This is the story of the founder of Lithuanian scouting in Australia. It is a story of commitment and persistence.
Borisas in Lithuania
Borisas Dainutis was born on 11 August 1918 in Vilnius, still the capital of Lithuania until 1920 after Poland seized it. Given the continued fighting from 1918, it was no surprise that the family moved to Panevėžys, in the cenre of Lithuania. Borisas grew up and finished high school there.
In 1939, he completed military training. In 1940, he commenced construction studies at the Vytautas the Great University in Kaunas, in the Technical Studies faculty. The German occupation closed the University in 1943 when Lithuanians refused to raise an SS battalion, so Borisas did not complete his studies there. He resumed them in Germany in 1946 but, again, they were interrupted by his departure for Australia.
Germany, Australia and Scouting
His Personal Statement and Declaration completed in Perth the day after his arrival on 28 November 1947 describes his occupation as “building engineer". For the Melbourne Age newspaper, which published a report on his scouting activities on 27 December 1949, he was a civil engineer.
Apparently, he left behind in Germany no documents that the Arolsen Archives could digitise, so we don’t know how he initially was describing his departure from Lithuania. The selection interview report for migration to Australia says simply that he “fled from Russian regime” and reached asylum in September 1944.
He had been a scout from school days and continued while in a displaced persons camps in Hanover, Germany. He was invited to be the head of the scouts in his camp.
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| Borisas Dainutis in scout uniform Source: Australian Lithuanian Archive |
He worked in that position for half a year and devoted a lot of time and energy in this role. In 1948, he was awarded a scout medal, the Lelijos Ordinas (Order of the Lily). It is awarded to a scout leader who has shown great merit for at least three years and for being active for at least ten years at any scout level.
Borisas organises Scouts
The Lithuanian Scout Society appointed him as its representative in Australia. While on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman coming to Australia, he organised the scouts on board. Given that there were 45 in addition to him, this would have kept him busy.
In Australia, Borisas had the difficult task of registering scouts scattered all over Australia and organising them into units. From the Bonegilla migrant camp, he was writing to Australian scout officials to establish how the Lithuanian scouts could operate in Australia as a distinct group.
First two jobs in Australia
Borisas was one of 187 men sent from Bonegilla to pick fruit in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. He left the Bonegilla camp on 29 January. We’ve noted in another blog entry that he did not return to the Bonegilla camp until 5 May, nearly 4 weeks after the last of the other 186. His employer was Messrs Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona.
He had another 5 weeks in the Bonegilla camp in which to continue his scouting organisation until being sent to his next employer. On 16 July he set off on his own to the Dookie Agricultural College in Victoria. It is less than 50 kilometres east of Ardmona, where he had spent 3 months already.
He wasn’t going to be there on his own. Two Lithuanians, Jonas Kildisas and Mecislovas Tutlys had left Bonegilla for Dookie three weeks earlier. The three were to be joined by Vytautas Sakalauskas in early September and Jonas Asmonas three weeks later.
Borisas continued his scouting campaign from Dookie. He would write drafts of his scouting correspondence on Dookie College letterhead and then get someone to correct his English.
He would apologise for his errors and not understanding the culture as well as he would have liked. He persevered, writing to Australian scouting officials and even the Chief Scout in Britain to get a Lithuanian branch of scouting in Australia.
First Pan-Pacific Scout Camp, Yarra Brae, Victoria
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| Algirdas or Algis Liubinskas, left, and Borisas or Boris Dainutis, right, at the First Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree, Yarra Brae, Victoria, 1948-49 |
After the Government contract
After completing his work contract as a medical orderly at the Dookie Agricultural College at the end of September 1949, Borisas settled in Melbourne.
He actually was selected in Germany for employment as an urgently needed builder’s labourer. It’s not clear, therefore, why he finished up working as a medical orderly instead, except that he probably had first aid training from his scouting activities. Also, the Bonegilla cards are notable in not showing any of the selected builder’s labourers actually been sent to work with builders.
He was interviewed by the Good Neighbour magazine in 1950. The magazine reported that “After two years in Australia, 31-year-old Boris Dainutis has seen more of the country than many Australians. In his native Lithuania before the war Boris did his travelling by cycle. He finds Australia much too big for that and has bought a motorcycle. On it he tours Victoria at weekends; he visited Sydney from Melbourne on his holidays and next Christmas hopes to tour Tasmania … Boris worked as a fruit picker and medical orderly under contract. Now he has chosen a job with a dry-cleaning company …”
Lithuanian Scouts in Australia
From 1949 to 1953 he was head of Lithuanian scouts in Australia and, later the head of its press department. He led another Lithuanian troop to the 1955-56 Pan-Pacific Jamboree at Clifford Park in Victoria, and also to the 1958-59 National Camp at Mornington, Victoria.
He attended many other scout camps, assisting at them as an instructor or official. One of these activities made it into the press in March 1949, when the Kyabram Free Press reported that Borisas had been the special guest at a cub camp at the Kyabram Scout Hall. He had led the cubs in a number of games and in play-acting.
Borisas becomes an official Australian
Borisas was one of those keen to become an Australian citizen. The two required advertisements appeared in newspapers in November 19, less than five years after his arrival. He had to wait another 6 months though before he took his oath of allegiance before a magistrate, on 12 May 1953.
Work, Study, Marriage
At the time of his application for naturalization, Borisas was working as an assistant to a surveyor. Both were employed by the Victorian Lands Department.
Given his tertiary education in Lithuania and Germany, it was not surprising that he thought to at least work as a draftsman in Australia. To prepare, he studied surveying and drawing at the Royal Melbourne Technical College (now the RMIT University). He then found work as a draftsman with Victoria’s State Electricity Commission.
In 1952 married Elena Šteinartaitė and purchased a house in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg. A daughter and son were born to the couple.
Illness and Death
As his first decade in Australia ended, Borisas was feeling more and more ill. In hospital it was found that his kidneys were damaged and inoperable. This was in the days before kidney transplantation was available in Australia and when dialysis was still in its infancy.
He was only 41 years old when he died on 29 March 1960 at the Prince Henry Hospital. As his daughter had been born in December 1958 and his son in December 1959, they both were babies still at the time of his death.
He was interred in the Fawkner cemetery, Melbourne. His funeral was attended by Lithuanian scouts, who formed a circle about the grave to sing the traditional evening song, Ateina Naktis.
It is sung at the end of every day at scout camp as a prayer. The words mean, “The night has come, the sun has set from the hills and forests, from all the land. Sweet dreams, go to sleep, God is here”.
Russian, Ukrainian and Estonian scouts attended too, no doubt grateful for the precedent in ethnic community scouting set by Borisas for Lithuanians. His grave was decorated with many wreaths and several farewell speeches were given by community members and family.
Elena was buried with him 58 years later. Their grave is marked by the Australian version of their names, Boris and Helen.
Australia has gained through the training and discipline still acquired by those involved in the Lithuanian branch of scouting here.
SourcesAge (1948) ‘Canvas Tent City Rises at Wonga Park’ Melbourne, 27 December, p 4 https://www.newspapers.com/image/124518561/ accessed 15 June 2025.
Age (1952) ‘Advertising, Public Notices’ Melbourne, 13 November, p11 https://www.newspapers.com/image/123319339/ accessed 15 June 2025.
Ancestry.com ‘Boris Dainutis in the Victoria, Australia, Marriage Index, 1837-1962’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/61649/records/2214455?tid=&pid=&queryId=8c597349-35d6-48c7-8922-61ee55dda6e4&_phsrc=lkA14&_phstart=successSource accessed 15 June 2025.
Baltutis, V, Poželaitė-Davis, II, Jonavičius J, Mockūnienė B & Pusdešris, P (1983) 'Australijos Lietuvių Metraštis II [Australian Lithuanian Yearbook II (in Lithuanian)]' Adelaide, Australijos Lietuvių Bendruomenė ir Australijos Lietuvių Fondas, pp 325 – 328.
Context Pty Ltd (2005?) ’Yarra Brae, Place No 262’ in Manningham Heritage Study pp 687-9, http://images.heritage.vic.gov.au accessed 14 June 2025.
Good Neighbour (1950) ‘Meet a New Australian’, Canberra, 1 October, p 3 https://www.newspapers.com/image/901721676/ accessed 15 June 2025.
Krausas, A (1960) ‘Vyr. Skaut. Borisas Dainutis’ (‘Chief Scout Borisas Dainutis’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, 29 April, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-04-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 15 June 2025.
Kyabram Free Press and Rodney and Deakin Shire Advocate (1949) ‘Scouts and Cubs' Kyambram,10 March, p 15 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article270432677 accessed 15 Jun 2025.
Popenhagen, Luda (2012) 'Scouting' in 'Australian Lithuanians' Sydney, New South Publishing, pp 251-53
Queensland Times (1948) 'Pan-Pacific Jamboree Great Gathering of Boy Scouts in Victoria', Ipswich, 20 December, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117112254 accessed 15 June 2025.
Sun News-Pictorial (1952) ‘Advertising, Public Notices’ Melbourne, 13 November, p 22 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/279921260 accessed 15 June 2025.
Weekly Times (1949) 'Scouts at Jamboree', Melbourne, 5 January, p30 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224886070 accessed 9 July 2025.
Zalys, B. (1996) ‘Pėdsekys, LSS Australijos rajono 50-meciui artejant’ [‘Footprints, As the LSS Australian District approaches its 50th anniversary’, in Lithuanian] Mūsų Pastogė, Sydney, 18 November, p 5 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge /archive/1996/1996-11-18-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf accessed 19 Jun 2025.
