Picking pears for Australia

The first transport of Lithuanians to Australia, made their way to Bonegilla Migrant Camp.  The new migrants were required to work two years wherever the Australian government required workers.  One hundred Baltic migrants from the first transport were employed as fruit pickers in the Shepparton district between January and March 1948.  The District Employment arranged for the migrants to assist in the fruit harvesting subject to certain conditions, including that they be employed in batches of at least five and that satisfactory board and accommodation must be provided by the growers.  The Goulburn Valley had only a small available quantity of labour which would have been totally inadequate to harvest the crop, which could lose thousands of pounds worth of fruit.  Most of the migrants whose average age is 24 years, were employed in the Ardmona district for the harvesting of fresh fruit, canning fruit, and dried fruits.

On Wednesday, 10 December 1947, 193 Baltic migrants arrived by special buses from the Bonegilla Migrant Camp.  The Australian farmers agreed that migrants an excellent type of migrant and are well satisfied with the selection. The migrants have been distributed among 30 orchards in the Shepparton and Ardmona district.  At the end of the season, they will be free to accept employment as permanent orchard hands if they so desire. There were some instances of difficulties involving the new migrants, such as intoxication but on the whole they worked well.

Sixteen recently arrived Baltic migrants, including five married couples, have taken up permanent residence in the Goulburn Valley.  Six women have commenced employment at Mooroopna hospital as wards maids and pantry maids while the 12 men are being employed on orchards, chiefly at Ardmona.  Another 12 men are shortly expected to take up orchard work in the district.

Not all orchard owners were being fair to the new migrants.  Some workers in the Shepparton district are kept in isolated groups and are working a 48-hour week for the same pay as Australians receive for a 40-hour week.  Some of the Balts threw in their jobs and returned to Bonegilla. One proposal by CSR monopoly was to alter buildings at its Yarraville works to house workers employed on a two years' contract.  Discussion at the Building Trades Federation agreed it would not build hostels for their segregation. Housing material would be better used housing Australians already suffering an acute shortage of homes.

Hostel stories

Many Lithuanians who came to Adelaide resided in hostels while they worked their contract for the government. The University of Adelaide and the Migration Museum are seeking stories on workers and residents who lived in hostels. Throughout History month in May they will be holding session so you can share your stories and to contribute to a research project.

Here are the details for the Woodside migrant talk.
Wednesday 22 May, 6 - 7.30 pm
Woodside Library, 26 Onkaparinga Valley Rd, Woodside
Contact: (08) 8313 5570
E: hostelstories@adelaide.edu.au
Hostel Stories project
http://migration.historysa.com.au/research/callouts/hostel-stories

You can find out the other hostel session times by visiting the AboutTime History month website at www.abouttime.sa.gov.au

Migration Museum Hostel stories

Can you help support this project.  Many Lithuanian's coming to Australia were first housed interstate but some were placed in the Woodside Migrant camp.  The details are below.

In SA History Week 2010 the Migration Museum launched an exciting new project called ‘Hostel Stories’. The aim of the project is to collect records of migrant hostel life, which will contribute to an exhibition in 2013.

The University of Adelaide are undertaking research into the Migrant hostels which will continue after the exhibition. Museum staff and volunteers are very excited about this partnership which will contribute to much greater resources for people wanting to find out about migrant lives in the hostels.

Thousands of migrants passed through South Australia’s migrant hostels, reception centres and camps – including Elder Park, Gepps Cross, Glenelg, Rosewater, Pennington/Finsbury, Smithfield, Willaston and Woodside – from the 1940s to the 1980s. The hostels were temporary homes to a wide range of migrants, from Displaced Persons and refugees, through to Ten Pound Poms.

The opportunity to gather first-hand accounts of day to day life in the hostels is diminishing as the years pass by. This project will help ensure that the memories are captured for future generations.

The Museum is keen to hear from people who are willing to complete our questionnaire and loan, donate or have relevant material scanned. 

Please complete the registration of interest form, or for further information please ring 08 8207 7570.

http://migration.historysa.com.au/research/callouts/hostel-stories

Bathurst Migrant Camp

Having just posted on the Bonegilla Migrant camp, I thought I would find out what is available on the Internet for Bathurst Migrant camp. At the end of the WWII the former army camp became a migrant reception and training Centre for European refugees and displaced persons. It was one of the major migrant reception centres in Australia, accepting around 100,000 migrants between 1948 and 1952.

The Migration Heritage Centre of NSW has created a website that looks at the camp, peoples experiences and contains photographs and documents. You can have a look at the website here.

This site links to further webpages that looks at the Post WWII migration in a site called Belongings. It contains stories from different migrants that can be searched on by country of origin, arrival date, place of departure. Unfortunately there is no Lithuanian story recorded. The site features information on how to care for our materials. It appears there is no dedicated museum to the Bathurst migrant camp, there is a memorial site you can visit and local museums where I am sure more information can be found.