Showing posts with label Swanbourne Barracks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swanbourne Barracks. Show all posts

30 June 2025

Lost luggage, by Ann Tündern Smith

Not all about the Heintzelman voyage was happiness.  Lost luggage spoiled the trip for several.

Nikolajs Bergtals: see below for his 'found' story

Estonian woman, Salme Pochla, would have had her voyage ruined already when told that she would not be allowed to enter Australia.  She may or may not have been told the reason:  an adverse security report received after the Heintzelman had sailed.


To cap it off, some or all of her luggage, described as “packages", was lost. No trace of it could be found in Fremantle – or Perth presumably, either, since the luggage was transferred there for Customs examination on 29 November.


Then there was Karolis Prasmutas, a Lithuanian man who we have met in an earlier blog entry.  Once he had reached his first employer, the State Electricity Commission at Yallourn in Victoria, he set about making written inquiries.  He described his luggage as a square box made of “tin aluminium” painted blue.  Knowing Karolis from his blog entry, he may well have made the square box himself.


His missing box contained his professional books and tools as well as some clothes and shoes. He suggested that the value of the lost luggage of about £40, around 4 weeks  income when the minimum wage was £5/9/-, less tax.


He wrote to the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) representative in Sydney saying that the luggage had not come off the Heintzelman with him.  Immigration officials had told him that they would let him know about the luggage when he arrived at Bonagilla. However, the Immigration official he talked with at Bonegilla told him that he had no information.


It was the Provisional Committee of the International Refugee Organisation (PCIRO) which had organised the Heintzelman’s voyage from Germany on behalf of the Australian Government.


A member of the Australian Parliament’s upper house, the Senate, got involved. One reason for Senator Donald Grant’s involvement may have been that he was based in Sydney, like the IRO.  He wrote to the company which had handled the Heintzelman’s arrival in Fremantle, the Orient Steam Navigation Company, to say that an IRO staff member had passed Karolis’ letter to him. 


Correspondence on the missing box continued for nearly 6 months, until a senior Immigration official in Canberra advised that no further action was required from the Department’s Western Australia office.  The definitive advice may have been that from the manager of a transport service employed by the Orient Company who wrote that he had inquired of Stuttgart in Germany without getting a reply and had also had a thorough check done of the Perth camps, a warehouse and the Fremantle wharves.


He noted that in this instance the majority of the names on the packages transported were “impossible to read or understand whilst some 200 packages were without marks or numbers". Due to this, the company had relied on the migrants identifying and claiming their luggage at the Graylands camp. 


Although there is no mention of it on the file we have to assume, as the transport manager seems to have done, that Karolis was sent to this camp and not Swanbourne. Either that or the more than 400 at Swanbourne were bussed to Graylands to be part of the scrimmage — a possibility of which there is no remaining evidence.


Having the new arrivals identify their own luggage may well have led to a situation where nice looking luggage was claimed by someone else, especially if it had lost or badly damaged labels.


Karolis Prasmutas was not the only Lithuanian to suffer loss of his luggage. Birute Gruzas, formerly Tamulyte, told me that her luggage had disappeared before she was able to claim it in Perth. As Birute had already lost everything she was carrying when a bomb blew up the bridge she was crossing on her way to refuge in Germany, she was one tough 19-year-old to pick herself up and carry on for the second time in her life.


These are the known cases of lost luggage. How many others were there, if Birute's story is not recorded?


On the other hand, we also have one example of lost articles being found and returned to their owner.


On 5 December 1947, that is 3 days after the Kanimbla had left, a wallet was handed in at the Fremantle police station. Given the contents of the wallet recorded by the police, it may have been more in the nature of a folder or portfolio.


Those contents were a foreign passport in the name of Nikolajs Bergtals, a temporary travel document in the same name, a map of Nord West Deutschland (Northwest Germany), a visiting card, a letter written in a foreign language, two foreign doctors’ prescriptions, six personal references and six photographs. 


The man who had found the wallet had a Russian name, Ivan Estinoff. He was said to be “of the Jeanette Fruit Palace” in High Street, Fremantle, so perhaps its proprietor. Given his presence in Australia, he may well have held similar political views to the new arrivals.


The Acting Commonwealth Migration Officer for Western Australia, RW Gratwick, posted the wallet by registered mail directly to Bonegilla on 17 December.  It crossed with a letter from the Acting Commonwealth Migration Officer at the Bonagilla camp, LT Gamble, who enquired on behalf of Nikolajs on 21 December. An undated memorandum from Gamble to Gratwick, but with a December receipt stamp, records the arrival of the package still containing all the articles.


Gamble added, “The articles referred to have been handed to the owner who desires to express his grateful thanks for your action in the matter.”


Its arrival must have been something of a Christmas present.  No wonder we have another thankful new arrival.


SOURCES


Australian Government, Fair Work Commission ‘The history of the Australian minimum wage’ https://www.fwc.gov.au/about-us/history/history-australian-minimum-wage accessed 30 June 2025.


National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series; 82, General Heintzelman - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 27 June 2025.

29 June 2025

The stopover in Perth, 28 November - 2 December 1947 by Ann Tündern-Smith

We've looked already at the carefully organised disembarkation of 839 passengers from the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman in Fremantle, the harbour for Western Australia's capital city of Perth.  We've read the letter of thanks from Roberts Miezitis to the managers of the Swanbourne Barracks canteen.  Below is the covering note from the Acting Commonwealth Migration Officer for Western Australia, RW Gratwick.


The report from the Supervising Manager of both Army camps, or perhaps only the Graylands camp, Mr C Huck follows.


I reckon he fudged his figures because he thought that he had to get a total of 844.  For instance, 114 women is the number on women on the Heintzelman, not the 112 allowed to land.

In reality, there were 843 on the Heintzelman as one person had not embarked at the last minute.  We already know from the disembarkation report that 4 were not allowed to land in Australia, while a fifth was taken to hospital for treatment.  The numbers in Mr Huck's report should add up to only 838.

I wonder also about his 9.30 pm departure time on 2 December, since JB Thompson's report to RW Gratwick says that the Kanimbla had sailed at "1800 hrs." on 2 December.  That time converts to 6 pm.

This lower headcount make the cost per head slightly more expensive than Mr Huck's calculation, as the money was spent on fewer people.  However, given the two debatable figures so far, I've decided that the total number of meals could be out too, so checking is best put to one side.

In any case, on 22 pennies each day translates into Australian decimal currency as 22 cents.  The Reserve Bank's Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator says that what cost 22 cents in 1947 would have cost $7.63 in 2024.  While you wouldn't get a cup of coffee and something to go with it for $7.63 now, the two camp canteens would have had the benefit of buying in bulk at wholesale prices.

Sources

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series; 82, General Heintzelman - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 27 June 2025.

Reserve Bank of Australia, Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html accessed 29 June 2025.

27 June 2025

Roberts Miezitis, who was thankful, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Born in 1909, Latvian Roberts Miezitis was one of the older passengers on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman.  His spoken English was so good that he was one of 15 nominated by cable from Germany as suitable for employment in an Australian staging camp as teacher or interpreter.  His written English, if transcribed faithfully in the typescript below, was a work in progress, but still easy to understand.

Robert Miezitis' letter with at least one transcription error 
(the spelling of his family name)

Mr and Mrs Webb ran the canteen at the Swanbourne Barracks, according to Gratwick's minute to Nutt.

Why do we have it still?  It was attached to a report sent from Perth to Canberra, by the Acting Commonwealth Migration Officer for Western Australia, RW Gratwick, to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration (Arthur Leonard) Nutt.   Gratwick attached two other reports will I will put up soon.

"Oronge" is mentioned three times, as a symbol of luxury, I suspect. Not necessarily in Europe before WWII, but certainly during the War.

Given the abundance of oranges and orange juice in Australia today, it's hard to image them as luxuries. Only one hundred years and more ago, they were luxuries in Europe. Hence the "orangerie", a greenhouse rich people had on their properties specifically to grow them.

Sources

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Central Office; A445/1, Correspondence files, multiple number series (policy matters); 174/4/8, Bonegilla Centre - Education of new Australians https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=75444 accessed 27 June 2025.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series; 82, General Heintzelman - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 27 June 2025.

16 January 2025

Vaclavs Kozlovskis reaches Australia and stays in Perth, translated by Monika Kozlovskis with Janis Sakurovs

Updated 17 January 2025

INDIAN OCEAN, 22.11.47, Sat. Today my head felt quite heavy, it seems such lurching doesn’t do me much good. In the afternoon I received another two hundred cigarettes, no doubt the last issue on this ship — we have only five days left in which to lurch.

    

The front cover of Vaclavs's diary
Source:  Monika Kozlovskis

Late this evening I sat on A deck to watch an enjoyable Scout performance. The wireless segment was particularly entertaining. Onto the deck was carried a stretcher bearing a paper box with a megaphone on one end, and a DP hidden under it.

He lit a match and shoved it into the megaphone. There was a strong wind blowing so one after another the matches blew out, and finally he threw the whole box in, telling the diesel to light itself.

Soon cigarette smoke started blowing from the megaphone and the “wireless” began talking.

First there was news from Diepholz. The DPs had drunk all the home brew before they’d left and now there were requests for donations of cigarettes and food; the audience reacted with loud laughter.

The wireless news from Bremen was about the unusual goods train that had recently travelled from Diepholz to Bremen and strewn the way with Turkish cigarettes. It was later clarified that it had been a DP transport to Australia.

Then Stalin himself spoke: “Oh you stupid and rustic Soviet citizens, where are you running to?  After all things are very bad in Australia, you will have to work like slaves in the heat!  You will have to lug sacks of sand with the kangaroos, and the work will be divided as follows:  a kangaroo will fill the sacks with sand and you’ll have to carry them on your backs, behind the kangaroos!”

Of course, this raised a new gale of laughter, but the loudest laughter was earned by the last transmission, which began with the words: “Achtung, Achtung! Number thirty-nine report to the office immediately, I repeat — it is forbidden!”

This skit poked fun at life on this ship. On the Heintzelman there are one hundred and twenty doors through which passengers are not permitted to pass. It isn’t possible to remember them all, so an MP is stationed before each of the doors to check that the orders are carried out.

It is also forbidden to throw cigarette butts over the rails, otherwise the sea would become full of them. It’s forbidden to be on deck after ten, to take food out of the dining room, to be in our rooms between nine and eleven, and for men to be on the left side of deck C after six.

When one man, perplexed by all the prohibitions, went into the office to ask what actually is permitted on this ship, the office couldn’t answer him for they didn’t know themselves; and answered that the asking of such questions is prohibited.

Another man muddled his head over all the prohibitions so badly that he packed his suitcase and attempted to leap over the rails, but was stopped just in time; after that it was forbidden to muddle your head or to jump over the rails.

There was also a skit depicting four types of passengers - the MP, kitchen worker, painter and “summer resident” with a deckchair.*

The enjoyable show finished late in the evening. The sea is still unsettled, it’s deteriorated since yesterday, and a fierce wind is blowing. It abated for only a moment, then we renewed rolling with double strength, as we did before we reached Colombo. Tomorrow we should see some islands on our route to break the monotony.

INDIAN OCEAN, 23.11.47, Sun.   It seems that the Indian Ocean is never calm.  Today it resembles a monster again, moving its open jaws trying to upturn the ship.  No - it is more like a dear mother’s hand, continually caressing the sides of the ship as it glides along.

The weather is fine and sunny, with a cool wind blowing.  By lunchtime we had reached 11 deg 30’ south, this evening we will be halfway between Colombo and Fremantle, where we will disembark.  In the early evening, with a strong wind blowing, it became noticeably cooler — a sign that we’re now far south of the equator.  I’ve seen people walking around in long pants already.

Before bed I had a cold shower. A shower on board ship is really funny, you stand in a small cubicle and let water on yourself, while the cabin continually moves.**  

I went to bed with the sensation that the ship’s prow was again making circles in the air, just like when we were in Biscay.  I have been in my room since seven, therefore my head is a little heavy, but soon enough I will fall asleep and everything will be well again.

INDIAN OCEAN, 24.11.47, Mon.  By lunchtime we were 1262 nautical miles from Fremantle.  We won’t arrive until Friday morning, due to the strong headwind and unruly seas.

After dinner the ship’s command began tying down everything that wasn’t screwed down, apparently expecting a storm.  Gradually the wind strengthened, and the waves became mountainous.   I stood on the middle deck and watched the heaving seas again.  For a moment a deep valley would appear before us, then into it crashed a mass of water, splashing up foam, and an enormous mountain rose in place of the valley.

It became quite cool so I went below to put on long trousers and a woollen coat.  A film was to be shown on A deck at seven — I took a place there, although I doubted whether it would be shown under such conditions.  A huge wind shook the screen, fine raindrops fell from the sky, and it looked as if it was going to pour.

My doubts were well founded — the film screening was moved to the dining room.   The small room filled quickly, and the film began.  I’ve never watched a film like this before — the whole room shook, the screen swayed up and down, while the audience staggered and clung to the posts and to each other.  It was a wonder that the film’s actors themselves didn’t start vomiting.

After the film, soaked in perspiration, I went on deck.  A storm raged, and a strong wind hampered my progress.  Fine, refreshing rain drops hit my face.  Cooler now, I disappeared into my cabin, for it was time for bed.

INDIAN OCEAN, 26.11.47, Wed.   This afternoon the storm rose again, to thoroughly shake us up one last time.  This evening, for the first time since my army days, after an interval of many years, I joined a card game to play aciti.

I won three hands in rapid succession, but by the end of the game I had only three packets of cigarettes remaining from my original ten.  I’ve now had enough of this sport to last me a long time.

INDIAN OCEAN, 27.11.47, Thurs.  Our last day on the Heintzelman has arrived, with only 201 nautical miles to Fremantle.   Tonight at 10:20 we reached our destination, the west coast of our new home.

How will our lives unfold in our new land?  Such questions each asks himself, but seeks answers in vain, for only the future will tell.  The latest news is that tomorrow we will disembark for several days in Fremantle, then sail to the transition camp on another vessel.

SWANBOURNE, 28.11.47.   I leaped out of bed at five-thirty, for breakfast was at six.  On deck afterwards I saw the ship was anchored at the roadstead.

A little beyond that was a light brown, sunlit country — this is Australia, my new home. Once I’d only seen pictures of it on cards, now it’s in front of my eyes, almost a stone’s throw away.  In the middle of the coastline is a small bay with houses dotted along the shore  Fremantle harbour, our disembarkation point.

Medical officers boarded the ship and checked us for scabies, and I soon noticed the difference between the quick and decisive Americans and the slow English.***  The ship raised anchor and slid slowly into the small harbour, joining several others already tied up at the posts.

On the shore was gathered a large crowd of local people, watching the Heintzelman as she was pulled slowly to the shore and fastened.  I didn’t see any natives amongst them. The steps were lowered, down them went the captain and the medical officers, and up them came the reporters.  Our baggage had been placed at the prow, and now the cranes went into action, lifting it all out.

A ticket for the larger luggage
Source:  Collection of Reina Peedo Roosvald

Gradually our own disembarkation began, starting with numbers 1 to 41.   I rested on my familiar bed one last time until my number was announced, and then went onto C deck.  At exactly midday I took my first step on Australian soil.

Carefully spaced, the new arrivals leave the Heintzelman in Fremantle
Source:  Collection of Vaclavs Kozlovskis

We passed through a brief check, then stood waiting our turn for the autobus.  It came soon enough, swaying on its old-fashioned springs, with extremely old-fashioned wheels.  At ten past twelve our ride through the town began and I gazed at the countryside of my new home with interest.

Trees and plants I’ve never seen before slid past my eyes in a colourful line, and the houses are quite different to those I’m used to seeing in Europe.   Palms grow along the sides of the streets, the yellow colour of the sand jumbles with the varied colours of the houses, and over them all beams the warm southern sun.

After a ten-minute drive we reached Swanbourne camp.   Inside the flimsy tin barracks are pleasant rooms and soft beds with white sheets, and bathrooms with hot and cold water, all of which added to my happy frame of mind.  Straight away we were shown to our rooms, and those who had arrived before us were already eating lunch.

In the dining room were tables clad in white cloths, the food was put onto plates for us, and again we had to accustom ourselves to dealing with an array of eating utensils.  One man found this a little more difficult.   He poured a glassful from the sauce bottle on the table in front of him and took a sip, thinking it was wine, but the taste woke the man from his dream and the glass was replaced unemptied.****

After the long soldier, prisoner and exile years I’ve become an emigrant, once more a worthwhile person in the eyes of myself and others.

I took a shower, planning to rest afterwards on my bed, but when I went outside for another look around, I met the lanky one, who ruined my good intentions — and instead of resting we walked into Fremantle.*****

The shop windows are full of various goods with the prices attached, and they can be bought without a ration card.  The prices are fairly low, all I need now is money, and then I could live well.  

The flora is very prolific, even though all the trees are more like large bushes. The birds sing, although very little, the flowers don’t have much of a scent, and some plants have crosswise leaves, as I read in Germany somewhere.

I’ll have to get used to the unfamiliar left-side traffic, for several times I almost collided with people walking the other way, and when I cross the road I don’t know which way to look to avoid being run over by a car. Our drivers will find it difficult when they come to a corner, and suddenly have to drive on the left side, as does a train.

Tired, we returned to the camp just in time for dinner. Again I washed off the marks the gumboots had made on my feet, and finally crawled into bed.

FOOTNOTE

*  Ann Tündern-Smith knows from talking to a number of the passengers that all were allocated tasks on board, just as the previous US Army passengers would have been kept from boredom and mischief by helping to operate the ship.  Therefore, some of the DP passengers were allocated to MP (Military Police) roles, others helped in the "kitchen" (galleys on board), bakery or, like Vaclavs, the coolroom and, naturally, everyone tried to spend time in a deckchair when the sailing was smooth.  As for the painters, this task certainly was used to punish anyone who had broken badly the ship's rules being parodied, such as those caught mixing with the opposite sex after hours.

** A DP from a later Heintzelman voyage explained to Ann that, unlike many ships at the time, the General Squier class had been built to provide freshwater showers, not showers with seawater.

*** As reported by the Immigration official in "General Stuart Heintzelman Passengers Reach Australia: the Official Report", the Medical Officer and any assistants were checking for a lot more than scabies.

**** Elmar Saarepere's recollection of the first meal is also in "General Stuart Heintzelman Passengers Reach Australia: the Official Report".

***** The Swanbourne Army barracks, where more than half (441) of the passengers were accommodated, are in a coastal suburb of Perth some 11 kilometres north of the Fremantle shops.  Google Maps estimates that this is a two and a half hour walk, meaning that the men would have spent five hours altogether walking.  Vaclavs probably would have reported the walk in more detail if it was this long.  The nearest shops to the Swanbourne barracks are 1.6 kilometres away on Claremont Crescent, Swanbourne, so this is more likely to have been the destination.


24 December 2024

"General Stuart Heintzelman" Passengers Reach Australia: the Official Report with Comments by Ann Tündern-Smith

In my very first blog entry more than 4 years ago now,  I advised that Australia's first refugees from World War II in Europe had reached Australia on 28 November 1947.  Even some of the passengers had forgotten the date and used to contacted me for confirmation.

The report below on the arrival at Fremantle, the passengers' stay at two former Army camps in Perth and their departure from Fremantle on 2 December, after a stay of less than 4 full days (4 nights and 3 days as the tourism industry now has to tell us) comes for a file held by the Western Australian office of the National Archives of Australia (NAA).

The file, series PP482/1 item 82, is called General Heintzelman – Nominal Roll – Arrived Fremantle 28 Nov 1947.  I bought a photocopy of its contents around 20 years ago, before digitising NAA files became a possibility.  Some good person has paid now to have it digitised, so you too can read through the whole file here.

Meanwhile, below is one of the highlights, on pages 88-89 of the digitised version.

s.s."General Stuart Heintzelman".

Fremantle - 28.11.47.

The Commonwealth Migration Officer,*

The Commonwealth Migration Officer is informed that the U.S. Transport "General Stuart Heintzelman" arrived at Fremantle on 23.11.'47 [sic] from Bremerhaven and had on board 843 persons travelling to Australia under the agreement signed between the Commonwealth Government and C.I.R.0.** 

2. On arrival the ship was boarded by the Quarantine Medical Officer and Officers of this Department, and after the Quarantine inspection it was found that two passengers - Mr. Stephanus Markelis and Miss Salma Pochla were considered by the Medical Officer to be suffering from Mental Instability, and one passenger, Mr. Karl Tarik, was suffering from Interstital Keratitis of the left eye. The Medical Officers considered that in these cases the people were unlikely to recover and they were prohibited from landing in Australia. They subsequently returned to Europe in the ship, leaving Australia on 30.11.'47. 

3. Another passenger ... was suffering from V.D. but the Medical Officer stated that in this case the man would respond to treatment in one week. He was subsequently landed into the Fremantle Public Hospital for treatment, detained there until 2.12.'47, and taken on board H.M.S."Kanimbla" on 2.12.'47 and placed in the ship's hospital for further treatment pending his arrival in Victoria. 

4. Immediately the ship was boarded, I was informed that a cable had been received by the Master from Germany relating to Miss Irina Traubers. The message read - “Irina TRAUBERS nominal roll No.829 ineligible on grounds of Security. Must not be allowed to land. Should be brought back on return journey. De Witt Chief of Transportation for Higham." This woman was prohibited from landing and returned to Germany on the ship, leaving Fremantle for Overseas on 30.11.1947. 

5. After the medical inspection, all male passengers who were landing were issued with a red or green ticket to wear in the lapel of their coats to indicate to which camp they had been allocated. The women who were all to be lodged at Grayland were not issued with these tickets. 

6. We also issued them with a typewritten slip of paper on which the men were asked to indicate the size of their shoes and the women, several body measurements. This was done to enable the Department of Supply & Shipping to inform Melbourne of the necessary sizes of clothing to be prepared and issued on the arrival of the Displaced Persons at Bonegilla Camp. A Representative of a clothing factory estimated the size of the men's clothing by watching them debark. 

7. On the completion of the debarkation, officers of the Supply & Shipping Department expressed their appreciation of our co-operation in this matter, and appeared very pleased 

8. The ship, having been granted pratique***, berthed at 0930 hrs. but owing to some trouble being experienced with the gangway (it fell down once and had to be moved once to allow a wharf crane to pass) debarkation did not commence until 1030 hrs. 

9. On debarkation, passengers were directed by our officers through wharf shed doors into the shed where a Customs examination of their hand baggage was carried out, and when completed they embussed for the Camps. This operation was entirely successful and completed at 1230 hrs, the last bus load arriving at the camp in time for lunch at 1300 hrs. 
The Heintzelman passengers finally get to 'debark' 
into a former fruit export shed which still stands 
next to Western Australia's Maritime Museum in Fremantle
Source:  Collections of Irina Vasins Kakis and Galina Vasins Karciauskas

10. On arrival at the camps the people were conducted to their living quarters. 398 persons were accommodated at Graylands Camp and 441 persons at Swanbourne Camp. 

11. During the night the heavy baggage was sorted in the shed by representatives of Gills' Transport Coy, and transported to the respective camps where it was ready for Customs examination at 0900 hrs on 29.11.'47. 

12, The Customs examination was carried out on the day of 29.11.'47 and officers of this Department completed Forms A.42 for all passenger on the same day. Certificates of Identity were left with the passengers to enable identification to be easily established on arrival at Bonegilla and so expedite the work of Alien Registration Officers at that Camp. 

13. On Sunday night, 30.11.'47, all those migrants who wished attended a free picture show at Claremont, and a dance organised by 6 K.Y. Broadcasters, was given on Monday night. 

14, On Monday morning all heavy baggage was loaded and transported to the wharf for loading into "Kanimbla", 

15. The onward movement for embarking in "Kanimbla" commenced at 0900 hrs. on 2.12.'47 and all passengers were checked on board the ship by 1130 hrs, when passenger lists and Forms A42 completed, were handed to Mr. Weale from the Melbourne office who was to travel East in the ship. S.S."Kanimbla" sailed from Fremantle at 1800 hrs. on 2.12.'47 with 839 migrant passengers on board. 

16. The migrants seemed happy and pleased at the reception they had been accorded in the camps, and expressed their appreciation of the efforts that had been made on their behalf***.  

(Another folio on the same file tells as that the signature above is that of JB Thompson.)

FOOTNOTES

* 'The Commonwealth Migration Officer', to whom this report is addressed, would have been the most senior official in the Perth Office of the Department of Immigration.

** C.I.R.O. stands for 'Commission for the International Refugee Organization', usually called the PCIRO or Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization at this time.  See https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210602198s004-c010 for a brief explanation.

*** Pratique?  Oxford Languages, as it calls itself now, says that the word is 'historical' (indeed!) and means 'permission granted to a ship to have dealings with a port, given after quarantine or on showing a clean bill of health.'

**** Our author does not detail the 'reception they had been accorded in the camps' nor 'efforts made on their behalf'.  Elmar Saarepere remembered, however, that locals had arranged that their first meal, a lunch, be served using starched linen and cutlery from the best hotel in Perth. There was an orange waiting at every place. All were seated at the same time, and waited upon by hotel staff with a white napkin over one arm.
     Someone who witnessed the Heintzelman arriving and who later became a senior Immigration official, Ian Mckenzie, told me that the Western Australia (WA) Government thought that all of the passengers would be staying to work in WA.  This might explain the special arrangements for the first meal.
    I have yet to find any correspondence between the WA Premier of the time, Ross McLarty, and the Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, but we can be sure that it would be interesting reading.