Edvardas Lapinskas (1914-1975): Agricultural Expert Turned Sheet Metal Worker, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

We have met Edvardas Lapinksas briefly already. He was standing on the left of a photo of 4 First Transport employees of the Melbourne timber company, CJ Webb, Row & Anderson. They were photographed together with one of the company’s trucks at Thornton, northeast of Victoria’s capital city of Melbourne.

The photograph again, with Edvardas Lapinskas standing on the left,
Bernardas Matkevicius in the cab, at the wheel,
Juozas Nakas standing on the right, and their Estonian friend,
probably Helmut Nursalu, seated.

Source:  Private collection

The Thornton Photograph

In June 1948, another of the men, Juozas Nakas, wrote on the back of one copy of the photo and sent it to his brother, Osvaldas, in Germany. That is why we still have access to the photo.

Edvardas' Youth

From Edvardas’ Particulars of Person Wishing to Migrate to Australia form among his selection papers, we find that he was born in Dusetai Zarasai, Lithuania, on 27 June 1914. At 33, he was one of the older men selected for migration.

Edvardas Lapinskas' photograph, colourised,
from his 1947 selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) DP Record for Edvardas says that his parents were Bronius and Stase, whose family name before marriage was Jerulyte.

His previous occupation was described by the seldom used word, ‘functionary’. The best synonym we can offer is ‘official’. The Australian equivalent could be ‘public servant’. Whether he worked for the Lithuanian Government before the war, or at a more local level, has to be guessed.

Languages spoken were Lithuanian and Russian. Given that his Particulars of Person form said that he had arrived in Germany one year earlier, it is surprising that the languages do not include German.

The Australian interview summary says that Edvardas had completed his 4 years of primary school, plus 5 years of an agricultural school.

Edvardas is Forced into Germany

The Particulars of Person Wishing to Migrate form contained Edvardas’ statement that he had served in the Lithuanian Army for one and a half years. Presumably, this was when the Lithuanian Army was fighting against Soviet forces and therefore supporting the Germans. It explains why his interview summary says that he was one of those “forcibly evacuated by the Germans” to their homeland, arriving in September 1944.

The AEF Record was completed on 4 September 1945, and bears a rubber stamp saying ‘Source 51 dPACs, Wolterdingen’. There are at least 2 places called Wolterdingen in Germany; the use of the British initials, DPAC, for Displaced Persons Assembly Centre, suggests the northern one in the British Zone, near Soltau, between Hamburg and Hannover.

It was known as 51 after it became a Baltic camp under IRO administration from July 1947 to June 1950. Edvardas was there still when he had his medical examination for migration to Australia on 13 September 1947.

Another German language document suggests that in 1945, after the War, Edvardas was one of the men employed mending roads in the town or district of Celle, less then 50 Km south of Soltau.

Off to Australia and to Thornton

Both Celle and Soltau are near Bremen which, in turn, is near Bremerhaven, from where the ship carrying Edvardas to Australia left on 30 October 1947. Like the rest of the 839 who stayed in Australia, he had a few days in Perth before another voyage to Melbourne and a train trip to Bonegilla. His stay at the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre, its official name, ended on 14 January 1948 when he joined 11 others on the trip to CJ Webb, Row & Anderson’s timber stands in Victoria.

We’ve noted already that Thornton, the place where the timber was waiting to be felled, is nearly 250 road kilometres from Bonegilla. The trip still is at least at least 2 hours 40 minutes in a modern car. It must have been something of a memorable experience for the 10 men being driven there in January 1948, given the condition of the roads then.

At this stage of our investigation, we assume that the 12 men stayed at their Thornton camp until at least 30 September 1949. That was the date on which the Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, had decided that they could be released early from their contracts to work where sent since their work had been so helpful. Certainly, the 3 Lithuanians, Nakas, Matkevicius and Edvardas Lapinskas, were there still in early 1949.

We know that because they subscribed to the fledgling Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) Lithuanian-Australian newspaper by sending £3 each. That may well have been a large slice of their savings. It was appreciated by the newspaper, which thanked them publicly in its 16 February 1949 edition.

Edvardas also donated £1 to a collection taken up by the Lithuanian Women's Welfare Committee to help Lithuanians still in Germany. He was thanked publicly for this, along with other donors, in the Mūsų pastogė newspaper published on 17 March 1954.

Edvardas Marries

A marriage certificate from Births Deaths Marriages Victoria says that Eduardas (sic) Lapinskas married Irene Austra Ozolins on 12 November 1955.   They were married in the Office of the Government Statist, which is to say that they had a registry wedding, not a church one.  

Latvian Irene had arrived in Australia with her infant son on the fourth migrant voyage here of the Castel Bianco, on 17 December 1950.  She is stated on the certificate to have been divorced in July 1944, presumably in Latvia before she fled.

Edvardas' death certificate reveals that Irene’s maiden name was Dinsbergs.  Of interest is that she had managed to find someone called E. Dinsbergs, clearly a relative, to be a witness at the marriage to Edvardas.  If it was Ernests Dinsbergs, it was her brother or half-brother according to information on the Geni.com genealogy Website.  He had come to Australia more than 18 months before Irene. Alternatively, it might have been her sister-in-law, Elize.

Irene Lapinskas' photograph from her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Given the youth of the son, born in September 1949, the new family started to use the Lapinskas family name for him too.

Edvardas Becomes an Official Australian

Edvardas was granted Australian citizenship on 2 September 1958, when living in the inner western Melbourne suburb of Seddon. That was a little over 10 years after his arrival here. Irene was granted her citizenship on the same date, most likely at the same ceremony, although the powers that be chose to gazette this 6 weeks after Edvardas’ gazettal. Edvardas and Irene probably never got to see this compliance with the law, though.

Edvardas' Death

Edvardas died on 21 November 1975. His death certificate says that he was aged 60. It seems that we have a better idea of his birthdate than the distressed informant: he actually was aged 61.

His home at the time was in the western Melbourne suburb of Altona North, but his death occurred in the nearby suburb of Footscray. As 21 November 1975 was a Friday, it may have been another death at work. It was another death from a heart attack, for someone who was said to have been suffering from heart disease for years.

Thinking of work, his occupation at the time was said to be sheet metal worker. We have to ask if Edvardas ever pined for agricultural work, given the focus of his education as a youth. We presume that he was satisfied where life had led him, given that it was away from the turmoil and dangers of World War II.  On the other hand, did the noise of his workplace take some getting used to after the noise of war?

He was cremated at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery and his ashes were buried there.

Irene Dies

Irene died 25 years after Edvardas, on 10 September 2000, aged 76. She had lived for many years with motor neurone disease. Surviving her were her son, Edvardas’ stepson, his wife and three grandchildren.

Irene’s ashes now rest with those of Edvardas.

SOURCES

‘AEF DP Registration Record, Lapinskas, Edvardas’ Folder DP2293, names from LAPINS, Talivaldis to LAPOSTA, Loreto (1), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from L, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67976906, accessed 20 May 2026.

‘AEF DP Registration Record, Ozolinš, Irene’ Reference Code 03010101 18 144, Folder DP2981, names from OZOLINS, EDE to OZOLINS, Ivars (2), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from O, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68500057, accessed 20 May 2026.

‘Allgemeine Ortskranks … Celle, Sanemann-Celle-Neustadt 74’, Reference Code DE ITS 2.1.2.1 NI 012 11 DIV ZM, Original collection, 2.1.2.1 NI 012 11 DIV Nationality/origin of person listed : Various, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70593430, accessed 20 May 2026.

Births Deaths Marriages Victoria (1955) 'Marriage certificate:  Eduardas (sic) Lapinskas and Irene Austra Ozolins', Registration no. 1408/1955.

Births Deaths Marriages Victoria (1975) ‘Death certificate: Edvardas Lapinskas’, Registration no. 5801/1976.

Births Deaths Marriages Victoria ‘Search your family history’ https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/search-your-family-history, accessed 19 May 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection ‘Edvards LAPINSKAS’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203623575, accessed 20 May 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card and Memory Collection ‘Irene A Ozolins’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203720313, accessed 20 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 19 February, p 647 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240997718/25979702, accessed 19 May 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, ACT, 9 April, p 1219 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240998361, accessed 19 May 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Edvardas Lapinskas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244566373/edvardas-lapinskas, accessed 20 May 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Irene Austra Lapinskas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244566374/irene-austra-lapinskas, accessed 20 May 2026.

Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) (1949) ‘Aukos Mūsų Pastogėi‘ (‘Donations to Mūsų pastogė', in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 16 February, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1949/1949-02-16-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 20 May 2026.

Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) (1954) ‘Soc. Glog. Mot. Komiteto Melbourne pravestos rinkliavos metu, vokietijoje pasilikusiems tautiečiams sušelpti, aukojo’ (’During a Collection by the Social Welfare Committee in Melbourne, Donations Were Made to Help Compatriots Still in Germany, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 17 March, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259360041, accessed 20 May 2026.

My Tributes ‘Death Notice for Lapinskas, Irene’ [Herald Sun, 13 September 2000] https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/tributes/notice/death-notices/lapinskas-irene/3728212/, accessed 20 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A435, Class 4 correspondence files relating to naturalisation, 1944-1950; 1949/4/5567, LAPINSKAS Edvardas – Lithuanian, 1949-1949.

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, 1947-1947; 170, LAPINSKAS Eduardas DOB 27 June 1914, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005591, accessed 19 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; LAPINSKAS EDVARDS, LAPINSKAS, Edvards : Year of Birth - 1914 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 567, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203623575, accessed 20 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; OZOLINS IRENE A, OZOLINS, Irene A : Year of Birth - 1923 : Nationality - LATVIAN : Travelled per - CASTEL BIANCO IV : Number - 223954, 1950-1951, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203720313, accessed 20 May 2026.

Wikipedia ‘Celle’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celle, accessed 19 May 2026.

Vytautas Simniškis (1918- 1987), Leading Australian Lithuanian, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

Lithuanian Leader in Australia

Vytautas Simniškis very quickly became a leader of the Lithuanian community in Australia.  Less than 5 years after arriving here on the First Transport, he became the second National President of ALB, Australijos Lietuvių Bendruomenė, the Australian Lithuanian Community, during 1953-54.

The earliest photo we have of Vytautas Simniškis is
from his 1947 selection papers for migration to Australia

Source:  National Archives of Australia

He stayed on the ALB board, initiating important developments for his community.  As well, from 1960 to 1983, he chaired the board of Sydney’s Lithuanian House.  During this time, he oversaw the club’s move from inner city Redfern to much larger, modern premises in Strathfield.  They have been described as “one of the most beautiful Lithuanian houses in the entire diaspora”.

Daina already has detailed this on her blog, Australian Lithuanian History.  In summary, during his ALB presidency, he was

• Responsible for developing close relationships with other exile organisations and Australian political parties;
• Raising the case for Lithuania’s independence through these organisations, nationally and internationally;
• Initiating a united Baltic committee to campaign for independence for all 3 countries.

Also while on the ALB board he

• Called together Sydney women to establish their Women's Social Care Association, in 1956: his wife was a member and served as President;
• Strengthened finances for the Australian-Lithuanian newspaper, Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven).

Daina published the Simniškis story only 6 months ago, but documents held by the National Archives of Australia for him and his wife have become available since then. Let’s see what they add to the story.

Vytautas' early life

Vytautas Simniškis was born in 2 October 1918, in Marijampolė, into a large family of a wealthy farmers.

Like many Lithuanians, Vytautas ended up in the Seedorf Camp after the end of the war in Germany.  This Camp was in Seedorf bei Zeven in what is now Lower Saxony, north-western Germany, in the British occupation zone.  It lay roughly midway between Hamburg and Bremen.  The British gave it the DP Accommodation Centre number DPAC 249.  There he used his previous clerical experience to be a warehouse manager.

According to the report of the selection panel for migration to Australia, he had reached Germany in October 1944.  His reason for coming was the usual, “Fled from Russian regime”.

He had completed 4 years of secondary education in addition to the minimum 4 years of primary school. 

In Lithuania he had been a clerk for 7 years, his qualifications for this being “trade school”.  Presumably that was his 4 years of secondary education.  He also had served in the Lithuanian armed forces for 18 months, during 1938-40.

Vytautas Starts Out in Australia

He served the Australian Government’s minimum of two years’ employment here at the brown coal mines of Yallourn, Victoria.

There had been a haircut and a shave before this photograph
was taken later in 1947 for Vytautas' Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

At the beginning of 1950, Vytautas moved to Sydney, where he put down his roots and devoted himself wholeheartedly to Lithuanian activities.  He bought a grocery store, which he modernised and expanded.  It was his livelihood until he retired.

The two years (likely to have been reduced by some months to a period ending 30 September 1948 by a decision of the Minister for Immigration) at the brown coal mines means that Vytautas should have a place in Josef Sestokas’ book, Welcome to Little Europe. Indeed, he is there, as someone “Only remembered for what he did after his time at the North Camp: Went to Sydney, opened a bottle shop (sic) and became a leader within the Sydney Lithuanian community.”

Vytautas the Administrator

From the beginning of 1952 until 1958, Vytautas was a member of the board of the Lithuanian Community of Australia, serving for three terms.  Soon after he joined, he was chosen to be President when the previous office-holder left Australia.

In 1955, Vytautas married fellow Lithuanian Tatjana Chodeckaitė.  Tatjana, born in Siauliai, had been a dental assistant in Lithuania and Germany.  She had earned her income for 10 years from needlework, including embroidery.  She was 39 years old when she arrived in Australia on the Svalbard on the 16 August 1948.  Vytautas was something like 9 years younger.

When Vytautas turned 60 in 1978, Mūsų Pastogė published a front page tribute.  Its position was not a surprise, given that he had taken on the role of publisher of this newspaper from January 1954 to September 1959.  This appears to be the period of time in which he was strengthening the finances, so he was not a publisher in name only.

The photograph used to illustrate Vytautas'
60th birthday tribute

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

The anonymous author the tribute finished by writing, in Lithuanian of course, “Calm and careful, never hot-tempered, always with 'gaspadorian' wisdom [that of the head of the household or the farm owner] and light humour, Vytautas persistently ploughed furrow after furrow in the entire soil of our social activity and grew a rich harvest. We congratulate Vytautas Simniškis on this anniversary and wish him not to let go of the plough and reins from his strong hands for a long time.”

Vytautas' Death

Sad to say, Vytautas lasted less than 9 more years, dying on 3 July 1987.  His funeral was attended by around 200 mourners 5 days later at St. Joseph's Church, Lidcombe.

The Chairman of the Sydney Lithuanian Club, Vytautas Bukevičius, spoke on behalf of his Board.  He urged those present to continue Vytautas’ work by committing to maintain the Lithuanian Club and leave it for future generations as an eternal monument.

A final photograph, to accompany Vytautas' obituary

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

The larger mourner numbers meant a long motorcade to the Rookwood Crematorium.

This time, the man who wrote the obituary in Mūsų Pastogė is known.  He was Anskis Reisgys, who had arrived on the First Transport with Vytautas and served on committees with him. Translated from Lithuanian, some of Anskis’ words follow.

“The path from the old Redfern walls to the current licensed [Lithuanian] club with new buildings was winding and full of obstacles. It was necessary to compete in the courts with bar lawyers, municipal bureaucrats, builders; to study the basic laws of this land, binding the clubs, and to listen to disputes among themselves.  Vytautas overcame all this.

“He had neither magical power nor supernatural abilities, but he had a 'gaspadorian' hand, was straight-thinking and, after patiently listening to mutual disputes, would say with a light sense of humor: '...let's get back to work, men, because we need to do it now.'  And thus, ploughing furrow by furrow, he grew a great harvest.  He was not proud of his achieved result, but quietly, quietly rejoiced in the beautiful harvest.”

Some of those words and phrases ('gaspadorian', '… ploughing furrow by furrow, he grew a great harvest') suggest that Anskis was the author of the earlier tribute also.

The misspelling on Vytautas' Rookwood Cemetery plaque
is not how he should be remembered

Source:  Billion Graves

Tatjana died just over a year later, on 11 August 1988, and her ashes are interred with those of Vytautas at Rookwood.

CITE THIS AS:  Pocius, Daina and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2026) 'Vytautas Simniškis (1918- 1987), Leading Australian Lithuanian', https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2026/05/vytautas-simniskis-1918-1987-leading-Australian-Lithuanian.html.

SOURCES

Billion Graves 'Search Results of Vytautas Simniskis' https://billiongraves.com/search/results?CollectionID=&CatalogID=&PageNumber=1&PageSize=20&GivenNames=vytautas&GivenNamesExact=false&MaidenName=&MaidenNameExact=false&FamilyName=Simniskis&FamilyNameExact=false&EventBirthYear=&EventBirthYearRange=5&EventDeathYear=&EventDeathYearRange=5&MilitaryConflict=&MilitaryBranch=&MilitaryRank=&YearRange=&ID=2f5e5799-00b2-4377-b876-449bd9096ed3, accessed 9 May 2026. 

Find A Grave ‘Vytwatas (sic) Simniskis’ www.findagrave.com/memorial/150628633/vytwatas-simniskis, accessed 9 May 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Tatjana Simniskis’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150628632/tatjana-simniskis, accessed 9 May 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1978) ‘V. Simniškiui 60 metų’ (‘V. Siminiskis, 60 years’, in Lithuanian), Sydney, NSW, 10 September, p 1 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1978/1978-10-09-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 9 May 2026.

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, 1947-1947; 276, SIMNISKIS Vytautas DOB 2 October 1917, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005991, accessed 9 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11841, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per Svalbard departing Bremerhaven 21 May 1948, 1948 - 1948; 312, CHODECKAITE Tatjana DOB 27 December 1909, 1948 - 1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5124221, accessed 9 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; CHODECKAITE TATJANA, CHODECKAITE, Tatjana : Year of Birth - 1909 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - SVALBARD : Number - [UNKNOWN], 1948 - 1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203670444, accessed 9 May 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; SIMNISKIS VYTAUTAS, SIMNISKIS, Vytautas : Year of Birth - 1917 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 672, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203711663, accessed 9 May 2026.

Reisgys, Anskis (1987) ‘A A. VYTAUTAS SIMNIŠKIS’ (‘In Memoriam, Vytautas Simnisksi’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, NSW, 20 July, p. 3 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1987/1987-07-20-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 9 May 2026.

Šeštokas, Josef (2010) Welcome to Little Europe: Displaced Persons and the North Camp, Sale, Little Chicken Publishing, p 94.

Bernardas Matkevičius (1922-1992) A Labourer's Life, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Bernardas first job in Australia

We’ve met Bernadas Matkevičius already. He was a workmate of Juozas Nakas, when both were employed by CJ Webb, Row & Anderson at Thornton, in northeast Victoria’s timber country. He was the truck driver in the June 1948 photograph below.

Aged 24 when selected for Australia and 5 feet 11 inches tall, that’s 180 centimetres, he would have had the physique for which the selection team were looking. We can’t tell you anything more about his selection at this time, as his papers are yet to be digitised.

While they were still working at Thornton, Bernardas, Juozas Nakas and a third Lithuanian in the photograph below, Edvardas Lapinskas, subscribed to the fledgling Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Lithuanian-Australian newspaper by sending £3 each. That may well have been a large slice of their savings. It was appreciated by the newspaper, which thanked them publicly in its 16 February 1949 edition.

Bernardas is in the cab with fellow workers Lithuanian Edvardas Lapinskas on the left, an Estonian, probably Helmut Nurmsalu in the middle and Lithuanian Juozas Nakas on the right:
the message on the back of this photo printed on postcard paper was dated 19 June 1948
and sent from Thornton, Victoria, where the group worked

Source:  Private collection

Later employment and residence

There is no citizenship file on the National Archives of Australia’s RecordSearch Web service and no digitised announcement in the Commonwealth Gazette of Bernardas becoming an Australian citizen. He clearly did, though, as he is on electoral rolls from 1963 to 1980. (Later rolls have yet to be digitised.)

The digitised rolls enable us to see where Bernardas lived and his stated occupation. In 1963, he was a rubber worker who lived on Bayswater Road, Wantirna, in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs. By 1968, he was living on nearby Orchard Road in Bayswater and had become a labourer.

Bernardas' photo from his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

In 1977, he had moved again, to the suburb of Heathmont but was still a labourer. In 1980, he was still at the Heathmont address and a labourer.

We can see that Bernardas was already a rubber worker in 1957 and, probably, 1956 from a Victoria Government Gazette. The issue for 9 January 1957 contains a notice from Dunlop Rubber which includes Bernardas in a list of people for whom the company held unclaimed money. This may have been because of a pay rise where the retrospective amount was not included in his pay packet, or some other problem with his pay. The amount was only 7 shillings and 11 pence, but probably could have bought him several beers after work.

At the time, he was recorded as living in the inner, then industrial suburb of Port Melbourne, likely to have been close to his place of work.

Bernardas' early life

Also in 1957, in October, Mūsų Pastogė published a notice for him, saying that it had news for him from S. Daugėliškis. Senasis Daugėliškis was his birthplace, a village in the Ignalina district, Utena County in Lithuania.

Bernardas was a Christmas present to his parents, Anupras Matkevičius and the former Izabelė Peciulevičiūtė, as he arrived on 24 December 1922. This happiness was followed by sadness though, as Izabelė died only 19 months after his birth, on 24 July 1924. She was aged 39.

She had already born two older sons, Edmundas around 1913 and Jonas around 1917. He also had 3 half-sisters. We have this information because someone has been interested enough in him and his family to include their details on a family history Website, geni.com.

Bernardas' death

Bernardas was only 69 when he died at Heathmont on 15 October 1992. Unfortunately, whoever gave his name to officialdom misspelled it as Beranardas Markevicius. That also is how is burial in the Yan Yean Cemetery on 22 October is recorded.

At least the Melbourne Lithuanian-language newspaper, Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland), knew the correct spelling of his name when it carried a report of his death and burial in its 27 October 1992 issue.

Bernardas’ death certificate shows that he died from heart disease, and that he also was known as Ben Markevicius. Maybe he had noted that Australians found Markevicius easier to say than Matkevicius. But the death certificate also contains the incorrect Beranardas spelling of his forename.

Not surprisingly, given the low income occupations since his arrival in Australia, Bernardas’ final occupation was given as pensioner.

His grave is unmarked still. Presumably his estate was not large enough to cover the costs of a grave marker. Also, he may have died intestate, that is, without a will. We think this was the case since an online search for a possible will held by the Public Records Office of Victoria did not produce any results under either the proper spelling of his name or the misspelling.

Bernardas' burial site is in the middle of this photograph

Source:  Geoff F on Find A Grave

His grave might be a pauper’s grave.

SOURCES

Ancestry.com, ‘All Census & Voter Lists results for Bernardas Matkevicius’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/?name=Bernardas_Matkevicius&location=5027&priority=australian, accessed 26 March 2026.

Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria [search for Beranardas Markevicius’ (sic) death] https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/69a880855cdccbdd88c2952f/results?q=efamily, accessed 26 March 2026.

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Bernardas Matkevicius’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203611495, accessed 26 March 2026.

Electronic Archive Information System, ‘Švenčionių dekanato gimimo metrikų knyga’ (Svencionys Deanery Birth Register, in Lithuanian) [Bernardas’ birth is recorded in the Senasis Daugėliškis church 1922 register, on page 66 as number 187] https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext/view/267143226, accessed 26 March 2026.

Find a grave, ‘Beranardas Markevicius, Yan Yean Cemetery’) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231620463/beranardas-markevicius?_gl=1*w6jern*_gcl_au*ODk2ODA1MDgxLjE3Njg0MTYwMDM.*_ga*MTU0MjMxMjQ3Mi4xNzM3Mzk2NDY1*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czAzMTNiOWM0LTA0NjEtNGFhZi05NzkxLTU1MDM1ZGRjMzY0NSRvMjYkZzEkdDE3NzI2NTA0NjQkajU5JGwwJGgw*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czAzMTNiOWM0LTA0NjEtNGFhZi05NzkxLTU1MDM1ZGRjMzY0NSRvMjYkZzEkdDE3NzI2NTA0NjQkajU5JGwwJGgw, accessed 26 March 2026.

Geni.com ‘Bernardas Matkevičius’ https://www.geni.com/people/Bernardas-Matkevi%C4%8Dius/6000000070489407928?through=6000000070492006821, accessed 26 March 2026

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1949) ‘Aukos Mūsų Pastogei’ (‘Donations to Musu Pastoge’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 16 February, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1949/1949-02-16-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1957) ( ‘Pajieškojimai‘ (‘Searches‘, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 14 October, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1957/1957-10-14-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

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, 1947-1947; 482, MATKEVICIUS Bernardas DOB 24 December 1922, 1947-1947.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MATKEVICIUS BERNARDAS, MATKEVICIUS, Bernardas : Year of Birth - 1922 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 857, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203611495, accessed 26 March 2026.

Tėviškės Aidai (The Echoes of Homeland) (1992) ‘Iš mūsų parapijų, Melbournas‘ (‘From Our Parishes, Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, Vic, 27 October, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1992/1992-nr42-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

Victoria Government Gazette (1957) ‘Dunlop Rubber Australia Limited, Register of unclaimed money held by Dulop (sic) Rubber Australia Limited, 108 Flinders-street, Melbourne’ Melbourne, Vic, 9 January, p 117 https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/vic_gazette/1957/22.pdf, accessed 26 March 2026.

Vikipedija, ‘Senasis Daugėliškis’ in Lithuanian, https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senasis_Daug%C4%97li%C5%A1kis, accessed 24 March 2026.