Updated 17 January 2026.
Vladas Navickas liked the Bonegilla camp even less than Endrius Jankus. In a 2007 issue of Mūsų Pastogė, so nearly 60 years later, he summarised his experience of Australia – and admitted his regret in leaving. Rasa’s translation from the original Lithuanian reads like this.
“I don't remember if I wrote to you that I was once an Australian. I had come on the very first transport from Germany, with General Heintzelman. I remember that we were placed in the Bonegilla camp like exhibits in a zoo, which people from all over Australia would come to see.
“Even the Immigration Minister Calwell himself met us on the ship and came to the camp to congratulate us on coming to Australia to help develop it and protect it from the ‘yellow peril’ from the north. We were his first ‘children’ of his ‘White Australia’ policy.
“How times have changed since then ... Despite the fact that I left it in 1959, one might say out of boredom, I have so many connections with it. I spent the best years of my youth there (about 15), graduated from university in Hobart, acquired the Chartered Accountant profession, which was useful to me until the end of my working career in this country.
“Today, looking at our current political and economic situation, I regret leaving Australia. Of course, 50 years ago I did not think so. For some time after my arrival, we had a rather pleasant and free life, until about 1980-1985.
“After that, our not too smart, but extremely greedy (of wealth and honour) presidents gradually took too much rights and power into their own hands and began to implement their personal long-cherished programs, despite the fact that for the remaining 300 million inhabitants, most of them were even very disastrous, leading many of them even to their graves.
“Although your leader is quite aggressive, he seems to have more sense than our quixotic leaders. It would be interesting to hear what you think about all this (Australia and this country), if you would like to share your views with me.
"Best wishes, Vladas Navickas, USA”
Where in the USA was Vladas?
We do not know from where in the United States Vladas wrote this letter, but know that his ashes were placed behind a plaque in Las Vegas, Nevada, after his 2012 death at the grand age of 88. Earlier, he worked as a chartered accountant in San Francisco, California, and first reached North America through Vancouver, Canada.
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| Vladas Navickas in 1947, from his Bonegilla card Source: Bonegilla Identity Card Lookup |
Concord Repatriation Hospital
He was one of the first group of 6 Lithuanians and Latvians sent to work at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, New South Wales, in April 1948. Before that, he had spent more than two months picking fruit in Victoria, for VR McNab of Ardmona. At some time in 1948, according to Ramunas Tarvydas, he moved to Tasmania. By March 1954, he was back in Victoria, receiving his Australian citizenship.
Vladas' family
He was born in Žagarė, a city in northern Lithuania, close to the border with Latvia, on 18 January 1924. His father was also Vladas, while his mother is named on a document recorded in Germany as “Anna”. This means that it is likely that her name actually was Ona.
They had another son, Vytautas, some 3 years later. He arrived in Australia 5 months after his brother, on the Third Transport, the USAT General WM Black, on 27 April 1948. He also stayed in the Bonegilla camp, working as a camp policeman, according to one of his papers held by the National Archives of Australia.
The parents were in Bavaria after the War, looking for both their sons in October 1945. The younger Vytautas had fled Lithuania with his parents but had become separated from them during an air raid in Memel, then in East Prussia, Germany, but now back in Lithuania and known as Klaipėda. They told an UNRRA team that they understood that Vladas had headed out of Skuodas, another northern Lithuanian city, with the intention of reaching Germany.
Vladas in Germany
The only other information we have about Vladas’ flight to Germany comes for his interview for possible selection to move to Australia on the First Transport. There, the flight is summarised, as it was for so many other interviewees, as “Forcibly evacuated by the Germans”.
At the time he applied for Australia, he was in a Displaced Persons Camp in Hanau, near Frankfurt, in the centre of western Germany. He is recorded as completing the 4 years of primary school which all young Lithuanians attended, plus 7 years of secondary education. The languages he spoke were the obvious ones: Lithuanian, German, English.
Father Continues to Search for Sons
In 1952, their father was in America but still looking for his sons, according to the advertisement below in Australijos lietuvis (The Australian Lithuanian).
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| Source: Australijos lietuvis (The Australian Lithuanian) 11 February 1952 |
We no nothing about further contact between members of this family. We do know from Vladas’ Aliens Registration Certificate that he had 3 addresses in Hobart before he moved to Melbourne in early 1954, and that his occupation changed from labourer to clerk.
Vladas in Tasmania Applies for Citizenship
In 1953, when Vladas was still in Tasmania, he was studying bookkeeping and auditing, as his passes were published in both the Burnie Advocate and the Launceston Examiner.
He started applying for Australian citizenship in Hobart in 1952, with advertisements in the two main Tasmanian newspapers, the Hobart Mercury and the Launceston Examiner, from 16 October, attached to his application. The application ran into trouble when, at a 9 December 1952 interview, having been told that there were penalties under the Citizenship Act for false information, he admitted that he planned to move to Canada indefinitely.
In a letter dated 20 January 1953, Vladas stated that he would not go to Canada if not granted Australian citizenship. This would not have helped his case, since the double negative also can be read as an intention to depart if he did receive the grant.
On 14 April, Vladas replied to a Departmental letter, missing from the file, to state that he had abandoned his plans to go to Canada. Two letters then were sent to the High Commission but, after no reply in six months, someone telephoned instead.
That produced the Canadian reply that Vladas indeed had sought a visa, after a “close relative” had encouraged him. The fact that he would not get Australian citizenship if he really intended to depart indefinitely for Canada, leaving no ties behind in Australia, had led to the withdrawal of his application.
We have to wonder which relative could be closer than the brother also living near Hobart in Tasmania. Possibly the wife and child who he admitted later to having had in Hobart, and more about them soon.
Vladas leaves Tasmania
Vladas was resident in Yarraville, Melbourne, by March 1954, when he was a recipient of Australian citizenship at the first ceremony to be held by the Mayor of Williamstown, an inner western suburb.
In August 1956, an American Lithuanian newspaper, Naujienos (News), reported that Vladas had settled in Vancouver, Canada. The translation continues, “He is an experienced accountant and hopes to find work in his specialty.” This despite the commitment not to leave, in order to receive Australian citizenship.
As it happens, he did not qualify fully for an accountancy career until 1959, when he received a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) degree from the University of Tasmania. We know this from a list of Graduates of that University with Lithuanian Names, which appeared in the 1997 issue of Lithuanian Papers. This was an annual journal published by people associated with the University of Tasmania.
Also, he wrote in 2007 above that he did not leave Australia until 1959. Perhaps the Naujienos reporter thought that he was settling down immediately instead of checking out North America. Perhaps that is what he told the reporter.
At the same time, Vladas contradicted himself by writing that he stayed in Australia “about 15” years, since his February 1959 arrival in the United States, as stated on his petition for US citizenship, means a little over 11 years of residence here.
Vladas Settles in San Francisco
In fact, he left Australia again, early in 1959, from Sydney on the Oronsay, arriving in San Francisco on 7 February 1959. This information comes from his petition for US naturalisation. In the 1964 petition, he was claiming that he had not left the US since arrival. He must have graduated in absentia from his Tasmanian BComm course.
No, he did not leave Australia for Canada but, yes, he did leave Australia permanently as an Australian citizen with no intention of returning.
When he received his US citizenship on 30 March 1964, he had been an Australian citizen for only 10 years. At least Australian citizenship helped him move on from Australia freely, or so he must have thought.
From advertisements published in the Lietuviai Amerikos vakaruose (Lithuanians in Western America) newspaper between 1966 and 1977, we can see that he continued to offer his services as a chartered accountant from 2838 Clement Street, San Francisco. This was in a mostly residential neighbour with a scattering of businesses, to judge from the modern Google Street View images.
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| One of Vladas' advertisements, offering professional advice on income tax Source: Lietuviai Amerikos vakaruose (Lithuanians in Western America) March 1977 |
Vladas' marriages
During this time, on 20 October 1975, Vladas married Setsuko Kato in Monterey, a city south of San Francisco. He was 51 years old, while she was 27.
This marriage lasted until Vladas‘ death and Setsuko is buried with him. Ancestry records suggested the possibility of an earlier marriage, since they note a divorce beween a Vladas Navickas, born in 1924, and Dietlind I Klopschinsk in San Francisco in 1973. However, various records on the Web indicate that Vladas Navickas had a lot of namefellows, not just his father, including another Vladas Navickas born later in 1924. Further, the only other record for Dietlind Klopschinsk (or perhaps, Klopschinski*) on the Web appears to be a later marriage, so it is not possible to check further the birthdate of her former husband.
And definitely there was an early marriage and divorce in Australia, declared on Vladas’ 1964 petition for naturalisation in San Francisco. He advised that he had married Ona Taparauskas in Hobart on 13 February 1950. They now were divorced and she had remained in Australia. His Australian citizenship application shows that the marriage had produced one child, who stayed with the mother.
Vladas and Setsuko Move Around
In retirement, Vladas, with Setsuko, appears to have returned to the peripatetic lifestyle of his early adulthood. The Tampa Bay Times in Florida records the sale of a home by Vladas and Setsuko in that area in December 1997. Between July 2008 and April 2012, they owned a property in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Amazon.com‘s transcription of the US Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volumes 1 and 2, also have Setsuko Navickas (far less likely to have namefellows than her husband) living in Grand Canyon, Arizona, St Petersburg, Florida (across Tampa Bay from the city of Tampa) and Gresham, Oregon (more than 4 hours’ drive away from the other Oregon address of Grants Pass).
They moved to Henderson, Nevada, a city adjacent to the southeast of Las Vegas. Vladas died there on 4 July 2012.
Ancestry’s transcription of the US Index to Public Records, 1994-2019, has Setsuko living at the Henderson address between 1998 and 2020. There were two more addresses in Las Vegas for 1997 and 1998, presumably until the couple found the home they wanted to buy in 1998.
The St Petersburg FL address was good for 1991-2004, according to the US Index to Public Records, 1994-2019. The 2004 end date does conflict with the 1997 sale and the dates given for Setsuko’s addresses in other records.
If they were living in Henderson NV between 1998 and 2012 (longer for Setsuko), then either the Grants Pass OR property owned at the same time was an investment property, or perhaps they commuted between the two (summer in Oregon, winter in the warmer Nevada sun).
Vladas' Death
Vladas died on an important date for Americans, 4 July, in 2012. We do not know Setsuko’s date of death because it is too recent for public records and because her birthdate only is visible in the photograph below of the plaque in Palm Memorial Park, Las Vegas, behind which their ashes presumably rest.
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| Plaque for Vladas and Setsuko, in Palm Memorial Park, Las Vegas Source: Find A Grave |
Vladas' Brother, Vytautas
Even before his older brother became an Australian citizen – for 10 years only – Vytautas was advertising his intention to apply. First his advertisement appeared in the Hobart Mercury of 22 October 1952, a little too early as he admitted that he had been in Australia for only 4½ years. This was followed by the required second advertisement in the Launceston Examiner of 27 May 1954. He was living in Hobart area then too, at Myrtle Gully, Cascades.
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| Vytautas Navickas from an Alien Registration record Source: National Archives of Australia |
Unlike his brother, he stayed in Hobart, known as Jack, and died there on 20 February 2015. At this time, he had been married to Mary for 61 years, meaning that he must have married back in 1953-54, and had become the father of Heather, Wayne and Gary. They had given him 7 grandchildren.
Of the two brothers, it was the younger Vytautas who stayed to contribute to Australia.
FOOTNOTE
SOURCES
Advocate (1953) ‘Accountancy Exams’ Burnie, Tas, 15 December, p 11 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69502506, accessed 9 January 2026.
Ancestry ‘Setsuko Navickas, in the US Index to Public Records, 1994-2019’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/62209/records/50328171?tid=&pid=&queryId=5459a9cd-9db0-4c89-a2ac-45479e67ce04&_phsrc=lkA33&_phstart=successSource, accessed 10 January 2026.
Ancestry ‘Setsuko Navickas, in the US Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1788/records/25509683, accessed 11 January 2026.
Ancestry ‘Setsuko Navickas, in the US Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1788/records/261535324?tid=&pid=&queryId=8b5d70dc-70fc-4c4c-98b4-f8d50c11a699&_phsrc=lkA38&_phstart=successSource, accessed 11 January 2026.
Ancestry ‘Setsuko Navickas, in the US Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2’ https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1732/records/195998761?tid=&pid=&queryId=2d639107-a86f-43a7-bddb-955b8114de74&_phsrc=lkA37&_phstart=successSource, accessed 11 January 2026.
Ancestry, ‘Vladas Navickas, in the California, US, Divorce Index, 1966-1984’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1141/records/1416206?tid=&pid=&queryId=c590ef56-9fdf-4d59-9923-2eca35461d0f&_phsrc=caR185&_phstart=successSource, accessed 10 January 2026.
Ancestry ‘Vladas Navickas in the California, US, Federal Naturalization Records, 1888-1991’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3998/records/3528558?tid=&pid=&queryId=6c318e39-58ba-4c0f-a03b-39db4caa97cc&_phsrc=caR207&_phstart=successSource, accessed 11 January 2026.
Ancestry ‘Vladas Navickas, in the California, US, Marriage Index, 1960-1985’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1144/records/2906960?tid=&pid=&queryId=19292cee-d5b2-48f1-9bdd-72a42f80f999&_phsrc=caR183&_phstart=successSource, accessed 10 January 2026.
Ancestry, ‘Vladas Navickas, in the US Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992’ https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1629/records/5720391?tid=&pid=&queryId=578ef7a1-a5d2-4aef-9750-d31b0fcc0765&_phsrc=bUj161&_phstart=successSource, accessed 10 January 2026.
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Clustrmaps.com ‘Setsuko Navickas’ https://clustrmaps.com/person/Navickas-fbnv3, accessed 10 January 2026.
Examiner (1953) ‘Accountancy passes’ Launceston, Tas, 17 June, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225924268, accessed 10 January 2026.
Examiner (1954) 'Advertising', Launceston, Tas, 27 May, p 16 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96273167, accessed 10 January 2026.
Find a Grave, ‘Vladas Navickas’ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102456736/vladas-navickas, accessed 10 January 2026.
Homes.com, ‘1119 Catherine Way, Grants Pass, OR 97526’ https://www.homes.com/property/1119-catherine-way-grants-pass-or/gg8wy7121nlvk/, accessed 10 January 2026.
Kmitas, H (1952) ‘Navicka’ (‘Navickas’, in Lithuanian) Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian) Adelaide, SA, 11 February, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/280318103, accessed 9 January 2026.
Legacy ‘Vladas Navickas’ (original in the Hobart Mercury, 4 August 2012) https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/vladas-navickas-obituary?id=20784927, accessed 10 January 2026.
Lietuviai Amerikos vakaruose (Lithuanians in Western America) (1966) ‘Revizoriai, buhalteriai ir pajamų mokesčių patarėjai, Vladas Navickas‘ (‘Auditors, Accountants and Income Tax Advisors, Vladas Navickas‘, in Lithuanian) Los Angeles, CA, February-March, p 7 https://www.spauda2.org/lietuviai_amerikos_vakaruose/archive/1967/1967-Nr.02-03-LIETUVIAI-AMERIKOS-VAKARUOSE.pdf, accessed 10 January 2026.
Lietuviai Amerikos vakaruose (Lithuanians in Western America) (1977) ‘Pajamų mokesčiai, Income Tax, Vladas Navickas ‘ (‘Income Taxes … Vladas Navickas‘, partly in Lithuanian) Los Angeles, CA, February-March, p 7 https://spauda2.org/lietuviai_amerikos_vakaruose/archive/1977/1977-Nr.03-04-LIETUVIAI-AMERIKOS-VAKARUOSE.pdf, accessed 10 January 2026.
Lithuanians Papers (1997) ‘Graduates of the University of Tasmania with Lithuanian Names’ p 66 https://lithuanianpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/lithuanian-papers-vol-11-1997.pdf, accessed 10 January 2026.
Mercury (1952) 'Advertising', Hobart, Tas, 22 October, p 15 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27116933, accessed 10 January 2026.
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My Heritage ‘Vladas Navickas & Setsuko Kato, In California, Marriages‘ https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10202-2555839/vladas-navickas-and-setsuko-kato-in-california-marriages, accessed 10 January 2026.
My Heritage ‘Vladas (Vic) Navickas (partly in Lithuanian)‘ https://www.myheritage.lt/research/collection-10738/australijos-prane%C5%A1imai-apie-mirt%C4%AF-1860%E2%80%932019?itemId=4613984&action=showRecord&tr_id=m_sag98f0d7b_f5u2f3qx8a, accessed 10 January 2026.
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National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A442, Correspondence files, multiple number series, Class 14 (Migrants L-N), 1951-1952; 1952/14/7693, Navickas, V, 1949-1954 recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1918551, accessed 13 January 2026.
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