Vincentas Jakimavičius (1927-1949): Motorcycle passenger death, by Daina Pocius

Vincentas Jakimavičius was the pillion passenger of a motorcycle which hit a cow opposite the old store at Tarpeena in South Australia, at 1.15 am on the morning of Sunday, 24 July 1949. The 22-year-old was killed after being flung a distance of 82 feet, that is, 25 metres, onto the bitumen road.

Vincentas Jakimavičius' ID photo on his Bonegilla card

Source:  NAA: A2571, JAKIMAVICIUS, VINCAS

The other man, Juozas Gylys, of Nangwarry, was taken in a private car to the Mount Gambler Hospital. His condition was not serious, but he was still in the Hospital some days later according to newspaper reports.

The two were riding on the Penola Road, 23 Kilometres north of Mount Gambler, on their way home after a Mount Gambier dance.

A modern map of the Penola Road from Mt Gambier to Nangwarry (red dot) through Tarpeena

Source:  Google Maps

There was a cow on each side of the road near the store. In attempting the avoid the cow on his left, Juozas hit the cow on his right, which was killed instantly. The police were looking for the owner of the cow, so that legal action could be taken under the Impounding Act. Stock wandering uncontrolled along the roads near Tarpeena and Nangwarry had been a problem for some time.

The local coroner decided that an inquest into the death was not necessary. While the cause of Vincentas’ death was obvious to him, at a later time a coroner might have deemed an inquest necessary to inquire into why neither of the motorcyclists were wearing helmets.

Both had come to Australia on the First Transport, together with Vincentas’ half- or step-brother, Sigitas Brokevičius, arriving on 28 November 1947. They both were part of a group which had been assigned to timber work at Nangwarry, leaving their first home in Australia, the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre for Mt Gambier, on 9 January 1948.

They had been moved to Nangwarry from Mt Gambier on 21 January 1948. Nangwarry was one of the forestry industry townships, situated 32.5 kilometres north of Mt Gambier.

In 1939, a power station was erected to supply a timber mill, which was built in 1940. The Nangwarry town grew out of a demand for housing for the labourers who travelled to the area for work, many in the forest. Migrants made up the biggest percentage of the population in what was to become a multicultural community.

Juozas clearly had settled in so much already that he was known by the English equivalent of his Lithuanian name, Joseph. As for Vincentas or Vincas, he was known as a “well mannered, decent, fine, young man”. He had been born 2 May 1927 in Galkiemis, Vilkaviškis, Lithuania.

One of Vincas’ selection documents says that he had had 2 years of secondary education on top of the basic 4 years of primary school. Another says that he had had 4 years of farming experience – but not with his father, whose occupation was given as clerk. His mother was a housewife. However, given that his younger brother had a different family name, the clerk on his selection papers likely to be his stepfather – so perhaps he had been farming with his biological father.

A large number of his friends attended the funeral at the Mount Gambier cemetery. There were 37 New Australians from Nangwarry, besides other employees from the mill and forest.

Vincentas’ brother, Sigitas, aged 19, flew from Melbourne with two friends to attend the funeral. Sigitas had been assigned separately to the Ebor Sawmills, Styx River Hill, in Victoria.

A Requiem Mass was celebrated at St. Paul's Church, Mt Gambier.  The funeral departed from there on 26 July, two days after Vincentas' death. Rev Fr McCabe conducted the service. The six pallbearers representing the district’s migrant community came from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Czechoslovakia. At the conclusion of the graveside service, four friends sang "Ave Maria" in Lithuanian.

In accordance with Lithuanian custom, the deceased was buried in his best clothes. Several beautiful wreaths were sent by friends and, instead of the customary sympathy cards, engraved ribbons were attached.

The cemetery in which Vincentas was buried now is called the Lake Terrace Cemetery.  On his grave was placed the inscription: Jei grįši, lietuvi, pasakyk Tėvynei, kad aš ją mylėjau.  That means, If you return to Lithuania, tell the Motherland that I loved her.

Sources

Australijos Lietuvis [The Australian Lithuanian] (1953) ‘Gerai įsikūrusi lietuvių kolonija [A well-established Lithuanian colony’], Adelaide, 19 September, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article280314249 viewed 2 March 2025.

Border Watch (1949) 'Motorcycle Hits Cow: Pillion Rider Killed', Mount Gambier, South Australia, 26 July, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78632729 accessed 1 March 2025.

Border Watch (1949) 'No Inquest into Balt Migrant’s Death, Mount Gambier, South Australia, 28 July, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78632838 accessed 2 March 2025.

City of Mount Gambier, Cemetery Data Search, 'Jakimavicius, Vincents' https://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/cemeteries/jakimavicius-vincents accessed 3 March 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-56; JAKIMAVICIUS VINCAS, JAKIMAVICIUS, Vincas : Year of Birth - 1927 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GENERAL HEINTZELMAN : Number - 495, 1947-48 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203620771 accessed 3 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; 96, JAKIMAVICIUS Vincas DOB 2 May 1927, 1947-47; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005528 accessed 2 March 2025.

News (1949) 'Killed in Collision with Cow', Adelaide, 25 July, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130268590 accessed 1 March 2025.

Southern Cross (1949) 'Mount Gambier News', Adelaide, 5 August, p 15, 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167725980 accessed 2 March 2025.

VR (1953) 'Lietuviai Prie Ugniakalnio Ežeru [Lithuanians at the Volcanic Lake]’ Musu Pastoge [Our Haven] Sydney, NSW, 29 July, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259358649 accessed 2 March 2025.

Wattle Range Council, ‘Nangwarry’, https://www.wattlerange.sa.gov.au/tourism/tourism/Towns/nangwarry accessed 2 March 2025.

Vytautas Skidzevičius (1924–1983): Little known brother, by Ann Tündern-Smith and Rasa Ščevinskienė

Unlike his younger brother, Nikodemas, we know only the barest outline of the life of Vytautas Skidzevičius.

He was born on 9 August 1924, 13 months ahead of Nikodemas and in the same place, in Alytus, Dzūkija, Lithuania. Presumably, he too attended Alytus primary school.

Vytautas Skidzevičius from his Bonegilla card

Source:  NAA: A2571, SKIDZEVICIUS VYTAUTAS

The Arolsen Archives have two different American Expeditionary Force DP Registration Records for Vytautas.   Insofar as the German-language handwriting on the one dated 1 February 1946 is legible, it appears to be saying that he arrived freely in Germany on 3 August 1944 in order to study.  Soviet troops had captured Vilnius (part of Poland between the two World Wars) on 13 July 1944 and Lithuania's capital city, Kaunas, on 1 August 1944, so Vytautas’ move to Germany was timely.

Perhaps August 1944 was the month in which he left Lithuania rather than the month of arrival in Germany.  That is because one of several documents which state that Vytautas reached Darmstadt through Kaffenberg in Austria has him spending ‘8.44 – 45’ there. Kaffenberg is likely to a spelling error for Kapfenberg.

One of these documents has him reaching Kapfenberg through Vienna, 150 Kilometres to the northeast and still near 2 hours driving in a modern car.  It is possible that the route that Vytautas took to Darmstadt might be as complex as the one Jedda Barber’s father, Valentinas Dagys, took from Lithuania to Germany.

The earlier German records also show him as a student at the Technical High School in Darmstadt, but do not say what he was studying.

We can see that his usual occupation was ‘forester’ on the English-language American Expeditionary Force DP Registration Record, dated 3 September 1945.

Maybe 5 months before the opportunity to migrate to Australia came up, he wrote to the newspaper Naujienos with an interesting request. Rasa’s translation of his letter, which was published on 4 June 1947, says, “I am one of the many Lithuanian DPs in Germany. Having no relatives in America, I would like to correspond with American Lithuanians. Dear Editor, if there are no major obstacles, please place an ad about it in News. I will be forever grateful to you for that.” He included his full street address in the city of Darmstadt.

His selection papers for Australia, dated 14 October 1947, say that he had completed 6 years primary school plus 3 years of technical school to train as an electrical mechanic.   He was one of many who had been applied from a DP camp in Hanau.  Since we know he was living privately only a few months before, maybe he used the Hanau DP camp address to improve his chance of selection.  Maybe he had been able to find accommodation in the Hanau camp because Nikodemas was there already.

He arrived in Australia with Nikodemas on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, and spent one month in the newly opened Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre. Then he was part of the group of 64 or 65 sent to work for South Australia’s Department of Engineering and Water Supply (E&WS). Their new home was under canvas at Bedford Park in close to primitive conditions, with more details here.

The work that they were expected to do was digging ditches for water pipes.   At least they were not doing this under fire, like the Lithuanian and Latvian men digging trenches between the German and the Soviet forces during World War II.

The recent year of his life might explain why a drunken Vytautas punched an Adelaide policeman in the face and tried to choke him on 8 December 1950. The date just happened to be the third anniversary of his trip from the Kanimbla, berthed in Port Melbourne, to the Bonegilla camp.

On the following day, he wisely pleaded guilty to a charge of resisting arrest and was fined £11/10/– with £1/5/3 costs in addition. The Reserve Bank of Australia says that this punishment was the equivalent of around $785 in 2023. It looks like more than that, however, more like the equivalent of at least two weeks in wages.

Vytautas made good this mistake 4 years later, though, when he asked that a farewell presentation cheque for £3 be given to the Adelaide News’ Pound for Pensioners appeal. When acknowledged the following day, 2 November 1954, the amount actually was £3/3/-, known then as 3 guineas. Guineas were a monetary unit still in commercial use at the time.

The money had been collected by his colleagues at the Australasian United Paint Company, which he appeared to have left in a hurry. “Sudden disappearance” was the term he used …

Vytautas' generosity as reported in the Adelaide News of 1 November 1954

Source:  Adelaide News in the NLA's Trove

He received a certificate of naturalization as an Australian on 26 July 1956. We’ve noted already that this was more than 3 years before his younger brother, Nikodemas.

Until naturalization, the law treated him as an Alien who was required to register any change of employer or residential address. From that record we can see that he was one of those released from the contract to be employed as directed in Australia on the date specified by the Minister, 30 September 1949.

His next employer had been the “SAHB” of “PtAdel”, presumably the South Australian Harbour Board, for whom he worked in Port Adelaide. The following entry records his employment by the United Paint Company of Port Adelaide, but not a commencement date or departure date from the SAHB. It noted, however, that he was living in the inner Adelaide suburb of Wayville in April 1950 but had moved some 18 Km north-east to the coastal suburb of Semaphore in August 1952.

He stayed with the United Paint Company, as a labourer, through 3 more changes of residential address, until that “sudden disappearance” in November 1954. He then worked in the Print Office of the Adelaide News’ rival paper, the Advertiser, for a few months.

In April 1955, he advised that his employer now was General Motors Holden, of Woodville, an Adelaide suburb between Wayville and Semaphore. He had moved to a residence in the same suburb. Seven changes of residential address in just over 5 years suggest that he was a renter rather than someone who already owned his own home.

In all of his workplaces, his occupation is given as labourer. As senior staff of the E&WS complained, he appears to have been mismatched to possible employment, and from the beginning. Anyone with previous employment as a forester presumably would have been a much better fit with the Department of Woods and Forests South Australia, which Vaclavs Kozlovskis recorded as wanting 33 men. He would also have been a better fit with the various “not yet determined” employers in New South Wales, who turned out to be that State’s forestry department in various locations as well as sawmillers.

Voting is compulsory for Australian citizens, so we should be able to follow any changes in home address and occupation for Vytautas from July 1956.  However, we have been unable to find him on digitised electoral rolls.  We'll try some more digging after his naturalisation papers are digitised.

Rasa has found 3 newspaper articles about V. Skidzevičius taking to the stage. He is said, by Teviskes Aidai, to have been an actor in two short plays performed for the Adelaide Lithuanian Catholic Women's Society in June 1990. However, that was 7 years after his death, so clearly there has been a mistake in the reporting or editing.

The same newspaper had reported the appearance of V. Skidzevičius with the Adelaide Vaidila theatre group in 1978. It was commemorating the 45th anniversary of the flight across the Atlantic of Lithuanians Darius and Girėnas. If the actor was Vytautas, it would have been a one-off appearance. We think that it was another typographic error. Instead, it was much more likely to be Nikodemas presenting the Darius and Girėnas testament, and we have written as much in Nikodemas’ life story.

The third report appeared in the Canadian-Lithuanian newspaper, Teviskes Ziburiai, on 24 August 1978, two months after the Teviskes Aidai report. We suspect that Teviskes Ziburiai picked out the story from Teviskes Aidai and saw no need to factcheck.

Vytautas’ death on 26 May 1983 was notified in the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper. He was only 58 years old. Like his brother afterward, he was interred in the Catholic Section of the Centennial Park Cemetery in Adelaide.

SOURCES

Advertiser (1983) ‘Death Notices’, Adelaide, 28 May.

Arolsen Archives (1945) ‘Skidzevicius, Vytautas’ AEF (American Expeditionary Force) DP (Displaced Person) Record, 3 September 1945 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/69134315 accessed 22 February 2025.

Arolsen Archives (1946) ‘Skidzevicius, Vytautas’ AEF (American Expeditionary Force) DP (Displaced Person) Record, 1 February 1946 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/69134314 accessed 22 February 2025.

Arolsen Archives (1947) ‘Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees by Public Institutions, Social Securities and Companies (1939 - 1947) / 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany / 2.1.1.1 Lists of all persons of United Nations and other foreigners, German Jews and stateless persons; American Zone; Bavaria, Hesse (1) / 2.1.1.1 HE Documentation from Hesse / 2.1.1.1 HE 006 Documents from the rural district Darmstadt (SK) / 2.1.1.1 HE 006 LIT Nationality/origin of person listed : Lithuanian / 2.1.1.1 HE 006 LIT 2 Information on foreigners being locally registered (after the war) in the district Darmstadt (SK)’ 14 July https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/document/70305941 accessed 22 February 2025.

Arolsen Archives (nd) ‘2 Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees by Public Institutions, Social Securities and Companies (1939 - 1947) / 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany / 2.1.1.2 Lists of all persons of United Nations and other foreigners, German Jews and stateless persons; American Zone; Bavaria, Wurttemberg-Baden, Bremen (2) / Lists of names and correspondence pertaining to foreigners who were staying in Darmstadt’ https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/87796675?s=skidzevicius&t=2728209&p=0 accessed 28 February 2025.

Centennial Park, 'Results for" vytautas skidzevicius"' https://www.centennialpark.org/memorial-search/?surname=skidzevicius&firstname=vytautas accessed 1 March 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1957) 'Certificates of Naturalization’, Canberra, 14 March, p 802 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232965688 accessed 20 February 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; 657, SKIDZEVICIUS Vytautas DOB 9 August 1924, 1947-47; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5118083 accessed 22 February 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-56; SKIDZEVICIUS Vytautas : Year of Birth - 1924 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 1031, 1947-48; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203708786 accessed 22 February 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-76; SKIDZEVICIUS Vytautas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-56; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9210654 accessed 22 February 2025.

Naujienos [News](1947) ‘Nori Susirašinėti Amerikos Lietuviais’ [Wants to Correspond with American Lithuanians] Chicago, Illinois, 4 June, p 2, https://spauda.org/naujienos/archive/1947/1947-06-04-NAUJIENOS-i7-8.pdf accessed 22 February 2025.

News (1950) 'Tried to Choke Policeman ', Adelaide, 9 December, p 15, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130287711 accessed 22 February 2025.

News (1954) 'Happy Times at Xmas is Wish’ Adelaide, 1 November, p. 12 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130976622 accessed 22 February 2025.

Pr P (1990) ‘Adelaidė, Šiupinys’ [Adelaide, Medley] Teviskes Aidai [The Echoes of Homeland] Melbourne, 3 July, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1990/1990-07-03-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 21 February 2025.

Reserve Bank of Australia, ‘Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator’ https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html, accessed 22 February 2025.

Teviskes Ziburiai [The Lights of Homeland] (1978)'Lietuviai Pasaulyje, Australija' ['Lithuanians in the World, Australia'] Mississauga, Ontario, 24 August, p 4, https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1978/1978-08-24-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf accessed 21 February 2025.

Vasiliauskas, J. (1978) ‘Gyvas Didvyrių Atminimas, Dariaus ir Girėno Minėjimas Adelaidėje’ [Living Memory of Heroes, Darius and Girėnas Commemoration in Adelaide], Teviskes Aidai, [The Echoes of Homeland] Melbourne, 22 June, p3, https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1978/1978-nr28-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 22 February 2025.

Valentinas Dagys (1927 – 1972): My father, by Jedda Barber

My father was passenger number 137, Valentinas Dagys, on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman that arrived in Fremantle, Australia, on 28 November 1947. He was called Vili by his Lithuanian friends and Bill by his Aussie family and friends. He left his parents and sister in Lithuania at the age of 17 and arrived in Australia aged 20.

An identity card dated 30 March 1943, when my father was 16, and valid until 30 September 1943:  His father's name was Jonas, he was a student and
he lived in Biržai at 6 Agluonos Street

If you click once on this map, you can enlarge it in a separate window of your browser to read the details:  each of the red circles shows places where my father stopped on his journey from Lithuania during the War, while each of the black ovals to the west shows placeswhere he stayed in Germany when the War was over

The details of my father's flight come mostly from letters that were sent from Germany back home to family.

A bundle of letters was hidden in a door frame of the family home and discovered when the new owners renovated around 2010. They gave the letters to the Biržai Regional Museum, Sela.

I assume the letters were hidden because they came from Germany and this would not look good if seen by the occupying Russians.

I learned of their existence when I wrote to a neighbouring address in 2015 after looking at the home through online maps. I noticed an old timer in the garden next door so decided to write to him.

These two images show the front and back of a postcard my Dad sent successfully
from Magdeburg to Biržai while Hitler was still in power, on 5 February 1944

The family home in Agluonos Street, as it looked in 2016

Source:  Collection of Viltis Šalyte Kružas

Scouting and Guiding groups were active among all three nationalities on the First Transport.  They had been set up in the camps in Germany, they formed again on the ship to Australia and remained active in the Bonegilla camp.

Here a clipping from the Lithuanian language weekly newspaper in Australia records those who were part of the first Lithuanian Scouts groups at Bonegilla fifty years previously.

Source:  Tündern-Smith, Bonegilla's Beginnings

This photo is of the Sea Scout group on the ship to Australia;
the grey line in the middle of the left-hand side points to my Dad

Dad was listed as a Sea Scout on the USAT Stuart Heintzelman.  In his home town of Biržai (northern Lithuania), he was part of the crew of the Biržiečių Sea Scouts' yacht "Diver" built in 1938 that reached the Baltic Sea.

Dad at the Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia, 1948

Vili left the Bonegilla camp on 9 January 1948 for his mandatory two years' work.  He was part of a group of at least 32 sent to the SA Department of Woods & Forests in Mount Gambier for employment as a labourer.

Edward Kurauskas, the former representative player for Lithuania, had arrived in Australia on the Second Transport, the USAT General Stewart, on 13 February 1948.  No doubt he was glad to find the cluster of at least 23 Lithuanians already in Mount Gambier
at the Woods & Forests camp. 

Source:  Border Watch (Mount Gambier) 8 July 1948 via Trove

Vili pretending to play the piano accordion;  he could play the harmonica

After moving to Adelaide, he was involved with the amateur Lithuanian theatre group that performed plays at the Lithuanian House, Norwood, during the 1950s and 60s.

My parents, Bill and Cynthia, on their wedding day in 1958,
at Rosefield Methodist Church, Highgate, South Australia

In Adelaide, Bill had various jobs, including manufacturing electric engines and selling land.

Dad's boat on the Murray River, with his friend William on board

The home that my parents built in 1960 in Secombe Heights, South Australia,
faced west with ocean views and was one of the first houses on the hill: 
we lived there until Dad's death in 1972

REFERENCES

Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA), 'Want to teach men's basketball', 8 July 1948, p 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78588215, accessed 8 July 2023 (yes, exactly 75 years later).

Tündern-Smith, Ann, Bonegilla's Beginnings, 2nd ed, Triple D Books, Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2014, p 93.

Julius Molis (1923-1949): The Man in the Photo by Rasa Ščevinskienė with Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 22 July 2024 and 27 February 2025; revised 9 April 2025

I have a photograph sent from Australia to Lithuania by my grandfather, Adomas Ivanauskas. On the back is a note of one of the men’s names, Julius. I started looking for his last name. 

There were two men called Julius on the Heintzelman passenger list.  I looked among the Bonegilla migrant camp cards, found a card for Julius Molis and thought that it was the same person.  The other Julius did not look like the man on the left of the photo below at all.

I was excited because I thought I could find him or his descendants so I could learn more about my grandfather. This didn’t happen, unfortunately. You will understand why when you read Julius Molis’ story.

In this photo from Adomas Ivanauskas, we have a Julius first on the left,
then Barbara, his wife-to-be, a man identified later as Juozas Abromaitis,
then Beryl and her boyfriend, Adomas Ivanauskas

Source:  Rasa Ščevinskienė

Julius Molis born on 12 July 1923, in Telsiai district of Lithuania. His occupation in Lithuania was labourer. He was among the many who left Lithuania as the Soviet forces invaded it for the second time in 1944.

In Germany, he lived in Displaced Persons camp in the English zone. He left Bremerhaven, Germany, for Australia with 842 other Baltic refugees on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman on 30 October 1947. Like the others in the group of 839 allowed to leave the Heintzelman in Fremantle, Western Australia, he stayed for four days before continuing eastwards on the HMAS Kanimbla. The group then travelled by two chartered trains to the part of Bonegilla army camp set aside for them.

Below is the front of the card recording Julius’ presence at the new Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre.

Bonegilla card for Julius Molis, 1947

Source:  NAA

Several Australian newspapers carried an announcement by the Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, on 3 January 1948, on the work allocations of Baltic men at the Bonegilla Centre. Tasmania would receive 12 men for newsprint production and another 12 for zinc production.1

The first mill in the world to produce newsprint from eucalyptus hardwood was opened in the Tasmanian town of Boyer by Australian Newsprint Mills Ltd (APM) in 1941.2 During World War II, it was able to keep ten Australian dailies supplied with their paper, so serious wartime rationing of the major means of news distribution was not needed. In 1947, APM built a town about 50 road kilometres east of Boyer as a base for logging eucalypts in the nearby Florentine Valley. This town, Maydena, is where Julius and others were sent.3

By March 1949, Adomas Ivanauskas had managed to leave the outback town of Woomera for South Australia’s capital city, Adelaide. I was thinking the photo above was taken in Adelaide in 1949 during April to November. In it, you can see some kind of celebration, perhaps a meeting of Lithuanians. On the other side of the photo, the words written in pencil are, ‘Julius and his wife to be Barbara, Beryl and Adomas’.

I also thought that, since Adomas and Julius had come to Australia on the same ship, the Heintzelman, in late 1947, they knew each other. This was a meeting of friends. However, Adelaide is more than 1,000 kilometres from Maydena. My guess then was that perhaps Julius had come to Adelaide on holiday with his girlfriend, Barbara.

When I started looking for more information about Julius Molis, I found a sad report in the Tasmanian newspaper, the Mercury, from 6 December 1949. The title of the article was Man Found Hanged in Cell. Let’s read what was the report.

'Julius Molis (26) an unmarried Lithuanian employed by Australian Newsprint Mills Ltd. in the forest at Maydena, was found hanged in a police cell at New Norfolk yesterday morning. 

‘Molis was arrested at New Norfolk about 10 pm on Sunday on a charge of having attempted to operate a motor cycle while under the influence of liquor.

‘He was placed in the cell, and would have appeared in New Norfolk Police Court yesterday morning. 

‘About 8.30 am yesterday a police officer went to the cell and found Molis hanging with his feet about nine inches from the floor. He was dead. 

‘An inquest will be opened at New Norfolk today’.4

Julius Molis' photo from his immigration selection papers

Source:  NAA

On the same day as Molis’ death was reported, 6 December 1949, the Hobart Mercury newspaper carried a notice from funeral directors, Alex Fyle & Son. It advised that Julius Molis had died on 4 December 1949 and that his funeral was to arrive at the New Norfolk Cemetery on the same day, at 4 pm.5 Presumably there was no funeral mass because he was a Catholic who had committed suicide.

Julius Molis' headstone in the New Norfolk Old Council Cemetery

Source:  Gravesites of Tasmania

Julius has quite a substantial headstone in the Old Council Cemetery in the Tasmanian town of New Norfolk.  His grave would be unmarked unless someone had paid for the headstone and surround.  Presumably it was his fellow Lithuanians working in newsprint production in and around Maydena who passed the hat around, just as they did in the Bonegilla camp in December 1947 for their drowned compatriot, Aleksandras Vasiliauskas.

That was not the end of the matter for officialdom though. In the Supreme Court of Tasmania, the Public Trustee elected to administer Julius' estate on 21 February 1950.  The total estate was valued at £203.18.10, which the Reserve Bank of Australia's Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator says is the equivalent of $12,532.51.6  That is a considerable sum for someone who had arrived in Australia nearly penniless only two years earlier.  The bulk of the estate was a motorcycle estimated to be worth £165, the equivalent with inflation of $10,100 in 2023, but there was £6.13.7 in cash and £4.8.9 in wages owing also.7

 

The Public Trustee's intention had been advertised in Tasmania's main newspaper, the Hobart Mercury, on 4 February 1950.  On the same date, the Public Trustee had placed another advertisement in that newspaper, which asked any person having a claim on Julius' estate to lodge this with the Trustee on or before 11 March.8

 

While we do not know what claims were lodged, we can speculate that the only valid ones would have come from friends or businesses if Julius owed them money.  

Since Julius would have had to wait until after 30 June 1950 to lodge a claim for a refund on the tax already deducted from his income (£13.16.0), that probably went into the Commonwealth Government's Consolidated Revenue account.  The wages owing might have been held by his employer.  The cash and money for the sale of the motorbike, a watch and his personal effects probably went into the Tasmanian Government's equivalent of a consolidated revenue fund.  This added to the sad ending.

 

International Refugee Organisation (IRO) records now held in the Arolsen Archives in Bad Arolsen, Germany, show that, on 10 May 1950, the Acting Head of the Australian Military Mission in Berlin asked the IRO to inform the next of kin (NOK) of the deaths in Australia of 7 Displaced Persons or, as he put it, New Australians. Five of the deaths were due to drowning (but not including Aleksandras Vasilauskas) or other accidents, while Julius Molis was one of two suicides. The last item on the file, dated 25 July 1950, is an internal IRO message asking for the status of enquiries about next of kin, as the Australian Government was pressing for a reply.9

The intermediate correspondence amounted to the IRO saying that it did not have NOK information and the Australian Government had been unable to supply any more. This is sad also, since all in the Bonegilla camp had been asked to nominate at least one NOK for recording on their Bonegilla card. It was a friend only in the case of Julius, but it could have been someone closer. 

 

Churchill's Iron Curtain had cut Australia and Germany off from any of Julius' relatives in Lithuania, including those who might have claimed from his estate.  

 

The correspondence indicates also that the Department of Immigration’s Central Office was ignorant of the kindly efforts of the Bonegilla camp administration.

So, the traumas of World War II had caught up with Julius.  At first, I thought that is was sad that Barbara did not become Julius Molis’ wife and they did not live a long and happy life together. 

But the truth was different.  

It became clear only after a few years. I had another photo with Beryl, my grandfather and the same Julius in it, which is reproduced below.

Another Lithuanian gathering, maybe in Melbourne, with Beryl on the left, then my grandfather, an unknown man, someone identified as Kostas Busma, an unknown woman and 'Julius'

Source: Rasa Ščevinskienė

The background of the two photos is different.  I thought my grandfather looked a little older in the second photo.  Perhaps it was taken in Melbourne,  to where my grandfather had moved.

Then I identified the man third from the right as Kostas Busma, using photos on Bonegilla cards.  Kostas was sent from Bonegilla to work with the South Australian Department of Woods and Forests in Mount Gambier.  He would not have moved to Melbourne until after his contract ended on 30 September 1949.

Julius Molis probably was still in Tasmania then, and died there on 5 December 1949.  Of course, perhaps he and Barbara might have holidayed in Melbourne between those dates.  The newspaper report of his death said that he had died unmarried, however.

 

After first concluding incorrectly that the man in the photo was Julius Molis, my research led me to another Julius, Petkinis, who arrived in Australia later, on the Protea on 30 September 1948.  Julius Petkinis had a grandson who had posted on the Web looking for more information about his grandfather.  I contacted the grandson, who confirmed that Julius was indeed his grandfather who had married the same Barbara, his grandmother.

Julius Petkinis was sent to the Forestry Commission in Queensland for his first job, so it also is unlikely that the photo at the start of this story was taken between April and November 1949.  If the grandson can do some successful research, we may get a better idea of the date and place.

Meanwhile, the sad story of Julius Molis is shared here.

FOOTNOTES

1. For example, ‘Share-Out of Balts‘, The Herald (Melbourne), 3 January 1948, p 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243839773 accessed 30 January 2023. 

2. Boyer Newsprint Mill, New Norfolk, 1941-‘, Engineers Australia, https://portal.engineersaustralia.org.au/heritage/boyer-newsprint-mill-new-norfolk-1941 accessed 30 January 2023.

3. ‘Australian Newsprint Mills‘, The Companion to Tasmanian History, https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/A/Australian%20Newsprint%20Mills.htm accessed 30 January 2023.

4. ’Man Found Hanged in Cell’, The Mercury (Hobart), 6 December 1949, p 8, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26665433, 'Man Found Hanging', The Examiner (Launceston), 6 December 1949, p 5, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52707905/4676682, ‘Found Hanging in Cell’, The Advocate (Burnie) 6 December 1949, p 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91766087 all accessed 30 January 2023.

 

5. 'Family Notices', The Mercury (Hobart), 6 December 1949, p 20, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26665617 accessed 30 January 2023.

6. Reserve Bank of Australia, 'Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator' https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html accessed 22 July 2024.

7. My Heritage, 'Julius Molis' Australia, Tasmania Wills and Letters of Administration — Julius Molis, https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-20244-66784/julius-molis-in-australia-tasmania-wills-letters-of-administration#fullscreen 22 July 2024. 

 

8. ’Public Notices’, The Mercury (Hobart), 4 February 1950, p 8, p 23, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26690159?searchTerm=julius%20molis accessed 22 July 2024.

9. 'Personal file of MOLIS, JULIUS, born in the year 1926, born in TELSIAI', Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/81104345?s=julius%20molis&t=3173288&p=0 accessed 30 January 2023.

OTHER SOURCES

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration; MOLIS, Julius: Year of Birth - 1923: Nationality - LITHUANIAN: Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN: Number – 855; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=20391295, accessed 6 March 2023. 

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; 808, MOLIS Julius DOB 12 July 1923; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3010055, accessed 6 March 2023.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A12508, Personal Statement and Declaration by alien passengers entering Australia (Forms A42); 37/368, MOLIS Julius born 12 July 1923; nationality Lithuanian; travelled per GENERAL HEINTZELMAN arriving in Fremantle on 29 November 1947; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7272921, accessed 6 March 2023.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Tasmanian Branch; P1182, Personal case files for non-British migrants who are deceased, lexicographical series; MOLIS, Molis, Julius [Lithuanian]; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1923533, accessed 6 March 2023.

Aleksandras Vasiliauskas (1924-48): A short and sad story by Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 6 March 2023.

Not all stories of the First Transport’s passengers tell us of a long and distinguished life in Australia.The shortest and saddest is that of Aleksandras Vasiliauskas, who drowned in the Murray River on 4 January 1948.This was only two months after his arrival in Western Australia on 28 November 1947.[1]

 

 

Aleksandras' ID photo from his Bonegilla Card 

Source:  National Archives of Australia 

On that Sunday, he went for lunch with the family of a local woman he had met at a dance at the Bonegilla camp.[2]  After lunch, a group took him to Noreuil Park.  At about 3.20 pm, he went for a swim by himself.[3]  He swam around a bend in the Murray near the Park enclosure, then was seen to be in difficulties.[4]

 

Noreuil Park is on the left of this Google map.

The previous main road out of  Albury to Victoria (C319) is just to its right.

The current route of the Hume Highway (M31) is on the right of the map.

 

A young woman who noticed the difficulties dived into the river fully clothed.  Fay Tattersall, 20, of Sydney told the inquest two days later that she had seen him floating down the river.  At first, she thought he was fooling around but, when she saw a second time that he was still floating face down, she took action.

 

As she got to him, he disappeared under the water.  “I sang out to those on the bank and then I saw some boys coming out”, she told the inquest. She held a Bronze Cross for life-saving, so would have had little doubt about her ability to help someone in trouble.[5]

 

The water was running fairly swiftly, Ms Tattersall told the inquest, so anyone other than a strong swimmer could have had trouble getting out of the water.  Friends said that Aleksandras was not a good swimmer.[6]

 

After Fay’s evidence was heard, the inquest adjourned.  Her evidence was taken first because she had to be in Sydney by the following Monday to recommence work after her summer break.[7] 

 

At the resumed inquest on 21 January, Norman Bennett Fellowes, of Albury, told of having stood on the river bank with a group of other young men when one them drew attention to Fay diving in, fully clothed.

 

He saw Aleksandras’ head coming up, face down.  As he started to sink again, Norman and others dived in.  Norman described the attempts to recover Aleksandras, who was found about 40 metres from where they had dived.  Apparently, he had been carried down the river by its very swift current.  The water depth was only 1.2 metres where he was found.

 

Frederick George Brumm, another young Albury resident, told the inquest that he had dived for Aleksandras and brought him to the surface.  He held a Bronze Medallion and instructor’s certificate from the Royal Life Saving Society.  His assessment of the river conditions was that, “It (was) possible for a poor swimmer to be swept out by the strong current into deep holes.  A swimmer could get of the current lower down the river.  If anybody panicked, he would not get out.”

 

The young men manoeuvred the body to the river bank, where Fay helped with the artificial resuscitation.  An ambulance came with oxygen.  Leslie Arthur George Stepto told the inquest that he had applied oxygen and resuscitation to Aleksandras for about 10 minutes.  In his opinion, Aleksandras was no longer alive.

 

Aleksandras then was transported to the Albury District Hospital where Eva Grey, medical practitioner, and other staff tried to revive him with injections and an iron lung, normally used to keep polio patients alive.  All efforts were in vain.  In her opinion, death was due to drowning.

 

In reaching a verdict of death by accidental drowning, the Coroner, EM Debenham, noted that he, “… must commend the action of a very brave and courageous young girl … even though her attempt was not instrumental in saving the man’s life, it seems that some steps should be taken to bring her action to the notice of the Humane Society for some possible recognition”.  He also supported an appeal in the previous day’s issue of the Border Morning Mail for the formation of a Noreuil Park Life Saving Club, “in view of the nature of the river at this place.”

 

He added that it was unfortunate that Aleksandras had met his death in Albury after coming from “such a troubled place”.  “It is to be regretted that he was not spared to enjoy life in Australia.”[8]

 

The Coroner’s recommendation that Fay Tattersall’s action should receive recognition was heard.  The Royal Humane Society of New South Wales records that she received “a Certificate of Merit for actions involving a river at Albury on the 4th January 1948”.[9]

 

Aleksandras had hoped to resume his medical studies in Australia, it was reported, although his intended occupation on the First Transport’s passenger list is given as ‘labourer’.[10]  He was 23 years old when he drowned, born in the Lithuanian city of Panevėžys.  This is in the middle of Lithuania, midway between two Baltic capitals, Vilnius and Riga.[11]

 

When news of Aleksandras’ death reached the Bonegilla camp, its Australian flag was lowered to half-mast.[12]  The funeral took place the day after he drowned, at St Augustine’s Church, Wodonga.[13]  Andrew Jankus has described the funeral from the perspective of Aleksandras’ Lithuanian compatriots.

 

“This morning I didn’t go to classes as all the former Scouts went into the bush to get leafy branches to make two wreathes.  We made them out of gum trees and decorated them with sashes.  One sash had the inscription, ‘From the Lithuanian Community’.  The other inscription read, ‘From the Sea Scouts of Lithuania’.

 

“The Sea Scouts and the Rover Scouts in their respective uniforms went to the Wodonga church where the coffin with Alex’ remains was lying in state.  We placed the two wreaths at the base of the coffin and stood by the coffin as an honour guard.  Two Sea Scouts and two Rovers carried the coffin out from the church to the hearse.  Then all of us proceeded to the Albury Cemetery for the burial.

 

Aleksandras’ funeral procession outside St Augustine’s.

Head bowed, just behind the scouts, is Alton Kershaw,

Commandant of the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre.

The gentleman with a bow tie and top hat between the priest and the altar boys

probably is the funeral director

 

Lithuanian Sea and Rover Scouts carry the coffin to the cemetery lych gate.

The two Sea Scouts in the lead are Endrius Jankus (left) and Antanas Jurevicius (right).

Again, the Bonegilla Commandant is just behind the scouts.

 

The funeral procession in the cemetery

Photographs supplied by Andrew Jankus

 

“At the graveside, the priest said his eulogy and the Camp Commandant, Major Kershaw, praised the person now deceased.   Our community leader, Jonas Motiejunas, put the gold chain with a cross that Alex wore round his neck on top of the coffin. He added a holy picture found in Alex’ belongings.  Then the coffin was lowered into the grave.  There were wreaths from us, Mr Calwell, Major Kershaw and Alex’ girlfriend.[14]  It poured throughout the graveside ceremony.  Hurriedly we took some photos and departed for home.”[15]

 

Aleksandras is committed to the earth

Photograph supplied by Andrew Jankus

 

Aleksandras was buried in the Catholic portion of the Albury Cemetery, now known as the Pioneer Cemetery, Albury.[16]  His grave is located at the northern end of the Cemetery, in Row S, Lot 11 of the Catholic Section. 

 

He was spared the indignity of a pauper’s grave or an unmarked one by his compatriots.  When I interviewed Petras Morkunas and Petras Baltutis in Melbourne in 2001, they explained what had happened.

 

“The Lithuanian men were concerned that his grave would be forgotten.  Mr Baltutis’ twin brother, Povilas, organised a collection among them to ensure that he got a headstone.  The men gave 5 shillings each for two weeks.  The committee of the Lithuanians decided that the headstone would say something like, ‘Tell my country I loved you’”.[17]

 

The sea scouts leave as three special friends say goodbye

Photograph supplied by Andrew Jankus

 

When I visited in 2005, the grave had sunk to the right and lichen was hiding much of the text on the headstone.  Jonas Mockunas kindly has provided photographs from his visit in December 2017.

 

 

 Aleksandras Vasiliauskas’ grave is in the middle foreground of this 2017 photograph.

The headstone, like some other untended ones in the background, is covered by lichen

Photograph courtesy Jonas Mockunas

 

Close-up of the headstone

Photograph courtesy Jonas Mockunas

 

It’s time to organise another collection, to pay for the restoration of the grave including careful cleaning of the headstone.  Can you help?

---

[1] Ann Tündern-Smith, Bonegilla’s Beginnings, 2nd ed, Triple D Books, Wagga Wagga, p 59.

[2] Endrius (Andrew) Jankus, ‘Bonegilla 1947-1948’, now published as 7 entries in this blog between 20 December 2022 and 2 January 2023:  see https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2022/12/bonegilla-1947-1948-first-five-days-by.html, https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2022/12/bonegilla-1947-1948-next-week-december.html, https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2022/12/bonegilla-1947-1948-week-to-christmas.html, https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2022/12/bonegilla-1947-1948-boxing-day-to-new.html, https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2023/01/bonegilla-1947-1948-another-two-weeks.html, https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2023/01/bonegilla-1947-1948-two-more-weeks-from.html and https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2023/01/bonegilla-1947-1948-at-last-off-to-work.html.

[3] The Park is named in honour of the men of the 13th battery, 5th field artillery brigade, an Albury-based group involved in an attack on the French village of this name beginning on 2 April 1917. See https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/noreuil-park-memorial.

[4] ‘Immigrant Drowned:  Tragedy at Noreuil’, Border Morning Mail (Albury, BMM), 5 January 1948.

[5] ‘Plucky Girl Tells of Vain Rescue Attempt:  Sunday’s drowning at Noreuil Park’, BMM, 7 January 1948.  The “Bronze Cross” may have been a reporter’s confusion with the Bronze Medallion.

[6] BMM, 5 January 1948.

[7] ‘Sunday’s Heroine at Albury was a Visitor:  Brave attempt to save drowning man’, BMM, 6 January 1948.

[8] ‘Brave Girl Praised, Tried to save drowning man’, BMM, 22 January 1948.

[9] ‘Recipients, Case number 1948/06, https://www.braveryaward.org/recipients.php?case=1948/06, visited 27 April 2021.

[10] BMM, 5 January 1948.

[11] ‘Panevėžys’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panev%C4%97%C5%BEys, visited 26 April 2021.

[12] Jankus, ‘Bonegilla 1947-1948’, now published as 7 entries in this blog between 20 December 2022 and 2 January 2023: see note [2] above.

[13] BMM, 5 January 1948.

[14] ‘Mr Calwell’ was Arthur Augustus Calwell, Minister for Immigration, who had initiated the scheme under which Aleksandras arrived in Australia.

[15] Jankus, ‘Bonegilla1947-1948’.

[16] BMM, 5 January 1948.

[17] Petras Morkunas and Petras Baltutis, interview with Ann Tündern-Smith, Melbourne Lithuanian Club, 14 January 2001, unpublished manuscript.