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.

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

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

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

Civil aviation, Lithuania

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

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

Source:  Lietuvos Aviacijos Istoria 1919-1940 m.

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

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

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

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

Source:  Airways Museum

Bronius' youth

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

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

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

Young adult Bronius

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

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

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

Bronius in Germany

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

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

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

Bronius Saparas from his Bonegilla card

Source:  Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup

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

Bronius starts life in Australia

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

Bronius marries again

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

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

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

Zofija Butkeviciute, in early 1948, from her Bonegilla card

Source:  National Archives of Australia

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

Bronius in the community

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

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

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

Source:  Google Street View

Bronius and Sofija make a living

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

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

Bronius' ill-health

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

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

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

Bronius dies

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

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

Bronius' photo from his Tėviškės Aidai obituary

Source:  Tėviškės Aidai

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

Sofija dies

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

Sofija Šaparienė in later life

Source:  Mūsų Pastogė

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

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

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

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

Their headstones

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

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

The Saparas headstones in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

Source:  Milly McCarthy on Find A Grave

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

SOURCES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mockūnas, S. (1971) ‘S. Mockūno prisiminimai, Iš transporto piloto prisiminimų’ (‘Memories of S. Mockūnas, Memories of a Transport Pilot’, in Lithuanian) in Lietuvos Aviacijos Istorija 1919 - 1940 m (Lithuanian Aviation History 1919 – 1940, in Lithuanian) https://www.plienosp Iš transporto piloto prisiminimų arnai.lt/page.php?306, accessed 28 September 2025.

National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-1947; 673, SAPARAS Bronius DOB 26 January 1909, 1947-1947.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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