The Backhouse, Roebuck Sawmill at Megan, NSW, by Ann Tündern-Smith

WARNING:  Some nasty accidents are summarised below.  At least they are not fatal, like those about to be reported for Ebor Sawmills, to which other First Transporters were sent.

Seven from First Transport to Megan

Albinas Kutka, who became a user of sawn timber rather than a maker of it, was sent to work for sawmillers Backhouse, Roebuck of Megan, New South Wales, on 21 January 1948. He was one of 7 First Transport men with this assignation.

This Bonzle map has a vibrant pink square focussed on Megan, NSW
inland from Coffs Harbour

Source:  Bonzle

There was one other Lithuanian in the group, Juozas Bazys. The four Latvians were Stanislavs Berzins (his third job after fruit-picking for SP Cornish followed by one week as a labourer in the Bonegilla camp), Evalds Karamuts, Nikolaus Kucina and Edvards Snore. A single Estonian, Helmut Karp, possibly could converse with the others in some German and limited English.

Megan Railway Station on the Dorrigo Branch Line in 1954:
since the passenger service on the line did not close until 1957, our Baltic 7 are likely to have 
travelled from Sydney to Megan by train

Source:  Australian Railway Historical Society via Facebook

From Albinas’ story, we know that he and Juozas plus young Nikolaus Kucina were back at Bonegilla on 11 March 1948, little more than 6 weeks later. Either the physical nature of the work was too much for men who had been on reduced rations for much of the 1940s, up to boarding the Heintzelman, or they saw the machinery with which they were expected to work as too risky.

First Transport Lithuanians play basketball at Bonegilla --
note the ribs

Source:  Pix, 31 January 1948

Backhouse, Roebuck history

Their employer made its first appearance on the public record on 8 April 1941, when its registration was announced in the Sydney Sun newspaper, followed by the Daily Telegraph the next day.  The company was to trade as sawmillers and timber merchants. It had 4 directors, Wilfred Backhouse and three members of the Roebuck family.  It had a nominal capital of £2,500, the equivalent of $250,000 in 2024 according to the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Was the decision to name the company Backhouse, Roebuck an alphabetical one, or did Wilfred Backhouse put up the majority of the capital?

A Mill at Megan

Wilfred Backhouse made his next appearance in print in the Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate on 7 July 1944. This newspaper announced that “Messrs Backhouse and Roebuck Ltd, mill owners, of Sydney, have now bought the sawmill lately owned by Mr. Cockburn, and hope to restart this mill very soon. Mr. W Backhouse, general manager, of Sydney, recently spent a fortnight in the district and is expected to return any day.”

In May 1945, the newspaper announced that, “Mr. 'Bill' Backhouse, managing (sic) Backhouse, Roebuck Pty Ltd, will be taking a well-earned holiday commencing this Friday. Employees and friends (and they are many) wish 'Bill' a very pleasant holiday.”  This reads like Wilfred Backhouse had become a very accepted member of the local community in less than one year.

Wilfred William Backhouse, Managing Director

The New South Wales Government Gazette of 1 December 1950 carried a notice to the effect that Mr Wilfred William Backhouse of Dorrigo, NSW, had stated in a statutory declaration that he had lost his original certificate of title to 2000 £1 shares in the Backhouse, Roebuck Pty Ltd company.  So now we have Bill’s full name.

We also have evidence that he had contributed £2,000 when the company was set up. The notice states that Bill had shares numbered 1, 3 to 501 and 2901 to 4400, meaning that the company now had £4,400 in capital, some of which Bill might have put up after the company was set up. I’m wondering if W Backhouse put up close to the majority of the original capital and concluding that the evidence does not rule out the possibility.  He certainly could have had the largest shareholding.

Back to Wilfred William Backhouse.  The MyHeritage.com genealogy Website records that he was born in 1910 in Drummoyne, a Sydney suburb, to Joseph Wilfred Backhouse and Priscilla Way Ellis. A Commonwealth and State electoral roll for 1939 shows that he still lived in Drummoyne. By 12 March 1946, he was on the electoral roll for the State Division of Armidale and the Federal electorate of Cowper as a resident of Dorrigo.

On a personal note, Bill had married Minnie (or Mina) Davis Watson in Sydney in 1938. One family tree on Ancestry.com which includes Wilfred William born in 1910 says that he and Minnie had two children who were still living when the family historian was last on that page.  There also was a tragically early death, of a baby named Eric (like one of his Backhouse uncles) who died on 9 January 1946.  He was buried in Dorrigo Cemetery.  He was not given a headstone, which makes him impossible to find outside Ancestry (if you search for a child of Wilfred and Minnie Backhouse).

Megan Mill History, and Accidents

The older the sawmill, the more risky its design and machinery to its workers. The mill which Backhouse, Roebuck purchased from Mr JS Cockburn was bought by this gentleman from a Mr H Milne. The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate first mentioned Milne as the owner of a sawmill at Megan in January 1933.

The Megan sawmill appears not to have been recorded photographically, then digitised, so here is a nearby stand-in, Allan Taylor's Mill, captioned as being at coastal Coffs Harbour,
taken in 1950 -- but press advertising shows that this sawmill actually was at Woolgoolga,
25 Km north of Coffs
(Note the absence of walls, typical of Australian sawmills, and,
is that a fire in the middle of the photo?)

Source:  Coffs Collections, Courtesy of the City of Coffs Harbour

After purchase, Cockburn was said by the local press in May 1939 to have “thoroughly” renovated it and brought it up to date. “New boilers and planers (were) installed”.  If this was not just what we now call “spin”, the sawmill was less than 9 years away from its modernisation when the Heintzelman 7 arrived.

Given that the press would be very interested in reporting accidents, it is good to know that none were reported after their arrival until one occurred on 3 April 1951.  But it was nasty: an employee lost the first two joints of his right index finger on his right hand.   At this time, we do not know if any of the original 7 were still with Backhouse, Roebuck.

On 1 May 1952, a mill employee became jammed between two logs but escaped serious injuries, receiving “severe bruising to both thighs, chest and shock”. A doctor and ambulance were called. The injured man was taken to the Dorrigo hospital for observation.

There had been at least three accidents earlier.  The local paper reported in May 1946 that a worker received a fractured left leg and suffered slight shock when his leg became jammed between two flitches of a log at Backhouse, Roebuck's Megan mill.  An ambulance took him to the Dorrigo Hospital where he was admitted.  Only three weeks previously, he had suffered a crushed right foot when it was caught between two rollers of the log carriage on the frame saw at the same workplace.  Was he back at work already because there was no such thing as paid sick leave?

A flitch of a log, by the way, is a longitudinal section cut from a log, especially an unedged slab with bark still on its edges.

A few months later, a worker had a piece of steel lodge in his right eye at the same workplace.  The local paper reported in September 1946 that he was recovering under specialist treatment in a Sydney hospital.  “It is expected the sight of the eye will be saved” does not tell us about the quality of that sight afterwards.

Six months later, the company was in the local courthouse, appearing before the Police Magistrate on a charge of not keeping all dangerous parts of machinery securely fenced.   The equipment in question was a circular saw.  Although a lawyer was engaged to defend the company, it was fined £20.  It also had to pay court costs 10/- and £2/2- witnesses' expenses.   The Reserve Bank says that the total of £22/12/-, with inflation, was the equivalent of $1,880 in 2024.

In July 1947, another employer suffered a fractured pelvis when logs rolled on him while working at the Megan mill.  On the day of the accident he had driven into the timber yard with a load of logs on a truck.  On knocking out the chock to unload, the logs rolled and one caught him on the leg and another on the back before he had time to get clear.  He managed to get out of the way of a third log and saved himself from further injury.  He too was admitted to the Dorrigo Hospital after first aid and an ambulance ride.

On 25 March 1949, when presumably 4 Heintzelman passengers continued to work for Backhouse, Roebuck, the company hosted a banquet to celebrate the opening of a new mill in Dorrigo.  Employees were among the 30 or so attending, but no women, not even wives, were mentioned in the newspaper report.

“Mr Backhouse said his firm was tackling the problem of accommodation for its employees.”  The official who opened the new sawmill, the State’s Deputy Director of Building Materials (then important enough to have its own Minister) referred to cottages which the company was building for its employees.  Six self-contained cottages had been erected already and the firm was planning more.

We have to hope that the company was including its Baltic employees in its accommodation provisions.   Four months later, the local paper noted that the company had sought Council permission to build single men’s quarters and a workshop.  That was only 42 days before the end of the contracts to work as assigned by the Commonwealth Employment Service.

From information provided in his 1983 death notice, we can deduce that Bill Backhouse stayed in northern NSW and, probably, Dorrigo until retirement.  The retirement is likely to have occurred in the 1970s and his death also was in the period during which Australian copyright laws do not permit digitising of printed material without explicit permission.

Fortunately, a dedicated volunteer of the Ryerson team has recorded that the death notice said that “William Wilfred” Backhouse, who died in Coffs Harbour, was “late of Scotts Head” and previously of Dorrigo.  His death occurred when Bill Backhouse was 73 years old, with the notice appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald of 17 September 1983.   Scotts Head is a coastal village 50 Km south of where the road to the coast from Dorrigo meets the coastal highway, perfect for a quiet retirement.

Both he and his wife, Minnie or Mina, opted for cremation rather than burial, and maybe the scattering of their ashes, as the cremation is recorded by Lismore Memorial Gardens, run by the local council, but there are no plaques or gravestones.

We noted in relation to Albinas Kutka’s story that Megan “sounded more like a girl’s name than a place name to a modern Australian”.  The word can, in fact, be a family name, said to be of Irish origin and a variant of McGahan or McGann.  But using feminine first names for place names has a history in Australia which starts with South Australia’s State capital, Adelaide, named in honour of the wife of King William IV of the United Kingdom.

Other place names shared by women and often named in their honour include the State of Victoria, Alexandra in Victoria, Lucinda in Queensland, Katherine in the Northern Territory, Clare in South Australia (also a family name), Augusta in Western Australia, Lowanna (near Megan).  And a list of places which incorporate women’s names, such at Port Augusta in South Australia or Alice Springs in the Northern Territory is too long to continue.  You get the idea.  Megan, whether inspired by someone’s first or last name, is not unusual.

Sources

Ancestry.com ‘Wilfred William Backhouse’ https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/118913545/person/170181311907/facts, accessed 18 October 2025.

Ancestry.com ‘Megan Family History’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/last-name-meaning/megan, accessed 18 October 2025.

Daily Telegraph (1941) ‘Company Registration’ Sydney, 9 April, p 19 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247564451, accessed 16 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1933) 'Personal’, Dorrigo, NSW, 27 January, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/172010179, accessed 19 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1933) 'Renovations to Megan Sawmill’, Dorrigo, NSW, 19 May, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/171865243, accessed 19 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1944) 'Megan’, Dorrigo, NSW, 7 July, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173128829, accessed 18 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1945) ‘Megan’, 18 May, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173131848, accessed 18 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1946) ‘Mill Accident at Megan’, Dorrigo, NSW, 3 May, p 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173133028, accessed 18 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1946) 'Personal', Dorrigo, NSW, 6 September, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173133146, accessed 18 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1947) 'Police Court', Dorrigo, NSW, 14 March, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173134886, viewed 25 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1947), ‘Hospital Patients’, Dorrigo, NSW, 11 July, p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173135622, accessed 18 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1949), ‘New Mill Opened', Dorrigo, NSW, 1 April, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173140593, accessed 19 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1949), ‘New Mill Banquet', Dorrigo, NSW, 1 April, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173140580, accessed 19 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1951) 'Personal Pars', Dorrigo, NSW, 6 April, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173019601, accessed 18 October 2025.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (1952) 'Accident at Local Mill', Dorrigo, NSW, 2 May, p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/178027651, accessed 19 October 2025.

Government Gazette of New South Wales (1950) 'Backhouse, Roebuck Pty Limited' Sydney, 1 December, p 3556 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220070773, accessed 19 October 2025.

Lismore Memorial Gardens, ‘Register Name Search, Lismore Lawn Cemetery and Memorial Gardens Register’ https://lccforms.lismore.nsw.gov.au/apps/crem/search.asp, accessed 18 October 2025.

MyHeritage.com ('Wilfred William Backhouse') https://www.myheritage.com/research?s=OYYV6B34FUAGCQUMOUB3XYMY7SQ2LUY&formId=master&formMode=1&useTranslation=1&exactSearch=&p=1&action=query&view_mode=card&qname=Name+fn.Wilfred%2F3William+fnmo.1+ln.Backhouse+lnmsrs.false&qevents-event1=Event+et.birth+ey.1910&qevents-any/1event_1=Event+et.any+ep.drummoyne%2C%2F3nsw+epmo.similar&qevents=List, accessed 19 October 2025.

Reserve Bank of Australia ‘Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator’ https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html, accessed 18 October 2025.

Ryerson Index https://ryersonindex.org/search.php, accessed 18 October 2025.

Sun (1941) ‘Company Registration’ Sydney, 8 April, p 19 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231207122, accessed 16 October 2025.

Wikipedia, Dorrigo railway line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorrigo_railway_line accessed 25 October 2025.

First Transporters Sent to Rural Jobs, by Ann Tündern-Smith

In Hugo Jakobsen’s story around this time last year, we found that the Department of Immigration was publishing two newsletters. The Department credited Hugo with coming up with the idea of the New Australian. Eventually it was merged with another newsletter, the Good Neighbour. A third publication, Tomorrow’s Australians, first appeared on 12 April 1948.

The extract from issue 1 below, headed Balts Engaged on Rural Work, suggests at least part of the target audience. For us now, more than 75 years later, it also gives the Government’s estimates of where it had sent the men, and a very small number of women, from the First Transport.

Source:  Tomorrow's Australians

They are not accurate figures, because we just found that it was 26 men sent to the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme. Also, they probably are for a date earlier than 12 or 1 April.

They add up to 491 people, but there were 727 men on the first Transport. Where were the other 236 sent? It looks as if these figures do not include the 187 picking fruit from the end of January, who started to return to the Bonegilla camp only two weeks later.  Probably they were not included because they were known to be engaged on season work which would finish up before May.

This still leaves 49 men without explanation, but some of them, like Gunars Berzzarins, would have been employed at the Bonegilla camp at the time of the headcount on which the published figures are based.

Five men and one woman sent to the Zwar Brothers tannery in Beechworth, northern Victoria, are not included. There will be others. I’ll see if we can pick them up as we work through the life stories of those involved.

NOTE  Tomorrow's Australians last for 14 monthly issues only, according to its National Library of Australia record.

SOURCE

Tomorrow's Australians (1948) 'Balts Engaged on Rural Work' Canberra, 12 April, p 4 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2821961769 accessed 16 October 2025.

Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Bonegilla "peninsula" and Hume Reservoir

If you look at an old map of north-eastern Victoria, one drawn before construction of the Hume Weir (now the Hume Dam) on the Murray River started in 1919, you can see that the Bonegilla area resembles a peninsula. It has rivers on 3 sides rather than seas. The Mitta Mitta River was its eastern boundary, the Murray River flowed across the north, and the Kiewa River bounded its western side.

The shaded area is the Bonegilla run in 1869, 
between the Kiewa, Murray and Mitta Mitta Rivers
Source:  Bonegilla's Beginnings, redrawn from Owen's Atlas

One arm of the former Hume Reservoir, renamed Lake Hume, has flooded what was the course of the Mitta Mitta some 15 kilometres past its former confluence with the Murray. It forms the part of the Lake where Bonegilla camp residents used to walk and swim, when they did not travel further to the Murray below the Weir.

Lake Hume is surrounded by red dots in this clip from Google Maps,
with Bonegilla about halfway down its western side

Source:  Google Maps

Mitta Mitta River

Major engineering works have affected further the two Murray River tributaries which form the Bonegilla “peninsula”. Near the source of the Mitta Mitta at Mount Bogong, 200 kilometres upstream from the Hume Dam, the Dartmouth Dam with Australia’s tallest dam wall at 180 metres impounds the Mitta Mitta, the Dart, and other rivers and creeks. Like Lake Hume, its main purposes are irrigation and hydro-electric power. The rockfill embankment was built between 1973 and 1979.

Kiewa River

We are mostly interest in a third engineering project, the hydro-electric scheme on the Kiewa River. That’s because 26 of the First Transport men were sent there for their first employment in Australia, on 14 January 1948.   

Their cards say, "SEC, Kiewa, Vic".  Given that the town of Bogong had been established as the base for construction of the Kiewa Scheme, it’s very likely that the men were sent there, to the Kiewa Scheme rather than the town of Kiewa. 

The Kiewa town is only 18 kilometres south of the Bonegilla camp by road. Bogong is another 80 kilometres south.  It might have been an unsealed road in 1948-49, but the men still would have been two hours at most away from their initial home in Australia.

They all should have been notified before 30 September 1948 that they were not contracted from after that date to work in Australia.  Romas Ragauskas' citizenship file shows that he stayed in the Bogong town until a date in October 1949.   He then moved to Eildon, closer to Melbourne, for what he probably thought was an even better job.

The Kiewa Hydro-electric Scheme as envisaged in 1948 by the State Electricity Commission

Source:  SECV via Wikipedia

First Transport to Kiewa Scheme

The 26 men sent to the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme on 14 January 1948 were

Lithuanians	Latvians
Antanaitis, Jonas	Auzans, Mikelis
Gulbinas, Valentinas	Draska, Stanislav
Jovarauskas, Jonas	Jansons, Ansis Alfreds
Lesniauskas, Vaclovas	Kajons, Peteris
Malzinkas, Vincas	Karklins, Alfreds
Ragauskas, Romas-Karolis	Koks, Hugo
Raudonikas, Petras	Kolesnikovs, Janis
Vaicius, Pranas	Krumins, Arvids
Valasinavicius, Petras	Muske, Janis Andrejs
Vaskelis, Stasys	Ozolins, Eduards
Venckus, Petras	Skuja, Janis
Warapnizkas, Anton*
Zabiela, Benediktas	Estonians
	Kull, Heino
	Saad, Ilmar

In the previous blog entry on Romas Ragauskas, we noted that the Victorian Government’s instrumentality, the State Electricity Commission, had recommended in 1937 that a scheme first proposed in 1911 should proceed. World War II then took away much of the workforce, but building parts of the Scheme continued. The arrival of more labour in January 1948 would have been welcomed.

Economic conditions in the 1950s meant that the Scheme never was completed as envisaged. The politics of the 1990s meant that the Scheme now is in private hands. It probably is an awareness of climate change and the role hydro-electricity can play in its mitigation that means the Scheme had been expanding in recent years.

If I come across a description of working conditions on the Kiewa Scheme in the late 1940s, I'll share it here. And any of the First Transport workmen who, like Romas Ragauskas, get a biography of their own will also have a hyperlink in the table above.

Footnotes: *It looks like this Lithuanian has Germanised his name but not yet changed back. A Lithuanian is more likely to recognise Antanas Varapnickas.

** Another Blogspot user has an interesting summary of the history of the Hume Dam at https://echuca-murraymouthkayakjourney.blogspot.com/2014/01/hume-dam-to-echuca-about-hume.html. Eleven years ago, Peter Phillips was doing a PhD on River Murray flooding, so he's a good source! I trust that the PhD has been completed successfully now.

Sources

Owen, W (1869) Atlas of Australia including pastoral runs of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria Melbourne, H Bolton.

Tündern-Smith, Ann (2014) Bonegilla's Beginnings, Wagga Wagga, NSW; Triple D Books (p 14).

Wikipedia, 'Mitta Mitta River' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitta_Mitta_River, accessed 14 October 2025.

Wikipedia, 'Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiewa_Hydroelectric_Scheme, accessed 14 October 2025.

Wikipedia, 'Kiewa River', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiewa_River#:~:text=The%20Kiewa%20River%20is%20also,wher%2Dra%2C%20meaning%20water, accessed 14 October 2025

Romanas-Karolis Ragauskas (1924-2007) Engineer and Sports Administrator, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

The Kiewa Scheme

The State Electricity Commission of Victoria had been building a hydro-electric scheme south of the Bonegilla camp, in the Kiewa valley, on and off since 1937. It was mostly off due to World War II, so the end of the War led to its resumption in an environment of increasing electricity demand.

Twenty-six of the First Transport men were sent to Kiewa on 14 January 1948, according to their Bonegilla cards. Given that the town of Bogong had been established as the base for construction of the Kiewa Scheme, it’s very likely that the men were sent there, to the Kiewa Scheme rather than the town of Kiewa. This town is only 18 kilometres south of the Bonegilla camp by road. Bogong is another 80 kilometres south, so the men were only a bit more than an hour away from their initial home in Australia.

The environment of the Kiewa Scheme -- here, work on underground Power Station 4

Source:  SECV via Wikipedia

The Kiewa Scheme became the second largest hydro-electric scheme on mainland Australia, after the Snowy Mountains Scheme, so the men were engaged for a significant project. One of them was Romanas-Karolis or Romas Ragauskas.

Romas' birth

Romas was born on 2 January 1924, born in the central Lithuanian town of Kėdainai. That birthdate meant that he turned 24 one month after arrival in Australia, so he was just under the average age of the 839 allowed to land in Australia.

Romas in Germany

The Arolsen Archives have digitised 15 documents relating to Romas’ time in Germany, so we know a lot about it still. His American Expeditionary Force (AEF) DP Registration Record was completed in Assembly Centre 16, which, if that is the same as the Team Numbers on a list available from DPcamps.org, was in Düsseldorf in the North Rhine Region of the British Zone of Occupied Germany. He was registered on 25 August 1945.

The person completing the AEF form has favoured the German language, so the handwriting which might be transcribed as “bauningineur” indicates that Romas stated that he was a Bauingenieur, a “building” or civil engineer. Given his youth, this could have been the field in which he had been training in his city of previous residence, Kaunas, but it is unlikely that he had much practical experience.

On the back of the form, we can read that he was lucky enough to have been dusted with DDT on 8 November 1945. The enthusiasm for this dangerous poison apparently was widespread among the Americans after WWII. Another Displaced Person from the First Transport, someone who had scientific training, Helgi Nirk, blamed her ill health in later life to the amount of DDT to which she had been subject in the camps.

The medical officer for UNRRA Team 35 checked his health that day, with Team 35 equating to Dieburg in the American Zone.

A second AEF form was completed in Darmstadt on 14 January 1946. It gives his occupation as “Student polit.”, presumably political science. His interests had broadened from engineering.

This form was completed in DP Camp 502, Darmstadt, according to a clear rubber stamp. The DPcamps.org list of UNRRA teams says that Team 502 was in Stuttgart, still more than 75 minutes away by modern, fast train. It looks like the UNRRA list is not a reliable guide to the camp numbers after all.

A third AEF registration has been partially typed in Darmstadt on 5 February 1946, making it much easier to read. For instance, it is now clear that Romanas’ mother was Balmira Ragauskienė, née Baliunaite, while all the forms show clearly that his father was Martinas. Romanas’ occupation on this form again was student. And his destination is handprinted, relatively clearly, as Kranichsteiner str 59 (59 Kranichsteiner Street), Darmstadt, Grosshessen, Deutschland. Unfortunately, the additional handwritten remarks at the bottom of the form are not so easy to read.

Google Street View shows 59 Kranichsteiner Street as a private building on the corner of Kittler Strasse, possibly built to house a shop on the ground floor originally. As a student, Romanas now was “free-living”, the term used for Displaced Persons who were not housed in the camps.

Wait, there’s a fourth AEF form, apparently a typed copy of the 5 February one, but without the handwritten remarks. It has an addition in German, though, which confirms that Romanas was studying at the institution then called the Technical High School, but now the Technical University of Darmstadt.

A list shows him as a Lithuanian who was issued with documents in Darmstadt, also in the American Zone, on 5 February 1946. Another digital document is one page of a 3-page list of Lithuanians, nearly all students at the Technical High School. There are 46 of these students, but Vytautas Skidzevičius is not one of those named. This list does not have a date but another, dated 14 July 1947, has him still at the Kranichsteiner Strasse address, still studying, but having been in Brandenburg “during the War”. Another card confirms the Brandenburg presence in May 1945.

There are at least 2 copies of this ID photo of Romas Ragauskas in existence still;
one has written on the back, "Darmstadt, 15.5.47"

Source:  National Archives of Australia

The remainder of the 15 documents are duplicates, one way or another – but it is better to have duplicates than no records at all, which is the case for many of the Displaced Persons we have looked at already.

Interview for Australia

The summary of his interview with the selection team for migration to Australia, on 14 October 1947, shows that he "fled from the Russian regime" rather than being forcibly evacuated. His is one of the cases where the details of his decision to depart, the route he took, any travel companions, have not survived.

The summary recorded that Romas had only 4 years of primary education and 5 years of secondary. The team failed to record his tertiary education. Still, they realised that he had the sort of experience that they could downgrade to potential builder’s labourer.

His knowledge of English was said to be “nil” at the time of his interview. He probably focussed hard on learning the language during the 4 weeks on board the Heintzelman and 5 weeks in the Bonegilla camp.

Romas' early work in Australia

After completing his two-year employment obligation with the State Electrical Commission of Victoria, it was 26 October 1949 in his case. Was else do we know about Romanas? For a start, since the Kiewa Scheme was civil engineering, he may well have stayed on.

However, he probably was offered better pay by the SRWSC at Eildon, in Victoria, where he moved in November 1949. Ann, as a former Victorian, interprets SRWSC as State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.  Here, potable water for the city of Melbourne was a focus, in addition to irrigation and hydro-electricity.

He stayed at Eildon until June 1950. By July 1950, he was living in Melbourne and working as a civil engineer with the Commonwealth’s Department of Works and Housing.

Marriage and family

He married a Lithuanian, Danutė Balnionytė on 17 November 1952, in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral. They lived at 19 Chapel Street, St Kilda, an inner Melbourne suburb. Danutė had arrived in Australia in April 1949. They had one son.

Danutė Balnionytė's ID photo on her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Citizenship

The Melbourne Argus and Age newspapers of 21 November 1952 carried an advertisement from Romanas, as then required by law, announcing that he intended to apply for naturalisation. It said that he had been resident in Australia for 5 years, which was close enough, being only one week short. The National Library of Australia’s Trove digitisation service has not captured the notification in the Commonwealth Gazette that he had received Australian citizenship. The file on his citizenship application still held in the National Archives of Australia shows that he received citizenship on 30 July 1953.

Recognition as an engineer?

We know from the life story of the first former DP in this blog, Estonian Ernst Kesa, that Australia had no registration or recognition of overseas qualifications system for engineers at this time. We also know already that Romas’ occupation from 1950 was civil engineer. In 1954, he and his wife left Melbourne for NSW, where he spent eleven years working in various construction jobs.

Romas was able to work as an engineer on the construction of the Glenbawm and Grahamstown dams, still significant suppliers of water in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. His previous Australian work experience on the Kiewa Scheme, with the SRWSC and the Commonwealth Department of Works all would have helped get additional engineering employment.

In a Newcastle, NSW, meeting of the Australian Lithuanian Community for the area, R. Ragauskas was elected to be the delegate to the Community’s national congress in October 1958. When Danūte received Australian citizenship, on 3 December 1958, her address was given in the Commonwealth Gazette as Glenbawm Dam, via Scone.

Glenbawm Dam

Source: WaterNSW

Return to Melbourne

In 1965, the couple decided to return to Melbourne. Danūte's mother, brother, sister, and many friends and acquaintances lived here. Glenbawm Dam, via Scone, does not sound like an address where there were many like-minded people with whom to socialise. The education of their growing son may have been an issue also.

Romas starts sports administration

In 1970, Jonas Tamošiūnas, who was then the chairman of the Melbourne Lithuanian sports club Varpas, asked Romas to organise a golf competition for the 21st annual Australian Lithuanian sports festival. Until then, there had been no golf competitions at sports festivals. All the golfers gathered at the Albert Park golf course. Most of them were from Geelong at the time, with only a few from Melbourne. Romas was the winner of the golf competition he organised.

Jonas Tamošiūnas approached Romas again as the presidents of all the Lithuanian sporting clubs were starting an Australian Lithuanian Physical Education Union (ALFAS) board. Romas became the first secretary in 1971-1972. He was appointed chairman in 1973. Having been assured that there would not be much work involved, Romas found himself developing statutes for ALFAS and sports festivals and organising the first Australian Lithuanian trip to America.

In 1973, he was elected to the board of the Melbourne sports club Varpas and became its chairman, except for 1975, when he was the club's treasurer, until 1980.

Basketball player

Basketball results published Tėviškės Aidai in during 1975 show that Romas wasn’t just administering sporting groups, he was scoring lots of goals on the court too. Various photographs in Lithuanian-language newspapers show that Romas wasn’t tall, but at 5 feet 9 inches or 170 centimentres, he was not short either. He probably made up in agility on the basketball court what he lacked in height.

Engineers and Architects

In 1974, Engineer R. Ragauskas was elected chairman of the Australian Lithuanian Engineers and Architects Melbourne group. This group had existed for 15 years but had limited its activities to its professional members. A dinner on 21 July was organised to change this, and the majority of the 30 people attending were not professionals. Two members spoke about their work.

Chemist Kestutis Lynikas, who worked in the Reserve Bank's banknote issuance branch, gave an introduction to the production of Australian banknotes. Bronius Vingrys, an engineer with the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), detailed the provision of water to the city. Both talks were well illustrated and two short, colour MMBW films were screened. The evening finished with coffee, cakes and wine, and a committee which hoped not to “return to the darkness of the past”.

Sports administration again

When the Lithuanian Days festival came to Melbourne in December 1976, Romas was the natural choice for sporting events co-ordinator.

The Melbourne Lithuanian Days 1976 organising committee with
Romas Ragauskas in the middle of the back row; also in this photograph,
second from the left in the middle rown, is Karolis Prašmutas' daughter, Birūte

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

In 1981, Viktoras Adomavičius became chairman of the board of Varpas, and Romas again took up the leadership of the ALFAS during 1981-82. In 1984, he was again Varpas chairman and secretary in 1985.

After a break, in 1989-91, Romas again chaired ALFAS. This time, together with the Australian Lithuanian athletes, he participated in the 4th World Lithuanian Sports Festival in Lithuania. For his hard work, he was awarded the titles of honorary member of the Melbourne Lithuanian Sports Club Varpas and a medal of honour from ALFAS.

At a 1996 Geelong sports day, Romas stands in front of a line of other
ALFAS medal of honour recipients

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Later engineering career

Three classified advertisements in the Canberra Times, of September 1985, August 1988 and October 1990, shows that R. Ragauskas then was working for Roche Brothers Pty Ltd of St Kilda Road, Melbourne. In 1985, this company was organising the forecourt finishes for two areas of the now permanent Parliament House in Canberra, so was calling for subcontractors and suppliers interested in participating.

The 1988 advertisement was for subcontractors for work on the Mulwala Explosives Factory in Mulwala, New South Wales. The 1990 advertisement was for another important project near Canberra, a deviation to the Hume Highway south of Goulburn, New South Wales.

In the 1985 advertisement, Romas was named as “Ron Ragauskas”. His may well have been the office job of preparing tenders for these and other construction projects. In October 1990, he was still in the workforce at the age of 66.

There may well have been many of these advertisements in other Australian newspapers but Australian copyright laws mean that the Canberra Times is the only major city newspaper digitised by the National Library’s Trove project for the period from 1955 to 1995.

It has to be noted that Romas also was a frequent contributor to various appeals for financial support, for instance, for the Mūsų Pastogė newspaper.

Later life

He and his wife were still participating in and winning golf tournaments for Australian Lithuanians in 1999. This is the only time we see Dana mentioned in her own right, apart from a literal ‘wife in the kitchen’ comment on another activity. This probably was meant to be a thank you, but does not read well given the tremendous support Danūte must have given Romas over 54 years of marriage.

Romas passed away on the 15 January 2007, 13 days after his 83rd birthday. A notice was published in the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper on 17 January 2007.

Danūte died on 4 June 2016, aged 86, as notified in the Herald Sun of 7 June 2016. That notification names her son as Stan, possibly an Anglicisation of Stasys. He and his wife, Diana, had 4 children, grandchildren for Romas and Danūte.

In 2006, a perpetual trophy competition in basketball in the name of Romas Ragauskas was created. It is between the Melbourne Varpas Lithuanian Sports Club and its Geelong counterpart, the Vytis Lithuanian Sports Club.

CITE THIS AS: Pocius, Daina and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) ‘Romanas-Karolis Ragauskas, Engineer and Sports Administrator’ https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/romanas-karolis-ragauskas-engineer-and-sports-administrator.html.

Sources

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736986 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736986, accessed 11 October 2025.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736987 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736987, accessed 11 October 2025.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736991 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736991, accessed 11 October 2025.

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Ragauskas, Romanas’, Folder DP3288, names from RAFACZ, JOSEF to RAGNO, Luigi (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 68736992 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/68736992, accessed 11 October 2025.

Alekna, Ignas (1976a) ‘Pranešimas iš Australijos, Mes dar esame gyvi’ (‘Message from Australia, We are still alive’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Žiburiai (Lights of Homeland) Mississauga, Ont, 20 May, p 2 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1976/1976-05-20-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Alekna, Ignas (1976b) 'Australijos Lietuvių Dienos Melbourne' ('Australian Lithuanian Days Melbourne', in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 4 October, p 1  https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1976/1976-10-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 13 October 2025.

AS (1982) ‘Newcastle Kronika’ (‘Newcastle Chronicle’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 13 February, p 6 https://www.spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1982/1982-02-13-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 11 October 2025.

Canberra Times (1985) 'Advertising' 7 September, p 16 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12825394, accessed 13 October 2025.

Canberra Times (1988) 'Advertising' 13 August, p 36 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102043242, accessed 13 October 2025.

Canberra Times (1990) 'Advertising' 13 October, p 32 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122316695, accessed 13 October 2025.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1959) ‘Certificates of Naturalization’, Canberra, 7 May, p 1569 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/25980619, accessed 6 October 2025.

Kesminas, A (1990) (No title) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 29 January , p 6, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1990/1990-01-29-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 October 2025.

‘Liste 2, Nationalitat: Litauen’ (‘List 2, Nationality: Lithuanian’, in German) 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 70305937 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70305937, accessed 11 October 2025.

Liuga, B (1958) ‘Newcastlis, Visuot. Susirinkimas’ (‘Newcastle, General Meeting, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 13 October, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1958/1958-10-13-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 October 2025.

L-tis, A (1977) ‘Pabaltiečių Sporto Šventė,’ (‘Baltic Sports Festival’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 23 May, p 7 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1977/1977-05-23-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Marčiulionytė, Z (1996) 'Sportas, Dėkojame!' ('Sport, Thank You!', in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 1 April, p 6, https://www.spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1996/1996-04-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 13 October 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1993) ‘Romanas Ragauskas’ (In Lithuanian) Sydney, 21 June, p 6 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1993/1993-06-21-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 6 October 2025.

My Tributes, 'Death Notice for Ragauskas, Danute' https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/death-notices/ragauskas-danute/3981317/, accessed 11 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A435, Class 4 correspondence files relating to naturalisation, 1944-1950; 1950/4/4124, RAGAUSKAS Romanas Karolis - born 02 January 1924 – Lithuanian, 1950-1953 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6958809, accessed 10 October 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; 645, RAGAUSKAS Romanas-Karolis DOB 2 January 1924, 1947-1947 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005872, accessed 10 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956: RAGAUKAS ROMANAS, RAGAUSKAS, Romanas : Year of Birth - 1924 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 1019, 1947-1948 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203913544, accessed 10 October 2025.

'Original collection', 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 70305945 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70305945, accessed 11 October 2025.

PB (1974) ‘Melbourno Inžinierių Veikla’ (‘Melbourne Engineering Activity’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 18 February, p 8, https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1974/1974-02-18-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Prašmutas, K (1972) ‘Mes Dar Gyvi Lietuviai’ (‘We Lithuanians are Still Alive’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 4 December, p 2 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1972/1972-12-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 10 October 2025.

‘Ragauskas, Romanas’ in War Time Card File (Registration cards, employees’ record books, individual correspondence) A-Z, 2.2 Documents on the Registration of Foreigners and the Employment of Forced Laborers, 1939 - 1945 / 2.2.2 Various Public Administrations and Companies (Documents related to individuals), ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 74421802, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/74421802, accessed 12 October 2025.

Ryerson Index, https://ryersonindex.org/search.php, accessed 6 October 2025.

Stufe II, Liste B' (Level 2, List B), 'Stadtkreis Darmstadt, Gemeinde Darmstadt' ('Urban District Darmstadt, Community Darmstadt)', 'Nationalität Litauen, Blatt 3' ('Nationality Lithuanians, Page 3, in German') 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 70305941 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/70305941, accessed 11 October 2025.

Stufe III, Liste 3  ('Level 3, List 3) ‘Litanen (Blatt 3)’ (‘Lithuanians, Page 3’, in German), Excerpts from Files of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Darmstadt, 1.2.2 Prisons, ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 12070656 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/12070656, accessed 11 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1973) ‘Melbournas’ (Melbourne, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 22 May (No 19) p 4 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1973/1973-nr19-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) (1975) ‘Sportas, Melbournas’ (‘Sport, Melbourne’, in Lithuanian) Melbourne, 28 October (no 41) https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1975/1975-nr41-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Tėviškės Žiburiai (Lights of Homeland) (1971) ‘Lietuviai Pasaulyje’ (‘Lithuanians in the world’, in Lithuanian) Toronto, Ontario, 4 March, p 4 https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1971/1971-03-04-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf, accessed 10 October 2025.

“Varpas” Committee (2009) ‘Melbourne Lithuanian Sports Club “Varpas” will be hosting the annual Melbourne “Varpas”v Geelong “Vytis” Mini Festival at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre’ Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland) Melbourne, 7 October, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/2009/2009-10-07-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

W, Alex (2009) ‘Geelongo ‘‘Vytis” ir Melbourne “Varpas” surengė mini krepšinio šventę’ (‘Geelong's ''Vytis'' and Melbourne's ''Varpas'' held a mini basketball celebration’, in English apart from headline) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) Sydney, 4 November, p 5 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/2009/2009-11-04-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 11 October 2025.

Lithuanians on the First Transport After 25 Years, by Karolis Prašmutas trans. Ann Tündern-Smith

[I have taken the liberty of editing what Google Translate has done to an article which Karolis Prašmutas wrote for Mūsų Pastogė in December 1972, to commemorate 25 years since the Lithuanians on the First Transport reached Australia.  I trust that the Prašmutai and anyone else who understands the Lithuanian language either forgives me or quietly provides corrections.

Did Karolis write a commemoration?  He finished with an important question, but it seems that subsequent generations and new arrivals from the old country have answered it positively for him.  The same applies to the continuation of the Latvian and Estonian communities in Australia.

What I find particularly interesting about this article is that it starts with Karolis acknowledging that the First Transport was an experiment.  The composition of future migration intakes depended very much on how Australians greeted the first group.  We are blessed that the welcome was warm, changing the face of Australia in the 78 years since.                                                                                                              Ann]

WE LITHUANIANS ARE STILL ALIVE

A group of Lithuanians left the shores of old Europe from Bremerhaven 25 years ago. The then Australian government admitted the first immigrants (political refugees) exclusively as a pilot group for the implementation of a further immigration program. 

Since Australia, like other countries, had many economic difficulties after the War, and there was a particularly large shortage of residences, the first group of Lithuanians (and all Baltics) was selected from unmarried people.  It was easier to deal with residential issues for this group. 

In the Lithuanian group, the number of women was very irrational in relation to men, but the Lithuanian men remained Lithuanian men and the majority created Lithuanian families, which still speak Lithuanian today. The shores of Australia were reached on 28 November 1947. 

After visiting Western Australia, we had to sail further east to Melbourne on the semi-invalid Australian ship Kanimbla.  In the port of Melbourne we were personally met by the then Minister of Immigration, Mr. Arthur Calwell. 

Although Mr. Calwell welcomed us quite warmly and the sun was scorching hot, the Australian land was cold for every Lithuanian and held an uncertain future, even more so since the leftist working class of Australia opposed the “Balts”. 

In military terms, the First Transport group was supposed to create a bridgehead for  further and more numerous compatriots to move to Australia.  The aforementioned bridgehead of the First Transport was successfully completed, as a result of which a considerable number of Lithuanians settled in Australia.  Is this how it was all supposed to end? 

No, just as an army unit, having moved across a river or other natural barriers, having accomplished its task, never withdraws from the battle, but even more actively joins the main group for further campaigns. 

Also in this case, the first Lithuanian group, even after 25 years, has not been melted by the merciless environment, but has remained distinct and unique.  Undoubtedly, some of them have gone to the Other Side, some have become indifferent to everything, closing themselves like chickens in an egg, but a large percentage today are still steadfast in Lithuanian work.

They understand their task, what was required of them 25 years ago, when our national leaders sending them overseas repeated, remember that you were born Lithuanians and remain so, even if cruel winds blow you about, do not rest, work for the Freedom of the Nation, because you have lost that freedom and no one will give it to you as a gift.

Those words still ring in our ears today, although they touched our eardrums long, long ago. Here we recall only the participants of the First Transport of Victoria (because I do not know about other States), whose names are always mentioned in Lithuanian activities, or in preparations.

Today passengers on the First Transport belong to or lead several national activities boards and organizations.  Here they are: Mrs Viltis Kružienė, Kazys Mieldažys, Povilas Baltutis, Vytautas Šalkūnas, Napoleonas Butkūnas, Karolis Prašmutas, Romas Ragauskas, Juozas Keblys and Petras Morkūnas. 

Although they are not tired after 25 years and do not complain about their heavy contribution to national activities, for how long? And where are the others?  First Transport colleagues themselves should answer that question.

Click on the original article to read a more legible version

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

Jonas Bimba (1926-2011), Long Life Despite Scares, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

Jonas Bimba was one of the 62 men from the First Transport sent to the sand and scrub at Bangham, near Wolseley in South Australia, to serve out their work contract with the Australian Government by widening a rural railway track.

He was born on 31 October 1926, in a village with his family name, Bimbos, in the Panemunėlis Eldership* of the Rokiškis Municipality. His family were farmers. Jonas had at least one younger brother.

As the second Russian occupation approached Jonas, together with an uncle from Klaipėda, took a ship to Germany.

While in Berlin he was intercepted by a German patrol and taken into the Army. For a time, he looked after the troop’s horses in Hanover.

As the front approached, and the German Army retreated, Jonas simply took off his uniform and joined other refugees. He lived in several displaced persons camps.

His uncle had relatives in America and was able to emigrate to the United States. Jonas’ request to go there was rejected.

In his American Expeditionary Force (AEF) DP Registration, he said that he had an uncle in the United States. That uncle might have been a brother to the uncle who went to Germany with him, so a close enough relative for the Americans. Mere uncle for Jonas could have been too distant in American eyes. Jonas ended up in Australia on the First Transport.

Jonas in Germany, photo from his selection papers

Source:  National Archives of Australia

When interviewed by Australia’s selection team, he advised that he had completed 6 years of primary education plus 2 years at a trade school learning to be an electrician. That ship to Germany with his uncle had become “forcibly evacuated by (the) Germans”.

In Germany, he had been a “lumber worker” for half a year and a labourer for a full year. He had worked as an electrician in Lithuania for only half a year.

None of those occupations approximate the šaltkalvis recorded on the AEF form. That word translated directly into English as “whitesmith”.

In case you, like us, have never come across the opposite of blacksmith before, it further translates into someone who works with metals which are not iron or steel, like tin or pewter, silver or lead. It applies also to tradesmen plating iron with tin, including for the drainage elements on the outside of buildings. The copper used by electricians does not get a mention though.

Either Jonas was versatile in his training and experience or a mistake had been made.

He was described as being fluent in Russian as well as Lithuanian, while his English and German skills both were fair.

He nearly missed out on Australia too, because of high blood pressure, but was declared fit in the end.

This photo of Jonas probably was taken in December 1947,
in the Bonegilla camp

Source:  National Archives of Australia

After the Bangham days were over, he lived in Adelaide for a while, Brisbane and Melbourne, but finally settled in Sydney.  Jonas married a Lithuanian, Margarita Blažytė, and had a family.

He became an Australian citizen on 11 March 1958, when he was living at 18 Fisher Street in the Sydney suburb of Petersham.

He did not participate in most Lithuanian activities, but all the time was a supporter and a regular visitor to Sydney Lithuanian Club. There was one group, however, in which he was particularly active, according to a series of reports in the Mūsų Pastogė newspaper during 1987 to 1995: the Darius and Girėnas shooters association.

In 1982, KPB in the Tėviškės Aidai newspaper reported that Jonas had been attacked and robbed at a Sydney railway station. His leg was broken in the attack and $350 was stolen before the robbers fled. Mūsų Pastogė reported that he had been admitted to Marrickville Hospital as a result of the attack.

Despite this vicious event, he was one of the survivors who attended a dinner to celebrate 50 years since the arrival of the First Transport in 1997 in Sydney – or, as they put it, 50 years since the start of the Lithuanian community. Any member of the Bauzė family or Jonas Mockūnas in his early Lithuanians blog can tell you that there were Lithuanians in Sydney before December 1947, but perhaps they were too few and isolated to form a community.

Jonas Bimba in later life
Source:  Mūsų Pastogė, 26 January 2011

The funeral of the Jonas Bimba took place on 14 January 2011 at Rookwood Cemetery. This was more than 84 years after his birth, so that high blood pressure did not matter in the long run. It was nearly 30 years after the violent robbery which, if anything, might have had the effect of shortening an even longer life.

He was cremated and his ashes were to be transferred to Lithuania. As we write, their placement has not made it onto Lithuania’s Website for the deceased, Cemety.lt. It is possible that they were scattered.

FOOTNOTE: * An eldership is the smallest Lithuanian local administrative unit, part of a municipality, equivalent to a ward in the United States or parts of Australia.

CITE THIS AS: Pocius, Daina and Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/jonas-bimba-1926-2011-long-life-despite-scares.html.

SOURCES

AEF DP Registration Record, ‘Jonas Bimba’, in Folder DP0362, names from BIMANIS, ELZA to BINDELS, Jan (1), 3.1.1 Registration and Care of DPs inside and outside of Camps; ITS/Arolsen Archives, DocID: 66606458, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/66606458, accessed 3 October 2025.

KPB (1982) ‘Iš Mūsų Parapijų, Sydnėjus’ (‘From our Parishes, Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Tėviškės Aidai (Echoes of Homeland), Melbourne, 10 July, p 7 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1982/1982-07-10-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf, accessed 3 October 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (1982) ‘Informacija, Pastaruoju Metu Sydnejuje’ (‘Information, Recent Times in Sydney’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 14 June, p 12 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1982/1982-06-14-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 3 October 2025.

Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven) (2011) ‘A A Jonas Bimba’ (‘In Memoriam Jonas Bimba’, in Lithuanian) Sydney, 26 January, P ?

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; 40, BIMBA Jonas DOB 31 October 1926 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5005478, accessed 3 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-1976; BIMBA JONAS, BIMBA Jonas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Unknown per Unknown, 1951-1951, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7187427, accessed 4 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956: BIMBA JONAS, BIMBA, Jonas : Year of Birth - 1926 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number - 440 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203666752, accessed 4 October 2025.

Žalys, B (1997) Sydnėjus atšventė atvykimo 5O – mėtį (‘Sydney Celebrated 50 years since the Arrival’, in Lithuanian) Mūsų Pastogė (Our Haven), Sydney, 1 December, p 3 https://spauda2.org/musu_pastoge/archive/1997/1997-12-01-MUSU-PASTOGE.pdf, accessed 4 October 2025.

Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Hospital history

The site on which this hospital was built has housed a hospital since the 1890s.  The family which owned the site bequeathed it to the government in 1937 so that a public hospital could be built on it.  The first government-owned and run hospital was opened as a general hospital for the Australian Army in 1941.  It was known as the Yaralla Military Hospital after the name of the property on which it was built.

After World War II, it became a hospital which specialised in the needs of returned service personnel.  The name was changed to Repatriation General Hospital, Concord.

First Transport refugees sent there to work, 1948

Voldemars Briedis, a Latvian who had been a medical student, was sent there on 7 April 1948, specifically to work as a medical orderly.  He had been working at the Bonegilla camp already from 8 December, so the day of arrival the previous year.  His English was good enough for him to have been nominated by cable from Berlin as one of 15 suitable for work as teachers or interpreters.

Voldemars was accompanied to his new workplace by another Latvian, Ojars Springis, and 4 Lithuanians:  Bronius Šaparas, whose story we have just looked at, plus Jurgis Arlionis, Ceslovas Sviderskas and Vladas Navickas.  All except Voldemars had been sent off the the fruit-picking exercise in the Goulburn Valley first.

This is what the entrance to the Repatriation Hospital looked like
when the First Transporters were sent there

Source:  Photograph by Frank Hurley, National Library of Australia

At this stage, I understand that Ojars and Vladas moved later to Tasmania, so Ramunas Tarvydas should have something to say about them.  They are on the list in From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, but he has nothing more to add.

The Hospital today

The Hospital is now a district general hospital, on Hospital Road in the Sydney suburb of Concord.  It is a teaching hospital of the Sydney Medical School of the University of Sydney.

Location of Concord Hospital

Source:  Wikipedia Maps

CITE THIS AS:  Tündern-Smith, Ann (2025) 'Repatriation General Hospital, Concord', https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/10/repatriation-general-hospital-concord.html.

SOURCES

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office;  A445, Correspondence files, multiple number series (policy matters), 1922-1968; 174/4/8, Bonegilla Centre - Education of New Australians, 1947-1945  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=75444, accessed 3 October 2025.

National Archives of Australia:  Migration Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-1956.

Tarvydas, Ramunas (1997) From Amber Coast to Apple Isle, Fifty years of Baltic Immigrants in Tasmania, Hobart, Baltic Semicentennial Commemoration Activities Organising Committee, pp 158-187.

Wikipedia, 'Concord Repatriation General Hospital'   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Repatriation_General_Hospital, accessed 3 October 2025.