FIRST D.P. BATCH ARRIVES

SA Camp Receives 907 Migrants

The first contingent of displaced persons to be sent direct to South Australia reached Woodside camp yesterday, weary but happy to be in Australia after months and years of
waiting in Europe.

There were a few tears, but mostly beaming smiles., and in half a dozen tongues the newcomers anxiously enquired about friends and relatives who had come to Australia in earlier ships. The migrants, all from DP camps in the British sector of Germany, came from Naples in the Norwegian motorship Goya which berthed at Outer Harbor yesterday a week ahead of schedule.

The contingent comprised 907 men, women and children of 11 nationalities—438 Poles, 143 Latvians. 98 Lithuanians, 92 Yugoslavs, 51 Esthonians, 38 Ukrainians, 24 Hungarians, 10 Russians, eight Czechoslovakians, four Germans and one Rumanian. They said that the voyage had been a happy one. Food on the ship had been consistently good and their quarters—dormitories of 40 to 45 beds—clean and comfortable. Each man and woman had received 20 cigarettes free each day.

Dr. R. M. Mussone, the International Refugee Organisation doctor who accompanied the migrants, reported that 500 of the passengers had become sea sick during a spell of rough weather. There had been 25 cases of measles.

Two children still suffering from measles were taken by ambulance to the camp hospital at Woodside.

Eight Denominations
Another IRO official on the ship was M. Rudolph Regamev who travelled from Naples as escort officer. His records of the migrants showed that there were 441 Roman Catholics, 149 Orthodox, 131 Protestants, 118 Greek-Catholics, 36 Lutherans, 15 Jews, 14 Evangelists and three Baptists. The contingent included seven babies and 104 children under 10 years. The migrants were taken to Woodside in two special trains. After bedding, crockery and cutlery had been issued and quarters allotted, they were given their first meal in Australia—soup, stew, bread.

The Advertiser Wednesday 4 May 1949 p.3