Australian Lithuanian History

The Australian Government had an agreement with the International Refugee Organisation to settle at least 12,000displaced persons a year, from camps in Europe.  In exchange for free passage and help on arrival, new post WWII migrants agreed to work for the government for two years. Between 1947 and 1953 the Australian Government assisted over 170,000 Displaced Persons to migrate to Australia. All assisted migrants aged over 16 had to work. Regardless of qualifications men were classified as labourers and women as domestics. So, what did they actually do? The men were often sent to remote country places to work on the railways, work in the forest industry, cutting cane, building dams or work in mining.   Here is a list of some places, certainly not all and with names attached if known. If you can add places, please comment below.  New South Wales Potts Hill (Water Board Camp) Sydney From October 1948 a tent city grew 430 men from various nationalities.  Amon...

Jonas Žilinskas (sometimes Žilinskis.  He was known as Jonaas in Australia) was born in 1919 in Kretinga.   As a young man he became a trainee acrobat with a troupe that spent World War II entertaining soldiers. At this time, Žilinskas developed the “strongman” aerial act that he later brought to Australia.   Jonas was part of the first transport of DP's arriving on the General Stuart Heintzelman..  His two year contract saw him cutting timber in   the Yuraygir National Park, northern NSW.    Jonas designed and built  what is thought to be the first swingsaw in Australia.  It had an immediate impact on sleeper production, increasing those made form 10 to 250 sleepers per day for a 2-3 man crew.  Before leaving the forest, Jonas built a statue of himself in the Newfoundland State Forest.  Made from concrete the life size version of himself stands on a large column. The figure is covered in a keys.  He lived in the...