Roberts Miezitis, who was thankful, by Ann Tündern-Smith

Born in 1909, Latvian Roberts Miezitis was one of the older passengers on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman.  His spoken English was so good that he was one of 15 nominated by cable from Germany as suitable for employment in an Australian staging camp as teacher or interpreter.  His written English, if transcribed faithfully in the typescript below, was a work in progress, but still easy to understand.

Robert Miezitis' letter with at least one transcription error 
(the spelling of his family name)

Source:  National Archives of Australia

Mr and Mrs Webb ran the canteen at the Swanbourne Barracks, according to Gratwick's minute to Nutt.

Why do we have it still?  It was attached to a report sent from Perth to Canberra, by the Acting Commonwealth Migration Officer for Western Australia, RW Gratwick, to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration (Arthur Leonard) Nutt.   Gratwick attached two other reports will I will put up soon.

"Oronge" is mentioned three times, as a symbol of luxury, I suspect. Not necessarily in Europe before WWII, but certainly during the War.

Given the abundance of oranges and orange juice in Australia today, it's hard to image them as luxuries. Only one hundred years and more ago, they were luxuries in Europe. Hence the "orangerie", a greenhouse rich people had on their properties specifically to grow them.

Sources

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Central Office; A445/1, Correspondence files, multiple number series (policy matters); 174/4/8, Bonegilla Centre - Education of new Australians https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=75444 accessed 27 June 2025.

National Archives of Australia:  Department of Immigration, Western Australian Branch; PP482/1, Correspondence files [nominal rolls], single number series; 82, General Heintzelman - arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947 - nominal rolls of passengers https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=439196 accessed 27 June 2025.

14 June 1941 in the Baltic States: Why We are Here in Australia, by ChatGPT with Ann Tündern-Smith

The First Soviet Mass Deportations and Their Legacy

On 14 June 1941, horror descended upon the Baltic States.  In the dead of night, the Soviet NKVD, the secret police, began the first mass deportations from these countries, which had been annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. 

This date marks a watershed in Baltic history, since it wasn not only the onset of brutal repression but also the start of a national trauma whose legacy reverberates still. In the Baltics, June 14 is now observed as a day of mourning, while in Australia, home to many Baltic refugees and their descendants, the day is remembered through public events.

Historical Context

Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939 — a non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which included secret protocols for the division of Eastern Europe — the fate of the Baltics was sealed. In June 1940, Soviet forces occupied Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Within months, puppet governments were installed and elections rigged. The Baltic republics were annexed formally into the USSR by August 1940.

Though the occupation was presented as "voluntary accession," the reality was a coercive and violent absorption into the Soviet system. The Soviets began to eliminate potential opposition by targeting political, military, and intellectual elites, as well as wealthier citizens and anyone associated with the former independent governments.

The Deportations of 13-14 June 1941

Late in 13 June 1941 and the early hours of 14 June, mass arrests and deportations commenced almost simultaneously in the 3 states. Soviet security forces, with lists prepared in advance, knocked on doors and gave families as little as 15 minutes to gather belongings. Entire families — including women, children, and the elderly — were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in cattle wagons bound for remote regions of the Soviet Union.

The cattle wagons

Source:  Soviet Mass Deportations — June 1941

In Lithuania:

An estimated 17,500 people were deported in this first wave. Among them were government officials, clergy, teachers, business people, farmers, and their families. Many were sent to Altai Krai, Komi ASSR, and Tomsk Oblast. Men were typically separated from their families and sent to prison camps (gulags), while women and children were sent to forced settlements.  In these forced settlements, they could try to resume normal lives, still under NKVD supervision, so they were not allowed to leave.

In Latvia:

Approximately 15,400 individuals were deported. The operation targeted social elites: former ministers, parliamentarians, judges, police, and affluent farmers ("kulaks"). Some 1,700 men were executed or died in gulags. The rest of their families endured forced resettlement in harsh climates, with high mortality among children.

In Estonia:

Around 10,200 people were deported, again largely consisting of political, military, and social elites. Among them were 4,331 children under 16. The death rate among deportees was high due to poor living conditions, starvation, cold, and disease. For Estonians, this event remains one of the darkest in their history.

In all three countries:

The trains took their time to depart, depending on other needs for the railway lines.  Locals who had not been rounded up could hear those imprisoned inside calling for help, for water, but were kept away by armed guards.  The impending deportations were no secret.

Purpose and Method

The deportations were designed to eliminate potential resistance to Soviet rule and to transform Baltic society into a model Soviet state. By targeting elites and displacing thousands, the Soviets aimed to:

• instil terror and submission;
• dismantle national identity and leadership structures;
• replace populations with more compliant or Russian-speaking groups (in later waves);
• create labour for remote Soviet industries and agriculture.

The cattle wagons used in the deportations were overcrowded, had no sanitation, and lacked food and water. The journey lasted weeks, with many dying en route. Once at their destinations, deportees faced harsh climates, forced labour, and extreme poverty.

The Timing: Days Before Operation Barbarossa

The mass deportations took place just eight days before Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 in Operation Barbarossa. The NKVD rushed to complete the operation, fearing that an invasion would complicate future control. Nazi forces were welcomed by some Balts in the initial phase of the invasion, as they appeared to be liberators from Soviet oppression. However, Nazi occupation soon brought its own set of atrocities, especially against the Jewish population.

What happened as the Soviets started to return

As the Soviet forces started to return to the Baltic States, young people often found themselves rounded up to assist the German forces or taken to Germany to assist with the war effort there.

Ann has been told tales of teenage boys taken from their schools by the Germans to dig ditches between the Germans and the Soviets as they were firing at each other.

On 10 March 1944, a Soviet squadron of women bomber pilots, the Night Witches, bombed parts of Estonia's capital city.  This was Stalin's way of saying that he could exercise control over populations controlled by the Germans, if he wanted to.  The German response was to invite women to travel by train to Germany, for safety as well as contributing to Germany with their labour.  Ann's mother found that her apartment has been badly damaged by the bombing and was one of those who left.

Others had been told that they had been on the June 1941 lists, but had missed the deportations by being out for the evening when the NKVD called.

All in all, by the late summer of 1944, with the Soviet forces drawing closer and the Germans packing to leave, the memory of 14 June meant that anyone who had a chance to get out did try to get out.  Those who could leave with the German Army did so.  Ships were crammed full.

In short, June 14 is why an estimated 300,000 fled the Baltic States for Germany, and Sweden, in 1944.

Remembering 14 June in Australia

In Australia today, the events of 14 June 1941 are remembered by the Baltic communities in:

• Commemorative services, often held in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Canberra;
• Flag raisings and memorial events at Baltic community halls;
• Survivor testimonies shared through community newsletters and websites;
• Collaboration with embassies and consulates to honour the date;
• Participation in broader anti-communist remembrance events, such as Black Ribbon Day (August 23) and Victims of Communism Day (May 23 in Lithuania, June 14 in Estonia and Latvia).
  

  

  Baltic refugees gather at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in June 1953
  

  Source:  National Archives of Australia

Today, June 14 is marked annually as the "Day of Mourning and Hope" in Lithuania, "Commemoration Day of Victims of Communist Genocide" in Latvia, and "Day of Mourning" in Estonia.

Common forms of commemoration include:

• public ceremonies at railway stations, cemeteries, and national monuments;
• readings of victims' names, often by schoolchildren or public figures;
• church services and candlelight vigils;
• museum exhibitions and academic conferences;
• national television broadcasts, documentaries, and survivor interviews;
• In Lithuania, a symbolic train journey is sometimes recreated to honour deportees.

These events are solemn but central to reinforcing national memory and identity, especially among younger generations. The trauma of deportation is also a key element in literature, film, and political discourse across the Baltics.

Cultural Memory and Education

Across the Baltics and among the diaspora, the deportations of 1941 are deeply embedded in national historical narratives. The event is taught in schools and universities, and numerous memoirs, novels, and films have been created to preserve the memory.

Notable examples include:

• "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys (Lithuanian-American), a novel inspired by her relatives' deportation;
• Documentaries like "The Soviet Story" and national TV series produced in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania;
• Digital memory projects like "Siberian Memories" and "Names and Fates", which document the lives of deportees.

In Australia, younger members of the diaspora are engaging with this history through family oral histories, university theses, and community heritage projects, especially as the original survivors pass away.

Conclusion

14 June 1941 stands as a symbol of one of the most traumatic events in modern Baltic history: the forced removal and suffering of tens of thousands at the hands of the Soviet regime. 

It is remembered today in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with deep solemnity and as a reaffirmation of national endurance. 

In Australia, the Baltic communities honour their ancestors' suffering and survival, ensuring that this part of 20th-century history is not forgotten, even far from the forests of Siberia or the cattle wagons of 1941. 

Through remembrance, education, and cultural expression, the tragedy of June 14 continues to shape Baltic identity and the global understanding of the consequences of totalitarianism.

More

How the June 1941 mass deportations affected people in other newly acquired Soviet satellite states is described in the Soviet Mass Deportations — June 1941 page of the Kresy-Siberia Foundation's Website at https://kresy-siberia.org/museum-galleries/soviet-mass-deportations-1940-41/soviet-mass-deportations/june-1941/.  Accounts of earlier mass deportations which affected other Eastern European countries can be accessed from this page also.

Stanislavs Berzins: the First Accident, by Ann Tündern-Smith

We've reported already on two work-related deaths and a fatal motor cycle accident.  Sadly, there were some more, which we'll get to one-by-one.  The first unfortunate encounter with motorised transport or construction equipment happened on 1 December 1947, according to a report in the West Australian newspaper 2 days later.  The first day in December was only the third day in Australia.

Source:  West Australian, 3 December 1947

There was no Stanislaus Benzines on the Heintzelman passenger list.  The most likely casualty was Stanislavs Berzins, who was aged 29, not 19.  Already the Australian press was struggling to cope with the new names, although we know that others from the Baltic States had been living in Australia for decades.

Traffic driving on the other side of the road was the obvious issue as it still is for Australians in Europe and new European arrivals in Australia.  Had this issue been included in the English language classes on board the Heintzelman?  We know nothing of their content, only that they were conducted by Edna Davis.

"Benzines" was an interesting choice for an alternative name, given that some languages use variations on benzene as their name for petrol (or gas/gasoline for American readers).

Disembarking from the Heintzelman in Fremantle Harbour: the Orders, by RW Gratwick with Ann Tündern-Smith

Military precision is not a surprise only two years after the end of World War II.  That's what was required by the Acting Commonwealth Migration Officer for Western Australia, RW Gratwick, in this letter to the Master of the General Stuart Heintzelman.  Of the Heintzelman's three Captains, the Master would have been the Navy one, Cort M Pedersen.  It was more likely the Army one, Transport Commander Captain Valentine Pasvolsky, who organised the passenger as required by the Department of Immigration.

The letter probably was carried to the Heintzelman when a doctor went out to the ship to conduct the medical inspection.  This is as good a time as any to note again that this medical inspection resulted in three passengers not being allowed "debark" (disembark) and enter Australia.

The letter is from a Department of Immigration file, PP482/1, 82, General Heintzelman — Nominal Roll — arrived Fremantle 28 November 1947.  It's been digitised at https://firsttransport.blogspot.com/2025/06/disembarking-from-Heintzelman-in-Fremantle-Harbour-19471128.html, but I'm drawing significant correspondence to your attention.

Double-click on each of the two pages to see a more legible size in a new browser page.

Nearly 1,000,000 humanitarian settlers in Australia, by ChatGPT with Ann Tündern-Smith

An email message from the Refugee Council of Australia brought Ann's attention to the impending arrival of the 1,000,000th humanitarian entrant to Australia.  Ann did some of her own research on the Web, noting that the arrivals so far numbered only 950,000 and that the current intake is capped at 20,000 each year.  Still, several Websites were getting excited about the one million figure, so Ann thought that summarising them would be a good project to set for an Artificial Intelligence or AI program.  Minor errors in ChatGPT's answer have been corrected by Ann.  What do you think of the result below?

Since 1947, Australia has resettled 950,000 refugees and others in humanitarian need through a evolving migration program that reflects both its international obligations and domestic priorities. This achievement is one of the most significant in the history of global refugee resettlement, placing Australia among the world’s top resettlement countries per capita.

Australia’s formal humanitarian resettlement began in the aftermath of World War II. In 1947, it accepted its first group of Displaced Persons (DPs) under an agreement with the International Refugee Organization (IRO). These were the 839 Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Heintzelman passengers upon whom this blog focuses. 

This photograph really has become an icon:  it shows men from the First Transport, the Heintzelman ready to travel by train to Bonegilla after disembarking in Port Melbourne
 from the Kanimbla on 9 December 1947

Source: National Archives of Australia

Many of these early arrivals were from elsewhere in Eastern Europe— Ukrainians, Yugoslavs, Czechs, Slovaks, Rumanians, Hungarians, Belorussians, Bulgarians and Poles—who had been displaced by war and Soviet occupation. Around 180,000 DPs arrived between 1947 and 1952, often transported by ship and housed in temporary migrant hostels around the country. This intake was driven both by humanitarian concern and a government policy of “populate or perish,” reflecting Australia’s desire to boost its population and workforce.

In subsequent decades, the program expanded and diversified. The 1970s saw a large intake of Vietnamese refugees following the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon in April 1974. The “boat people” crisis starting on 26 April 1976 marked Australia’s first major experience with spontaneous maritime asylum seekers, and the government responded with a structured resettlement and community sponsorship approach. This era also included Cambodian and Laotian refugees, who together made up the Indochinese humanitarian intake.

Vietnamese boats in Darwin Harbour

Source:  National Museum of Australia

In the 1980s and 1990s, humanitarian arrivals included people fleeing civil conflict in Lebanon, the Horn of Africa, and the Balkans. The post-Cold War period saw new waves of displacement, and Australia responded by adjusting its program to accommodate refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and later Syria. Throughout this time, Australia maintained a commitment to formal resettlement through the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) as well as a Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) that allowed individual Australians and eligible community organisations to propose people in humanitarian need for resettlement.

Today, the humanitarian program is capped annually, with places allocated between the Refugee and SHP categories. While numbers have fluctuated, the average annual intake has been around 13,750 in recent years, though it has occasionally increased in response to global crises. Notably, in 2015, Australia offered an additional 12,000 places for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Across the decades, Australia has also built a strong, community-based settlement support system. Refugees are offered language training, employment services, trauma support, and assistance integrating into Australian society. Many have gone on to make significant contributions to Australian life in areas ranging from business and education to politics and the arts.

Despite ongoing public and political debate—particularly over asylum seekers arriving by boat—the structured humanitarian resettlement program remains widely supported and continues to play a key role in Australia’s identity as a multicultural nation. The milestone of nearly one million people resettled since 1947 is a testament to Australia’s enduring commitment to providing refuge and opportunity to those fleeing persecution and conflict.

FOOTNOTES

1. As noted in the first entry for this blog, the official figure does not include those who have been able to pay their own way to resettlement in Australia.
2. The current annual refugee and humanitarian intake is set at 20,000 people, which means that it will be at least two more years before the 1 million mark is reached.
3. Ann gets a glow of satisfaction every time she sees the Special Humanitarian Program mentioned, as she wrote the initial instructions for this and also was charged with the initial selections, in order to test how the instructions and the ideas behind it were working. That was in 1981.

SOURCES

Ann asked ChatGPT for it sources. This is how ChatGPT replied (although the links have been changed--see below).

"Combining data from the Department of Home Affairs, Parliamentary Library, and RCOA, the cumulative total of refugees and humanitarian entrants to Australia since 1947 is generally cited as being over 950,000 and nearing one million. This figure includes Displaced Persons, UNHCR-referred refugees, and entrants under the Special Humanitarian Program.

"Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, 'About the Program'

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/about-the-program/about-the-program accessed 21 June 2025.

"National Archives of Australia, [Historical immigration records and exhibitions such as A Place to Call Home? Migrant Hostel Memories, currently accessible through https://www.flickr.com/photos/national-archives-of-australia/albums/72157647236319189/] accessed 21 June 2025.  [The National Archives of Australia is at https://naa.gov.au.]

"Parliament of Australia, 'Australia’s Humanitarian Program: a quick guide to the statistics since 1947' https://apo.org.au/node/72483 accessed 21 June 2025.

"Refugee Council of Australia, 'Australia Draws Closer to Milestone of 1 Million Refugee Arrivals Since World War II' https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/950000-refugee-arrivals/ accessed 21 June 2025.

"United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 'Regional Resettlement Data' https://www.unhcr.org/au/regional-resettlement-data accessed 21 June 2025."     

ChatGPT seems to have been able to go where mere humans using Google Search cannot go.  In all cases, it provided the Home Page link only, except for the UNHCR site.  There it seemed to provide an Australia specific link which is not active.  Ann therefore has tried to provide you with more useful links.

Picking pears for Australia, by Daina Pocius and Ann Tündern-Smith

One quarter of male Baltic refugees from the First Transport were employed as fruit pickers in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley between January and March 1948.  The Commonwealth Employment Service’s District Office had arranged for them to assist in the fruit harvesting subject to certain conditions, including that they be employed in batches of at least five and that satisfactory board and accommodation had to be provided by the growers.  

 

The Goulburn Valley had only a small quantity of available labour which would have been totally inadequate to harvest the crop.  This would lead to the loss of thousands of pounds worth of fruit.  Most of the refugees, whose average age was 24 years, were employed in the Ardmona area for the harvesting of fresh fruit, canning fruit, and dried fruits.

 

Apricot picking had started early in January, before the Baltic refugees were made available.  The pear picking season was expected to start on 20 January.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday, 28-29 January 1948, 193 Baltic migrants arrived in Shepparton by special buses from the Bonegilla Migrant Camp.  The 193 number is that given by the Shepparton Advertiser newspaper on 30 January: it’s more optimistic than the 187 we found by examining all the “Bonegilla cards” for the Heintzelman group. 

The red dot in the west (right) of this Google map marks Ardmona; the Bonegilla Migrant Experience in the east (left) of this map has been developed from the former Bonegilla migrant camp: the modern trip from Bonegilla to Shepparton takes a little more than two hours so the remaining two and a quarter hours is the trip from Shepparton to Ardmona;
Click on the map for a larger version on another page

Source: Map data © Google

 

The Advertiser journalist wrote that the Goulburn Valley fruit growers were almost unanimous in agreeing that the new workers from the Displaced Persons camps were an “excellent type” and they were “well satisfied with the selection”. The refugees were to be distributed among 30 orchards in the Shepparton and Ardmona district.  Maybe plans had changed since destinations for the fruit pickers were recorded at Bonegilla, since they show only 16 employers.

 

The journalist advised that, at the end of the season, the new workers would be free to accept employment as permanent orchard hands if they so desired.  Wishful thinking!

 

The 16 orchards involved were those of :

 

Anton Lenne of Ardmona,  

 

AW & JF Fairley of Shepparton,

 

Bruce Simson of Ardmona,

 

Dundas Simson Pty Ltd, Ardmona,

 

E Fairley of Shepparton,

 

HE Pickworth of Ardmona,

 

H Hick of Grahamvale,

 

I Pyke of Ardmona,

 

J Nethersole & Sons of Ardmona,

 

JT Goe of Orrvale, 

 

RT Clements of Toolamba,

 

SF Cornish of Ardmona, 

 

TE Young of Ardmona,

 

Turnbull Bros of Ardmona,

 

VR McNab of Ardmona, and

 

W Young of Kelvin Orchards, Ardmona.

 

As for the minimum group size, the Advertiser mentions 3 and that was the number that the Bonegilla cards show going to JT Goe.  They were one Latvian and two Lithuanians, who we have to hope were already great friends.  At least they had German as a common language.

Picking pears,  possibly on the Grahamvale property of Mr H Hick

Source: Arvids Lejins collection

It seems that not all orchard owners were fair to the new workers.  According to the Communist Party’s Tribune newspaper, some were kept in isolated groups and were working a 48-hour week for the same pay as Australians receive for a 40-hour week.  Some of the Balts had thrown in their jobs and returned to Bonegilla early.  

 

Povilas Laurinavičius, who we met in the last blog entry, returned to Bonegilla after 2 weeks only with Anton Lenne of Ardmona.  We don’t know why he returned.  It could have been the hours expected to be worked 6 days a week.  Maybe the outdoor conditions in February heat did not suit him, give that he was 40 years old already.  If that was the reason, it wasn’t taken into account when he was sent a few days later to the Iron Knob mine in South Australia.  Antanas Jurevicius returned from Anton Lenne on the same day.  According to Antanas Bonegilla card, he had been married in the camp on 22 December, so he probably was keen to get back to his new bride.

Anton Lenne: photograph provided by Marg Spowart to the
Lost Mooroopna Facebook page

Source: Facebook   

Eleven had returned already before these two, the first 6 on 11 February, so after 12 days only at the most working in their new industry.  Five had been working for J Nethersole and Sons, Ardmona, and one for Mrs I Pyke.

Fruit pickers' lunch break, possibly on the Grahamvale property of Mr H Hick
Source: Arvids Lejins collection

A small number of the fruit pickers could not cope with their new-found freedom.  Jonas Razvidauskas appeared before the Shepparton Court on 16 February charged with assault, after he had attacked 3 policemen in the Shepparton Police Station and broken the glasses of one.  He was yet another First Transport man who had had too much to drink, having bought a bottle of wine and consumed it all, after which he could not remember anything.

 

He was said to have torn his own clothes to shreds and to be appearing in clothes borrowed from another prisoner.  He was fined £2 on each of the assault charges and ordered to pay £2 to replace the broken glasses.  This was a total of £8, likely to be more than he was earning each week.  He was one of the employees of Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona, and was one of those sent on to Goliath Portland Cement in Railton, Tasmania afterwards.

 

The Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial newspaper reported an outline only of Razvidauskas’ behaviour in the Police Station but the local newspaper, the Shepparton Advertiser, went into considerable front page detail about the aggression and damage.  

 

It reported also that 2 more of the men appeared before the Court.  Another Lithuanian, Jonas Rauba, was convicted and discharged on a charge of being drunk and disorderly.  An Estonian, Kaljo Murre, faced the same charge and received the same sentence.  Murre claimed that this was the first time he had drunk beer and it would be the last time.  These may well have been “famous last words”.

 

The Bonegilla camp was meant to be dry, although Ann has heard of smuggling and alcohol being allowed for special occasions, like Christmas celebrations and weddings.  If the fruit growers were paying their men a fortnight in arrears, which has been the custom in Australia for a long time, then they would have had their first pay just before the 14-15 February weekend.  It’s now wonder then that 3 were found in public places to have overindulged.  No doubt more drinking went on that weekend in private.

 

Easter 1948 ran from Good Friday on March 26 to Easter Sunday on March 28.  The day before Easter started, the Shepparton paper ran a paragraph headed, Balts on Move (see below).

Source: Shepparton Advertiser, 28 March 1948

 

As for the “itchy feet”, another 23 had returned to Bonegilla before Easter, making 36 in all, but more than 80 per cent were still on the job.  

 

The bulk of the Baltic fruit pickers returned to the Bonegilla camp between 31 March and 7 April, 114 of them.  Another 38 returned on 10 April, leaving one stalwart behind.

 

Borisas Dainutis did not get back to the Bonegilla camp until 5 May, so he seems to have spent nearly another 4 weeks with Messrs Turnbull Brothers of Ardmona.  As he was sent then to the Dookie Agricultural College in Victoria, perhaps he was displaying a great interest in agriculture despite having been selected in Germany has a potential builder’s labourer.  Let’s see what we find when we explore his life story soon.

A Turnbull Brothers fruit box saved by Cartonographer (Sean Rafferty)

Source:  https://ehive.com/collections/5682/objects/939087/turnbull-brothers-orchards

 

On the day that Borisas returned, another rural newspaper, the Riverine Herald, ran an article headed “Balts Appreciated”.  Based on interviews with fruit growers, the Herald estimated that the fruit pickers had saved the Goulburn Valley the loss of thousands of pounds worth of fruit.  “Proof of success of the scheme … (was that) the fruitgrowers (sic) were already voicing their wishes to participate in allocations of migrants next season”.

The fruit growers had not been happy with the front page publicity achieved by Razvidauskas, Kauba and Murre.  The Herald said that, “Expressing disappointment that adverse publicity had been afforded the very small minority of the men who had clashed with the law during their sojourn in Tatura and Ardmona district, … the men were excellent types on the whole and proved themselves highly adaptable to a variety of work.”

There was a sting near the tail of the report:  “It was further claimed that while some instances of difficulties in handling the Balts had been reported, on the average, where reasonable conditions were provided for them, good service had been given.”

What did these fruit growers expect from young men who had just endured 5 or more years of war, sometimes right in the middle of it, digging trenches between the opposing German and Russian sides?  All had been living on restricted rations until they boarded the Heintzelman and therefore were not at their healthiest.  There should be no need to mention also that some of them were more highly educated than most of those making a career of fruit growing and so might have regarded fruit picking as yet another obstacle on the path to a more satisfying future.

SOURCES 

National Archive of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla] (1947-56); https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/SeriesDetail.aspx?series_no=A2571 accessed 17 May 2025 ("Bonegilla cards").

 

National Archive of Australia: Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla] (1947-56); LAURINAVICIUS POVILAS, LAURINAVICIUS, Povilas : Year of Birth - 1908 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GENERAL HEINTZELMAN : Number – 571 (1947-48) https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203619595 accessed 17 May 2025.

 

Riverine Herald (1948) 'Balts Appreciated', Echuca, Moama, 5 May, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article116540389 accessed 13 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1947) 'Baltic Migrants For The Fruit Harvest, Most Will Work at Ardmona', 12 December, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173900200 accessed 13 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) 'Labor Problem for Fruit Harvest' 6 January, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169556903 accessed 2 June 2025 accessed 2 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) 'Baltic Migrants Arrive' 30 January, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169557378 accessed 2 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) ‘Balt Fights Three Police’ 17 February p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169557746 accessed 17 June 2025.

 

Shepparton Advertiser (1948) ‘Balts on Move’ 25 March, p1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169558516 accessed 17 June 2025.

 

Sun News-Pictorial (1948) 'Wild After Wine, Balt Fined', Melbourne, 17 February, p 10 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279326226 accessed 2 June 2025.

 

Tribune (1948) 'Balts Work 48 Hrs. For 40 Hrs. Pay', Sydney, 14 April, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208109382 accessed 13 June 2025.