Linas and Elena arrived in Australia in 1948. They had two young children. Linas worked in the
Bathurst camp for 18 months assisting new arrivals. Accommodation at that time was scarce and he had
heard there was accommodation available in Adelaide. The accommodation being a caravan at
Semaphore. He requested permission to
transfer to Adelaide. It was granted so Elena
and the children went first.
Even renting a caravan was expensive, about £4-5, a quarter of
your wage. Linas and Elena began saving
for their own place. The banks wouldn’t lend you money for land, but once you
had this then you could apply for a loan to build a house. Released from his
two-year compulsory employment, Linas found a job was working at the General
Motors Holden’s factory at Woodville.
They found a
block of land at Fifth Ave, Woodville Gardens for £150. Woodville Gardens and the surrounding area
was a new land development, the land was affordable and close to work. They had
saved £50 and another £100 was loaned by Lithuanian friends. At first, they lived on the block in a
caravan. The caravan was just an empty shell.
They had brought with them from Germany a wooden box that someone had
discarded. This became their table where
the primus stove was placed for cooking.
Elena would walk to Cheltenham racecourse about 1.5 km away and ask for
straw, to be used for bedding. With her
broken English, she had trouble conveying that she needed straw to sleep on. They
told her she needed a mattress to sleep on but delivered the straw to her anyway. They had to be extremely careful that the
straw did not catch fire. Water was put
on the block when they purchased it. Council
permission was needed to live in a caravan which was reviewed in six months.
In June 1951,
Linas received approval to erect a dwelling on their land. A
wooden house was built halfway down the large ¼ acre block. They were able to construct it quickly giving
them more time to save for a brick home.
A Lithuanian friend was able to make the frames for the house. More friends would come to work on Saturdays
and in the evenings after work. In turn
they would help each other build their houses.
A small two roomed wooden house was built, with a kitchen and
bathroom. The floor of the house was
made from wooden packaging boxes from Holden’s. They lived there for a year before they
could afford to start building something more permanent. Once in their new house they rented out the
wooden one to migrants. It was common
for people to rent out rooms for
extra money. They would receive £2 per
week for the wooden house, and Linas would earn £6 a week working at Holden’s.
The house was built of bessa blocks, with wooden sash windows and
a red tiled roof. It has three bedrooms,
lounge and dining room and kitchen. The
bessa block was rendered and painted a pale green. The main bedroom was to be larger, but with
post war restriction, building material was restricted and the Council wouldn’t
allow a larger room.
Other Lithuanians also settled in the Woodville area. There was little time for socialising as much
of their efforts went into trying to establish themselves and their new homes.
T
heir back yard became a vegetable and fruit garden. They planted a mandarin, pear, Granny apple,
apricot, olive, grapefruit, lemon, walnut, almond and mulberry tree. A large vegetable garden grew all year
round. Capsicums, cucumbers, beetroot,
potatoes, sorrel, tomatoes and carrots.
Fruit and vegetables were preserved to be enjoyed all year round. Elena would preserve fruit in glass jars, pickle
cucumbers make jams with excess produce.
Linas built a chicken coup which stood along the back fence, providing
fresh eggs daily.
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