Congratulations SA. From Lithuania 1936

In 1936, the Prime Minister of Lithuania, J. Tubelis wrote a congratulary letter to the Hon. R.L Butler, Premier of South Australia on the State centenary. National flags from around the world accompanied the messages of congratulations.

As part of the celebrations, the Centenary Executive Committee of South Australia contacted the State, Federal and British governments to obtain official requests for flags to be sent to the state. These messages were read publicly as each flag was presented to the South Australian Governor and Premier.

 

As "a colourful and significant gesture of world goodwill", the messages provide a snapshot of international diplomacy in 1936, shortly before World War II would change this political landscape forever.

From State Records of South Australia
SRSA Ref: GRG24/145/1/27

 

Destination Australia: Sharing post WWII migrant stories

The National Archives of Australia has recently launched a new website, called Destination Australia. The website aims to draw on the stories of the people and their family members featured in the photographs showcased on the site to create an in-depth history of Australia’s post-war immigration.

The featured photographs come from a promotional series of photographs taken by the Department of Immigration which are now stored as the Immigration Photographic Archive collection (Series A12111) hosted within the National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch database.

The series contains more than 25,000 photographs and over 21,000 of those are featured on this site. With nearly six million migrants to Australia since 1945 it would be challenging to try to identify everyone who might appear in the photographs, and to collect and share their stories. But with the help of all Australia, we are going to try.

This is your opportunity to share your immigration stories related to the photographs.

The site is continuing until at least 2015 and the information shared will become part of the Archives’ RecordSearch system as a permanent part of Australia’s history.

You are able to tag people who you know, tag where they came from and came to, add descriptions and comments, and comment on others’ contributions, or scan photographs to explore what Australia’s post-war immigration boom was really about.

 www.destinationaustralia.gov.au

Australian Lithuanian history book

The book 'Australian Lithuanians' was launched in Adelaide on Sunday 3rd June, 2012.  We were fortunate to have the author, Luda Popenhagen present, who spoke of the experience of writing such a book.  The book was written for second and third generation people of Lithuanian decent.  People who may know a little about their family background and experiences in Australia.  By reading this book people may have a better understanding of their grandparents or great grandparents lives.  It may answer such questions for them, as why was the Lithuanian language important to keep alive, as was culture and traditions.

Luda spent many years on this book, over two gathering information, interviewing people and trolling through archives.  It certainly is no mean feat to write a book about a certain culture over such a large area.  People wishing to see their families names and achievements may be disappointed as this work can't cover the communities history in such detail.  The Lithuanian community in Australia has published two books, that deal with this in much greater detail, although that book is in Lithuanian.  I have spend 2 1/2 years on this blog that just details with the community in Adelaide, and I know I have only touched the surface about South Australian Lithuanian's.

I know I will learn alot about the community I grew up in from reading this book.  All copies that were sent to Adelaide were sold, but more have been requested from interstate.  They sell for $25 from Lithuanian House, maybe your library even has a copy.