Australian Lithuanian Community in Melbourne

Bonegila DP camp – c. 1949-50. At this time, the camp was left to the menfolk as women and children were sent away to Corowa during a pandemic scare.

Thornbury was the first “home” of our community
c. 1960

According to the Australian Census conducted early that year, there were 66 people of Lithuanian birth living in Victoria in 1947.
In December that year, the first ship load of Europeans displaced by World War II arrived at Station Pier in Port Melbourne. It carried 843 passengers, 439 of who were Lithuanians. From there they were sent by train to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre on the Victoria-NSW border.
These were the ‘Beautiful Balts’. Many more were to arrive over the next six or seven years.
In 1948, a Melbourne Branch of the Australian Lithuanian Society (ALS) was established. A steering committee of four members was elected to coordinate cultural activities and raise funds to support activities to re-establish Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union.
Two more Reception and Training Centres were opened in 1949. One at Somers, on the Mornington Peninsula, and the other at Rushworth in Central Victoria.
Primary schools, Scout troops, music ensembles and dance groups were established in the camps and they were regularly visited by members of the Melbourne ALS, and sometimes by the Aidas choir from Melbourne.
Perhaps because of this outreach activity, many Lithuanians chose to settle in Melbourne when their labour contracts were completed and the community quickly grew.
In 1950, despite some misgivings, the 14 Branches of ALS voted to become a member of the World Lithuanian Community (Pasaulio Lietuvių Bendruomenė, PLB) and changed its name to the Australian Lithuanian Community to reflect that affiliation.
The Melbourne ALS became the Melbourne Lithuanian Community (MLB).
St. John’s was the principal venue for community activities during most of the 1950’s. Not only was a weekly Mass said in the Church, but the parish school was used for Lithuanian language classes.
Sunday Lunch was held in a parish hall and the choirs and dance groups rehearsed after lunch. Even the Scout groups had their meetings at St. John’s.
The parish halls were also the venue for community concerts, commemorative events, balls and parties.
By 1955, the Catholic Parish had raised enough money to purchase a house in Henry Street, Kensington, and Fr. Vaseris, the Parish Priest, moved in later that year. A timber building was constructed in the back yard to house the offices and printing press of the Catholic Newspaper, Teviškes Aidai, which the Priest edited, printed and published.
In 1957, a Lithuanian Club Committee of 15 people was formed, and on 11 December that year the Lithuanian Club in Melbourne (MLK) was entered onto the Register of Companies naming Dr. A Kabaila as Director.
The following year, the MLK purchased a large house in Francis Road, Thornbury, for community use. While that venue met most of the immediate needs of the community for meetings and rehearsals, there was limited opportunity to expand it to build a function hall for larger gatherings.
So the hunt for a more appropriate venue was on.
In 1965, the former Methodist Mission in Errol Street, North Melbourne, became available and on 11 October a sale contract was signed on behalf of the MLK.
It took a number of years to repair, renovate and extend the new Lithuanian House, with Jubilee Hall finally being completed in 1970.
By that time, the MLB and most of the community organisations had moved their meetings and rehearsals to North Melbourne, and Lithuanian House remains their home and the heart on community life in Melbourne to this day.

References:
Baltutienė, D. M., Melburno Lietuvių Klubui: 50 Metų, ALF, Melbourne, 2016.
Popenhagen, L., Australian Lithuanians, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2012.