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

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

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

Vaclovas Kalytis photograph from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Escaping from Railton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Return to Railton

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

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

Staying in Tasmania

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

Vaclovas' Youth

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

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

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

Early Days in Australia

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

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

Vaclovas the Singer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life and Death

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Footnote

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

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

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

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

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

Sources

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mercury (1950) ‘Lithuanian Quartet’, Hobart, 9 December, p 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26744818 accessed 28 March 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-47; 391, KALYTIS Vacslavas (sic) DOB 15 September 1918, 1947-47 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005687 accessed 28 March 2025.

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

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

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

Vytautas Stasiukynas (1920 –?): The Vet Who Found Happiness in South America by Daina Pocius with Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 18 July 2024.

One of the Lithuanians in the First Transport group sent to Goliath Cement at Railton, Tasmania, was a Doctor of Veterinary Science.  Vytautas Stasiukynas had given his intended occupation in Australia as farmer, possibly to fit in with the known occupational shortages in Australia.  He was 27 years old on arrival, having been born in Peršėkininkai village, in the south of Lithuania, on 14 February 1920.

He had found himself on a farm two months after arrival in Australia, but it was to pick fruit in the Ardmona area for nearly 6 weeks.  Returning to the Bonegilla camp, he was employed there for one week as a casual labourer.  Probably it was more labouring with Goliath – until he left early, after less than 10 months, in February 1949.

A youthful Vytautas Stasiukynas, photographed for his Bonegilla card in 1947

Source:  NAA: A2571, STASIUKYNAS VYTAUTAS

A list probably compiled by Ramunas Tarvydas, the author of From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, shows that another 6 of the men left during February or March, well before their 2 years of employment in Australia was up.  The work must have been extremely hard indeed.

This does not include Endrius Jankus who, we know from his own account, stayed for maybe another month but he too decided that he could do better working in Melbourne instead.  We know that Endrius was contacted by the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) to be told that it was not up to him to decide where he could work: he had to be willing to go where the CES said that workers were needed.  Perhaps, one way or another, the CES located the other 6 and found them different work still in an area of national need.  Or perhaps they had gone directly to the CES, asking for a change of employment.  These individual employment records are unlikely to have survived for us to check them.

As for Vytautas Stasiukynas, his friend, Juozas Peciulis, also on the First Transport, wrote his story for the 14 June 1950 edition of Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), the new Australian-Lithuanian newspaper.  He based his account on the time they had spent together during the first two years, and a letter received from Colombia.  Yes, Vytautas had found a happier life in South America.

Juozas Peciulis reported that Vytautas had tried every possible way to get a job in his profession. His efforts were in vain.  He enrolled in a veterinary course at Sydney University, in case Australian qualifications would help him, but had to stop when his finances ran out. 

While living as a refugee in Germany, Peciulus wrote, Stasiukynas had received from Lithuanian Salesian priest, Father Mykolas Tamošiūnas, a visa for emigration to Columbia.   Father Tamošiūnas worked with a Lithuanian diplomat and journalist, Stasys Sirutis, to form the Lithuanian Catholic Committee for the Collection of War Victims.  Sirutis would contact Lithuanians in refugee camps in postwar Europe, taking care of their visas and permits so they could freely migrate to Columbia. The new arrivals would be assisted in finding work and housing, contributing to the Lithuanian colony in Columbia. 

By 1948, Colombia had become one of the main places of migration for Lithuanians.  The first Lithuanians settled in the city of Bogotá, but eventually spread to other cities: Medellín, Barranquilla, Cali, Bucaramanga, Villavicencio.  They were mainly farmers or hired workers. It is believed that around 850 Lithuanians came to Colombia after the Second World War. 

Frozen out of his preferred career in Australia, Vytautas turned again Father Mykolas and received another Colombian migration visa.  On 17 March 1950, he boarded a ship from the United States, the American Leader, to cross the Pacific.  The Brisbane Courier-Mail says that ship was bound for Boston, leaving Brisbane at 6 am on 18 March.  Juozas Peciulis reports that Vytautas paid £200 for the trip to Panama, while a flight from Panama to Medellin cost an additional $60 (US dollars, presumably).

This is a rare, if not unique, instance where we have the name of the ship of departure from Australia because it was recorded as a Change of Abode on his Aliens Registration Certificate.  This was retained by the Department of Immigration and subsequently by the National Archives of Australia.  We therefore have the date of departure also.

On arrival in Colombia, Vytautas immediately received a job as a vet on a farm owned by the brother of the nations’s President.  The farm was about 130 km from Medellin, 100 square kilometers in size with 1200 cows.  The area was very mountainous, with no roads, only riding tracks.  Vytautas lived on the farm, travelling around it by horse to inspect the animals.

He did not regret leaving Australia.  He wrote back to Juozas Peciulis that Columbia “is truly the land of opportunity and freedom exists in the full sense of the word.”

Vytautas remained in Colombia, where he married another Lithuanian and had 4 children. Evidence comes from V. Rociūnas in the August 1971 issue of Draugas (Friend), who reports that “Veterinarian Vytautas Stasiukynas has a wonderful family of four children and his excellent wife Nijole, a sincere supporter of Lithuanian activities. Stasiukynas has a large practice and a good reputation in the area.”*

Vytautas' wife, Nijole, is first on the left in this photo of the
board members of the Bogotá Lithuanian women's club

Source:  Moteris Lithuanian Women’s Magazine. 1966. No. 6 (54)   

(double-click to see a larger version of this photo)

An August 1972 issue of Musu Lietuva (Our Lithuania), published in São Paolo, Brazil, advises that Vytautas Stasiukynas from Bogotá was one the judges of an Inter-American Philatelic Exhibition which had opened in Rio de Janeiro.  He had won all sorts of medals at these exhibitions and was visiting Rio with his wife, Nijole.  They had promised to visit São Paolo as well.

In February 1981, Vienybė, (Unity, from Brooklyn, NY) had the larger part of a page devoted to Vytautas’ philately.   It featured an article he wrote about the Buenos Aires '80 International Stamp Exhibition, a ten-day long activity to celebrate 400 years since the permanent settlement of Buenos Aires.  He brought back a second prize, a gold-plated silver medal, from this Exhibition. Below that article, another records his own philatelic interests.

In a December 1982 issue of Mūsų Lietuva, on a page headed Greetings from Venezuela and Colombia, Vytautas and Nijole Stasiukynas “from Bogota remembered and congratulated their compatriots in Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo”.

In June 1983, Vienybė ran a full page article about the Lithuanian community in Colombia.  One of the illustrations shows Vytautas and his wife, Nijole, with another Lithuanian couple in a cacao plantation.

The photograph from Vienybė showing, from left to right in a cacao plantation, 
a Colombian, Laima and Algis Didžiulis, Dr Vytautas Stasiukynas, 
the Colombian plantation manager and Nijolė Stasiukynas.  The caption further adds that,
"The Didžiulises are big industrialists, with one company in Bogotá, another in Caracas, Venezuela,
a representative office in Fort Lauderdale, warehouses in Woodside, NY.
They also have a nice dairy farm near Bogotá."

Someone has started a family tree for Vytautas on Ancestry.com, but only got as far as noting that he died in Bogotá on an unknown date and adding one son. This son, José Vytenis Stasiukynas Hosie, is said to have been born in 1960 and to have died in 2006, at the early age of 46. This early death raises the possibility of an interaction with FARC, the Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group which has operated in Colombia since 1966, or with other armed left-wing and right-wing groups.

Nijole (front row, third from left with a red handbag)
attending a church service in Lithuania in 2012
as a representative of Bogotá's Lithuanian community

Source: XXI amžius (21st Century), 13 February 2015

While Vytautas saw Colombia as, “truly a land of opportunity (where) freedom exists in the full sense of the word”, a civil war was being fought there even as he arrived. The violence has waxed and waned, mainly in the countryside, in the more than 70 years since.

We believe that another member of the family is now activity in the field of caring for animals. Diana Stasiukynas is very likely to be a granddaughter of Vytautas.  Panthera.org, a New York based charity, says that Diana is “a biologist with a master's degree in biodiversity management and conservation.  She works with camera traps, in-situ genetic sampling, statistical analysis and other survey techniques in various wildlife conservation and management projects involving local communities, farmers and governmental and non-governmental organizations throughout Colombia.  In addition to conservation science, her professional interests include wildlife photography and community participation.”

It looks like not just Vytautas, but his whole subsequent family, was a loss to Australia.  Two other vets who arrived here on the General Stuart Heintzelman in 1947 were lost to Australia also. Lithuanian Anicetas Grigaliunas left for the United States in the 1950s.  An as yet unnamed Estonian left for Venezuela, where he supposedly became veterinarian to the country’s then President.  Ann remembers adding Venezuelan stamps to the collection she was given when aged 6.

SOURCES 

Courier Mail (1950) ‘Weather’ (including ‘Shipping’), Brisbane, Qld, 18 March, p 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49697105, accessed 9 November 2023. 

Gavenas, P (1982) ‘Sveikinimai iš Venezuelos ir Kolumbijos’ (‘Greetings from Venezuela and Colombia’) Mūsu Lietuva (Our Lithuania), São Paulo, Brazil, 2 December, p 6, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_lietuva/archive/1982/1982-nr47-MUSU-LIETUVA.pdf, accessed 18 November 2023. 

Matuzas, K (1983) ‘Kaip Gyvena ir Dirba Lietuviai Kolumbijoje’ ('How Lithuanians Live and Work in Colombia'), Vienybe (Unity), Brooklyn, New York, 15 June, p 7, https://spauda2.org/vienybe/archive/1983/1983-06-15-VIENYBE.pdf, accessed 18 November 2023. 

Moteris (Woman), Lithuanian Women's Magazine (1966) 'Bogotas, Kolumbijoje, LMF Klubo Valdybos Narės' (Bogotá, Colombia, LMF Club Board Members), Toronto, Canada, 6 (54) p 18, https://www.spauda.org/moteris/archive/1966/1966-nr06-MOTERIS.pdf, accessed 18 December 2023.

Mūsu Lietuva (Our Lithuania) (1972) ‘Svečiai iš Kolumbijos’ (‘Guests from Colombia’), São Paolo, Brazil, 31 August, p 10, https://spauda2.org/musu_lietuva/archive/1972/1972-nr35-MUSU-LIETUVA.pdf, accessed 18 November 2023. 

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla]; STASIUKYNAS, Vytautas : Year of Birth - 1920 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 684, 1947 – 1956, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203905639, accessed 10 November 2023. 

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A12508, Department of Immigration, Central Office; 37/541, STASIUKYNAS Vytautas born 14 February 1920; nationality Lithuanian; travelled per GENERAL HEINTZELMAN arriving in Fremantle on 28 November 1947, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7272994, accessed 10 November 2023. 

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Victorian Branch; B78, Alien registration documents; LITHUANIAN/STASIUKYNAS VYTAUTAS, STASIUKYNAS Vytautas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947 Departed Commonwealth on 19 March 1950, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5926058, accessed 10 November 2023. 

Papers held in the Lithuanian Archives in Australia, https://www.australianlithuanians.org/uncategorized/adel-arkhives/ accessed 25 May 2024.

Peciulis, J (1950) ‘Iš Viktorijos — Laimēs pēdomis Kolumbijon…’ (From Victoria — Finding Happiness in Colombia) Mūsu Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, NSW, 14 June, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259362958, accessed 9 November 2023. 

Rociūnas, V (1971) ‘Čiurlioniečiai P. Amerikoje’ (‘Ciurlionis in S America’ — Ciurlionis was a music ensemble formed in Vilnius in 1940 but based in Cleveland, Ohio, in exile until it disbanded in 1992) Draugas (Friend), the Lithuanian World-Wide Daily, Chicago, Illinois, 23 August, p 2, https://www.draugas.org/archive/1971_reg/1971-08-23-DRAU GAS-i7-8.pdf, accessed 18 November 2023. 

Stasiukynas, V (1981) ‘Vienybėje Pagamintas Leidinys Argentinoje Susilaukė Medalio’ (‘A Publication Produced by Unity Received a Medal in Argentina’), Vienybe (Unity), Brooklyn, New York, 13 February, p 5, https://spauda2.org/vienybe/archive/1981/1981-02-13-VIENYBE.pdf, accessed 18 November 2023. 

Šeškevičius, Arvydas (2015) 'Paminėjo daug metų Kolumbijoje gyvenusį kunigą Vaclovą Vaičiūną' (Commemorating Priest Vaclovas Vaičiūnas, who lived in Colombia for many years), XXI amžius, 13 February, https://www.xxiamzius.lt/numeriai/2015/02/13/atmi_01.html accessed 19 December 2023.

Tarvydas, Ramunas (1997) From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, Hobart, Baltic Semicentennial Commemoration Activities Organising Committee. 

Tarvydas, Ramunas, (nd) unpublished papers in the possession of the Goliath Cement, Railton, Tasmania. 

Vienybe (Unity), (1981) ‘Dr. Vytautas Stasiukynas’, Brooklyn, New York, 13 February, p 5, https://spauda2.org/vienybe/archive/1981/1981-02-13-VIENYBE.pdf, accessed 18 November 2023. 

Wikipedia (2023) ‘La Violencia’, last edited 17 September, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Violencia, accessed 24 November 2023. 

Wikipedia (2023) ‘Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’, last edited 15 November, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia, accessed 19 November 2023. 

Žukauskienė, Deimantė (2020) ‘Kolumbijos lietuviai tiki, kad lietuviškumas bendruomenėje atgims’ (‘Lithuanians in Colombia believe that Lithuanianness will be revived in the community’), 8 August, Pasaulio Lietuvis (World Lithuanian), https://pasauliolietuvis.lt/kolumbijos-lietuviai-tiki-kad-lietuviskumas-bendruomeneje-atgims/, viewed 9 November 2023.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Napoleonas Butkunas

Endrius Jankus

Vaclovas Kalytis

Mykolas Kartanas

Armands Laula

Johannes Liiberg

Povilas Niaura

Edmundas Obolevicius

Juozas Peciulis

Jonas Razvidaukas

Harolds Ronis

Alfred Saik

Antanas Simkus

Vytautas Stasiukynas

Evalds Stelps

Mindaugas Sumskas

Henrikas Surkevicius

Endel Uduste

Helmuts Upe

Antanas Viknius

Kazys Vilutis

Ojars Vinklers

Aleksandras Zilinskas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:  Burnie Advocate, 2 October 1948, p 3

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

Source:  NAA, CP815/1, 021.148 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Footnotes

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

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

References

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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