Bronius Šaparas (1909-1970), Airman Grounded, by Rasa Ščevinskienė with Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 29 October 2025.

Bronius Šaparas was a pilot in independent Lithuania between the World Wars, a senior non-commissioned Air Force officer who trained also as a radio telegraphy operator.  He was sufficiently important to have his later civilian work noted also.

An example is these paragraphs from ‘Lėktuvai Percival Q6’ (‘Percival Q6 Aeroplanes’) by Saulius Štulas and Jonas Monkevičius, translated from Lithuanian by Rasa.

Civil aviation, Lithuania

“When purchasing the planes, it was planned to connect Kaunas and Klaipėda, adding Palanga during the summer season, but in the spring of 1939, when the Germans occupied the Klaipėda region, only Palanga remained.

Wikipedia articles say that 2 of the 27 Percival Petrel Q6s ever built were sold to 
Lithuanian Air Lines, which operated during 1938-40, one plane named Stepas Darius
and the other, Stays Girėnas, both here
with possibly the terminal of the Air Lines' Kaunas hub behind them

Source:  Lietuvos Aviacijos Istoria 1919-1940 m.

“A small station with two rooms was built at the Palanga airfield — for radio equipment and for the crews to spend the night.  A radio operator, V. Jackūnas, was assigned to service the station, who maintained contact with the flying plane and sold tickets to those returning to Kaunas.  The price of a one-way ticket was 38 litas - similar to the price of a second-class train ticket.  The plane took off from Kaunas at about 3-4 pm, and flew back to Kaunas at 8 am the next day.

“Over the three months of the 1939 flying season, planes on the Kaunas-Palanga-Kaunas route made 218 flights, flew 48,200 km, transported 784 passengers, 3,546 kg of luggage, and 3,476 kg of mail.  After the season ended in Palanga, the Air Traffic Inspectorate agreed with Latvia to start communication between Kaunas and Riga.  In Riga, radio operator Šaparas, who spoke Latvian, was appointed to receive planes and handle other matters.  Planes flew to Riga daily, carrying passengers, if any, and mail.”

S (Simas) Mockūnas wrote separately in his memoir (again translated by Rasa) that, “... In Riga, a radio operator named Šaparas, who spoke Latvian, was assigned to receive our planes and handle other matters.  We flew every day, transporting passengers and mail if we found any ...”

One of the Percival Q6s went to Australia, sold to the Civil Aviation Board in May 1938

Source:  Airways Museum

Bronius' youth

An obituarist has written that Bronius was born on 26 January 1909, in Riga, where his parents lived at the time.  However, anywhere that Bronius himself nominated his birthplace, he gave it as the Lithuanian town of Skapiškis, in Rokiškis county.

It could be that the family moved to Riga in his infancy, given that both were part of Tsarist Russia at the time.  The obituarist advised that the family fled the chaos of World War I from Riga to St Petersburg, where Bronius finished elementary school. After the War had passed, they settled in or returned to Skapiškis, where Bronius continued his education until he was drafted into the Lithuanian Army.

Bronius dreamed not only of flying around the world, but also into space.  The dream came partly true, as he reached the rank of pilot non-commissioned officer while in the Army.  After completing his military service, he joined civil aviation and also studied Social and Political Science at the Vytautas the Great University, Kaunas.

Young adult Bronius

Bronius married Genovaitė Kazlauskaitė on 10 October 1936 in the church in Kudirkos Naumiestis.  He was still a non-commissioned pilot in the Air Force, living in Kaunas. His mother, maiden name Ona Vaiciekauskaitė, had died while his father, Antanas Šaparas, had moved to Brazil.  He was already 27 years old, but his bride was only 16.  Their daughter, Jūratė Regina, born on 27 October 1937 in Kaunas.

The next public record is from a 1942 census and shows Bronius Šaparas living with his wife Genovaitė and daughter Jūratė Regina on Vytautas Street in Prienai, a rural municipality just south of Kaunas.  The census shows that Bronius had finished high school and now worked as a supplier at the Sudavija brewery.

In the later 1944 summer, as the battle front moved past Prienai, the Sudavija brewery was blown up during a German air raid.  It would have been time for this family to retreat westwards, to Germany.

Bronius in Germany

An Arolsen Archives digitised record shows that the date they left was 10 August 1944. The document also shows that they had lived in Kaunas until the end of 1940, before moving to Prienai. In Germany, they lived in the Dillingen Displaced Persons camp. Of the two towns called Dillingen in Germany, it is more likely that they were in Dillingen an der Donau, or somewhere in the surrounding Dillingen district in Bavaria, in the far south of Germany.

Another Arolsen Archives document describes Bronius as a radio-telegraphist, who knew the Lithuanian, German, Russian and Polish languages. Given that apparently he lived in Riga until he was 5 or older and worked there as an adult, we think that someone forgot to include the Latvian language, which S Mockūnas said that Bronius spoke.

By October 1947, Bronius was being interviewed for possible resettlement in Australia. He made the grade and was one of 439 Lithuanians boarded onto the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman. This ship left Bremerhaven for Fremantle, Western Australia, on 30 October 1947.

Bronius Saparas from his Bonegilla card

Source:  Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup

On the passenger list, under marital status, it looks like an S and a D have been overtyped against Bronius’ name. That is to say, it was assumed he was single, like nearly all the passengers, until someone pointed out that in fact he was divorced. The divorce is confirmed by the marriage of Genovaitė Sapariene to Vytautas Musinskas, on 14 August 1948, again recorded on a document digitised by the Arolsen Archives. Genovaitė and her daughter, Jūratė Regina, later emigrated to the USA. There Jūratė Regina married a Mr Bagdonas.

Bronius starts life in Australia

Like one-quarter of the Heintzelman men, Bronius’ first job in Australia was picking fruit. In his case, he worked for VR McNab of Ardmona for two months, returning to the Bonegilla Centre on 1 April 1948. Within the week, he was one of a group of 4 men sent to provide labour to the Concord Hospital in Sydney. At that time it was known as the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, and operated by the Australian Government’s Repatriation Department, which is to say that it was for military service personnel who were injured or sick.

Bronius marries again

In 1949, Bronius Šaparas and Sofija Butkeviciutė were married by priest Petras Butkus. There was a separate marriage at the Registry on 14 January, a Friday.

Sofija had also been born in 1909, some eight months after her husband. The Lithuanian spelling of her first name is Zofija, but she must have changed the initial letter in Australia to make it easier for those in her workplace, for a start.

A Mūsų Pastogė obituarist was to write some 52 years after the marriage that she was a “Lithuanian woman of very strong character”. The Tėviškės aidai obituarist said, when her husband died, that she was a “a hardworking and healthy-minded woman”. She gave her occupation as dressmaker. In Lithuania, her last job was in a grocery shop. She had arrived in Australia on the Second Transport, the USAT General MB Stewart, on 12 February 1948.

Zofija Butkeviciute, in early 1948, from her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

When Sofija sponsored a cousin who also was a refugee in Germany, in May 1948, she had given her occupation as domestic staff member at the Concord Hospital. They both gave their usual place of residence on the marriage certificate as the Repatriation Hospital, Concord, although their paths may have crossed already at the Bonegilla camp before Bronius went fruit-picking. Their daughter Karmen (or Carmen to the Aussies) was born in February 1950.

Bronius in the community

Lithuanians living in the western Sydney suburb of Wentworthville and its surrounds met to establish a new Eldership of the Australian Lithuanian Community 23 August 1953. The meeting was chaired by J. Gardis and its secretary was Bronius. After brief discussions it was decided to temporarily establish the Eldership, and the following year to transform it into a District. Bronius and J. Gardis were elected as the 2 deputy Elders at this meeting.

Bronius’ next milestone was naturalisation, alongside Sofija, on 10 June 1958.

The house in which the Šaparas family was living at the time Bronius and Sofija applied for naturalisation:  49 Ringrose Avenue, in a suburb then called Wentworth, now Greystanes

Source:  Google Street View

Bronius and Sofija make a living

Like Juozas Šuopys, the Šarapas family got into Sydney real estate. Unlike Juozas Šuopys, the Šarapas family turned at least one large residence into a boarding house, where food as well as lodgings were available for singles. Boarding houses were used by couples too, until they had saved enough for a deposit on their own home.

Both Bronius and Sofija renovated the houses that they bought, before Sofija organised the residents’ meals and anything else with which she could help, including the laundry.

Bronius' ill-health

It was in October 1968 that Bronius experienced his second heart attack. He was admitted to hospital for surgery. Pulmonary thrombosis – blood clots on the lungs – were identified also. Around the same time, Sofija received serious head and arm injuries in a traffic accident.

After she began to recover, she tripped in the yard of one of the houses, fell and broke her other arm. Their daughter was at home, probably because it was summer school holidays in Australia, so she nursed both the parents. The family was able to continue to look after their tenants fully despite these accidents.

One year later, in October 1969, Bronius was reported to be in hospital again but in improving health.

Bronius dies

His heart gave out finally on 2 May 1970, during another hospital visit. This was at the time when Karmen was in her last year of secondary education in a Catholic girls' high school and preparing for her final exams.

On May 5, Father Petras Butkus, the priest who had married Bronius and Sofija, assisted by priest Martūzas, conducted Bronius' funeral service at the Lidcombe Catholic Church. Father Petras’ sermon for the large crowd gathered described Bronius’ life and his value to the Lithuanian community and to the church.

Bronius' photo from his Tėviškės Aidai obituary

Source:  Tėviškės Aidai

The coffin was escorted to Rookwood Cemetery. After prayers, Stasys Pačėsa delivered a farewell speech on behalf of the local Ramovė ex-servicemen’s group, while Major Garolis’ farewell came from all Lithuanian pilots.

Sofija dies

Thirty-one years later, in November 2001, Sofija joined her husband in the same Rookwood plot. Sofija was from Samogitia, which is Žemaitija to Lithuanians. Writing about the 3 Smilgevičius First Transport refugees from Samogitia, Daina Pocius told us that a Žemaitis trait is stubbornness: they never give up when in trouble and stubbornly pursue a goal. That sounds like Sofija’s focus on running her boarding house or houses.

Sofija Šaparienė in later life

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Indeed, writing (in Lithuanian) in Mūsų Pastogė in 1976, Vladas Miniotas said, “It is not for nothing that Samogitians were revered in Lithuania for their stubbornness, diversity of opinions and hospitality. Such Samogitians have remained in exile even today. And as an example, I can present Mrs. Sofija Šaparienė, who lives in Sydney.

“Poor Zosiu [familiar version of Zofija] did not give up [after the death of Bronius], even though with tearful eyes she was trying to finalise her business interests and move on to rest, creating … a more comfortable nest for a single life. Which she managed to do, buying beautiful houses in the Burwood area, near the railway station and right next to the shops.”

Vladas was writing after Sofija had hosted what he called "a feast” for her friends and new neighbours after her successful downsizing. During this occasion, all stood for a minute of silence in memory of Bronius.

Either Vladas or the newspaper headed his report “Žemaitė Nepražus”, meaning in English, “A/The Samogitian woman will not die”, an apt tribute to Sofija. Rasa adds that the Samogitian stereotype includes calm, reservation, yet stubbornness and “a determined person who stands by their word”.

Their headstones

In her obituary, Sofija was described as a comedian who enjoyed fishing. The Lithuanian text on Sofija’s headstone means in English, “Where the land is green and the cuckoo alights, there is my dear native Lithuania” and she is honoured by her daughter and granddaughter.

Wife and daughter were able to honour Bronius on his headstone, where the text means, “You flew over your native land, but a foreign land shelters you for eternal rest”.

The Saparas headstones in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

Source:  Milly McCarthy on Find A Grave

CITE THIS AS Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann  (2025) 'Bronius Šaparas (1909-1970), Airman Grounded' https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/bronius-saparas-1909-1970-airman-grounded.html.html

SOURCES

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Bronius Saparas’, in Folder DP3545, names from SHAPAR, FEDOR to SAPINZAN, Adolf (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 68944276, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68944276, accessed 2 October.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Jurate Saparas’, in Folder DP3545, names from SHAPAR, FEDOR to SAPINZAN, Adolf (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 68944249, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/68944249, accessed 2 October.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Zofija Butkevičienė, in Folder DP0583, names from BUTITTA, Francesco to BUTKO, Wiktor (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 66746793, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/66746793, accessed 2 October.

AVK (2001) ‘A†A Sofija Šaparienė’ (‘In Memoriam, Sofija Saparas’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), 26 November, p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2001/2001-11-26-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 1 October.

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Bronius Sarapas’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203706449, accessed 29 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1958) ‘Certificates of Naturalisation, Canberra, 16 October, p 3476 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240882506/25978042, accessed 28 September 2025.

Find A Grave, ‘Bronius Saparas’, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150623528/bronius-saparas, accessed 29 September 2025.

Metrikai.lt, ‘Bronius Šaparas’ [Naumiestis (d. Kudirkos Naumiestis) RKB 1936, įrašas 48, (Naumiestis (now Kudirkos Naumiestis) Roman Catholic Church 1936, Record No 48] https://www.metrikai.lt/index.php?title=Bronius+%C5%A0aparas&F6=Naumies%C4%8Dio+%28d.+Kudirkos+Naumies%C4%8Dio%29+RKB, accessed 28 September 2025.

Miniotas, V (Vladas) (1970) ‘AA Bronius Šaparas’ (‘In Memorium Bronius Šaparas’) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 16 June (No 22), p 3 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1970/1970-nr22-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

Miniotas, V (Vladas) (1976) ‘Sydnejus, Žemaitė Nepražus‘ ('Sydney, A Samogitian Woman Will Not Die‘) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 9 October (No 40), p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1976/1976-nr40-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 1 October 2025

Mockūnas, S. (1971) ‘S. Mockūno prisiminimai, Iš transporto piloto prisiminimų’ (‘Memories of S. Mockūnas, Memories of a Transport Pilot’, in Lithuanian) in Lietuvos Aviacijos Istorija 1919 - 1940 m (Lithuanian Aviation History 1919 – 1940, in Lithuanian) https://www.plienosp Iš transporto piloto prisiminimų arnai.lt/page.php?306, accessed 28 September 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, 1947-1947; 673, SAPARAS Bronius DOB 26 January 1909, 1947-1947.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Western Australia Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series, 1926-1952; 82, GENERAL HEINTZELMAN - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers, 1947-1952 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196, accessed 3 October 2025. 

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; BUTKEVICIUTE ZOFIJA, BUTKEVICIUTE, Zofija : Year of Birth - 1908 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GENERAL M.B. STEWART : Number - W 1854, 1948-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203671693, accessed 29 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; SAPARAS BRONIUS, SAPARAS, Bronius : Year of Birth - 1909 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 1047 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203706449, accessed 3 October 2025.

'Personal file of MUSINSKAS, VYTAUTAS, born on 10-Jul-1920, born in PADIVITIS and of further persons', 3.2.1 IRO “Care and Maintenance” Program, DocID: 79509673, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/79509673, accessed 2 October 2025.

'Personal file of SAPARAS, BRONIUS and of further persons’, 3.2.1 IRO “Care and Maintenance” Program, DocID: 79692768, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/79692767, accessed 1 October 2025.

'Personal file of SAPARAITE, REGINA, born on 27-Oct-1937', 3.2.1 IRO “Care and Maintenance” Program, DocID: 79692760, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/79692760, accessed 2 October 2025.

Šeimos Surašymas 1942 Metais (Family Census 1942) ‘Šaparas Bronius’ https://eu3.ragic.com/genealogija/census/3/55560.xhtml, accessed 30 September 2025

SP (1970) ‘Ramovėno Kapas’ (‘An Ex-Serviceman’s Grave’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 15 June 1970 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1970/1970-06-15-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 1 October 2025.

Štulas, Saulius and Monkevičius, Jonas "Lėktuvai Percival Q6" (‘Percival Q6 Aeroplanes’) in Lietuvos Aviacijos Istorija 1919 - 1940 m (Lithuanian Aviation History 1919 – 1940) https://www.plienosparnai.lt/page.php?82, accessed 28 September 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1968) ‘Sydnėjaus Kronika’ (‘Sydney Chronicle, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 29 October, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1968/1968-nr43-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1969a) ‘Sydnėjaus Kronika’ (‘Sydney Chronicle, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 21 January (No 3), p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1969/1969-nr03-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1969b) ‘Sydnėjaus Kronika’ (‘Sydney Chronicle, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 21 October (No 41), p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1969/1969-nr41-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 2 October 2025.

V (1953) ‘Nauja Seniūnija’ (‘New Eldership’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 2 September, p 4 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1953/1953-09-02-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 29 September 2025.

Vilčinskas, Romas (2022) ‘Pramoninės aludarystės Prienų krašte pėdsakais’ (‘In the footsteps of industrial brewing in the Prienai region’, in Lithuanian) Naujasis Gėlupis, 28 June, https://naujasisgelupis.lt/pramonines-aludarystes-prienu-kraste-pedsakais/, accessed 29 September 2025

Wikipedia, ‘Concord Repatriation General Hospital’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Repatriation_General_Hospital, accessed 28 September 2025

Wikipedia, ‘Dillingen an der Donau’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillingen_an_der_Donau, accessed 28 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Percival Petrel’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Petrel, accessed 28 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Repatriation Department’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repatriation_Department, accessed 28 September 2025.

Rapolas Braškus (1921-1960), an early death, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 25 January 2026.

Kidney Disease

Rapolas Braskus was one of the First Transport refugees who died early, in his case from kidney disease rather than an accident. He was only 38 when he died, although wrongly described as 39 on his Rookwood gravestone, which also has misnamed him, but which at least has the correct date of death.

Nowadays, someone like him would be a priority candidate for a kidney transplant and would live a much longer life after his illness was cured. Another Lithuanian from the First Transport who died less than one month earlier than him from kidney disease was Borisas Dainutis, the founder of Lithuanian scouting in Australia. Kidney transplantation in Australia was only in its infancy when these two men were lost.

Rapolas Braškus, photograph from Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

First employment in Australia

Rapolas was chosen at the Bonegilla camp by the Commonwealth Employment Service to be sent to the Styx River Sawmill operated by Ebor Sawmills Pty Ltd. Even the name of the River should have been a warning. A separate blog entry will look at the company and its sawmills in more detail.

Donation

In late 1952, perhaps at Christmas, or early 1953, Rapolas donated 6 shillings to the Australian Lithuanian Community Fund, as acknowledged by Mūsų Pastogė on 14 January 1953. Converted to modern decimal currency, 60 cents does not buy much anymore, but it was likely to have been more than 5 per cent of Rapolas’ weekly income in 1952-53.

Citizenship

At the time he was granted Australian citizenship in 1959, Rapolas, then finding it easier to be known by Australians as Ray, was living in Sydney. He gave his address as 129 Stanmore Street in Strathfield. That exact address does not exist any more, but his home may have been the 1880s two-storey terrace house at 129 Stanmore Road, Stanmore.

Family

He had been born in the village of Gailiušiai, near the city of Molėtai, on 5 September 1921, to Juozapas Braškus and Zofija née Paulavičiūtė. He died on 22 April 1960, as per his headstone photographed below.

His parents now are buried together in the Molėtai old cemetery. If their headstone is accurate (unlike their son’s in Rookwood), they had a daughter also – Antanina.

Rapolas has the wrong first name on this headstone in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery,
and has been granted an extra year of life, but at least the headstone had the correct date of death

Source:  Find A Grave by Family Tree Finder

Burial

Rapolas was buried in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery at the expense of the Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society. He had arranged to leave the entirety of his probably small estate to this organisation, having no relatives in what was then known as the Free World.

His funeral was attended by the women who had cared for him in his last illness, from Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society, other compatriots and former colleagues from the Braeside Hospital, Stanmore, and Newcastle Hospital. The service was conducted by Sydney’s Lithuanian priest, Father Petras Butkus.

CITE THIS AS: Ščevinskienė, Rasa and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/09/rapolas-braskus-1921-1960-early-death.html

SOURCES

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup ‘Rapolas Braskus’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203683762, accessed 27 September 2025.

Cemety, ‘Zofija Braškienė’ https://cemety.lt/public/deceaseds/391194?type=deceased, accessed 27 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 18 June, p 2150 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240999254, accessed 27 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Molėtų RKB gimimo metrikų knyga‘ (‘Molėtai Roman Catholic Church birth registry book, in Lithuanian ) (1921, 152, pages 466, 467, record 152, Rapolas Braškus) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext/view/267697864, accessed 27 September 2025.

Find a Grave, ‘Raymond S Braskus’, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148907306/raymond-s-braskus, accessed 27 September 2025.

Musu Pastoge (Our Haven) (1953) ‘Tautos fondo atstovybės pranešimas’ (‘Announcement from the National Foundation Representative Office’, in Lithuanian) Sydney,14 January, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259359667, accessed 27 September 2025.

Musu Pastoge (Our Haven) (1960) ‘Apleido Pačioje Jaunystėje (Abandoned in his Own Youth, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 29 April, p 6 http://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1960/1960-04-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 27 September 2025.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1960)‘Mirė Rapolas Braškus‘ (‘Rapolas Braškus Died’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 11 May, p 6 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1960/1960-05-11-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 27 September 2025. Borisas Dainutis

Albinas Kutka (1908-1992), Master Builder and Benefactor, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Updated 4 October 2025.

Most of the Displaced Persons from the First Transport sent to South Australia to work stayed there, even after their obligation to work where directed finished on 30 September 1949. Albinas Kutka was different: he moved to Sydney. From the suburb of Canterbury he moved to Bankstown, a suburb with its own airport for light aviation. Undeterred by the noise, he moved even closer to Bankstown Airport, in Condell Park.

Albinas was able to get recognition from the authorities as a master builder. Together with fellow Lithuanian, Vytautas Mickevičius, he was responsible for the construction of a Lithuanian retirement village in the far south of Sydney, Engadine. Rather than being adjacent to an airport, this location is adjacent to Royal National Park, Australia’s first, and only the second in the world after Yellowstone in the USA.

In old age, Albinas sold the Condell Park home and moved into one of his own buildings in the Lithuanian retirement home in Engadine.

Albinas' youth

He had been born on 9 April 1908 in the village of Lukniai, near Vyzuonos in the Utena district. He was one of 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls, born to farmers Kazimieras Kutka and Agota Kutkienė, whose maiden name was Macionytė.

Albinas lived all of his youth on the family farm until called away for military service at the age of 21. He earned the rank of junior sergeant. Eight years later, in 1937, he again was drafted into the army to refresh his training. He continued to work on the farm until the beginning of World War II. When the Soviet entered Lithuania for the second time, in 1944, he retreated to Germany.

Albinas Kutka's ID photo on his Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Albinas in Germany

The Arolsen Archives hold 4 documents naming Albinas, 3 of which understate his age by exactly 10 years. What can be gleaned from them is that he was in Munich between 13 August 1945 and 6 February 1946, during which his occupation was Waldarbeiter, forest worker or woodcutter or, in American, lumberjack. He also lived for a while in a town called Vilsbiburg, which is just under 90 Km northeast of Munich, and Stade, a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany, at the opposite end of his country of refuge.

His American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Displaced Person’s registration record was filled out on 23 August 1945, but the place where it was completed is blank (unless P.A.P.Cl. 124 still can be decoded*). Another date on this form is of interest though, because its month and year suggest that 10 August 1944 was the date that he reached Germany, that is, almost one year before he was recorded in Munich. Given that its Arolsen Archives’ DeepLink number is just one more than the form which states that he is in Stade, this city may well be where he was registered as a Displaced Person.

The AEF recorded his preferred occupation not as farmer, like his father, but Tischler, German for carpenter.  Possibly he had done a lot of building on his parents' farm.

It is possible that he moved from Stade to the Munich district to get as far away as possible from the Soviet occupiers of eastern Germany and his homeland. He reported for interview by the first Australian migration selection team at the Buchholtz DP camp, though, in the centre of western Germany. 

He impressed the team enough to be included in the First Transport, departing Bremerhaven on 30 October 1947.  At 39 years, he was one of the older passengers.

Albinas and the Sawmill

Albinas’ first job in Australia was in Backhouse, Roebuck Pty. Ltd., The Bonegilla card records this company as being located in a placed called Megan, which sounds more like a girl’s name than a place name to a modern Australian. It really does exist, though, as a community hall and the remains of a railway station, inland of Coff’s Harbour in New South Wales.

The nearest town to Megan is Dorrigo, the headquarters of Backhouse, Roebuck according to a search of digitised newspapers on the National Library of Australia’s Trove Website. The company owned sawmills. 

Albinas left the Bonegilla camp for one of them in 21 January 1948, in a group of 7 men. He was back at the Bonegilla migrant centre on 11March 1948 together with another Lithuanian member of the group, Juozas Bazys, and a Latvian member of the group who was 16-20 years younger than the Lithuanians, Nikolaus Kucina.

Assuming that it took at least a couple of days to travel from Bonegilla by bus or car to Albury, then by train to Sydney, then to Megan if the station was operative in 1948, Albinas, Juozas and Nikolaus had put up with the conditions offered by Backhouse, Roebuck for less than 7 weeks. It was not the type of working with wood that Albinas preferred.

Albinas to Iron Knob

All 3 were sent off to Iron Knob, in South Australia, on 16 March, together with a fourth man who also had given up a career as a sawmill hand. The fourth man was a Latvian, Peteris Mesters, who had been sent to Northern Timbers, Pty Ltd, of Johnson’s Creek, New South Wales. Not surprisingly, Google Maps now can find 10 localities of this name in NSW, only 2 of which are in Sydney. Two certainly are northern, being on the border with Queensland.

Just before WWII, Iron Knob had been described as the largest known deposit of high-grade iron ore in the world. Broken Hill Pty Ltd – but now simply BHP – had commenced mining in the area in 1900.

The group of Lithuanians working at Iron Knob understood the importance of having a newspaper in their own language. They organised a collection to support the creation of Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian). The newspaper thanked them as its first sponsors on 12 September 1948. Albinas had donated ₤1 of the total of £8/5/- given by 10 Lithuanians.

Working together surely brought the Lithuanians there closer together. Even after they left Iron Knob, they kept in touch. For instance, 3 of them advertised on 23 May 1949 in the newspaper Australijos lietuvis that their friend Jonas Puslys, together with Olga Vainoryte, had created a Lithuanian family, so they congratulated them and wish them a sunny life. The three were Rasa’s grandfather, Adomas, and Albinas Kutka as well as Petras Juodka. By May 1949 they were not no longer working together, because Adomas for one was living already in Adelaide.

Jonas Puslys had not gone with the others to Iron Knob though. He started his working like in Australia as a fruit-picker, then had been sent to Australian Newsprint Mills’ Boyer plant in Tasmania. It looks like the connection between these four is earlier than work in Australia. None of them were in the Scouts, so perhaps it goes back to the same camp in Germany or the same locality in Lithuania.

It also looks like these men, along with Povilas Laurinavičius, had discovered the Australian postal system, and it was working for them. Actually, buying stamps and posting letters was sure to have been one of the “Australian way of life” topics covered in the Bonegilla camp English language classes.

Albinas to Adelaide

An Alien Registration record card for Albinas shows that he was released from his contract to work as directed in Australia on 30 September 1949, along with most of the others who came on the First Transport. His next place of employment was the Pier Hotel in Glenelg, suburban Adelaide, alongside Povilas Laurinavičius. Then it was off to 3 Robert Street, Canterbury, New South Wales, an address reported to the Department of Immigration on 27 June 1951.

Albinas to Sydney

Why did Albinas not stay in Adelaide like most of the others sent to South Australia to work out their contract? Another Kutka, Antanas, came to Australia from Germany on the Protea, arriving on 30 September 1948. He was sent to Sydney’s Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board to work. From the information available to us, we cannot tell if they were related but, since both were born in the Utena district, we cannot dismiss this possibility either.

If they were related and communicating with each other, then perhaps from Antanas' description of life in Sydney, Albinas thought he would do better there than in Adelaide.

We know already that he moved from the initial Canterbury address to Bankstown, a suburb with its own airport for light aviation. Undeterred by the noise, he moved to a home even closer to Bankstown Airport, in Condell Park.

On 3 December 1953, the Mūsų pastogė (Our Haven) newspaper reported that Albinas was in his second year of successful house construction in Bankstown. The reporter added (in Lithuanian, of course) “His example shows what can be achieved with determination and initiative.”

Ten months later, in October 1954, he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Mūsų pastogė wrote (in Lithuanian) “His face was injured, his head was cut open, and his bicycle was smashed. After spending several days in the hospital, Alb. Kutka returned home.”

Albinas acquired Australian citizenship on 22 June 1967. His address at the time, 47 Cragg Street, Condell Park, shows that he now owned his own home, probably built or updated with his own hands.

Sydney's Lithuanian Retirement Village

Ona Baužienė started campaigning for land on which to build a Lithuanian retirement village when she became the chairwoman of the Sydney Lithuanian Women’s Social Services Association in 1967. We have just met through her recollections 30 years later of meeting the First Transport Lithuanians in the Bonegilla camp.

Her committee started an intensive program of fundraising through catering for community events, raffles and the like. In 1970, the Association was granted land at Engadine on a permanent basis on condition that it be solely used for housing the elderly.

Work on the first two buildings started in 1975 after signing a contract with the builders Albinas Kutka and Vytautas Mickevičius.  A community centre finished in 1978 was financed entirely by the Association’s fundraising plus donations. It included a kitchen, dining room and library.  The remaining 17 residential buildings, for up to two residents each, were completed in 1981, thanks this time to funding from the NSW Government as well as the Association’s efforts.

Albinas (extreme left) and Vytautas Mickevičius help to celebrate the 
completion of the buildings

The topping-out wreath and 2 village buildings, 1981

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

The official opening was on 19 August 1984. The builders, Albinas and Vytautas, brought their topping-out wreath to the opening.

Albinas the Benefactor

Mūsų pastogė advised in April 1982 that Albinas Kutka, a well-known Lithuanian builder recognized by the Australians as a "master builder", had become seriously ill recently and has been hospitalized for a major operation. The patient was recovering rapidly and hoped to return to his home in Bankstown soon. Albinas Kutka was known to local Lithuanians as a generous supporter of the Lithuanian cause.

The words “Albinas Kutka was known to local Lithuanians as a generous supporter” were very accurate, because he had been donating unreservedly to many Lithuanian activities. Messages and thanks from the newspapers can confirm this. Here are some examples.

• Mūsų Pastogė, 12 May 1980: student A. Binkevičius received $200, of which $100 was donated by builder Albinas Kutka.
• Tėviškės aidai, 21 November 1981: “The always quiet and sincere Lithuanian, Albinas Kutka", sent a donation of $100 to the Daina Choir.
• Tėviškės aidai, 20 March 1986: On the occasion of February 16 (Lithuania’s Independence Day) compatriots in Sydney and the surrounding area supported Lithuania’s freedom struggle with their sincere donations. Albinas Kutka’s donation $50 was the largest individual amount received.
• Mūsų Pastogė, 25 October 1988: A. Kutka donated $100 for the trip of Lithuanian dissident, Professor Vytautas Skuodis. Again, this was the largest individual donation.

  

  The photo which accompanied Albinas' obituary
  

  Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Albinas' Last Years

Albinas was already in his mid-70s when the village was opened.  He sold his own house and settled into a unit he had built himself. Since Albinas was single, it was more stimulating for him to live there among Lithuanian acquaintances. In his last four years of his life, his health deteriorated. Doctors recognised his condition as difficult to treat. In the end, he received care in a nearby Calvary (Catholic) nursing home.

Albinas Kutka died on 13 September 1992, and was buried in Catholic Section of the Rookwood cemetery. During his final illness, Albinas was cared for by his neighbour and friend Vincas Kondrackas and his wife. They also took care of the funeral arrangements.

FOOTNOTE:  Perhaps P.A.P.Cl. 124 can be decoded.  Recently I happened upon a list of DP Camps by Team No on the <dpcamps.org> Website.  While it doesn't explain P.A.P.Cl., it does say that Team 124 was located in München, that is, Munich, where other evidence places Albinas also.

SOURCES

‘A.E.F. D.P. Registration Record, Albinas Kutka’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67941909, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/67941909?s=Kutka&t=2739669&p=0, accessed 21 September 2025.

Australijos Lietuvis, (Australian Lithuanian) (1948) ‘Pirmieji Mūsų Rėmėjai’ (‘Our First Sponsors’, in Lithuanian) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321942, accessed 21 September 2025.

Australian Cemetery Index, ‘Kutka’, https://austcemindex.com/?family_name=kutka, accessed 21 September 2025.

'Australian Lithuanian History, Australian Lithuanian newspaper’ https://salithohistory.blogspot.com/2008/12/, accessed 21 September 2025.

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Albinas Kutka’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203624970, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘CM/1 264719, Family name, Kutka, Citizenship, Lith’, 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, DocID: 67941908, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/67941908, accessed 21 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1967) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 2 June, p 5863 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241018768, accessed 21 September 2025.

Dainos Choro Valdyba (Daina Choir Board) (1981) ‘Sydnėjuje, Dainos Chore‘ (‘In Sydney, Daina Choir’ in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai, (The Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 21 November, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1981/1981-11-21-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian ) (1908, Vyzuonos church, page 113, baptism record number 51, Albinas Kutka) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267507212/276386482/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=113, accessed 21 September 2025.

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian) (1899, Gaižiūnai church, page 71, baptism record number 158, Antanas Kutka) phttps://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267506507/276386475/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=71

Find A Grave, ‘Albinas Kutka’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149476069/albinas-kutka, accessed 21 September 2025.

Juodka, Petras, Ivanauskas, Adomas and Albinas Kutka (1949) ‘Drauga Jona Pūsli …’ (‘Friend Jonas Puslis … ’, in Lithuanian) Australijos Lietuvis (The Australian Lithuanian) Adelaide, 23 May, p 22, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280321235, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘Land/Stadt/Kreis Vilsbiburg, Form 10, ITS 247’, 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, DocID: 70255471, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70255471, accessed 21 September 2025.

‘München Kreis, Kategorie III, Form 7’, 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, DocID: 70073263, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70073263, accessed 21 September 2025. [Also at https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/70073530.]

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven)(1954) ‘Sydnėjus’ (‘Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 27 October, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/259359692, accessed 21 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1980) ‘Redakcijos pastaba’ (‘Editor’s Note’) Sydney, 12 May, p 3 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1980/1980-05-12-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1988) ‘Aukos’ (‘Victims’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 25 October, p 7, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1988/1988-10-25-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series, 1926-1952; 82, GENERAL HEINTZELMAN - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers, 1947-1952 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196, accessed 21 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Labour and National Service, Central Office; MT29/1, Employment Service Schedules, 1947-1950; 21, Schedule of displaced persons who left the Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla Victoria for employment in the State of South Australia - [Schedule no SA1 to SA31], 1948-1950, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=23150376, accessed 21 September 2025.

Rep (1953) ‘Bankstownas’ (‘Bankstown’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 3 December, p 4 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1953/1953-12-03-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Reisgienė, Martina (trans. Petras Viržintas) (2024) ‘Sydney Lithuanian Women’s Social Services Assoc. Inc‘, SLIC (Sydney Lithuanian Information Centre) https://www.slic.org.au/Community/sydlithwomen.htm, accessed 21 September 2025.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (1984) ‘Australija, Oficialus Lietuvių sodybos atidarymas‘ (‘Australia, Official Opening of the Lithuanian Home’) Mississauga, Ontario, 2 October, p 4 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1984/1984-10-02-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Valdyba (The Board) (1981) ‘Vainikuota Lietiivių Sodyba’ (‘The Topped-Out Lithuanian Home’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 5 July, p 5 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1981/1981-07-05-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025.

Vinevičius, A. (1992) ‘Mūsų mirusieji, Su Ramovėnu A. Kutka Atsisveikinant’ (Our Dead, Farewell to Ramovė Member A. Kutka’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 28 September, p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1992/1992-09-28-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 21 September 2025

Wikipedia, ‘Stade’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade, accessed 25 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Topping Out’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topping_out, accessed 25 September 2025.

Wikipedia, ‘Vilsbiburg’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilsbiburg, accessed 25 September 2025.

Stasys Šeduikis (1924–2005), Lithuanian refugee, by Daina Pocius with Ann Tündern-Smith

Stasys Šeduikis was born in October 1924 into the family of Pranas Šeduikis and Elena Graužinytė in the beautiful town of Anykščiai near Utena. He had four brothers and two sisters.

His immigration papers to Australia show his year of birth as 1922. In addition, the year of birth on his application for naturalisation is 1925.  We are accepting the year used in his obituary, which also says that he was 80 years old when he died.

Life in Lithuania

After graduating from Anykščiai elementary school, he entered and graduated from Anykščių secondary school. His selection papers for Australia record only 6 years of primary schooling, however.

During the German occupation of Lithuania, on Lithuanian Independence Day (16 February 1944) General Plechavičius made a radio appeal to the nation for volunteers. Some 19,500 men responded to the appeal. Amongst them was Stasys and his four brothers. Instead of the Germans allowing cooperation, the Lithuanian units disbanded and Plechavičius and his staff were arrested.

Stasys and his brothers were taken to work in Germany. His Australian migration selection papers skip over that, though, recording him as someone who “fled from Russian regime” in August 1944. He had been working as a tailor for 6 years in Lithuania.

Stasys Seduikis' 1947 photograph from his selection papers for migration to Australia

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Life in Germany

After the end of the Second World War, he lived in a Lithuanian refugee camp in Germany. It must have been in the British Zone of Occupation, as it was called Camp Churchill. It was in the Lower Saxony town of Lehrte. Given that this town had become an industrial centre after it became a railway junction in the late 19th century, the camp may have been established in apartments built for factory workers who had been displaced at the orders of the occupiers.  That is certainly how it worked in the American Zone of Occupation.

After emigration began in 1947, Stasys initially indicated his desire to move to the USA but found himself on the First Transport to Australia, on the ship General Stuart Heintzelman. His brothers returned to Lithuania.

Stasys works in Australia

Stasys completed his contract to work in Australia at the brown coal open cut mine in Yallourn, Victoria, living in the North Camp there, which means that he gets a place in Josef Šeštokas’ book, Welcome to Litte Europe. Josef says that he was “remembered by his North Camp peers for playing soccer, having simple tastes and modest ambitions”.

Stasys is second from the right in the middle row of this group of Lithuanians
pictured in the North Camp at the end of their day's work

Source:  Welcome to Little Europe, p 123

Josef adds that, “after operating a milk bar in Carlton he worked at General Motors Holden Fisherman’s Bend plant, for 30 years or so, as a toolmaker”.  We know that he worked there until his retirement.

Newspaper reports have him living Yarraville, a western suburb of Melbourne, though Josef writes that he lived in West Footscray. In reality, they are the one neighbourhood, although an 8-lane highway now slices through diagonally

Marriage, Family, Citizenship

He married fellow Lithuanian, Ona Utaraitė, on 17 May 1952, in the church of St John the Evangelist, on Victoria Parade, a church which the Catholic Lithuanians had adopted as their own.

Ona had completed medical school and worked in Australia as a nurse in northern Melbourne’s Greenvale Geriatric Centre.  Stasys’ occupation at the time of his naturalisation application was described as machinist.  Toolmaker or machinist, that would have been with the car manufacturer, General Motors Holden as previously mentioned. 

They had five children, two daughters and three sons.  Life was harmonious and happy for them.  After the children grew older, they had eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Stasys was naturalised, granted Australian citizenship, in the suburb where he and his family lived, Footscray, on 12 February 1970.  At a guess, the person granting him the citizenship would have been the mayor of Footscray.

Stasys' Later Years

On 3 October 1988, Ona passed away from a sudden heart attack, at the age of 60 and after 36 years of marriage.  Stasys then became lonely, but met Elena Petrulienė, a Lithuanian widow who had arrived recently in Australia.  They married on 20 January 1990, with fellow First Transport arrival, Benediktas Kaminskas, as Stasys’ best man.

Stasys developed lung and heart disease and had to stay in hospital for a long time. Elenutė, his wife, cared for him until his weakened heart stopped beating.  He died of heart disease and pneumonia in hospital in the early morning of 16 February 2005.

The mourning mass was offered by Fr. Algis Šimkus at a church to which the Lithuanians had moved, St. Mary Star of the Sea in West Melbourne.  The Melbourne parish choir and soloists Rita Mačiulaitienė and Birute Kymantienė sang at the mass.

Stasys' children, paying their last respects to their father, carried the coffin on their shoulders. He was buried next to his first wife, Ona, in Altona Cemetery. After the funeral, the participants were invited to Melbourne’s Lithuanian House for the wake.

The two sisters survived from his large family in Lithuania.

SOURCES

Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, St Patrick’s Cathedral, ‘Saint John the Evangelist East Melbourne’ https://www.cam1.org.au/cathedral/en-au/History/Saint-John-the-Evangelist-East-Melbourne, accessed 26 September 2025.

Funeral card, ‘Stasys Seduikis’, Australian Lithuanian Archive.

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; 266, SEDUIKIS Stasys born 10 October 1922 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4260285, accessed 27 August 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Department of Immigration, Victorian Branch; B44, Immigration case files, annual single number series with 'V' [Victoria] prefix, 1955-; V1969/48207, Seduikis, Stasys, 1948-1970; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=25979622, accessed 26 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Department of Immigration, Victorian Branch; B44, Immigration case files, annual single number series with 'V' [Victoria] prefix, 1955-; V1969/48208, Seduikis, Ona, 1948-1970; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=25979623, accessed 26 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Department of Immigration, Victorian Branch; MT848/1, General Personal Files, 1955-1955; Seduikis, V1955/42471: Seduikis, Ona born 1928, 1955-1955; recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9546663, accessed 26 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956; SEDUIKIS STASYS, SEDUIKIS, Stasys : Year of Birth - 1922 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 662, 1948-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203696971, accessed 26 September 2025.

Šeštokas, Josef (2010) Welcome to Little Europe, Displaced Persons and the North Camp, Sale, Vic, Little Chicken Publishing, pp 91, 123.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1988) ‘A.+A. Ona Šeduikienė’ (‘RIP Ona Seduikis’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 8 November, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1988/1988-11-08-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 26 September 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1989) ‘Iš Mūsų Parapijų’ (From our Parish’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 7 November, p 7, https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1989/1989-11-07-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 25 September 2025

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1990) ‘Iš Mūsų Parapijų’ (From our Parish’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 30 January, p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1990/1990-01-30-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 25 September 2025.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (The Lights of Homeland) (2005) ‘Australija, A.A. Stasys Šeduikis’ (Australia, In Memoriam Stasys Seduikis) Mississauga, Ont, 26 April, p 7 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/2005/2005-04-26-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 26 September 2025.

Wikipedia, Lehrte, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehrte, accessed 25 September 2025.

Wikipedia, Povilas Plechavičius, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Povilas_Plechavi%C4%8Dius, accessed 26 September 2025.

Wikipedia, St Mary Star of the Sea, West Melbourne, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_Star_of_the_Sea,_West_Melbourne, accessed 26 August 2025.

Žmona Elena, Stasio Šeduikio vaikai (Wife, Elena, Stasys Šeduikas’ children) (2005) ‘Padėka’ (‘Thanks’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 30 March, p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/2005/2005-03-30-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 26 September 2025.

Remembering the First Transport, 30 years later from a Lithuanian perspective, by Ona Baužienė

(As the author points out below, she was the wife of the president of the Lithuanian Society of Australia immediately after WWII.  This meant that she was in a position to understand what was happening to Lithuania and Lithuanians during and after War.  

Her recollections were published in Mūsų Pastogė 30 years after the Lithuanians on the First Transport settled into the Bonegilla camp.  Thanks to great improvements in Google Translate, we can now follow them in English.)

Memories of December 1947

"Reading in the press about the 30th anniversary of the first post-war Lithuanian arrival in Australia brings back pleasant memories that I want to share. 

"In the post-war period, when my late husband was still the chairman of the Lithuanian Society of Australia, we diligently followed, in the local newspapers, the difficult situation of our compatriots in the German camps, and wanted to help somehow, namely, to try to bring them to Australia.

"Correspondence began with requests to the then Australian Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell, to allow Lithuanians from the camps to enter this country.  In the meantime we learned that a significant number were already leaving for England, the USA, Canada and elsewhere. The Australian government took a long time to respond, until we finally received a positive response. 

"Later we received a letter from the ship General Stuart Heintzelman with the announcement that Baltic people were coming, among them 439 Lithuanians. What joy for us! Finally, so many compatriots are arriving, and our Lithuanian community will increase, we thought! 

"At that time, local newspapers widely described their arrival as an extraordinary event. Even the Minister of Immigration, Arthur Calwell, himself met the ship in the port of Fremantle and personally congratulated us.* 

Visiting Bonegilla

"Due to the long distance, it was impossible for us to meet (the ship), so we were content to send a greeting on behalf of the Australian Lithuanian Society. It was possible to visit those who arrived at the Bonegilla camp. We decided to meet: my husband [Antanas Bauže, also deceased by 1977], Mr T Kuodis (now deceased) and I. 

"The Lithuanian committee formed by Jonas Motiejūnas, Kazys Mieldažis and Povilas Baltutis handled themselves perfectly. We spent the weekend at the camp, we were warmly welcomed, we felt great pleasure among our own people. I was kindly looked after by Miss 0. Matulionytė, now Miniotienė. 

"The time spent there remained unforgettable. At the Saturday evening party, everyone danced happily, despite the fact that many were wearing heavy boots, just issued by the camp management. 

Almost as new:  Australian Army boots dated 1945, as issued to the male DPs --
imagine dancing in these!

Source:  Blighty Militaria

"During the Sunday morning service, the men's choir led by Petras Morkūnas, who we had the pleasure of hearing at the previous day's party, impressively sang the song, "Let us Fall on our Knees", which we had not heard for a long time and which was a favourite of my late husband. 

Fruit pickers

"Later, a group of men who received their first salary while picking fruit in Victoria participated in a reunion party organized by the Lithuanian Society in Sydney's Dulwich Hill parish hall. 

"Before you know it, 30 years have passed. During that time, life has changed for many, many have created families and homes beautifully. I think your circle has also thinned, but those who met us will have pleasant memories. The First Transport, the first post-war Lithuanian immigrants, pioneers, will still remain close. 

Congratulations

"Therefore, on this occasion, I sincerely congratulate all of you on celebrating the 30th anniversary of your arrival in Australia, wishing you much happiness, health and many more years to celebrate." 

FOOTNOTE

*  It's been a common mistake to misremember the greeting by the Minister for Immigration occurring when the Heintzelman arrived in Fremantle, on 28 November 1947.  However, Minister Calwell was making a speech to Parliament in Canberra on that day.  Even today's modern, faster transport would not have allowed him to be in both Canberra and Fremantle during daylight hours on the same day, given the time his speech in the House of Representatives started, as recorded in Hansard.

Source:  Baužienė, Ona (1977) 'Pirmaji transporta prisimenant' ('Remembering the First Transport') Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 19 December, p 8 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1977/1977-12-19-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 18 September 2025.

Ona Matulionytė Miniotienė (1898-1992): Long-lived torture survivor, by Rasa Ščevinskienė and Ann Tündern-Smith

Ona Matulionytė was a fully trained nurse with something like 18 years of experience when she came to Australia on the First Transport in November 1947. As she had managed to reduce her age to get on the ship and out of Germany, she possibly was the oldest passenger. Even claiming to be born in 1907 rather than 9 years earlier made her the oldest Lithuanian woman on the voyage. The story of how she got to this point is difficult reading.

When the Soviet military still controlled Lithuania in 1941, Ona was arrested by the NKVD, interrogated, and sent to the Kaunas Hard Labor Prison. After the Germans invaded from 22 June 1941, Ona was released. When the Soviet forces approached for the second time, at the end of the 1944, she knew that she had to flee westwards.

Ona Matulionyte's photo from her Bonegilla card

Source:  Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup

Ona’s recollection of her arrest by NKVD in the Kaunas Military Hospital on 5 May 1941 and subsequent interrogation is translated here.

Arrest

“The arrest procedure was as follows: on 5 May 1941, at 2 pm, a medical orderly came to inform me that the chief of doctors of the hospital was calling me. When I went, he announced that a catastrophe had occurred and that I would have to go for an operation.

“He did not say how or where. He also did not tell me what instruments to take. When I asked, he replied that I would find everything there. Then I got changed and, together with the chief surgeon of the hospital's surgical department and the hospital commissar Levgeyev, we drove to Vileišis Square in Kaunas.

“Another car was waiting for us there. The commissar got out and talked to them, and when he returned, he told us that there had been a second catastrophe, so we would give the nurse to them, and they would drive on. The second car, having picked me up, took me to the NKVD, where I was immediately interrogated.

Torture

“During the same interrogation, I was tortured. The interrogation lasted from 5 p.m. until 3 a.m. the next day. They wanted to know where the secret radio transmitter was, which Gestapo chief I was recruited to spy for, when, where and how much I received for it, and how many times I had been to Germany.

“I was interrogated 4 times in one month. The last interrogation took place on 6 June. They always interrogated at night. They interrogated me twice in the NKVD palace and twice in prison. While being transported, I was accompanied by 3-4 Russians. There were 5 people interrogating me: 2 Russians, 2 Jews and one Lithuanian.

“The interrogation procedure was as follows: when I answered that I knew nothing in reply to all the questions, a Russian hit me in the temple and someone else hit me in the back of the head. After severe blows, I fell and lost consciousness. When I came to my senses, I felt pain all over my body.

“When they saw that I had moved, they poured water on me and started beating me again with a rubber baton. While I was being beaten like this, I lost consciousness again.

“After that, they took me to the next room, opened the door and windows to create a draft, and made me sit there. They put iron shackles on me and did not allow me to close my eyes or move. When it got cold, I asked my two guards to close the door or window. They replied that they had no right to do this, but they could ask the officer on duty.

“The officer on duty came. When I asked him for closed windows or the door, he smiled ironically and sat me down with a chair in the doorway, where there was an extremely strong draft. I sat like that for 29 hours.

“I was only allowed to eat for the first time four days after my arrest. After that, threatening to shoot me, they took me to prison. In prison, they threw me into solitary confinement, where I spent 5 days.

“From solitary confinement, I was transferred to a sick cell. They brought medicine after two days only, and the doctor after 5 days.

“During the interrogation, they cursed me with the most disgusting words to which no intelligent person should listen.”

Ona's early life

Ona had been born on 21 December 1898 in the village of Antakalniai, in the Utena district of Lithuania. Her parents were Mykolas Matulionis and Ona Matulionienė, whose maiden name was Žvironaitė. Ona was born the third child in a family of 7 children. While their parents were farmers, the children pursued education and became prominent in pre-War Lithuania.

Ona studied at the Kaunas School of Nursing during 1924-26, then worked as a nurse in the operating theatre at the Kaunas Military Hospital until 1943 – apart from the NKVD interrogation and imprisonment with hard labour, from 5 May to 22 June or some days later in 1941.

During 1943 to 1944, Ona worked as a sister at the Kaunas Polyclinic. After moving herself away from the returning Soviets, Ona of course continued nursing in Germany, working eventually in the Hanau DP camp hospital.

Escape to Australia

Her papers must have been falsified to give on the birth year of 1907 and an age of 39 at the time of interview with the Australian team. Soviet forces were not that far away from Hanau at the time, occupying about 40 per cent of the former Germany. The thought of these neighbours must have spurred Ona on to move on as soon as she could. On 28 November 1947, she arrived in Australia on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman.

Bonegilla Camp

One of the early visitors to the newly arrived Lithuanians in the Bonegilla camp was Antanas Bauže, chairman of the Australian Lithuanian Community with his wife, Ona, and T Kuodis . In the Mūsų Pastogė newspaper 30 years later, Ona Baužiene recalled how she was taken care of during the visit by her name fellow, Ona Matulionytė.

Nursing in Melbourne

From the Bonegilla camp, Ona was the only Lithuanian in a group of 6 women sent to work in the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg in Melbourne. Helgi Nirk, whose life has been recorded already by this blog, was another of the 6. At the time, the Hospital was operated by the Australian Government’s Repatriation Department, supporting former military personnel.

The Melbourne Herald newspaper of 5 January 1948 reported that they had begun training as nurses. Helgi’s previous relevant experience was as a student of agricultural science who had her own farm, so her experience at the Austin is no guide to Ona’s. Let us hope that her previous nursing enable Ona to speed through what the Austin was offering.

(The Herald journalist thought that “medical terms may be a tough obstacle in initial lectures”. In fact, they would have been the easiest part of the language challenge, as they are very similar from one European language to another.)

Source:  Collection of Helgi Nirk, now in Estonian Archives in Australia

We know nothing more of Ona’s nursing career at this stage but, thanks to the Lithuanian language press in Australia and America, we do know more about her personal life.

Ona's sister arrives

On 15 March 1948, her sister, now Valerija Kuncaitienė, had arrived in Australia with her husband, Justus, and 2 sons, Vytautas and Jaunutis. The port of arrival of their ship, the Wooster Victory, was Sydney, but they moved to Melbourne when they could – probably because Valerija’s sister had settled there already.

Ona joined Melbourne’s Lithuanian Women's Social Welfare Society in 1952, and became a board member. With Valerija, she was one of the most active members of this Society. Forty years later, at her funeral, a then member of the board was to say that the 1950s were a hard time for the group, as there was no Lithuanian House until 1965. Meetings were held all over the city, but Ona did not avoid difficulties and never complained.

We have a Melbourne address for her from when she became an Australian citizen, on 27 January 1959, living in South Oakleigh. Her address was at least an hour’s walk from the nearest railway station. A bus to that station plus the train to a Melbourne landmark, Flinders Street Railway Station still takes nearly one hour. It is 20 minutes at least by tram from the Station to the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne, plus there’s a walk from the train platform to the tram stop.

Unless Ona had the resourcefulness and money to get herself driver’s training, a licence to drive and a car, she could have felt quite isolated in South Oakleigh. The alternative would be having a Lithuanian with a car and similar interests living nearby.  Might this have been members of the Landsbergis family?

Ona Matulionytė (standing, third from left) with architect Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis 
(fourth from left) and his son and daughter with their families, in Melbourne, 1959

Source:  Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema

An American visit

From the New York-based newspaper Tėvynė, we know that Ona Matulionytė and her sister Valerija spent the northern summer of 1966 travelling around America and Canada. The newspaper guessed that they would have met with their brothers there, Balys and Pranas. Tėvynė was pleased that the visitors had made a point of visiting its premises.

Marriage

Later, Ona married Canberra resident Vladas Miniotas after his wife, Adele, had died in 1967. While living alone, Vladas had met Ona, proposed to her and married her in 1969. Ona was about 71 years old when she agreed to this major change in her life! It seems that they moved back to his former home town, Sydney, another major change. Vladas, born in 1902, had been a police chief in Lithuania.

During her Sydney years, Ona continued her participation in local Lithuanian life. She always conscientiously attended and supported all events in the community and supported youth, scouts, a folk dance group, and the Daina choir financially.

Deaths

After 15 years of marriage, in 1984 Ona’s husband died. Four years after that, and at the advanced age of 90, Ona’s health started to fail. She was invited to live with her sister’s older son, Vytautas Kuncaitis, back in Melbourne. He and his family cared for her until her lack of health meant a nursing home. There she died on 21 August 1992.

The grave of Vladas Miniotas in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

Source:  Billion Graves

The funeral mass for Ona was on 25 August in St John’s Church, East Melbourne, adopted by the Lithuanians as their own, followed by cremation in Melbourne’s Fawkner Cemetery.  Her ashes were collected, presumably for scattering somewhere else, so she does not have a burial place or plaque.

Conclusion

Surviving the NKVD torture and going on to live 93 years altogether indicate one tough woman. On the other hand, her nursing training and experience also would have taught her healthy living after her WWII experiences.

Ona's brothers

Two of her brothers, Balys and Pranas, were especially well known.

Balys was a medical doctor and a director of the Birštonas Resort. The year that Balys turned 22 was the year in which the Russian Revolution occurred. He had been studying at Petrograd Military Medical Academy. He traveled around Russia, organizing Lithuanian schools and shelters, and represented the People's Party in a Russian Lithuanian parliament in Petrograd.

During 1927–1938, he was the chief physician of the Kaunas Military Hospital and the head of its Physiotherapy Department established through his efforts. In 1938 until 1940, as a colonel of the military medical service, he was a consultant to the Kaunas Military Hospital. He was particularly interested in balneology, the study of the medical use of natural springs, such as that found at Birštonas. He too was arrested and imprisoned by the Communists during 1940-41.

In 1941, he became the director of the Kaunas Tuberculosis Hospital, and also headed the Physiotherapy Department of the Vytautas the Great University Clinics. In 1941–44, he was the governor of the Main Health Board.

He is on record together with the priest Simonas Morkūnas, after a massacre of some 50 Kaunas Jews, of having appealed to Archbishop Juozapas Skvirckas on behalf the Jews of Kaunas on 28 June 1941. He interceded to save about 500 nursing nuns, Sisters of Mercy who had trained his own sister, and about 30 doctors from being sent to the War’s eastern front. He also prevented the murder of patients in the Kalvarija and Vilnius psychiatric hospitals.

Pranas Matulionis was the youngest of the seven, born in August 1909, so 14 years younger Balys. He was only 30 years old when Lithuania found itself being traded between the Soviet Union and Germany, so had not had the same amount of time as his oldest brother to excel.

After graduating from a military school in his home province, he started to study medicine in the Lithuanian University but, one year later, transferred to the humanities. One year later again, in November 1930, he joined the Lithuanian Army, attending the Military Academy. On graduation, he was given the rank of Second Lieutenant and became a platoon commander in the 7th Infantry Regiment.

In November 1936, he transferred to military aviation and was promoted to Lieutenant. Two years later, he became head of the Military Aviation Commandant's economic unit.

It may well have been his involvement in aviation which had him in the public eye. Lithuania is the country which still honours the failed 1933 attempt of pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas to reach Kaunas from New York, non-stop, just as Australia honours the efforts of early pilots to fly across wide oceans to this country, and Amelia Earhart who failed. Pranas moved to military aviation only 3 years after Darius' and Girėnas' mission.

Pranas was fortunate to miss out on the fate of many Lithuanian officers during the Soviet occupation.  The Germans appointed him mayor of the city of Alytus.  His view that the German mobilisation of Lithuanian men in 1943 was illegal led to his arrest for sabotage, however. Balys was able to have him released from prison after several months and placed in a health facility.

Both Balys and Pranas feared the Soviet return and left for Germany in 1944, then emigrated to the USA.

SOURCES

Australian Cemetery Index, ‘Inscription 10423466 - Vladas Miniotas’, https://austcemindex.com/inscription?id=10423466, accessed 17 September 2025.

Baužienė, Ona (1977) ‘Pirmąjį transportą prisimenant‘ (‘Remembering the first transport’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 19 December, p 8 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1977/1977-12-19-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Billion Graves, ‘Vladas Miniotas’ https://billiongraves.com/grave/Vladas-Miniotas/36564419, accessed 18 September 2025.

Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup, ‘Ona MATULIONYTE’, https://idcards.bonegilla.org.au/record/203611715, accessed 17 September 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’ Canberra, 11 June, p2055 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240999179/25981104, accessed 17 September 2025.

Dirva (Soil) (1974) [Three death notices for Balys Matulionis 1895.05.21-1974.12.01, in Lithuanian] Cleveland, OH, 4 December, pp 7-8 https://spauda.org/dirva/archive/n1974/1974-12-04-DIRVA.pdf

Elektroninio archyvo informacinė Sistema (Electronic Archive Information System, in Lithuanian with some English) ‘Utenos dekanato bažnyčių gimimo metrikų knyga’ (‘Birth register book of churches in the Utena deanery’, in Lithuanian ) (1899, baptism record number 7, parents Mykolas Matulionis and Ona Žvironaitė) https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/share/?manifest=https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext-api/view/267506507/276386475/lt/iiif/manifest&lang=lt&page=6, accessed 17 September 2025

Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, 'Deceased Search', https://www.gmct.com.au/deceased and 'Ona Miniotas' https://www.gmct.com.au/deceased/1829650, accessed 18 September 2025.

Liulevičius, Vincas ‘A. A. Pr Matulionis’ (‘RIP Pranas Matulionis’, in Lithuanian) Draugas (Friend), Chicago, IL, 13 June, p 6 https://www.draugas.org/archive/1987_reg/1987-06-13-DRAUGAS.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Meiliūnienė, S. (1992) ‘Laidojant A. † A. Oną Matulionytę Miniotienę atsisveikinimo žodis’ (‘Farewell speech at the funeral of Ona Matulionytė Miniotienė’, Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of Homeland), Melbourne, 1 September, p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1992/1992-nr34-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1984) ‘Mirusieji, A.A. Vladas Miniotas’ (‘The Dead, RIP Vladas Miniotas’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 22 October, p 2 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1984/1984-10-22-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1985) ‘Ligoniu lankymas’ (‘Visiting the Sick’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 1 April, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1985/1985-04-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1992) ‘Musų Mirusieji, Su Ona Miniotiene Atsisveikinant‘ (Our Dead, Saying Goodbye to Ona Miniotiene‘, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 31 August 1992 p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1992/1992-08-31-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 17 September 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, 1947-1947; 770, MATULIONYTE Ona DOB 22 December 1907, 1947-1947.

Partizanai: istorija ir dabartis (Partisans: History and the Present), ‘Lietuvių Archyvas Bolševizmo Metai IV’ (‘Lithuanian Archives, Year Of Bolshevism IV’, in Lithuanian) https://www.partizanai.org/failai/html/bolsevizmo-metai-IV.htm, accessed 17 September 2025.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1992), ‘Is mošų parapijų, Melbournas’ (‘From the parishes, Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 28 April page 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1992/1992-nr16-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Tėviškės aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1992), ‘Is mošų parapijų, Melbournas’ (‘From the parishes, Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 1 September, p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1992/1992-nr34-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Tėvynė (Homeland) (1966) ‘Viešnios iš Australijos’ (‘Guests from Australia’, in Lithuanian) New York, NY, 2 September, p 3 https://www.spauda.org/tevyne/archive/1966/1966-09-02-TEVYNE.pdf, accessed 17 September 2025.

Vikipedija, ‘Balys Matulionis’ (in Lithuanian) https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balys_Matulionis, accessed 16 September 2025.