Aleksas Gabecas (1922-2013): Creative Sportsman, By Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 16 October 2026.

We already have come across Aleksas Gabecas (often shortened to Gabas) in several guises, as one of the first 12 Displaced Persons sent to Rosebery in Tasmania to cut paths through the bush for geologists, as a Rover Scout, as a writer reporting on the trip to Australia and the first few weeks here, as an artist who illustrated that report with his own cartoons and as crew for Jonas Lipsius’ shark-fishing venture off the Victorian coast.

When we look further, we can see that a man of many more talents who lived a long and doubtless interesting life.

Aleksas, as he was first known in Australia, was from the northern Lithuanian city of Šiauliai. He had been born there on 21 September 1922, to Danielius Gabecas and the former Juzė (Juozapa) Urbietytė. They had another son, Viktoras, on 11 May 1926.

Aleksas’ willingness to crew for Jonas Lipsius might be explained by the establishment of a sailing club in Šiauliai by the Lithuanian aviation pilot Stasys Bulota (1913–1982). The club had about 40 sailors, including 19-year-old Aleksas and younger brother Viktoras. On 11 February 1944, by Resolution No. 204 of the Lithuanian Sailing Union, Aleksas was recognized as a third-rank yacht captain with the right to lead a yacht in local water races.

Aleksas wrote in his memoirs (not available to the public at this time) that from 1942, together with O Truchanas and other Šiauliai sailors, he often sailed on the Lake Rėkyva and participated in regattas.

Olympic-class dinghies on Lake Rėkyva, 1943, ready for a regatta

Source:  Interwar Siauliai Sports History Pages

Would that O Truchanas be Olegas Truchanas, born in Šiauliai one year after Aleksas, and later famed in Australia as a nature photographer and conservationist? Returning to the records of the Šiauliai sailing club (Interwar Siauliai Sports History Pages, in the Sources below), yes, the Olegas who sailed with Aleksas was born in 1923 and died in 1972, so he would be the Olegas who found fame in Australia.

Aleksas’ youth in Šiauliai also involved boxing. Representing the Šarūnas Sports Club, he became the champion in the middleweight category at the Lithuanian Boxing Championships in 1942 and 1943.

In his memoirs, boxer and trainer Vaclovas Peleckis wrote, “In 1940, A. Gabecas started attending boxing training. He was a talented young man. At first, it seemed that nothing good would come of him, because he trained superficially and was afraid of the ring. However, after half a year of training, the guy showed his character: he won all his friendly matches with a clear advantage. He was a technical boxer, very cunning in the ring. His friends nicknamed him the ring leaf.”

The report of his interview for selection for resettlement in Australia notes that he “fled from Russian regime”. At least he was not one of the many forcibly relocated by the Germans.

Aleksas Gabecas' photo from the file about his selection to resettle in Australia:
the sailor's outfit looks like it might have been surplus to the US or British Navy,
since both the Lithuanian Navy and the Lithuanian Sea Scouts had white tops

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The report noted that he had 4 years of elementary schooling and 8 years at secondary level. He had been employed as an “Electro Tech” in Lithuania for one year, giving us some idea of the specialisation in his later secondary schooling.

At the time of his interview, he was living in the Emigration Transit Camp, Hannover-Buchholz. He may have been cleared already by the American authorities for resettlement outside Germany.

Diepholz, October 1947, waiting to leave for Australia: 
Ann asked ChatGPT for a "very, very gentle clean-up" of this photograph from Aleksas' collection as reproduced in a thumbnail in 1996 issue of Mūsų Pastogė — how well the AI has done the job is best assessed by anyone who know the individuals in it, of whom Aleksas could remember
Povilas Baltutis, Petras Baltutis, Vytas Narbutas, Zenonas Janonis, Romas Krausas, himself and Vilius Janonis standing (7/8) but only Albertas Ūsas from the middle of the front row

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

We know from Jonas Motiejunas’ account of how the Lithuanian Scouts in Australia were started on the voyage and during first days in Bonegilla that Senior Sea Scout Patrol Leader Aleksandras Gabecas was one of the founders. Motiejūnas reported that Aleksas was one of the leaders of a Baltic scouting campfire on board the Heintzelman on 22 November 1947.

Again from Aleksas' collection and "very, very gently" enhanced by ChatGPT,
this photo shows a group of Lithuanian Sea Scouts gathered on a huge anchor
 on board the First Transport:  50 years later, Aleksas remembered
J Songaila on the left of the middle row, 
F Sirius on the right of the middle row, himself in the Sea Scout uniform,
N Skidzevičius to his left and A Jurevičius to his right

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

We already have some idea of Bonegilla camp life for the Lithuanians in the reports by Endrius Jankus, while Jonas Mockūnas has told us about life for the 12 Baltic men, including Aleksas, chosen to work with the Electrolytic Zinc company, nominally at Rosebery in the northwest of Tasmania. A report written at the time by Aleksas for a scouting publication has been translated for this blog. Aleksas wrote more for the 50th anniversary of the First Transport group’s arrival in Australia.

For the Mūsų Pastogė issue of 2 December 1996, he wrote, “After a 28-day journey on the ship General Heinzelman (30.10.1947–28.11.1947) and several days in Western Australia, on 7 December 1947 (actually 9 December) we were taken to the Bonegilla migration camp in the state of Victoria, where we lived until the beginning of 1948.

“During Christmas and the New Year in 1947–1948, it was, at least for us, quite hot —everywhere was full of dust, as a stormy, hot wind blew. Several of us celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas in the former military camp refrigerator room, the walls of which were covered with a thin layer of ice and frost... Having received a bottle of wine and tropical fruits — bananas, oranges — we spent our first holidays singing and singing in Lithuanian.

“While living in Bonegilla, after the holidays they began to divide us into jobs. We were distributed throughout the continent — wherever there was a shortage of ordinary labourers. We, seven Lithuanians and five Latvians, applied in advance for work somewhere further south — to Tasmania, King, Flinders or even Macquarie Islands.

“The application helped and on 17 January 17 1948, a dozen of us ended up in western Tasmania. Before that, while waiting for transport, we stayed in the Melbourne YMCA for a week, because the dock workers and sailors were on strike. We were flown to Tasmania by plane by the Electrolytic Zinc Company, for whom we would have to work.

“Then we went to our first workplace in the forests by what we called the Automatica, a rail motor operated by the local, private Emu Bay Railway. It was about 40 km from the mining town of Rosebery. At that time, the Railway was the only means of communication there with other areas.

“At the foot of the mountain, right next to the railway, there was an unloading platform and several tin houses. We immediately named this place Baltic Bushmen City and nailed a board with this inscription to the poles near the platform. Many people passing by on this small train would take pictures of the board and wonder where and how this Baltic Bushmen City came to be”.

This is ChatGPT's cleaner version of the Baltic Bushmen City photograph
you have seen already in Jonas Mockūnas' entry on the men sent to Tasmania's West Coast,
but only 11 of the 12 are here (one looking remarkably Asian)
as perhaps the photograph was taken by the twelfth: 
a reminder — you can see a larger version of any image in this blog
in a new Web page by clicking once on it

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Ramunas Tarvydas, in From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, described Aleksas in terms which correspond with what we can see from other reports.  He wrote, "Whether in the bush or in Rosebery, Alex Gabas provided much of the entertainment.  He was an accomplished artist, musician and all-round entertainer.  He played tunes on a row of beer bottles filled with graduated amounts of water so as to produce notes when struck with a metal object.  On his guitar he accompanied himself and others; he used to walk 15 km to Tullah to play in a local band.  

"He performed magician's tricks, such as breathing fire, swallowing razor blades, walking and lying on glass; he also staged exhibition boxing matches.  One story has it that he walked the length of a viaduct on the Emu Bay Railway — on his hands!  In camp, he tried to stop the drinking by putting recalcitrants against a tree and throwing a knife at a spot just above their heads."

Ramunas recorded that Aleksas stayed at Rosebery or the Baltic Bushmen City for one year only.  He noted Gabecas’ next employer as the PMG Hobart.

PMG needs no explanation for older Australians but for anyone else, the initials stood for Postmaster General’s Department. The Department was responsible not only for Australia’s postal system but also for telecommunications. Its physical activities were devolved into Australia Post and Telecom Australia, later Telstra, on 1 July 1975 (1 July being the start of Australia’s financial year). Aleksas’ previous training and experience as “Electro Tech” must have been recognised.

In Hobart in July 1949, the Launceston Examiner newspaper found Aleksas demonstrating yet another sporting interest. Along with another Heintzelman arrival, Albertas Medisauskas, he was demonstrating fencing moves to a group which was interested in forming a fencing club.

Genovaitė Kazokas fills in more of Aleksas' life for us, in her PhD thesis turned into a book on Lithuanian Artists in Australia, 1950-1990.

He had completed Šiauliai High School studies in 1941.  His favourite subjects there had been sport, music and art.  His art teacher was a theatre set painter, and Aleksas had studied at the Šiauliai Theatre Studio while still in high school.  He had commenced engineering studies at the University of Vytautas the Great in Kaunas.

Before moving to the Emigration Transit Camp, Hannover-Buchholz, he had been in a DP camp in Seedorf, where "he was active as a theatre decorator, actor and musician".  During the voyage to Australia, Aleksas had been a member of a music group organised by Petras Morkūnas.  Our entry on Bronius Bukevičius says that it was a 40-man choir, organised with Bronius' help and that of Kazys Mieldažys.

Olegas Truchanas had helped Aleksas start the fencing club in Hobart.  Aleksas then moved to Melbourne in 1950, "where he studied fine arts at Melbourne University and painting at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology".

In varying theatrical sets to suit particular plays, he painted a backdrop of the Baltic Sea for Jūratė and Kastytis performed in 1951 by the Dana Nasvytis Dance School, enhanced by his lighting effects.

"In 1953, he made the sets for Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale Kelionės draugas (Comrade on the Journey) ..."

Also in 1953, we come across Aleksas crewing for Jonas Lipsius’ boat when Melbourne Lithuanians visited them in San Remo, across a bridge from Phillip Island and its penguin parade. That was on 1 February.

Aleksas married Stase Marcinkus in 1954 and acquired a ready-made family. Stase was 4 years older than Aleksas, having been born in December 1917, and had been married twice already. Presumably her first husband, with the surname Dimindavicius, had been killed during World War II. He was the father of Danute, born in March 1935, and Algimantas, born in March 1936. Knowing that she was a widow, Stase then would have been able to marry Zigmantas Marcinkus and bear his child, Eugenija, in August 1946.

One year later, on 30 November 1955, Alexander Mykolas Gabecas became an Australian citizen. He was living then at 314 Albert Road, South Melbourne, about 400 metres from the high school Ann attended during 1962-65. If and when the National Archives of Australia allows the public to look at the file containing his application for naturalisation, we will be able to see more information about his movements and work during his first 8 years in Australia.

Lithuanians often shorten their surnames to make life easier. In this case, Aleksas became Alexander Mykolas Gabas when he enrolled to vote, as is compulsory for Australian citizens. Finding him on electoral rolls digitised by Ancestry allows us his stated occupation and home address or addresses.

The earliest available electoral roll with Alexander in it is a 1963 roll for the suburb of Reservoir, north of central Melbourne. He gave his occupation then as Technician. He was at the same address in 1968, but Stase had joined him as a voter.

By 1972, they had moved south to the suburb of Beaumaris, on Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay. Eugenia (sic), having adopted the Gabas family name, had joined them on the roll. The last available roll is for 1977, when they had moved again, to another coastal suburb about 5 km north, Sandringham. Eugenia presumably had left home, because she was not on this roll. Alexander’s occupation was still Technician.

During this time, according to Genovaitė Kazokas, he continued with the design and manufacture of theatre sets.  She notes the comedy Teta iš Amerikas (The Aunt from America) by J. Audronis, first performed in Melbourne in 1957 and repeated in 1977, 1978, 1983 and 1984.

Aleksas prepared the stage for Amerika pirtyje (America in a Bathhouse) in 1986.  In the next year, he prepared stage and costumes for the drama Eglės namai (The House of Eglė) by Gražina Markeckaitė.

Aleksas' Amerika pirtyje (America in a Bathhouse) set

Source:  Lithuanian Artists in Australia

From the 1960s, when he was in his 40s, music seemed to take the place in his life previous occupied by sport. In 1966, Mūsų Pastogė reported on an original performance with skudučiai and other folk instruments.

“The performances featuring skudučiai (individual pipes, each with its own pitch) … were truly original, representing a revival of our folk instrument music. Aleksandras Gabas — a Sea Scout recently elevated to the rank of Scoutmaster and a highly talented organizer of various performances — is reviving skudučiai music in Australia.

“He prepared a skudučiai orchestra that played the Sparrow March (Žvirblių maršas) and, with his large comedic orchestra (20 members), performed Buvo gera gaspadinė (There Was a Good Housewife) and Du broliukai kunigai (Two brother priests). The audience could not stop applauding.”

That mention of promotion to Scoutmaster provides an opportunity to mention that Aleksas was singled out during the 50th anniversary of arrival, along with First Transporters Algirdas Liubinskas and Jonas Urbonas, as those who helped Borisas Dainutis start and organise Lithuanian scouting in Australia.

Back to music. The photograph below appeared on the front page of Mūsų Pastogė issue of 20 June 1988. Kanklės is the Lithuanian version of the zither, a family of wooden stringed instruments, mostly without a neck to stretch the strings, which are plucked by the fingers or a plectrum. The Latvian version is the kokle while Estonia has the kannel and Finland the kantele. The zither is not confined to the Baltic, however, as variations are wide spread across Europe and Asia.

Aleksas Gabas is the man in the front right of this 1988 photograph
of a group of Melbourne kanklės players which had just given its debut performance

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

An earlier photograph in the Lithuanian Central State Archives, taken in 1980, shows 4 of the 6 above in their earlier ensemble, called Kankles.

Aleksas is on the right of this photograph of the Kankles ensemble in 1980:
second from left is Stasys Eimutis, who made their instruments

Source:  E-kinas

A larger group, based on the same players was photographed in 1998.

The Kankles ensemble in 1998 with two singers as well as instrumentalists;
Stasys Eimutis is on the far left, front row, while
Aleksas is third from right, back row

Source:  E-kinas

Mūsų Pastogė started to prepare for the 50th anniversary of the First Transport’s arrival one year earlier, publishing photographs and articles sent to it by Aleksas Gabecas-Gabas. We have used some of those already both here and elsewhere to describe life for Aleksas and the other EZ Rosebery employees in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Given that Aleksas was already in his 70s by the time of the 50th anniversary, 28 November 1997, his public life became quiet. He lived a truly long life, dying on 7 August 2013, when he was 90 years old, some weeks short of his 91st birthday. His remains were cremated in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery and the ashes returned to the family. This may be a case of the ashes then being scattered, in Australia or Lithuania.

The variety in his life seems to parallel the many names available to him.  While his baptismal names were Aleksandras Mykolas, he was known normally as Aleksas.  In Australia, he registered himself on the electoral role as Alexander Mykolas, and was known to have been called by the Alex short form.  Also for the electoral roll, Gabecas became Gabas and he was often known by the Australian Lithuanians as Gabecas-Gabas or plain Gabas.

Doubtless it was his basic interest in the work he was trained to do plus his many outside interests that contributed to that long life.

SOURCES

‘American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) DP Registration Record, Gabecas Viktoras’ 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from G, DocID 67107990, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/67107990?s=Gabecas&t=2737422&p=0, accessed 22 September 2026.

Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria [Search] https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/search-your-family-history, accessed 21 September 2026.

Bosikis, Vladas (1953) ‘Svečiuose Pas Rykliu Gaudytoju’ (‘Visiting the Shark Hunters’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, NSW, 26 February, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259362949, accessed 21 September 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1956) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’, Canberra, ACT, 10 May, p 1298 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232877900/25099643, accessed 19 September 2026.

E-kinas ‘P-40826’ https://www.e-kinas.lt/ekinas-photos/photo/344748, accessed 21 September 2026.

E-kinas ‘P-40827’ https://www.e-kinas.lt/ekinas-photos/photo/344749, accessed 21 September 2026

Elektroninis Archyvų Informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archives Information System), 'Joniškio dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga' ('Register of Births for the Churches of the Joniškis Deanery') in Lithuanian [1922, p 79, item 10]) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267630365/297161648/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=79, accessed 22 September 2026.

Europeana ‘A. Gabecas ir J. Lipčius Australijos vandenyse’ (‘A. Gabecas and J. Lipčius in Australian waters’, in Lithuanian) https://www.europeana.eu/da/item/2021802/LIMIS_100000012810337, accessed 19 September 2026.

Examiner (1949), ‘Fencers’, Launceston, Tas 26 July, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52688092, accessed 21 September 2026.

Gabecas, Aleksandras (1948) '4. "Pažadėtoj Žemėj" Australijoj' ('4. In the "Promised Land", Australia', in Lithuanian) Skautu Aidas (Scouting Echo), Augustdorf bei Detmold, Germany, 15 June, pp 30-31 https://www.spauda2.org/skautu_aidas/archive/1948/1948-Nr05-06-SKAUTU-AIDAS.pdf, accessed 24 July 2026.

Kazokas, Genovaitė (2003) Lithuanian Artists in Australia, 1950-1990, Melbourne, Europe-Australia Institute, pp 204-5.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1966) ‘Jaunimo Vakaras, Pavykęs Talentų Koncertas’ (‘Youth Evening, Successful Talent Concert in Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 18 July, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1966/1966-07-18-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 19 September 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1988) Untitled, Sydney, NSW, 20 June, p 1, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1988/1988-06-20-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1996) ‘Nuotraukose: I - sis transportas’ (‘In photos: The First Transport’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 25 November, p 8, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-11-25-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1996) ‘Nuotraukose: pirmasis transportas (II) (Aleksandro Gabo nuotraukos ir paaiškinimai)’ (‘In photos: The First Transport (II) (photos and captions by Aleksandras Gabas), in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 2 December, p 6, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-12-02-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1997) ‘Nuotraukose: Pirmasis transportas (III) (Aleksandro Gabo nuotraukos ir paaiškinimai)’ ‘In photos: The First Transport (III) (photos and captions by Aleksandras Gabas), in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 20 January, p 8 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-01-20-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė [Our Haven] (1997) ’Nuotraukose: pirmasis transportas (IV)’ ['The First Transport: in photographs (IV)’, in Lithuanian] Sydney, NSW, 12 May, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-05-12-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 5 May 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė [Our Haven] (1997) ’Nuotraukose: pirmasis transportas (V)’ ['The First Transport: in photographs (V)’, in Lithuanian] Sydney, NSW, 19 May, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-05-19-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 5 May 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė [Our Haven] (1997) ’Nuotraukose: pirmasis transportas (VI)’ ['The First Transport: in photographs (VI)’, in Lithuanian] Sydney, NSW, 23 June, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-06-23-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 5 May 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 840, GABECAS Aleksandras DOB 21 September 1922, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005956, accessed 21 September 2026.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; DIMINDAVICIUS MARCINKUS ALGIMANTAS, DIMINDAVICIUS (MARCINKUS), Algimantas : Year of Birth - 1936 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - DUNDALK BAY : Number - [UNKNOWN], 1949-1949 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203618267, accessed 21 September 2026.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; DIMINDAVICIUS MARCINKUS DANUTE, DIMINDAVICIUS (MARCINKUS), Danute : Year of Birth - 1935 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - DUNDALK BAY : Number - [UNKNOWN], 1949-1949 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203618266 accessed 21 September 2026.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MARCINKUS EUGENIJA, MARCINKUS, Eugenija : Year of Birth - 1946 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - DUNDALK BAY : Number - [UNKNOWN], 1949-1949 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203618265, accessed 21 September 2026.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MARCINKUS STASE, MARCINKUS, Stase : Year of Birth - 1917 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - DUNDALK BAY : Number – 117138, 1949-1949 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203618264, accessed 21 September 2026.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MARCINKUS ZIGMANTAS, MARCINKUS, Zigmantas : Year of Birth - 1913 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - DUNDALK BAY : Number – 117027, 1949-1949 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203618263, accessed 21 September 2026.

Nearrašius, Jonas (2021) ‘Tarpukario Šiaulių sporto istorijos puslapiai’ (‘Interwar Siauliai Sports History Pages’, in Lithuanian) https://www.snaujienos.lt/kultura-ir-pramogos/44082-tarpukario-siauliu-sporto-istorijos-puslapiai-9, accessed 22 September 2026.

Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust ‘Alexander Gabas’ https://www.smct.org.au/deceased-search/detail?id=c9f25d0a-4e9a-ef11-8a69-00224811c475, accessed 21 September 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 44, 163.

Wikipedia, ‘Emu Bay Railway’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_Bay_Railway, accessed 19 September 2026.

Wikipedia, ‘Olegas Truchanas’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olegas_Truchanas, accessed 19 September 2026.

Žalys, Bronius (1996) ‘Pėdsekys, LSS Australijos rajono 50-mečiui artėjant‘ (‘Pathfinder, As the 50th Anniversary of the [Lithuanian Scouts] Australian District Approaches’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, NSW, 25 November, p 4 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-11-25-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 19 September 2026.

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

Updated 23 May 2026.

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.

Bronius Bukevicius' plaque in the Cornelian Bay Cemetery:
The Lithuanian Ilsekis ramybeja means 'Rest in peace'

Source:  JMcL on Find A Grave

The Cornelian Bay Cemetery wall which contains Bronius' ashes and plaque

Source:  JMcL on Find A Grave

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.

Find A Grave, 'Bronius Bukevicius' https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212980499/bronius-bukevicius, accessed 23 May 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.

Lithuanians on the First Transport After 25 Years, by Karolis Prašmutas trans. Ann Tündern-Smith

[I have taken the liberty of editing what Google Translate has done to an article which Karolis Prašmutas wrote for Mūsų Pastogė in December 1972, to commemorate 25 years since the Lithuanians on the First Transport reached Australia.  I trust that the Prašmutai and anyone else who understands the Lithuanian language either forgives me or quietly provides corrections.

Did Karolis write a commemoration?  He finished with an important question, but it seems that subsequent generations and new arrivals from the old country have answered it positively for him.  The same applies to the continuation of the Latvian and Estonian communities in Australia.

What I find particularly interesting about this article is that it starts with Karolis acknowledging that the First Transport was an experiment.  The composition of future migration intakes depended very much on how Australians greeted the first group.  We are blessed that the welcome was warm, changing the face of Australia in the 78 years since.                                                                                                              Ann]

WE LITHUANIANS ARE STILL ALIVE

A group of Lithuanians left the shores of old Europe from Bremerhaven 25 years ago. The then Australian government admitted the first immigrants (political refugees) exclusively as a pilot group for the implementation of a further immigration program. 

Since Australia, like other countries, had many economic difficulties after the War, and there was a particularly large shortage of residences, the first group of Lithuanians (and all Baltics) was selected from unmarried people.  It was easier to deal with residential issues for this group. 

In the Lithuanian group, the number of women was very irrational in relation to men, but the Lithuanian men remained Lithuanian men and the majority created Lithuanian families, which still speak Lithuanian today. The shores of Australia were reached on 28 November 1947. 

After visiting Western Australia, we had to sail further east to Melbourne on the semi-invalid Australian ship Kanimbla.  In the port of Melbourne we were personally met by the then Minister of Immigration, Mr. Arthur Calwell. 

Although Mr. Calwell welcomed us quite warmly and the sun was scorching hot, the Australian land was cold for every Lithuanian and held an uncertain future, even more so since the leftist working class of Australia opposed the “Balts”. 

In military terms, the First Transport group was supposed to create a bridgehead for  further and more numerous compatriots to move to Australia.  The aforementioned bridgehead of the First Transport was successfully completed, as a result of which a considerable number of Lithuanians settled in Australia.  Is this how it was all supposed to end? 

No, just as an army unit, having moved across a river or other natural barriers, having accomplished its task, never withdraws from the battle, but even more actively joins the main group for further campaigns. 

Also in this case, the first Lithuanian group, even after 25 years, has not been melted by the merciless environment, but has remained distinct and unique.  Undoubtedly, some of them have gone to the Other Side, some have become indifferent to everything, closing themselves like chickens in an egg, but a large percentage today are still steadfast in Lithuanian work.

They understand their task, what was required of them 25 years ago, when our national leaders sending them overseas repeated, remember that you were born Lithuanians and remain so, even if cruel winds blow you about, do not rest, work for the Freedom of the Nation, because you have lost that freedom and no one will give it to you as a gift.

Those words still ring in our ears today, although they touched our eardrums long, long ago. Here we recall only the participants of the First Transport of Victoria (because I do not know about other States), whose names are always mentioned in Lithuanian activities, or in preparations.

Today passengers on the First Transport belong to or lead several national activities boards and organizations.  Here they are: Mrs Viltis Kružienė, Kazys Mieldažys, Povilas Baltutis, Vytautas Šalkūnas, Napoleonas Butkūnas, Karolis Prašmutas, Romas Ragauskas, Juozas Keblys and Petras Morkūnas. 

Although they are not tired after 25 years and do not complain about their heavy contribution to national activities, for how long? And where are the others?  First Transport colleagues themselves should answer that question.

Click on the original article to read a more legible version

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Remembering the First Transport, 30 years later from a Lithuanian perspective, by Ona Baužienė

(As the author points out below, she was the wife of the president of the Lithuanian Society of Australia immediately after WWII.  This meant that she was in a position to understand what was happening to Lithuania and Lithuanians during and after War.  

Her recollections were published in Mūsų Pastogė 30 years after the Lithuanians on the First Transport settled into the Bonegilla camp.  Thanks to great improvements in Google Translate, we can now follow them in English.)

Memories of December 1947

"Reading in the press about the 30th anniversary of the first post-war Lithuanian arrival in Australia brings back pleasant memories that I want to share. 

"In the post-war period, when my late husband was still the chairman of the Lithuanian Society of Australia, we diligently followed, in the local newspapers, the difficult situation of our compatriots in the German camps, and wanted to help somehow, namely, to try to bring them to Australia.

"Correspondence began with requests to the then Australian Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell, to allow Lithuanians from the camps to enter this country.  In the meantime we learned that a significant number were already leaving for England, the USA, Canada and elsewhere. The Australian government took a long time to respond, until we finally received a positive response. 

"Later we received a letter from the ship General Stuart Heintzelman with the announcement that Baltic people were coming, among them 439 Lithuanians. What joy for us! Finally, so many compatriots are arriving, and our Lithuanian community will increase, we thought! 

"At that time, local newspapers widely described their arrival as an extraordinary event. Even the Minister of Immigration, Arthur Calwell, himself met the ship in the port of Fremantle and personally congratulated us.* 

Visiting Bonegilla

"Due to the long distance, it was impossible for us to meet (the ship), so we were content to send a greeting on behalf of the Australian Lithuanian Society. It was possible to visit those who arrived at the Bonegilla camp. We decided to meet: my husband [Antanas Bauže, also deceased by 1977], Mr T Kuodis (now deceased) and I. 

"The Lithuanian committee formed by Jonas Motiejūnas, Kazys Mieldažis and Povilas Baltutis handled themselves perfectly. We spent the weekend at the camp, we were warmly welcomed, we felt great pleasure among our own people. I was kindly looked after by Miss 0. Matulionytė, now Miniotienė. 

"The time spent there remained unforgettable. At the Saturday evening party, everyone danced happily, despite the fact that many were wearing heavy boots, just issued by the camp management. 

Almost as new:  Australian Army boots dated 1945, as issued to the male DPs --
imagine dancing in these!

Source:  Blighty Militaria

"During the Sunday morning service, the men's choir led by Petras Morkūnas, who we had the pleasure of hearing at the previous day's party, impressively sang the song, "Let us Fall on our Knees", which we had not heard for a long time and which was a favourite of my late husband. 

Fruit pickers

"Later, a group of men who received their first salary while picking fruit in Victoria participated in a reunion party organized by the Lithuanian Society in Sydney's Dulwich Hill parish hall. 

"Before you know it, 30 years have passed. During that time, life has changed for many, many have created families and homes beautifully. I think your circle has also thinned, but those who met us will have pleasant memories. The First Transport, the first post-war Lithuanian immigrants, pioneers, will still remain close. 

Congratulations

"Therefore, on this occasion, I sincerely congratulate all of you on celebrating the 30th anniversary of your arrival in Australia, wishing you much happiness, health and many more years to celebrate." 

FOOTNOTE

*  It's been a common mistake to misremember the greeting by the Minister for Immigration occurring when the Heintzelman arrived in Fremantle, on 28 November 1947.  However, Minister Calwell was making a speech to Parliament in Canberra on that day.  Even today's modern, faster transport would not have allowed him to be in both Canberra and Fremantle during daylight hours on the same day, given the time his speech in the House of Representatives started, as recorded in Hansard.

Source:  Baužienė, Ona (1977) 'Pirmaji transporta prisimenant' ('Remembering the First Transport') Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 19 December, p 8 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1977/1977-12-19-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 18 September 2025.

Gunars Berzzarins OAM (1925-2015): Chess champion, accountant, journalist, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Gunars, chess champion, arrives in Australia

Gunars Berzzarins was singled out by Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in its 8 December 1947 report of the arrival in Melbourne the previous day of ‘more than 800 sturdy, sun-tanned Baltic migrants’.  This economics student had been, the paper noted, chess champion of Latvia’s capital, Riga.  (That had been in 1943 and 1944, before the return of Soviet forces from the east made Gunars and thousands of others flee westwards.)

Gunars Berzzarins' ID photo on his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

In January 1950, soon after moving to Adelaide, he won that city’s Summer Chess Training tournament, a 6-man competition.  In 1952 he won the Adelaide Chess Masters tournament again and organised the first Adelaide Schools Team tournament.  He finished 11th at the Australian Chess Masters in Brisbane in 1951.

Why Gunars left Latvia

Another entry in this blog discusses 13-14 June 1941, the night when Baltic people known or thought to be anti-Communist were rounded up for deportation to Siberia. During that night, Riga lost some 35,000 of its population of 400,000: nearly 10 per cent.

Gunars himself lost school friends and friends of the family to this deportation. He told me that this had generated fear in the remaining Latvians rather than hatred.

After the Germans occupiers of Latvia lost the battle for Stalingrad in February 1943, they began calling up Latvians to serve in the German Army. Boys still at school could choose to serve instead in the RAD, the Reichsarbietsdienst (the Reich Labour Service). Gunars’ birth year, 1925, was to be called up in 1944.

The Soviet forces pushed into the Bay of Riga on 30 July 1944. A day or two later, Gunars and Valentins got themselves to the port city of Liepaja and managed to flee to Germany from there.

Gunars told me that it was much easier for city dwellers to leave Latvia than for rural Latvians. The latter were likely to have been living where their ancestors had lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years so they had a strong emotional attachment to their land.

Riga, the capital city where one-third of the Latvian population lived, finally fell to the Soviet forces on 13 October 1944.

Gunars in Germany

Initially the refugees who had fled the Soviet invasion, knowing that their lives under Soviet rule would be even worse than under German rule, thought that they would be able to return to their homelands soon. For that reason, they tended to find refuge together. By 1947, however, the hope of an early return to their homelands had faded.

In Germany, Gunars became an economics student in Göttingen, whose university had become the first to resume teaching after WWII. This meant that he could live in student quarters. Valentins wanted to continue his medical studies, so made his way to Dusseldorf.  This town is still more than 3 hours to the west by train or road.

Gunars’ parents had lost everything during the Russian Revolution, so they believed strongly that what you had in your head, your education, was most important. His father worked for the Latvian public service, in its upper levels, including for its Auditor-General.

His parents also had evacuated from Riga before it fell. They found refuge in Erfurt, a city which was captured by the Americans in April 1945 but then handed over to the Soviet Union in July 1945. They had not left Erfurt before the handover, but managed to get back to Riga. Gunars’ father died in 1956, around the time that the Soviet Union under Khrushchev decided to let older people go if they wanted to leave. As Valentins was settled in the USA, his mother migrated there.

The winter of 1945-46 in Germany was grim, with no coal and little electricity. There was no light after 4 pm. He was able to continue his studies in three helpful homes, one of a man, one of a woman, and one of a couple. As a student, he was fed by UNRRA. Cigarettes and coffee had become the local currency. Shops had almost nothing to sell.

He had started to learn English when he attended the English High School in Riga, which had English language instruction in its final years. Initally he had 7 sessions of English in a 5-day week, Linguaphone records, other records of English songs and books in English.

After the 1940 invasion of Latvia by the Soviet Union, English became just another language – until English-speaking troops successfully invaded Germany, where he had found refuge.

That 1945-46 winter was so difficult that Gunars did not want to spend more time in Germany, and knew that the Germans did not want the refugees either. He wanted to go to Venezuela or another warm country. Coal miners were wanted in both Germany and England, while Germany also wanted farm labourers. Gunars was neither, studying pure economics although this topic did not thrill him.

He considered Canada as well, since it was an English-speaking country on a similar latitude to Latvia. Everyone else wanted to resettle in the United States, of course. Canada was not making any offers, however, when he saw a notice about going to Australia on the noticeboard of his student quarters. Since UNRRA was feeding the residents, he thought an UNRRA official had put up the notice.

He was interviewed by the Australian team in a camp in Hannover, sent there with other applicants in a canvas-covered truck. He stayed in another camp in Bucholz, also used by the interviewers, on his way to the General Stuart Heintzelman in Bremerhaven.

What did Gunars know about Australia before his interview? In a few words, it was the Fifth Continent, with sheep, gold and wheat. It had been half a page in a geography textbook. He asked UNRRA staff to tell him what more they knew, but they replied, “Nothing”. Still, he knew that it was an English-speaking country.

He travelled through the interview process and the trip to Australia with friends from Göttingen. They included Olgerts Bergmanis, a fellow chess and table tennis player who Gunars knew from his chess club in Riga, Indulis Nicis and the Seja brothers, Andris and Juris.

Gunars in Fremantle

Nicis’ father had left his family in the 1920s to travel, stayed in Australia and remarried. Kārlis Nicis had become secretary to the Honorary Consul for Latvia. He probably knew or knew of most of the pre-War Latvians in Australia. He also knew that his son now was coming to Australia and that there would be a stopover in Perth. He wrote to friends there, who came to the camp where Indulis and Gunars were staying to drive them around the city.

Bonegilla camp

The Commandant of the Bonegilla camp, Alton Kershaw, seemed to be fierce but was known to be a good man underneath it. His offsider, Allan Dawson, was not liked. Gunars did not remember any problems in the running of the camp. Although supposedly dry, this was not actually the case.

Gunars remembered oranges, grapes, chocolate and port wine in the camp for Christmas 1947.

Gunars worked as a storeman at Bonegilla camp for nearly two years, from one week after his arrival, from 15 December 1947, to one month after the Minister for Immigration said that the new arrivals’ obligation to work in Australia was finished, to 28 October 1949.

Do you remember the women Heintzelman passengers filling out forms with some vital statistics and the men completing forms with their shoe size even before they reached the wharf in Fremantle? Do you remember a representative of a clothing factory estimated the size of the men's clothing by watching them disembark?

That was so that surplus Australian Army clothing in the correct sizes could be supplied to them after arrival at Bonegilla. And the clothing had to be stored somewhere, as did bedding and other supplies. Gunars curated these for 22 months. It would have been much better employment for the former economics student than some of the heavy labouring to which his peers were sent.

Marianne Hammerton’s book on the history of South Australia’s Department of Engineering and Water Supply includes the remark that “The migrant labour force was not without its problems. There was no system of matching individuals to positions. The Department found it had a mixture of professionals, tradesmen and technicians working as labourers …”

I reckon it's actually Gunars Berzzarins on the LEFT,
judging from the glasses and the blond, wavy hair,
playing with OlgerTs, not Olgerfs, making his move on the right

Source:  Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 1947

Gunars was underemployed compared with his previous education but at least he was not digging ditches or felling trees. Plus he had time to play chess, as we can see in the photograph above. Gunars’ brother, Valentins, 4 years older, had taught him this game. At Bonegilla, his friend Olgerts taught him how to swim in the adjacent Lake Hume.

Latvians working in the Bonegilla camp gather to celebrate one year in Australia:
(left to right) Andris Seja, unknown, Galina Vasins, possibly Nikolajs Krukovs, unknown, Irina Vasins, unknown, Gunars Berzzarins, (kneeling in front) Antanas Norkeliunas

Source:  Collection of Galina Vasins Karciauskas

Gunars started competing publicly in Australian chess tournaments in September 1948.

To balance the quiet time with a chess opponent, Gunars played table tennis. By May 1948, he was winning A Grade table tennis matches in Albury. At this time, a team called Balts was playing in the competition, with Vacys Morkunas and Janis Belousovs as well as Berzzarins and later arrivals. They were winning. Gunars even represented Wodonga in a match against Albury, which Wodonga won, in July 1948. In September, Balts won that year’s Wodonga table tennis competition.

Around June 1949, Balts had changed its name to Bonegilla, reflecting a greater diversity of camp residents and potential players.

Gunars in Adelaide

One week after leaving Bonegilla, Gunars was working as a clerk for the Adelaide Car Service company in Flinders Street, Adelaide and had found accommodation at 6 Wheaton Road, St Peters.

He was soon making news in Adelaide, under the headline, ‘Migrants keen on “night life”’. The former Prime Minister, now leader of the Federal Opposition, had told Australia’s first Citizenship Convention in Canberra on 23 January 1950 that many of the new arrivals must miss the opportunity for a chat and a glass of wine in the evening. Gunars, as a migrant in the street, asked for a poll on 6 o’clock closing (of hotels) and suggested open-air cafes, where customers could be liquor, listen to music and even dance. These would have been radical ideas to 1950 Australia!

After ten months in Adelaide, Gunars moved to 15 Castle Street. His next job was as a salesman with the British Sales Company, in August 1952. Seven months later, he had switched to selling for the Home Appliances Sales Company. He stayed in home appliance sales for 13 months before becoming a clerk for an accountant, TS Wilson. All of these jobs were in Adelaide’s Central Business District and he was still living at 15 Castle Street.

Gunars, accountant, citizen, journalist, university lecturer

Like at least 6 of the other young passengers, Gunars was presented with the idea that accountancy was a good way for a person whose second, third or fourth language was English to make a living.

They could work in an office with numbers rather than English language words in the days before Information Technology provided a similar pathway for smart young immigrants. There are two such stories on this blog already: those of Helmi Liiver Samuels and Artur Klaar (although Artur is a special case as he was working as an accountant already in Estonia).

In Gunars’ case, he obtained a Diploma in Accountancy in 1959 from the South Australian Technical Institute, which became part of the University of South Australia. He was a part-time lecturer in office management and related subjects at his alma mater during 1972-76, in addition to his other activities.

Gunars was still at 15 Castle Street when he became an Australian citizen on 7 March 1957. This is quite unlike the other Heintzelman passengers at whom we have looked so far, most of whom moved often from one place of residence to another.

Another First Transport passenger, Emils Delins, began publishing the Austrālijas latvietis newspaper in May 1949. Gunars became an immediate volunteer contributor. The Latvietis online newspaper obituary says that he already had publishing experience, since he and two friends had published Šacha pasaule (Chess World) during 1946-47 while he was in Göttingen.

From 1950 to 1953 he wrote about chess for the Adelaide Advertiser, in English of course. Additionally, from 1952 until 1964, he was that newspaper’s basketball correspondent, this being another sport he had played when younger.

One of Gunar's chess reports, from the Adelaide Advertiser, 20 September 1951 —
his middle name was Eizens, related to Eugene in English

Source: The Advertiser, Adelaide

His story is starting to look very much like that of a previous entry, Jonas Strankauskas, from January 1950, when he participated in the founding of the Adelaide Latviešu Sport (yes, Adelaide Latvian Sport) club and became its secretary or manager for many years. I’m not aware of Strankauskas being a writer as well as a chess player and sports administrator, however.

In 1961, Gunars was elected as the head of the Latvian Sports Authority of Australia. For several years, he also worked on the boards of the Latvian Association in Australia and New Zealand and the Latvian Society of Australia. He was elected a life member of the Latvian Association and Daugava Vanagu, the international Latvian care organisation.

Gunars had his first article in English published in Australia as early as July 1949, but under a pseudonym, "Gordon Birch", which at least was in quotations marks to tell the readers it was not his real name. Whether the decision to use a pseudonym was Gunars or that of the editor of the Argus Weekend Magazine, I do not know, but suspect that the editor decided that Gunars Berzzarins would be too difficult for his (probably his) gentle readers.

The article explained to Australian readers why the displaced persons were coming to their country and dispelled some false ideas that had a risen already.

“Gordon Birch” wrote once more for English language readers, this time about sport, from one mention we have in the Lithuanian language press. Lithuanian Aldona Snarskytė was a rising table tennis star. The Sportas column of the Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian) dated 30 August 1952 reports that “Gordon Birch” had a long article about her in a publication called Sports News, in which he described her life and sporting achievements.

The only article I can find to fit this description is in Australijos lietuvis itself, in its English section of 11 October 1952. A footer on the same page contains the phrase “Sports News” in Lithuanian. (At that time, the foreign language press was allowed to publish only if it included a section in the English language.)

Gunars, the travel, food and sports writer

Travelling became a hobby. He had visited all Australian states before, in 1961, he left for New Zealand. Then he travelled 34 times to all continents, usually combining the trip with a sporting event. After his return, he would write about the places visited during the trip, first in Austrālijas latvietis, later in the US newspaper, Laiks (Time). These articles were collected in two books, Svešās zemēs esot jauki (Foreign Lands are Enjoyable) published in Latvia in 2000, and Part II, published in Australia in 2007.

The cover of Gunars' first travel book

Source:  Collection of the author

He wrote and published Where to Dine in South Australia in 1976. This was his second book, the first being the story in Latvian of the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Melburnā 1956: sespadsmitas Olimpiskas Speles. Just as writing about the Olympic Games surely requires some attendance at events, Where to Dine in South Australia must have required what scientists call “fieldwork”.

The next year saw a move to Melbourne, where he wrote regularly for the Age newspaper’s annual Good Food Guide. More fieldwork must have been required. He lived in Melbourne until retirement in 1987.  That was the year he co-authored The Age Cheap Eats as well.

He was asked to be the volunteer editor of the sports section in Austrālijas latvietis. He organised and led a group of Australian Latvian athletes to the first Latvian Global Championships in Garezer, Michigan, in 1985. The Pasaules Brīvo Latviešu Apvienība (World Association of Free Latvians) awarded him the Krišjānis Barons prize for special achievements in sports journalism in 1987.

He attended 7 Olympic Games, 7 world basketball championships, 5 European basketball championships, the Davis Cup in tennis, plus various athletics and cycling competitions. Some of his sports reporting was collected in a book called Draugos ar sportu piecos kontinentos (Friends with Sports on Five Continents) published in 2003.

Latvia proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union in May 1990 and regained its de facto independence in August 1991. From 1990, Gunars visited his homeland a number of times, writing up his observations in Austrālijas latvietis. They were collected into his sixth book (not counting the Age Good Food Guides or The Age Cheap Eats), Rīgas piezīmes 1990- 2003 (Riga Notes 1990-2003), published in 2004.

All this travel and sport attendance costs money, unlikely to have been covered by the sale of his books. Perhaps Gunars was able, as an accredited reporter, to attend sporting events for free or at a reduced rate, but he was not being paid for his journalism (except by the Melbourne Age). I would assume that Gunars was able to find work as an accountant, auditor or management consultant when not travelling but have not confirmed this.

Gunars Berzzarins in later life

Source:  TimeNote

Gunars is honoured

As far as I am aware, he is the only passenger from the first refugee voyage to Australia of the General Stuart Heintzelman to have received an honour from the Australia Government. On Australia Day 2012 he received a Medal of the Order of Australia for ‘service to the Latvian community, and to sport as an administrator and journalist’. This entitled him to the OAM postnominal.

Gunars’ death

Gunars died in Adelaide on 14 November 2015. He had reached the respectable age of 90. He had clearly found some things more interesting than economics to keep him engaged, active and contributing to the broader community in such a long life.

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