Lithuanian life for Antanas Galatiltis
An electrical engineer, Antanas was born in the city of Švenčionys, 84 kilometres north of Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, on 23 April 1923. He attended the Vytautas Didysis High school in Vilnius, graduating in 1941. As he told the Australian selection team that he had 3 years' experience as a farm worker, that presumably is what he did during 1941-44, after high school.
He left Lithuania by himself in 1944, fleeing as far as the Baltic Children’s Home near Lübeck in northern Germany. Here he taught primary school until the possibility of leaving for Australia arose in September-October 1947. During this time, he was living in Camp Riga in Lübeck.
Of course he was one of those selected then for resettlement, travelling on the First Transport, or we would not be discussing him.
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| Antanas Galatiltis' photo from his Bonegilla card Source: National Archives of Australia |
Off to Forestry, Mt Gambier, South Australia
On 9 January 1948, Antanas was one of a group sent from the Bonegilla camp to work for the Woods and Forest Department at Mount Gambier in southeast South Australia. Jedda Barber's father, Valentinas Dagys, was another of that group. Kostas Bušma, Stasys Čibiras, and Algis Jakštas are 3 more from this group whom we have met already in this blog.
The working and living conditions offered by the Woods and Forests Department in 1948 would have been no better than those described by Pranas Nagys in a series of articles in Mūsų Pastogė 50 years later. Pranas was part of a group which reached Mt Gambier on 30 March 1949. Here is what he wrote about the living conditions, translated from the issue of 2 June 1997.
Living Conditions in the Forestry Camp
“Living conditions here were worse than in the sugar cane fields. We had a water tap by the barracks, but there was no place to shower. There was no river and the weather was cold. The wood-burning stove in the kitchen was only suitable for boiling a pot of rice.
“Once a week, we would organise to wash. We would empty one large pot of water into a large tub, and it would be enough for two men. While the two of them were bathing, we would boil water for the next two …
“We had to make sure that the last two would have time to bathe by 8 am on Saturday, when the bus left for Mt Gambier. So, according to a pre-arranged list, we would wake each other up from sleep for a wash.
“Going to town was very important, as it was necessary to bring food for the whole week. There were no shops in the forest. A dairy farmer lived nearby. We bought milk and eggs from him every day. Bread was delivered to the barracks every morning. We brought all the other products from Mt. Gambier.
“There was no way for each of us to cook separately, as there was only one stove, which could hold only one pot. We decided that we needed a cook. One of us would cook for everyone, and we would pay him 5 shillings a week for that work. Modestas Čiplys agreed to be the cook …
“Our cook had to boil water for tea every day. In the evening, he would cook what he could. The rest of us had to bring him firewood from the forest and chop it up. We carried broken dry branches and trees.
“On cold nights, we would put everything we had in our suitcases on our beds. We would put our jackets and all our shirts between the blankets to make it warmer. In the evening, we would stoke the heater, one to each room. After they went out, it was very cold in the morning. Sometimes the frost would turn white on the grass until the sun rose and melted it.”
Pranas and his peers tried hard to get back to sugar cane cutting, which had been their first job in Australia. Those not used to cane cutting reported it as hot, dirty work, since the cane fields had been burnt to remove dried cane leaves and vermin first. That says a lot about the work they were expected to do in the forests around Mount Gambier.
Antanas in Adelaide
Antanas was released from his contract to work where directed along with nearly everyone else from the First Transport, on 30 September 1949. An Alien Registration record card kept by the Adelaide branch of the National Archives reveals that he had got himself to Adelaide even before that date, since he advised Immigration officials of a South Terrace addressed in the central city on 27 August.
His next employer was the General Motors Holden plant in the suburb of Woodville. He lived at 4 different addresses during this time, up to January 1952.
Antanas Takes Up Study
That year, he enrolled in the Electrical Engineering with the South Australian Institute of Technology. By day he worked at Holden factory, and in the evenings he studied. He graduated from this course in 1959. The South Australian Institute of Technology became part of the University of South Australia, which merged with the University of Adelaide on 5 January 2026.
Antanas' Work
Antanas worked as a draftsman with the Electricity and Water Supply Department (E&WS) from 1954, and for the Post Master General from 1956 until 1959. Once he graduated in 1959, he began working with electrical devices in the Engineering Department at the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) at Salisbury.
Australian Citizen and Active Lithuanian
On 13 February 1956, Antanas was granted Australian citizenship in the Adelaide suburb of St Peters.
Antanas was a great supporter of Adelaide Lithuanian House and was Vice-President of the Australian Lithuanian National Council for two terms. He was a member of the Adelaide Lithuanian Architects and Engineers Society.
Antanas' Early Death
He died, aged only 60, on 8 July 1983.
His black granite headstone in the Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, is adorned with a carved Lithuanian cross, his name, birthdate and date of death.
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| Antanas Galatiltis headstone in the Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, Adelaide |
CITE THIS AS: Pocius, Daina and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2026) 'Antanas Galatiltis (1923-1983): From Farm Boy to Electrical Engineer', https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2026/03/antanas-galatiltis-1923-1983-from-farm-boy-to-electrical-engineer.html
SOURCES
'Folder DP1129, names from GALANTER, HUNA to GALAUSKA, Reinis (2)', 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67117458 (?tanas GALATILTÍS), ITS Digital Archive/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/67117458?s=GALATILTIS%20&t=2737450&p=0, accessed 4 March 2026.
Adelaidės Lietuvių Žinios (Adelaide Lithuanian News) (1983) [No title] Adelaide,17 July, p 9. [Copy in the Australian Lithuanian Archive, Adelaide.]
Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1960) 1960 ‘Mūsų baigusieji Adelaidėje’ (‘Our Graduates in Adelaide) Sydney, NSW, 6 May, p 3 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-05-06-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 4 March 2026.
Nagys, Pranas (1997) ‘Pirmieji metai Australijoje, Kuriamės Pietų Kryžiaus žarnyne’ (‘The first year in Australia, We are building in the bowels of the Southern Cross', in Lithuanian) Mųsų Pastogė, Sydney, NSW, 26 May, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-05-26-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 4 March 2026.
National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D 4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-1976; GALATITIS ANTANAS, GALATILTIS Antanas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-1956 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7207511, accessed 26 September 2025.
National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; GALATILTIS ANTANAS, GALATILTIS, Antanas : Year of Birth - 1923 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 759, 1947-1948 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203670934, accessed 4 March 2026.
National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; NAGYS PRANAS, NAGYS, Pranas : Year of Birth - 1923 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. BLACK : Number - [UNKNOWN], 1948-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203717138, accessed 4 March 2026.
National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; GALATILTIS ANTANAS, GALATILTIS, Antanas : Year of Birth - 1923 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 759, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203670934, accessed 26 September 2025.
Wikipedia ‘Švenčionys’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0ven%C4%8Dionys, accessed 4 March 2026.
