Paulius Rutenis

Singer Paulius Rutenis on November 6th 1948 gave his first large concert which was heard by several dozen Adelaidians. He sang an assortment of English, German and Italian songs and opera arias as well as three Lithuanian songs “Tamsioj naktelej”, “Da nepaketinau” and “Pamylejaų vakar”. Those gathered enjoyed the concert so much they asked for an encore. On Novemebr 27th Rutenis gave a concert in Kangaroo Island.

Australijos Lietuvis December 6th 1948 Nr.7

RUTKAUSKAS Paulius arrived in Melbourne on the General W M Black on the 27 April 1948He is also known as RUTENIS.

Immigration Records to Australia

Records of people who arrived under the Displaced Persons scheme 1947 to 1953 are held at the National Archives of Australia. Occupation by the USSR forced many people to flee Eastern Europe towards the end of WWII. Many ended up in Germany with smaller numbers settling in Italy, Australia and Holland. Unable to return home they awaited resettlement by the International refugee Organisation (IRO). Under the IRO scheme each person was required to complete two forms;

1. A screening card: this records the persons name, date of birth, sex, nationality, educational standards, fluency in languages, religion, dependants, employment in the past, suggested employment.
2. IRO Medical Examination Form: this included the person’s name, date of birth, colour of eyes, and hair, weight, height, name of camp allocation, place of birth, passport photograph, signature and medical questionnaire including x-ray negative.

This documentation has been preserved by the National Archives and is searchable under surnames under the keyword search. You are able to access the original records by visiting the reading rooms in Canberra or a digital copy can be requested for a fee. Once digitised the copies are loaded onto the website when anyone can then view them. For family history research this is a fantastic resource for family members who participated in the scheme.
www.naa.gov.au

Kerry Ward
The South Australian Genealogist February 2003, Vol.30, No.1

Journey to Australia

Journey to Australia is a hand written diary by Renoldas Cesna of the journey he and his family made from Germany to Australia in 1949. It was written in Bonegilla Australia, at the beginning 4 May 1949

Eighteen year old Renoldas wrote in Lithuanian in an old school exercise book where he attached documents and photographs taken on the journey. In the back of the diary he lists some of the Lithuanian passengers, giving their birth date and place of birth. In all 912 DP’s consisting of Balts, Poles, Yugoslavs, Ukrainians, Jews, Russians, Hungarians, Czechs and Germans were on board.

Its a fascinating acocount of the journey, giving in details things he saw, places he travelled to etc.

It begins
We applied for immigration in Dedelstorf 1948.
We traveled to Fallingbostel on August 10, 1948
We went through commission on the 24th August 1948.
We received notification of migration on 5th December 1948.

We were suppose to travel on the fifteenth transport to Genoa on the boat the Svalbard, which arrived in Sydney in 194_ These migrants went to Bathurst camp. We were unable to travel on the transport due to mum’s illness.