Nikolai Müristaja (1912-1989): Watchmaker, Jeweller, Gardener, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Nikolai starts Australian life with a job in his speciality

By some fluke, Nikolai Müristaja, recruited as a Labourer to Australia from Estonia via Germany after WWII and travelling here on the General Stuart Heintzelman, was sent for his first job after arrival to employment which really suited him.

Might this have been because his first employer, recorded on his Bonegilla card as “Geo. W. Speirs of Griffiths” (sic) had thought to ask at Bonegilla if any of the new arrivals had trained as a jeweller or watchmaker?

The fluke would have been anyone know that Nikolai had this training, and advising Mr Speirs of it. (I am assuming that Nikolai's own English and knowledge of his industry in Australia was not yet up to the task of making his own enquiries.)

Nick Müristaja with friend, Griffith, NSW, 1948

Source:  Collection of Valeria Mets Blackburn

Watchmakers and Jewellers

The Estonian Pärnu Päevaleht newspaper reported, on 9 February 1935, that Nikolai Muristaja was about to receive a certificate commemorating his passing of examinations in the field of working on time-pieces.

The one known newspaper advertisement for the business opened by Nikolai in the northeast Estonian town of Kiviõli, as a watchmaker who also sold moderately priced crystal, gold and silver object, optical requirements, etc.

Source:  Rahvaleht, 30 May 1940, through DIGAR

George W Speirs, according to a notice about his will published in the Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales on 30 November 1962, was a Jeweller and Farmer in Griffith, New South Wales. Since Jewellers often are Watchmakers and repairers too, what a match with Nikolai!

In time (no, that pun was not intended), Nikolai opened up his own business as Nick Muristaja the Jeweller. This was not in competition with George's business, but because it was getting more work than he and Nick could handle in the one workshop.

Nick the Jeweller opens his second business, this time, in Griffith, NSW

Source:  Estonian Archives in Australia

The Estonian Archives in Australia, in its collection of papers relating the Nick and his wife, Nora, has an advertisement for Nick Muristaja, The Jeweller, clipped from an unknown Australian newspaper with no date. It also has a clipping from the Riverina Daily News, dated 21 October 1970 and titled, Griffith Jeweller Bows Out.

The latter reports that Nick worked for “this particular jeweller for about 15 years”, meaning that he would have started his own business in perhaps 1963. This was soon after George Speirs died, but a business in the family name still exists in Griffith. It is likely that Nick first helped the family and executors with the handover to its heir or heirs.

Selling his business in 1970 means that Nick ran it for only 7 years.

Nick the Jeweller bowing out from his Griffith shop

Source:  Daily News, Griffith, 21 October 1970 via

Estonian Archives in Australia

His plan was to retire to the coast. An  anonymous, undated summary of Nora’s life, including Nick, held by the Estonian Archives, places this on the NSW Central Coast.

Nick's Birth and Death

Having been born on 16 August 1912 (in Leisi, on Saaremaa Island) Nick was aged only 58 in October 1970 and 71 in July 1984. He died on 5 August 1989, just before his 77th birthday. Either he was temporarily unwell in 1970 but recovered in retirement, or he had made and invested enough money for his foreseeable needs and those of Nora.

In July 1984, Nick still had enough money saved to travel to North America for ESTO (the global Estonian cultural festival) held every four years, this time in Toronto, Canada. According to Vaba Eesti Sõna (Free Estonian Word), he also had stopovers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Lakewood (New Jersey, where many Estonians lived) and Long Island, New York, and would move on to Europe.

Nick Marries

Nick and Nora had married on 8 December 1951, not in Griffith where Nick was living, but in another Riverina town, Leeton. It is about 45 kilometres away from Griffith as the local birds fly, more by the local indirect roads. Why Leeton was chosen we no longer know.

The Riverina Daily News journalist, Jim Mulcair, told his readers that the couple had first met in Germany and their marriage was followed by a one-day honeymoon in another local town, Narrandera. Nora then flew to Adelaide, where she was working as a nursing aide in the Northfield Mental Hospital.

Nikolai's early life and War

Jim Mulcair summarised Nick’s early life in Estonia as training in the village of Vändra, about 45 Km northeast of the city of Pärnu, and in the capital city, Tallinn. He than opened his own shop in the northeast town of Kiviõli. This is where he was located, close to Russia, when the Soviet Union first invaded in the summer of 1940.

He told Mulcair that, “I lived an adventurous life during the War, experiencing the good and the bad. I found myself at the front line, fighting the Nazis, who captured me 3 times. I escaped from their prison camps in Germany, Russia and Czechoslovakia, the last one of which was the worst camp I have seen.”

It is interesting that Nikolai focussed on fighting the Germans, yet finished the war in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany. I suspect that he told the Australian journalist what he wanted to hear, knowing that the Germans were Australia’s enemy during the War. For Estonians and other Baltic people, the Germans were unwanted invaders but the Soviet Union, based in Russia, was even worse.

The Australian selection team’s report on the intending immigrant has him working as a watchmaker for 5 years (from that 1935 certification), followed by 7 years as a labourer, including the last 5 months labouring for a farmer in Germany. It looks everyone was too busy to get watches and clocks repaired during the War.

The selection report leaves empty the places where the team might have recorded Nikolai's date of arrival in Germany and his reason for coming.

Mulcair’s report continued, “After the War, no-one seemed to know what Nick was so he was placed in a Displaced Persons camp.” An Arolsen Archives record card for a file destroyed in 1951 reports that Nick was in “DP Shop Oldenburg”, presumably the workplace associated with his camp. His medical examination for migration to Australia was carried out in Oldenburg, confirming the separate record of being in a DP camp there. Another sheet records his address as “Assembly Centre 224”, which a Web search confirms as likely to have been in the Oldenburg area, where there were camps for Baltic people and Poles.

Photo of Nikolai Müristaja from his 1947 selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

While Nick has only two records in the Arolsen Archives, his wife-to-be, Nora Lellep, has 6. She was in DP Camp 2515, and DP Camp Sandplatz, in Oldenburg, explaining how she and Nikolai may have met in Germany. She was classified then as a Nurse. (She had been the Head Housekeeper on a farm owned by the President of Estonia, Konstantin Päts, an association which would make her, even now, prima facie a political refugee.)

More on Nora

Soon after the marriage, Nora was touring northern Tasmania in February 1952 when she was involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident. The driver of a panel van which collided with the car in which she was travelling, with a driver and 4 others but not Nikolai, died before he could be moved to a larger hospital in Launceston. The accident was front page news in the North Eastern Advertiser based in Scottsdale.

The anonymous, undated, summary of Nora’s life says that she worked as a nurse in Tasmania but says nothing about the time. She also had nursed at a mental hospital near Newcastle, at the Concord Hospital in Sydney (which we have considered in some detail already) and in Melbourne. It does not mention Adelaide.

Nick and Nora Become Australians

Nick became a naturalised Australian on 20 November 1957. Nora was naturalised in the same ceremony, but for some reason known only to officialdom, this was confirmed in a Commonwealth Government Gazette 4 months after Nick’s naturalisation was announced.

Retirement and Gardening

According to the Archives’ summary, Nora and Nick had retired to the Central Coast before moving to the Estonian Retirement Village in Thirlmere, NSW. After Nick died, on 5 August 1989, days before his 77th birthday, Nora moved into the Retirement Village’s Hostel. That is where I met with her 20 years ago.

Nora Müristaja's own photograph of her late husband, Nikolai

Source:  Müristaja collection

scanned 7 August 2006

She was in her nineties then, and thought that the man in the large framed photograph might be her brother when it was her husband. She could still remember winning gardening competitions with the garden she and Nick developed in Griffith though. Jim Mulcair reported first prizes in Griffith, Riverina and Sydney garden competitions. Nora showed me the certificate for what might have been a Sydney Morning Herald competition, but it appears not to be in the Estonian Archives collection.

Ülle Slamer, who had worked with Nora when both of them had first arrived in Australia, celebrated Nora’s 100th birthday in late 2012 in Meie Kodu. She confirmed that the first prize was in a Sydney Morning Herald competition, in 1963. Retirement to the Central Coast was a home in Gosford, where they also won a first prize for gardens in small towns.

Nora accepts a sash for winning one of the garden competitions

Source:  Estonian Archives in Australia

They also created a new garden around their unit in the Thirlmere retirement village.  When Nora moved into the hostel, she started a rock garden there.

Jim Mulcair and Ülle Slammer both mentioned Nora’s bark paintings. They were popular with purchasers in Griffith and, later, in Newcastle (a major city north of Gosford).

In 1987, “O.P.” reviewing the art exhibition at the 13th Estonian Days gathering at the end of the previous year, included both Nikolai and Nora as less well known exhibitors. We could expect someone who made his living from jewellery as well as watch repairs to have something of an artistic bent.

Nora Müristaja on her 100th birthday

Source:  Meie Kodu via DIGAR

Nora lived to be 101 years old. Her ashes now lie next those of her husband of 38 years, in a repository in the Thirlmere Cemetery.

A plaque for Nigoolas Müristaja in the Thirlmere Cemetery
(The Estonian version of Nikolai usually is spelled 'Nigulas';
'Puhka rahus' means Rest in Peace)

Source:  Ken on Find A Grave

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: I wish to thank Terry Kass, Archivist at the Estonian Archives in Australia, for copying that Archives' file on the Muristajas for this project.

FOOTNOTE:  Estonians think that the Müristaja name might have been handed to the family as a joke, given that Nikolai's meek appearance might have been inherited from his male forebears.  It means "Thunderer".

CITE THIS AS:  Tündern-Smith, Ann (2026) 'Nikolai Müristaja (1912-1989): Watchmaker, Jeweller, Gardener'

SOURCES

AEF DP Registration Record 'Muristaja, Nikolai' https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/68364350?s=muristaja&t=2740782&p=0, Reference Code 03010101 16 266, Folder DP2802, names from MURINAS to MURNIEKS, Modris (1), ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/68364350?s=muristaja&t=2740782&p=0, accessed 9 June 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) 'Certificates of Naturalization, Nikolai Muristaja’ Canberra, ACT, 8 May, p 1442, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240891976, accessed 3 June 2026.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) 'Certificates of Naturalization, Nora Muristaja’ Canberra, ACT, 4 September, p. 2870, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240881940, accessed 3 June 2026.

Geni 'Nikolai Müristaja' https://www.geni.com/people/Nikolai-M%C3%BCristaja/6000000007645412229, accessed 9 June 2026.

Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (1962) ‘RE will of GEORGE WILLIAM SPEIRS, late of Griffith' Sydney, NSW, 30 November, p 3619, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220383899, accessed 17 March 2026.

Mulcair, Jim (1970) ‘Griffith Jeweller Bows Out’ Riverina Daily News, Griffith, NSW, 21 October, p 1.

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; 206, MURISTAJA Nikolai DOB 16 August 1912, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4105816, accessed 7 June 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-1976; LELLEP NORA, MURISTAJA Nora - Nationality: Estonian - Arrived Sydney per Svalbard 29 October 1948 Also known as NEE LELLEP recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9195434, accessed 7 June 2026.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; MURISTAJA NIKOLAI, MURISTAJA, Nikolai : Year of Birth - 1912 : Nationality - ESTONIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 602, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203729837, accessed 7 June 2026.

North-Eastern Advertiser (1952) 'Serious Accident Near Derby' Scottsdale, Tas, 26 February, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149421507, accessed 17 March 2026.

“O.P” (1987) ‘XIII Eesti Päevade näitusel’ (‘At the 13th Estonian Days Exhibition’, in Estonian) Meie Kodu, Sydney, 29 April, p 4, https://dea.digar.ee/page/meiekodu/1987/04/29/4, accessed 4 June 2026.

Pärnu Päevaleht (Pärnu Daily Paper) (1935) ‘Uusi ostustöölist’ (‘New Craftspeople’, in Estonian) Parnu, Estonia, 9 February, p 3 https://dea.digar.ee/page/parnupaevaleht/1935/02/09/3, accessed 3 June 2026.

Rahvaleht (National Paper) (1940) [Advertising] Tallinn, Estonia, 30 May, p 8 https://dea.digar.ee/page/rahvalehtvabamaa/1940/05/30/8, accessed 4 June 2026.

‘Refugee/Displaced Person Statistical Card (Lellep, Nora)’ Reference Code 03010101 14 150, Folder DP2339, names from LEKES, Vavrinec to LELIONKA, Vincas (2), 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/68011981, accessed 7 June 2026.

‘Resettled file, Muristaja, Estonian’ Reference Code 03010101 16 266, Folder DP2802, names from MURINAS to MURNIEKS, Modris (1), 3.1.1.1 Postwar Card File / Postwar Card File (A-Z) / Names in "phonetical" order from MI, ITS/Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68364349, accessed 4 June 2026.

Slamer, Ülle (2013) ‘Nora Müristaja pühitses 15. detsembril 2012 oma 100 aastast sünnipäeva’ (‘Nora Müristaja celebrated her 100th birthday on 15 December 2012’, in Estonian) Meie Kodu, Sydney, NSW, 30 January, p 8 https://dea.digar.ee/article/meiekodu/2013/01/30/25.1, accessed 4 June 2026.

Vaba Eesti Sõna (Free Estonian Word) (1984) ‘Reporteri Märkmikust’ (‘From a Reporter’s Notebook’, in Estonian) New York, NY, 5 July, p 8 https://dea.digar.ee/page/vabaeestisona/1984/07/05/8, accessed 7 June 2026.

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,
Aleksander Nõmm, 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 was the initial reason why we gained 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, Aleksander Nõmm, 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.

Jonas Zaremba (1912-2006): Another who left — for New Zealand, by Rasa Ščevinksienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Leaving Australia for a Third Country

We have a good idea why others who left Australia for third countries moved on.  Viktoras Kuciauskas, for example, knew that he had met the love of his life while visiting family in the United States, and moved there to be with her.

Vytautas Stasiukynas could not find employment in his field of veterinary science, so left for Colombia, South America.  There he was employed immediately as a vet by the brother of the nation’s president.

Povilas Laurinavičius left Australia for Chicago, United States, around 1964, aged about 56, to spend the rest of his life with family there who he had been unable to sponsor to live in Australia in 1948.

Jonas Motiejūnas had been able to work as an engineer in Australia but perhaps had better prospects when he moved with his wife and young family to the United States in 1959.

Vladas Navickas seemed unable to settle down in any one place until he found San Francisco in 1959.

Veronika Tutins left in 1960 with her husband, Eduards Brokans, who had a younger, much better educated brother who probably was doing better in Pennsylvania than these two were in Australia.

We do not know why Jonas Zaremba left for New Zealand in in the early 1950s. We can see that he settled in well there.

Jonas Zaremba in 1950-51, when corresponding with the NSW Branch 
of the Department of Immigration

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Jonas' life in New Zealand

New Zealand already had a Lithuanian Society, founded in 1949, but reorganised into the Lithuanian Community of New Zealand in March 1951.  From 1950 to 1958, the newspaper Naujosios Zelandijos Lietuvis (The New Zealand Lithuanian) was published, and from 1952 to 1960, a Lithuanian Sunday school was in operation.

In 1956 Jonas Zaremba was elected to the board of the New Zealand Lithuanian Community.

Later that decade, he moved from Wellington to Auckland, where he married a New Zealander named Loris Ailene Grinter.  They had no children, and his wife passed away on 11 July 1997, aged 80.

As long as his health allowed, he lived alone in his home.  He died on 30 April 2006, aged 94, at the Mercy Parklands Hospital and was buried next to his wife in the Waikaraka Park Cemetery in Auckland.

Jonas Zaremba had been an active member of the Lithuanian community and a devoted Catholic.

The Zaremba's gravestone in the Waikaraka Cemetery
in Ōnehunga, Auckland, New Zealand

Source:  Patricia Hargreaves for Find A Grave

Jonas' life in Lithuania

He was born on the first day of 1912, in the village of Baskai, near Giedraičiai, in the Moletai district of Lithuania.  His parents were Petras Zaremba and the former Ona Šimenaitė.  They had been married in the Giedraičiai church on 30 August 1909, and already had one child, Petras, when Jonas was born.

Jonas’ father owned a farm, probably explaining why he was exiled to Igarka in the Krasnoyarsk territory of Siberia on 22 May 1948.  He died in exile in 1953. World War II and its aftermath broke up the Zaremba family.

Jonas attended school in Švenčionėliai.  He volunteered for the Lithuanian Army in 1933, so at the age of 21.  Although his father had a farm, Jonas did not want to be a farmer.  He had a passion for horses though, so was assigned to a cavalry regiment.  He participated in recruit training and won prizes in equestrian competitions.

He served with General Plechavičius.* Due to the to and fro of World War II, he ended up serving in the armies of four different nations.

Jonas in Germany

The Arolsen Archive has not digitised any records of Jonas Zaremba yet.  We meet him in Germany first in the Australian selection team’s interview record from September 1947 in the Buchholz DP camp.  At this time he was living in a DP camp in Gross Hesepe, with the Geeste municipality in Lower Saxony.  Geeste is less than 5 kilometres from the border with the Netherlands, so Jonas has gotten almost as far west, away from the Soviets, as it was possible to be in Germany.

The interview record noted that he had arrived in Germany in May 1944, having been “deported by the Germans”.  The May date was months earlier than the September-October dates of people who had fled Lithuania when they heard that the Soviet forces were returning.  He possibly travelled in retreat with the Germany Army units into which his Lithuanian Army unit had been absorbed.

More about life in Lithuania

He had attended Lithuanian schools not only for the basic 4 years of primary education, but also for another 4 years of secondary education.  The selection panel noted that he spoke Lithuanian, Russian, Polish and ‘fair’ German.

Despite his disinclination to be a farmer, he admitted to 10 years’ experience as a farm worker in Lithuania.  He may have been acknowledging assistance with the family farm before he joined the Lithuanian Army.

His experience in training horses was noted, no doubt with interest.

He had not been working for the previous 2 years, presumably since World War II ceased wherever he was then in Germany.

Jonas Zaremba in 1947

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Jonas' work in Australia

After arrival in Australia and time in the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre in northeast Victoria, probably attending English classes and practising this new language with his fellow refugees, he was sent to his first job.

Like one-quarter of the men on the First Transport, the General Stuart Heintzelman, he was sent to pick fruit. His first Australian employer was Messrs Dundas Simson of Ardmona.

He put up with this outdoor labour for 3 weeks, returning to the Bonegilla camp on 22 March. As he was already 35 years old, more than 10 years older than the average age of the group, this first work in over 2 years may well have been more than his body liked.

One week later, on 29 March, he was sent to Tasmania. At this stage, we do not know what manual labour was expected of him there. All we can say is that he was not working at Railton’s Goliath Portland Cement factory, he was not logging timber from Maydena, cutting tracks through the bush for the EZ Company near Rosebery nor shovelling coal for the Electrona Carbide works.

Whatever he was doing in Tasmania, he put up with it for 9 months, then decided it was time to ask to do something else. He arrived back at Bonegilla on 4 January 1949, stayed another 5 weeks, then found himself travelling to Sydney on 14 February. The third employer was the Metropolitan Water Sewage and Drainage Board.

Why did Jonas leave Australia?

It is highly likely that the third job involved digging ditches. No wonder he wanted to leave for New Zealand, especially if he heard from Lithuanians there already about less arduous work. Another possible attraction was that New Zealand was about as far in the world as one could get away from the Soviet Union, even further away than Australia.

As he undoubtedly stayed loyal to his commanders in the Lithuanian Army during the turmoil of World War II, perhaps 10 months of his service had been under Soviet command. This might well explain his trek to the far west of Germany at the end of the War, as well as his move to New Zealand.

FOOTNOTE *General Plechavičius' role in the lives of some First Transporters, Henrikas Juodvalkis, Juozas Nakas, Elena Kalvyte's husband Jonas Augutis, and Stasys Šeduikis, has been mentioned already.  Wikipedia has his English-language biography.   

CITE THIS AS Ščevinksienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2026) 'Jonas Zaremba (1912-2006):  Another who left — for New Zealand' 

SOURCES

Bonegilla Migrant Experience, Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup ‘Jonas Zaremba’ https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203912105, accessed 17 February 2026.

Find A Grave ‘Jonas Zaremba’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166231013/jonas-zaremba, accessed 17 February 2026.

Lithuanian State Historical Archives ‘Giedraičių RKB gimimo metrikų knyga, 1908-1913’ (‘Giedraiciu Roman Catholic Church birth registry book, 1908-1913’, in Lithuanian) p 140, record 9 https://www.epaveldas.lt/preview?id=1450/1/20, accessed 17 February 2026.

Lithuanian State Historical Archives ‘Giedraičių RKB santuokos metrikų knyga, 1900-1918’ (‘Giedraičiai Roman Catholic Church Marriage Registry Book, 1900-1918’, in Lithuanian) page 127, record 27 https://www.epaveldas.lt/preview?id=1450/1/30, accessed 17 February 2026.

Lietuvos Nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo Biblioteka, Visuotine Lietuvių Enciklopedija (Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia) ‘Naujósios Zelándijos lietùviai‘ (‘Lithuanians in New Zealand’, in Lithuanian) https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/naujosios-zelandijos-lietuviai/, accessed 17 February 2026.

Memorial Krasnoyarsk ‘Список депортированных из Литвы в Красноярский край (по данным Центра исследования геноцида и резистенции жителей Литвы)’ ('List of deportees from Lithuania to the Krasnoyarsk Territory (According to the Center for the Study of Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanians)', in Russian and Lithuanian) https://memorial.krsk.ru/DOKUMENT/People/_Lists/Litva/Z.htm, accessed 17 February 2026.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1956) ‘Lietuviai pasaulyje’ (Lithuanians in the World, in Lithuanian) Sydney, NSW, 25 April, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259366103, accessed 17 February 2026.

My Heritage ‘Discover People Named Rita Grinter’ https://www.myheritage.com/names/rita_grinter, accessed 17 February 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; 339, ZAREMBA Jonas DOB 1 January 1912, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5118044, accessed 18 February 2026.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, New South Wales Branch; SP244/2,  Correspondence of the Chief Migration Officer relating to restricted [general] migration [class 2], 1950-1950; N1950/2/15078, Jonas Zaremba [photograph attached] [Box 153], 1951-1951 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7299113, accessed 18 February 2026.

National Archives of Australia:  Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; ZAREMBA JONAS, AREMBA, Jonas : Year of Birth - 1912 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN.HEINTZELMAN : Number - 735, 1947-1949, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203912105,  accessed 18 February 2026.

Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania, Electronic Archive Information System ‘Giedraičių RKB lietuvių ir lenkų tautybių parapijiečių sąrašas’ (‘List of Lithuanian and Polish parishioners of Giedraičiai Roman Catholic Church’, in Lithuanian) p 13 https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267685000/268145021/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=13, accessed 17 February 2026.

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