Australian Lithuanian History

  The book Benamiai (Homeless) written in Lithuanian recently found its way into the Archives.  Because it was published in Buenos Aires, 1954 I gave it some attention.  To my surprise the book was about Australia.  It begins in the DP camps of Germany, the ship to Australia and then the next few years as a new migrant.   A few Google searches later, I found that it was written by  Dr. Juozas Mikelionis.   Finding his obituary online, I found that Juozas was born in 1915 and passed away in 2008.  He was a retired physician and author, whose life touched six continents. Born in Leipalingis, Lithuania, he went from farm lad to physician, graduating in 1940 from Vilnius University. As his homeland suffered the tragedies of Communist and Nazi occupation, he himself was forcibly transferred to Germany.   After the war he lived in Germany. 1944-1945 worked at Spandau Hospital, 1945-1946. was chief assistant and surgeon at the Orth...

Otto was born 21 May 1929 in small town of Rėzgaliai.   He arrived on the ship  Goya , 26 May 1950. He worked as a cabinet maker in Adelaide before becoming a  professional sword-swallower and fire eater.  While living in a DP camp in Hamburg, he began a correspondence course.   The books didn’t tell him about sword-swallowing, so he threw them away and began to teach himself.   He also began learning fire eating the same way but finished teaching himself.    It took him two years before he was able to push a sword down his mouth without feeling nauseous. He was the star attraction in live entertainment shows in hotels in Sydney.    He used to swallow 27-inch swords until a doctor told him the points were bumping the pit of his stomach.   He reduced the swords to 24 inches. He would get a sore throat after swallowing swords a dozen times a week. He wouldn’t swallow a sword after a heavy meal, as it might make him sick.   One al...

I received notification that a handmade Lithuanian doll made in DP camp in Dillingen Germany would be coming to the Archives.  The doll was found at an antique warehouse in Mulgrave Melbourne in 2018 by a Latvian, who recognised the doll as Lithuanian and purchased it.  She  had presumed the doll was handed into the warehouse from family upon the death or cleanup of Statkeviciute’s household.  On the base of the doll there was a red stamp with the words, Workshop for Lithuanian National Dolls, Laumė. Eng Arch Statkeviciutė, Lithuanian DP camp, Dilligen, Germany. When accepting items into the Archives, knowing its provenance is very important.  I had not seen that many artifacts from the DP camps and had certainly never heard of doll workshops.  I knew it would be a great asset, as I would assume, very few, if any of dolls of this type had survived time. I wanted to see if I could find more information.  The first assumption was a Statkevičiutė had come...

 Vytautas Šutas was born on 5 April 1925 in Dusetos.  He grew to over six foot, giving him an advantage in basketball, a sport he excelled in.  He began his basketball career in Lithuania.  At the end of WWII, with his parents and brother the family left for Germany. While in Displaced Persons Camps, he began to study medicine.  His free time was spent in the English zone playing with the Lithuanian basketball team.  The family all came to Australia, there  first stop was the Bathurst migrant camp.  Here Vytas organised a basketball team. He later moved to Lithgow to work as a railway worker.  Shortly after he came to Lithgow Vytas, a keen sportsman, was camped at Wallerawang, where he was interviewed by the "Mercury."  During the interview he expressed the desire to lead a Balt basketball team, in social and competition matches against Lithgow teams and a "Mercury" representative immediately arranged for his introduction.  He began...

Eleonora Lukštytė was born in Tauragnai in the region of Utena on 12 April 1912.  She graduated from the Kaunas School of Art in 1937.  To further enhance her skills, Eleonora attended the School of Ceramics in Bechynė in the Czech Republic.  Returning to Lithuania in 1938, she was appointed ceramics instructor at the Kaunas School of Fine Crafts until 1944.  She married Aleksander Marčiulionis, a fellow lecturer at the school of art and sculptor.     They had a daughter, Daiva born in 1942, and a son Ramunas in 1944, both born in Lithuania.   The family left Lithuania in 1944, making their way to Germany.   From 1946 to 1949 Eleonora worked as a lecturer at the l’Ecole des Arts et Metieres at Freiburg-im-Breisgau (School of Art), along with other artists that fled Lithuania.   During this time, she was commissioned by Lithuanians to create a vase for the British Royal family.   The family migrated to Australia arriving in Melbourne o...

Albinas was born on December 13th 1918, not far from Sėda. His parents were farmers. He finished Sėda Primary school and then the Sėda middle school. He first joined the scout movement  in 1930, as a 12 year old, an interest that he retained throughout his life.  Albinas attended high school in Mažeikas, but finished high school in Klaipėda.  He studied journalism at the Vytautas Didysis school.  During the soviet occupation Albinas worked on the railways. In August 1944 he fled the Russian front and fled to the west.  He found himself in the Montomery camp in Dorverdene camp and later Seedorf, the British zone.   It was in a Seedorf Displaced Persons camp in Selsingen that he met Ruta Pociute whom he later married on the 23 March 1947.   On February 1949 they left Naples on the boat Nea Hellas , bound for Australia.  Albinas spent his two work contract planting pine trees and later working in Housing Trust building homes.  The skil...