries and was taken to hospital for an operation.  He died the following day, 5 October 1971, without regaining consciousness.

For Tasmania’s Lithuanian community, what made this accident even more distressing was that the bus driver was another Lithuanian.

St. Teresa’s Church was almost full with Lithuanians for his funeral and the procession to the cemetery had about 50 cars in the convoy.  Juozas Paškevičius, the Chairman of the District, gave a farewell speech at the grave on behalf of the Lithuanian Community, and a fellow First Transporter, Vladas Mikelaitis, also said some words.  Saliamonas was buried in Cornelian Bay Cemetery, Hobart.

Saliamonas Antanas was an unusual example of a Lithuanian commonly known by his middle name, Antanas.  From the viewpoint of this blog, this presents a problem: there was another Antanas Martišius on the ship which brought him to Australia, the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman.  The other Antanas, the namefellow, already has a biography on this blog which you can find here.

For the remainder of this biography, though, we can used the name by which Saliamonas Antanas was called in life, Antanas.  And we will ignore one given to him by someone at the Bonegilla camp, who crossed out Saliamonas on his Alien Registration form and wrote instead, ‘Selemous’.  He also got ‘Selemons’ on his file when he applied for citizenship, and when that citizenship was granted and gazetted.  Really, Antanas was a safer option.

His Mūsų Pastogė obituarist described him as a quiet, modest Lithuanian, but sensitive and generous to the activities of Lithuanians.  He supported the work of Lithuanian organisations as much as he could, and every year, when he sent his subscription fee to the Mūsų Pastogė newspaper, he added extra to help the publication.

He wanted his children to speak Lithuanian, and sent them to weekend school, as well as national dancing and singing lessons.  Despite being in poor health himself, he volunteered as a teacher at the school when needed.

Antanas had been born in Sintautai in the Lithuanian district of Šakiai, into a farming family.  There is official confusion about the date of his birth, with some records stating 23 April 1920 and others 4 March 1920.  His obituarist preferred 1921.

His Australian selection papers say that he “fled from Russian regime”, which differentiates him from all those forced to travel to Germany by the German military.  He did this in August 1944, so he somehow got out despite the Soviet military have returned to Lithuania in July 1944.

He was recorded to have had 3 years of primary school education and 2 years in secondary school, so more than the minimum for a Lithuanian at the time.  Although rated as B+ by the selection team, he certainly got onto the First Transport.

At the time of his interview and health examination for Australia, it looks like he was living in Camp 223/H, Assembly Centre 223, Controlled by 11 DPACS, wherever that was.  Fortunately, ChatGPT has been able to decode this, based on a German language account of the Baltic camps in the Oldenburg region by Günter Heuzeroth.  

Herr Heuzeroth and Chat GPT say that this camp was in Oldenburg in the Lower Saxony region, there being a second Oldenburg in Holstein, near Lübeck on the Baltic coast.  11 DPACS was the joint British and UNRRA administrative unit responsible for the centre

Now that we know that Antanas was in the British zone of occupation, we can point out that he was living in harsher conditions that the refugees in the American zone.  After all, Britain itself had been bombed and battered during WWII, unlike the United States.

He had been working as a cleaner for two years, while the examining doctor rated him suitable for agricultural work.  The Particulars of Displaced Person Wishing to Migrate to Australia form completed on his behalf before his interview recorded that he had farmed in Lithuania for 10 years and also in Germany for 8 months.  Since those ten years would have been before July 1944, it looks like he started when he was aged 14.

After World War II in Germany, while being treated in a military hospital, he met a nursing sister called Helma Rohleder.  Even though he left for Australia on 30 October 1947 on the First Transport, they stayed in touch through letters.

Post-War photograph of Saliamonas Antanas included with his selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

From the Bonegilla camp, Antanas was one of 12 men sent to Tasmania to work for the Electrolytic Zinc (EZ) company at Burnie.  It may be that he completed his two-year contract at another EZ facility, at Risdon in the State’s capital city, Hobart.

Antanas Martišius from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

He later worked at the Cadbury chocolate factory.  In his spare time, he built a house and in 1955 invited Helma to be his wife.  She arrived from Germany in April 1955.

The coroner’s report into his death gave his then occupation as carpenter.  He certainly would have learned a lot of carpentry from practical experience when he built his own house.

The Melbourne Tėviškės aidai newspaper reported in June 1958 that Antanas Martišius had been seriously injured in a car accident, as a result of which he had lost an eye “some time ago”.  We know that this refers to Saliamonas Antanas because the report is in a column headed with a poetic version of “From Tasmania”, while the other Antanas Martišius left Bonegilla to spend the remainder of his Australian time in Victoria.

Is this why the Tasmanian Antanas did not see the bus coming 13 years after the first accident?  The coroner’s cursory finding made no mention of anything which might have contributed to the second, fatal accident.

Antanas has been buried in very Australian surroundings in Cornelian Bay

Source:  JMcL on Find A Grave

Antanas’ sudden death later left Helma to raise two children on her own, 12-year-old Petras and 9-year-old Alyssa.  Valued for probate in January 1998, his estate amounted to $2865, but that is around $40,000 in today’s prices so enough to give the family some initial support.

Another headstone in need of restoration, sad to note;

Helma appears to be buried here as well

Source:  JMcL on Find A Grave

SOURCES

Augustavičius, S (1994) ‘A † A Helma Martišius’ (‘RIP Helma Martisius’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 27 June, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1994/1994-06-27-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 10 April 2026.

Heuzeroth, Günter (2014) Baltenflüchtlinge nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg im deutschen Exil, Ein Balanceakt zwischen Diktaturen und Demokratie, Dargestellt an den Baltenkolonien im Oldenburger Land (Baltic refugees in German exile after the Second World War: A balancing act between dictatorships and democracy, illustrated by the Baltic colonies in the Oldenburg region) Günter Heuzeroth, Oldenburg www.oldenburg.de/startseite/kultur/freizeitstaetten/kulturzentrum/geschichte.html, accessed 17 April 2026.

Libraries Tasmania, Names Index, ‘Martisius, Saliamonas Anton’ [Inquest report] https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=martisius#, accessed 15 April 2026.

Libraries Tasmania, Names Index, ‘Martisius, Saliamonas Antanas’ [Will] https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=martisius#, accessed 15 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (1971) ‘Dar viena skaudi eismo nelaimė’ (‘Another painful traffic accident’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 6 December, p 8, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1971/1971-12-06-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 14 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; 195, MARTISIUS Saliamonas DOB 23 April 1920, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005612, accessed 10 April 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P1184, Registration papers for non-British migrants, lexicographical series, 1939-1966; MARTISIUS H, 1955-1955; MARTISIUS H, MARTISIUS [nee ROHLEDER] Helma [German], 1955-1955 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1776113, accessed 16 April 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P1184, Registration papers for non-British migrants, lexicographical series, 1939-1966; MARTISIUS S, MARTISIUS Selemous (sic) [Lithuanian], 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1776115, accessed 15 April 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MARTISIUS SALIAMONAS, MARTISIUS, Saliamonas : Year of Birth - 1920 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 591, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203615120, accessed 10 April 2026.

Tėviškės aidai (1958) ‘Iš Tasmanijos padangės’ (‘From under Tasmanian skies’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 4 June, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1958/1958-06-04-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 13 April 2026.

Tėviškės aidai (1971) ‘Iš mūsų parapijų, Hobartas, A A Antanas Martišius‘ (‘From Our Parishes, Hobart, RIP Antanas Martisius’ , in Lithuanian), Melbourne, Vic, 19 October, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1971/1971-nr40-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 12 April 2026.

Antanas Martisius (1923-1997) Another Who Left, by Ann Tündern-Smith and Rasa Ščevinksienė

Updated 15-16 April 2026.

Few public records

Antanas Martisius is one of the 31 Heintzelman passengers whose selection papers have gone missing. In addition, there were 3 Displaced Persons with the same name in Germany after World War II, 4 if we count another First Transport passenger, Saliamonas Antanas Martisius, commonly known by his middle name.

At least we know from his Bonegilla card that our Antanas had a birthdate of 1 December 1923, so we can focus on a man with that name and birthdate. The Bonegilla card also says that he was one of the 7 sent to the Pyramid Hill Quarries in northwest Victoria.

Antanas' photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Antanas' Lithuanian past

The DP Registration Record form completed in Germany in November 1946 says he was born in Šakai in Marijampolė County, now close to the eastern border of the Kaliningrad exclave. His parents were Juozas Martisius and the former Prančiska Butkiūte.

His usual trade or occupation was stated to be smith, which presumably was a blacksmith as opposed to workers in metals other than iron.

A 1942 census in Lithuania, conducted despite the War, gives more information about Antanas and his family.

They actually lived in the Daugėliškiai village in the Šakiai district.  The parents married in 1921.  The census shows that they had had 9 children 21 years later, of whom 8 had survived (4 daughters and 4 sons). 

Antanas was born in Daugėliškiai village and had finished elementary school.  He was working as a metal turner at the Malcanas agricultural machinery factory in Šakiai.  Being what Australians call a "fitter and turner" would explain the "smith" description on his DP registration form.

Alien Registration Details

His Alien Registration Application form says that he was 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, so he towered almost as much as the 6 feet 3 inch (1.9 m) tall Lembit Koplus, his fellow Pyramid Hill worker.

The file which contains his Alien Registration Application form also has his original Certificate of Registration under the Aliens Act, a passport-like document. It was issued in September 1952 to replace an earlier Certificate which was mutilated. This means that there is no record of his movements after leaving the Bonegilla Camp for Pyramid Hill until a Rae Street, Fitzroy, address at the start of the new Certificate.

Later changes of address were to a hostel in Eildon, Victoria, in September 1953 and to semi-rural Clarinda, then on the outskirts of Melbourne but now definitely a southeastern suburb, in July 1956.

In April 1957, Mūsų Pastogė has him advertising twice for another Lithuanian to contact him.  His address now was in inner suburban Melbourne, on Montague Street in Albert Park.  "There is news from Lithuania" was added to the second advertisement, perhaps producing the desired reaction.

Antanas Leaves

Then the final record states that Antanas left the Commonwealth (of Australia) on 11 July 1958 on a passenger ship, the Oronsay. It sailed a trans-Pacific route, stopping at both Vancouver, Canada, and San Francisco in the United States.

The Oransay was favoured by several others who left Australia for the Americas. The first was Viktoras Kuciauskas in 1956, bound for the love of his life in the United States. The peripatetic Vladas Navickas left Australia on this ship in early in 1959. Veronika Tutins, now Brokans, travelled on the Oronsay with her family in 1960, probably with the aim of joining her successful brother-in-law.

Antanas' death

After Antanas left Sydney on the Oronsay, there is one final set of public records, about his death.  None of them give the date of birth of the deceased, but they all give the year as 1923.  This separates him from Saliamonas Antanas, born in 1920 or perhaps 1921, plus 2 others named Antanas Martisius and captured in the Arolsen Archives digitising, born in 1917 and 1921.

The major item is an advertisement in the Canadian newspaper, Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland in English) in its 6 January 1998 edition.  Headed Padėka or Thanks, a translation would read,

'ANTANAS MARTIŠIUS, our dearest and best man not only in Canada, but also in the whole world, departed for eternity on 12 December 1997.   With his loss, this foreign land became even colder.  We will carry in our hearts the goodness, patience, generosity and faith sown by the late Antanas all our lives and will try to help others, as he helped us. 

'We sincerely thank the Franciscan Fathers of the Resurrection Parish and the priest from Lithuania, Julius Sasnauskas, OFM, for the funeral rites, musician Danguola Radikienė for the beautiful singing and organ playing during the Mass, and Valea Siminkevičienė for the wonderful bouquets of flowers. 

'Thank you to the pallbearers, friends and acquaintances for attending the funeral, expressing condolences, flowers, requesting Mass and donations for the 6-year-old orphan, Renata Gelžinytė, from Lithuania who was burned. Thank you to Birutė Stanulienė and Genutė Kobelskienė for preparing a delicious lunch. Special thanks to Vytautas Kulnis and Viktoras Račiukaičis for their sincerity, help and advice during the funeral. 

'With deep sadness — Angelė and Birutė.'

Those attending the funeral on 15 December donated CA$180 for the 6-year-old orphan who needed a skin graft.

Who were Angelė and Birutė?  Since Angelė now has a joint headstone with Antanas, but with no dates in her case, we hypothesised that she was Antanas' wife.  We further hypothesised that Birutė was their daughter.   However, an 2010 article in Tėviškės Žiburiai about Birutė says that she was Antanas' stepdaughter.

Since the World Wide Web is still great at enabling people at great distances to make easy contact with each other, we now know from Birutė that the former First Transporter was indeed her stepfather.  And that Angelė is a good distance from sharing the grave with Antanas.

Antanas Martisius' headstone with space for wife Angele in 
St. John's Lithuanian Cemetery in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Source:  Billion Graves

SOURCES

Billion Graves, 'Antanas Martisius' https://billiongraves.com/grave/Antanas-Martisius/52346233?referrer=myheritage, accessed 14 April 2026.11.

‘Folder DP2579, names from MARTINSONS, MARIA to MARTON, IBOLYA (2)’ 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 68195911 (Antanas MARTISIUS), ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68195911, accessed 2 March 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (1957) 'Pajieškojimai' ('Searches' in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 1 April, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1957/1957-04-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 13 April 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (1957) 'Pajieškojimai' ('Searches' in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 8 April, p4 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1957/1957-04-08-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 13 April 2026.

National Archive of Australia: Department of Immigration, Victorian Branch; B78, Alien registration documents, 1948-1965; 1958/MARTISIUS A, MARTISIUS Antanas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-1958 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6036235, accessed 3 March 2026.

National Archive of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MARTISIUS ANTANAS, MARTISIUS, Antanas : Year of Birth - 1923 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 964 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203615119, accessed 3 March 2026.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (1997) 'Toronto Ont' (in Lithuanian) Mississauga, Ont, 16 December p 2  https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1997/1997-12-16-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 15 April 2026.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (1998) 'Padėka, A † A Antanas Martišius' ('Thanks, RIP Antanas Martisius, in Lithuanian) Mississauga, Ont, 6 January p 2  https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1998/1998-01-06-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 15 April 2026.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (1998) 'Toronto Ont' (in Lithuanian) Mississauga, Ont, 6 January p 10  https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1998/1998-01-06-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 15 April 2026.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (2010) 'Birutė Lukšėnaitė' (in Lithuanian) Mississauga, Ont, 19 October, p 15 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/2010/2010-10-19-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 15 April 2026.

VšĮ Genealoginiai surašymai (Public Institution Genealogical Censuses) 'Šeimos surašymas 1942 metais' ('Family Census in 1942', in Lithuanian) https://eu3.ragic.com/genealogija/census/3/19406.xhtml, accessed 4 March 2026.

Wikipedia, ‘Clarinda, Victoria’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarinda,_Victoria, accessed 3 March 2026.

Wikipedia, ‘Marijampolė County’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijampolė_County, accessed 2 March 2026.

Wikipedia, ‘Šakai’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0akiai, accessed 2 March 2026.

Wikipedia ‘SS Oronsay (1950)’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Oronsay_(1950), accessed 2 March 2026.

"General Stuart Heintzelman” men to Tasmania’s West Coast, January 1948, by Jonas Mockunas

Updated 8-9 May and 11-15 September 2025.

The West Coast is an isolated, rugged and very sparsely populated part of Tasmania. Much of it is wilderness and home to ancient natural wonders, including cool temperate rain forests which are now listed as National Parks and World Heritage sites. The climate can be equally rugged, with over 2000mm of rain per annum and snowfalls in winter. 

Despite its isolation, human activity is now quite evident, with roads linking towns and providing access for locals and tourists. Mining in particular has impacted the environment at many locations.

Remains of the Hercules haulage line between Williamsford and Mt Read, near Rosebery

Source:  Mockunas collection

THE EZ COMPANY AT ROSEBERY

The small town of Rosebery was established in the late 1890s after gold was discovered nearby.  It became the mining base for the Electrolytic Zinc Company (EZ Co).  The processed zinc ore transported by the Emu Bay Railway to Burnie on the north coast of Tasmania and then to the company’s Risdon Zinc Works in Hobart for smelting.

In the late 1940s the mining industry around Rosebery was prospering and the EZ Co wanted to explore new territory. The opportunity of using newly available migrant labour to open up these areas was attractive. The first group of young migrants who had fled the Baltic States as refugees during World War II was sent from the Bonegilla migrant camp in early 1948 to assist with this task. 

THE MIGRANTS ARRIVE 

The First Transport of Baltic displaced persons to Australia arrived at Fremantle aboard the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman in late November 1947; the 839 Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian men and women were then transported to the Bonegilla migrant camp near Wodonga, beside the River Murray in northern Victoria. 

Apart from a contingent of women who very soon after arriving at Bonegilla were sent to fulfill their 2-year work commitments in Canberra, large-scale job allocations of these ‘Balts’ did not begin until the New Year.  Aleksandras Gabecas (see below) recorded that, after a very hot summer at Bonegilla, twelve of the men who had requested job placements somewhere cooler were selected for labouring work in Tasmania.  They would subsequently discover Tasmania’s West Coast to be considerably wetter and cooler than the mainland.

The men left Bonegilla on 13 January to board a ship from Melbourne to Burnie, but a waterfront strike caused a change of plans.  Instead they were flown to Wynyard on the north coast of Tasmania by the EZ Co. They were given a meal at Wynyard Airport and put on the railcar heading south - there were no roads linking Rosebery with the outside world at the time and the narrow-gauge Emu Bay Railway provided the only access. They arrived at their new workplace in the western forests in the middle of the night and company records show they were put to work the next day, 19 January 1948.

Fortunately for us, one of these men, Aleksandras Gabecas, also known as Alex Gabas in Australia, has left a record of his memories with images of those days to enrich the story we can tell today.  As part of the 50th anniversary of the First Transport to Australia, the Lithuanian weekly newspaper, Mūsų Pastogė, published photographs with captions and articles by Gabecas over several editions.

Some of the passengers on board the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman
en route to Australia, November 1947;
Aleksandras Gabecas is in the front row with a guitar

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė, 17 April 2013

An announcement in the local press of their impending arrival

Source:  Burnie Advocate through Trove

THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Their work for EZ Co involved assisting the company’s exploration program: cutting tracks for surveyors and samplers, followed by wider tracks for bulldozers and heavy equipment. Each day the men would journey a few miles to their worksites where they would clear, dig, blast and burn their way through the forest. They worked a 40-hour week. 

The company supplied their food and tools and took them back to Rosebery every second Friday to collect wages and do some shopping.  Several also frequented the pub.  Saturdays and Sundays were free days, often spent in Rosebery or Zeehan.

While the EZ Co sought to provide all the fundamentals, on occasion the men had to resolve some of the material shortcomings during their shopping trips to town. For example, gumboots were not provided at first as they were in short supply, so some of the men purchased their own in Rosebery as the ground at their worksite was often a quagmire.  

Similarly, for the first fortnight the men had to work in the lightweight clothes that had been issued to them in Bonegilla.  After the first shopping trip, they got into a routine where they would buy a new shirt for the weekend in town and wear it to work for the next fortnight. 

Despite these initial shortcomings, in Gabecas’ view they were fairly well off compared with some of the other migrants: after deductions, the men were paid a wage of 5 pounds and 15 shillings per week.

THE BALTIC BUSHMEN CITY

The men initially lived at a railway siding which they named Baltic Bushmen City and erected an official-looking sign to proclaim their new home. The City was the base for further exploration work in the hinterland; officially known as Pinnacles Siding, it was located near Boko Siding, about 12 miles (19km) north of Rosebery. 

Some of the men with their Baltic Bushman City sign, mid-1948

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė, 2 December 1996

Gabecas wrote that it consisted of several tin sheds and a few tents set on a hillside in a landscape that was a welcome contrast to the scorched Victorian countryside. Each sleeping hut had 2 bunks, adequate blankets and a fireplace.  Meals were prepared by an EZ cook.  Lighting was by carbide and hurricane lamps. 

A second worksite, a much more basic tent city, was located 5 kilometres away.  Here they were able to prepare meals to their own (European) tastes.  

EZ tents in the bush

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė, 2 December 1996

Gabecas seemed to enjoy the adventure of the new experience, noting that the only drawback was the standard of accommodation.  A descendant of another Balt, Rosie Emerson, had these somewhat sharper observations:

"My father was one of these men who was sent from Bonegilla, to Rosebery in 1948 … these men lived in tents in the harsh Tasmanian climate. My father told how he’d wake up freezing and wet if he happened to roll into the side of the tent...

"There was a Christmas break when Dad went to Melbourne where he met my mother. He refused to return to the harsh conditions and completed the second year of his contract with the government in Melbourne at a brick factory, with much improved living conditions. 

"He used to meet my mother under the painting of Chloe in Young & Jackson's each weekend before they’d head of to dance the night away, a far cry from living in ice- covered tents."

THE WEST COAST BALTS, JANUARY 1948

Name	Age	Nationality
Blaubergs, Otto	30	Latvian
Gabecas, Aleksandras	25	Lithuanian
Jablonskis, Juozas	35	Lithuanian
Krausas, Romualdas	21	Lithuanian
Krizanovskis, Edwards	20	Latvian
Krumins, Alberts	25	Latvian
Kubiliunas, Jonas	22	Lithuanian
Kudras, Kirils	26	Latvian
Marazas, Antanas	23	Lithuanian
Maslauskas, Karolis	24	Lithuanian
Martišius, Saliamonas	27	Lithuanian
Roduss, Augusts	37	Latvian

LATER ARRIVALS

After about 6 months in the forests, these men were transferred to Rosebery to finish the remainder of their contracts. They worked for EZ Co on the surface as the unions had initially barred migrants from working underground. By that time, other Balts had also arrived to take their place, often after their first job placement in fruit picking. 

Three Lithuanians from the First Transport were sent to Rosebery after their Victorian orchard work, leaving Bonegilla again on various dates in March and April 1948.  They were Viktoras Kuciauskas, Zigmas Paskevicius and Juozas Leknius.  Those known to have arrived a little later, from apple-picking in south-east Tasmania's Huon Valley, were Leons Mikelans and Izidorius Smilgevicius.

Around 80 Balts worked at Rosebery from the late 1940s and into the 1950s. After the men were released from their work contracts, most moved to Hobart or the mainland.

A small number stayed at Rosebery, having by then secured better paying jobs working underground in the mines. A few worked in the Farrell Mine at Tullah, while others undertook track-cutting and cartage on a contract basis.

One of the latter, Latvian Eizens Princis (Eugene Prince) married a local girl and stayed in Rosebery until retirement.

ANN'S NOTE

For anyone not acquainted with Melbourne folklore, Young & Jackson's is a centrally located hotel on a corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, across Flinders street from the main railway station for suburban lines.  Chloe is a 1875 painting by French artist, Jules Lefebvre, which has hung in Young & Jackson's main bar since 1909.

While Rosie Emerson's father, Ziggy Paskevičius, may have waited for his sweetheart under Chloe, Rosie's mother would not have been allowed into the main bar under the customs prevailing in 1949.  They were more likely met outside or in another part of the Hotel.

"Under the clocks" is another well-known Melbourne meeting place, the clocks being across Flinders Street from Young & Jackson's.  Above the entrance to Flinder Street Station, they show the departure time of the next train for each line.  Rosie's mother may have preferred that spot.

SOURCES

Advocate (1948) ‘Balts to Work on West Coast’ Burnie, Tasmania, 12 January, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69067798, accessed 5 May 2025.

Emerson, Rosie (2020) Comment on post regarding the above news item in the Advocate, in the General Stuart Heintzelman/First Transport Facebook private group https://www.facebook.com/groups/505412590020835/search/?q=rosie%20emerson, accessed 5 May 2025.

Holmes, Michael (2017) Tasmania’s Vanishing Towns: not what they used to be Hobart, The author, p 3.

Mūsų Pastogė [Our Haven] (1988) ’Ankstyvųjų metų albumas’ [‘An album of the early years’, in Lithuanian] Sydney, NSW, 20 June, p 12 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1988/1988-06-20-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 5 May 2025.

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