Vytautas Skrinska

Fourth President of the National Council Sydney 1955 – 56

Vytautas was born on 24 June 1917 in Poltava, Ukraine. He completed his secondary education at Rygiškių Jonas High School in Marijampolė. After earning the rank of junior lieutenant in military school, he entered university and graduated from the Faculty of Law. He went on to work as a qualified lawyer at the Kaunas City Municipality and later at the Kaunas District Court.

A talented public speaker, Vytautas also worked for a time as an announcer at the Kaunas Radiophone. He married Kaunas ballet dancer Tamara Pagodinaitė, and they had two sons.

During the second Sviet occupation of Lithuania, Vytautas and his family fled the country. They first lived in Austria, where their second son was born, and later moved to Germany, residing in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Reutlingen. There, Vytautas actively participated in Lithuanian community and cultural activities.

On 13 April 1949, the family arrived in Australia aboard the General Stewart and eventually settled in Sydney. From the Uranquinty transit camp, Tamara and the children were moved to the Scheyville family camp, while Vytautas worked in a Sydney factory under a two-year contract with NSW Railways at Darling Harbour. After saving enough to begin a new life, the family settled in the suburb of Homebush. Vytautas later secured permanent employment at the Sydney Central Post Office, where he worked until his retirement.

From his earliest days in Australia, Vytautas became an active figure in the Lithuanian community. He was a member—and later president—of Šviesa Sambūris, a Lithuanian youth organisation, and a member of the Sydney Lithuanian Feather Club. Known for his eloquence, rich voice, and dignified presence, he was often invited to lecture both publicly and privately. Between 1956 and 1966, he served on the Australian Lithuanian Community National Council, including two years as chairman and several as vice-chairman.

Vytautas was also a writer and cultural contributor. He published several short stories and collaborated with Mūsų Pastogė, the Sydney Lithuanian newspaper, where he wrote on literary and cultural topics. Fluent in five languages, he occasionally translated works from foreign authors.

Tragedy struck when his son Sigitas disappeared in Australia. Deeply affected, Vytautas withdrew from public life and spent his later years in solitude.

Vytautas was known for his warmth, calm temperament, and respect for others. In conversation and debate, he was logical, fair-minded, and always considerate of differing opinions. He appreciated art and maintained close ties with painters, writers, and musicians. Though life often tested him, he remained kind-hearted and dignified.

On 20 February 1981, at the age of 63, Vytautas passed away suddenly. He is buried in the Lithuanian section of Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery.

Leonardas Karvelis

Leonardas Karvelis

Third President of the National Council

Sydney, 1954 – June 17, 1955

Leonardas Karvelis was born on 11 March 1907 in Šiauliai. During the First World War, he attended the Martynas Yčas Lithuanian Gymnasium in Voronezh, a city on the Voronezh River in southwestern Russia. By the end of 1917, Voronezh had become a cultural and educational centre for Lithuanians living in Russia.

In 1925, Leonardas graduated from the Šiauliai State Gymnasium and went on to study economics at Vytautas the Great University in Kaunas for four years. After completing additional examinations, he qualified as a lawyer.

From 1934 to 1940, he served as the legal affairs representative for the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. Between 1941 and 1944, he worked as a legal advisor for the General Directorate of Forestry in Kaunas.

After the Second World War, Leonardas settled in Freiburg, Germany, where he joined the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association. He also served as head of affairs for the Lithuanian National Committee and as secretary of the gubernatorial government under the French occupation authorities.

On 27 June 1949, Leonardas arrived in Australia aboard the Skaugum, together with his wife Halina and their son Kęstutis. From his earliest days in Australia, he became actively involved in Lithuanian community life.

Between 1951 and 1955, he served in several key roles: Member of the Court of Honour of the Sydney District (1951–55), Vice-Chairman of the Regional Board (1953–54), and Chairman of the Regional Board (1955). Beginning in 1957, he was repeatedly elected Chairman of the National Control Commission of the Australian Lithuanian Community.

Beyond these national roles, Leonardas was deeply involved in a number of community organisations. He was a long-standing elder of the Sydney branch of the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association and a legal advisor to various Lithuanian groups. He drafted constitutions for the Sydney sports club Kovas and the Women’s Social Welfare Society, and also prepared the working rules for the Cultural Council of the Australian Lithuanian Community.

Leonardas was well known among Sydney Lithuanians as a charming gentleman, an eloquent speaker, and an engaging conversationalist — particularly on political subjects. A proud and conscious Lithuanian, he was a staunch anti-communist, a defender of conservative values, and a passionate advocate for the restoration of Lithuania’s independence.

When some within the community questioned the relevance of celebrating 16 February — Lithuanian Independence Day — given the realities of the time, Leonardas firmly rejected such views. He reminded them:

“The Lithuanian nation declares to the whole world, to all mankind, to its friends and enemies, that it will not agree to the enslavement of Lithuania. The Act of the Sixteenth of February is a sacred and final decision for a free and independent life, and the independence of the state is essential for the development of national culture and the survival of the nation.”

Leonardas Karvelis passed away suddenly at his home in Bankstown on 28 March 1987. He is interred, together with his wife Halina, in the Lithuanian section of Rookwood Cemetery.

References

Mūsų Pastogė No. 14 1987. 4. Page 13 obituary by J. Véteikis
National Archive of Australia
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Arlosen Archive

Vytautas Simniškis - Second President of National Council - Sydney 1953 – 1954

 Second President of National Council - Sydney 1953 – 1954

Vytautas Simniškis was born on 2 October 1918, in Marijampolė, into a large family of a wealthy farmers. 

Like many Lithuanians, Vytautas ended up in the Seedorf camp after the end of the war in Germany.  He did not rest here but took up work and was appointed warehouse manager.

Vytautas arrived in Australia on the first transport at the end of 1947.  He served his government required employment in the brown coal mines of Yallourn, Victoria.  At the beginning of 1950, he moved to Sydney, where Vytautas put down his roots and devoted himself wholeheartedly to Lithuanian activities.  He bought a grocery store, which he modernized and expanded.  It was his livelihood until he retired.

In 1955, Vytautas married a fellow Lithuanian.

Since the beginning of 1953 to 1958 Vytautas was a member of the board of the Lithuanian Community of Australia, serving for three terms, and in 1953-4 he was elected chairman of the board. During his leadership, the board established close links with exile organisations of other nations and with Australian political parties. The case of Lithuania was raised everywhere.

In his position as head of social care, he called together the more active women of Sydney in early 1956 with the aim of establishing an aid society.  From this nucleus grew the registered and capable Sydney Lithuanian Women's Social Care Association of which Tanja was a member and served as President.  In the third term of the board, as the treasurer, Vytautas many efforts to improve the difficult financial situation of Mūsų Pastogė, the Sydney Lithuanian newspaper.  Vytautas was the initiator of establishing a united Baltic committee.

For the next two terms, Vytautas served in the National Control Commission. His acquired practice in trade and his extraordinary endurance and stubborn personality, which makes the impossible possible, gave us the community the registered Lithuanian club and one of the most beautiful Lithuanian houses in the entire diaspora. In 1960, Vytautas was elected to the board of the Lithuanian House of Sydney and was immediately appointed to be chairman. He remained in that position without any break until 1983, when he retired from the board.

The path from the old Club at Redfern to the newer licensed club with new buildings was winding and full of obstacles. It was necessary to go to courts with lawyers, handle municipal bureaucrats, construction workers, and to study mainly the laws of this land.  Vytautas overcame all this.  He had neither magical power nor supernatural abilities, but he was straight-thinking, and after patiently listening to mutual arguments, he said with light humour: "...let's get back to work, men, because we have to do it now."

On 8 July 1987 about two hundred Sydney Lithuanians gathered in St. Joseph's Church, in Lidcombe, to accompany Vytautas Simniškis, on his last journey on earth.  Mass was offered by Fr. Povilas Martūzas and after, a long motorcade escorted the coffin to Rookwood Crematorium.

Chairman Vytautas Bukevičius spoke on behalf of the Board of the Lithuanian Club. He urged those present to continue the work of the deceased by committing to maintain the Lithuanian Club and leave it for future generations as an eternal monument. 

Vytautas, you deserve our greatest thanks. Rest in peace, far from your birthplace, and at the same time rejoice in being so close to the creation of your earthly life.

References

Mūsų Pastogė 1978, 10 September, V. Siminiskis, 50 years

Mūsų Pastogė 1987 July 20, Obituary by Anskis Reisgys p,3

National Archive of Australia

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Arlosen Archive

Justinas Vaičaitis

Justinas Vaičaitis served as the first President of the Australian Lithuanian Community, Sydney 1950 – 1953

Justinas Vaičaitis was born in 1904 in Stakiai, Raseiniai district, into a farming family that lived in relative comfort. He studied in schools at Raseiniai and Kaunas, later enrolling at Vytautas Magnus University, where he pursued studies in the humanities and economics.

While still at university, he became active in public life and organisational work. In 1922, he gave his first speech at the spring festival in Stakiai. Soon after, he became deeply involved in the Vilnius Liberation Union (Vilnių vaduoti sąjunga), a civic organisation that promoted the cause of regaining Vilnius and supported cultural activity among Lithuanians in the Vilnius region. He travelled widely throughout the country, helping establish and strengthen Union branches and delivering speeches. Between 1925 and 1939, when the organisation was dissolved, Vaičaitis gave around one hundred speeches at meetings and conventions.

While teaching at the secondary school in Sėda, he reorganised the local fire brigade, which was later integrated into the local Riflemen’s Unit, with Justinas appointed as its leader. In 1927, he also served on the commission in Kupiškis that organised the erection of a monument to honour the 60 Lithuanian soldiers who fell during the War of Independence in 1919.

Vaičaitis was active in the Association of Lithuanian Teachers, directed youth events, and helped organise commemorations and cultural activities. Later, he took a position in the State Control Office, where he remained until the Soviet occupation. While working at the State Audit Office in Kaunas, he also taught workers’ education courses organised by the Chamber of Labour.

Following the German occupation of Vilnius in 1941, Vaičaitis worked in the Vilnius Committee, taking responsibility for the People’s Commissariat of Education. He was appointed Director of Education Affairs, a position he held until that same year. On 27 June 1941, in his capacity as Head of the Department of Higher Education, he issued an order retroactively dated to 22 June, dismissing or expelling Jewish employees and members of the university community who had supported the Soviet regime during the preceding year of occupation.

He married Brone Plūkaitė, born in 1915.

As the Soviets advanced, the family fled Lithuania, eventually reaching Germany. In Landshut, Vaičaitis joined the Lithuanian Committee and was elected chairman. In early 1945, the family crossed into Switzerland, where he again served on Lithuanian representative committees, eventually becoming vice-chairman and later chairman of the Lithuanian Committee in Yverdon. While living in Bern, he headed the Swiss Lithuanian Department and was active in the Swiss Lithuanian Cultural Centre.

In 1949, the family migrated to Australia. Almost immediately, Vaičaitis became active in community life. On 13 August 1950, he was elected to the Sydney District Board of the Australian Lithuanian Community, serving as its chairman until 1951. At the same time, he was elected to the Regional Board of the Community, also serving as chairman after his re-election in 1951. He attended and supported every Lithuanian gathering, commemoration, and cultural event in Sydney. His duties included maintaining correspondence with central community organisations, district boards, institutions, and individuals, as well as liaising with other ethnic communities. All this was carried out in his spare time while he worked full-time in a factory.

Vaičaitis poured his energy into strengthening Lithuanian life in Australia, especially through the publication Mūsų Pastogė (Our Shelter). On 2 November 1953, however, the family emigrated once again, this time to the United States. His tact, dedication, and leadership left a lasting mark on the Lithuanian community in Australia.

Settling in Boston, Vaičaitis continued his community service. He initiated and organised the annual 8 September commemorations, previously unknown in Boston. He was elected chairman of the Boston Branch of the Lithuanian National Association, a position he held for two years, and also served as chairman of the Lithuanian Teachers’ Association in Boston. For two years he directed the Boston Lithuanian School. In addition, he contributed to Lietuvių enciklopedija, to the major historical work Mūsų Lietuva, and supported Radio Lithuania broadcasts.

For his livelihood, he managed Cosmos Parcels Express in Boston, a company that sent parcels to relatives and friends in Soviet-occupied Lithuania and Poland.

Justinas Vaičaitis died on 25 August 1969.

Sources

Australijos Lietuvis = The Australian Lithuanian (SA : 1948 - 1956)  Mon 18 Apr 1955, p7

Mūsų Pastogė 1958 July 28

https://www.vu.lt/en/about-vu/history/recovering-memory

Australian Lithuanian Federal Council - 75 years

The Australian Lithuanian Federal Council met initially in 1950 in Sydney.   The statutory laws were endorsed at the following meeting in 1952.  Subsequent meetings would be held every two years, with the location rotating between Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

Over the 75 years, 32 presidents have served. Of those, 2 served two terms and one served three terms. Six have been women. For the first twenty years the council was based in Sydney, giving Sydney a total of 17 terms, followed by Melbourne with seven, Adelaide with five and Canberra two.  Over that time, at least 225 people have served on the Federal committee. 

 Over the next few weeks, I will introduce you to the earliest of our presidents.