Bathurst 1949.
see Vytautas Zizys' description in my e-book at db.tt/rOq2eyg (11/9/05). much as i hate it i better do some hackwork for this one if only to provide a context for the next annotation. as each new generation is becoming more&more dependent on user friendly apps, & better&better @ cutting&pasting answers from their iPhones, they are losing even the most basic research skills. my annotations are hopefully aimed @ some notional great grandchild by which time research skills in the general population will be non-existant; confined to experts/specialists. we were housed in one of the Nissan huts on the left. quoting from "National Archives of OZ" : "At the end of the Second World War, many hundreds of thousands of people who had been brought to Germany from occupied countries to labour in German industry were unable or unwilling to return to their homelands which were occupied by the army of the USSR (mainly Poland and the Baltic countries - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, in addition to Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia). These people came under the care of the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). They were screened, given the status of Displaced Person and housed in camps in Germany, Italy and Austria. On 21 July 1947, the Commonwealth Government entered into an agreement with IRO for the resettlement of European Displaced Persons in Australia.... Eligibility for selection was based initially on standards of age, physical fitness and ability to do manual work. At first, Australia expressly targeted single Baltic people. However, as the scheme progressed, and this limited source dried up, the target groups widened. In the next two years, while the emphasis on fitness to undertake manual work remained, restrictions on nationality, marital status and composition of family groups were gradually relaxed until, in April 1949, the scheme was extended to include all European nationals whose Displaced Person status was recognised by the IRO.... All applicants within the worker age limits under this scheme undertook to remain in employment found for them by the Commonwealth for a period of two years from the date of their arrival, and their continued residence in the Commonwealth was subject to their observing this undertaking.... men had been recruited to work as labourers and unskilled workers, women as domestics, nurses and typists. Generally, any professional qualifications and technical skills the DPs possessed were ignored (note my dad @ flic.kr/p/8Nmpyq). During their stay in the Reception and Training Centres [e.g. see above photo], usually about three or four weeks, the DPs were given a course of instruction in utilitarian English and the Australian way of life.... there was a great expansion of the program when more shipping became available in 1949.... the program continued at a high level through 1950 and 1951, but decreased as the IRO neared the end of its mandated existence.... The last arrival occurred in September 1953, bringing the total number of arrivals under this scheme to approximately 170,000 persons."......i will record a few memories on the other of the only two surviving photos salvaged by my father from the defective negatives he had acquired in Napoli. however this photo requires i mention one memory here. at the right side you can see the community hall. i was at the back of it observing my dad, near the front, arranging chairs in rows for an upcoming event when he suddenly lost his cool, lifted a chair high above his head, and smashed it with maximum force down into the floor. i had never seen him before, nor did ever afterwards, lose control like that. it was scary. only other photo of the camp in my possession is @ flic.kr/p/8NiMUV
Bathurst 1949.
see Vytautas Zizys' description in my e-book at db.tt/rOq2eyg (11/9/05). much as i hate it i better do some hackwork for this one if only to provide a context for the next annotation. as each new generation is becoming more&more dependent on user friendly apps, & better&better @ cutting&pasting answers from their iPhones, they are losing even the most basic research skills. my annotations are hopefully aimed @ some notional great grandchild by which time research skills in the general population will be non-existant; confined to experts/specialists. we were housed in one of the Nissan huts on the left. quoting from "National Archives of OZ" : "At the end of the Second World War, many hundreds of thousands of people who had been brought to Germany from occupied countries to labour in German industry were unable or unwilling to return to their homelands which were occupied by the army of the USSR (mainly Poland and the Baltic countries - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, in addition to Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia). These people came under the care of the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). They were screened, given the status of Displaced Person and housed in camps in Germany, Italy and Austria. On 21 July 1947, the Commonwealth Government entered into an agreement with IRO for the resettlement of European Displaced Persons in Australia.... Eligibility for selection was based initially on standards of age, physical fitness and ability to do manual work. At first, Australia expressly targeted single Baltic people. However, as the scheme progressed, and this limited source dried up, the target groups widened. In the next two years, while the emphasis on fitness to undertake manual work remained, restrictions on nationality, marital status and composition of family groups were gradually relaxed until, in April 1949, the scheme was extended to include all European nationals whose Displaced Person status was recognised by the IRO.... All applicants within the worker age limits under this scheme undertook to remain in employment found for them by the Commonwealth for a period of two years from the date of their arrival, and their continued residence in the Commonwealth was subject to their observing this undertaking.... men had been recruited to work as labourers and unskilled workers, women as domestics, nurses and typists. Generally, any professional qualifications and technical skills the DPs possessed were ignored (note my dad @ flic.kr/p/8Nmpyq). During their stay in the Reception and Training Centres [e.g. see above photo], usually about three or four weeks, the DPs were given a course of instruction in utilitarian English and the Australian way of life.... there was a great expansion of the program when more shipping became available in 1949.... the program continued at a high level through 1950 and 1951, but decreased as the IRO neared the end of its mandated existence.... The last arrival occurred in September 1953, bringing the total number of arrivals under this scheme to approximately 170,000 persons."......i will record a few memories on the other of the only two surviving photos salvaged by my father from the defective negatives he had acquired in Napoli. however this photo requires i mention one memory here. at the right side you can see the community hall. i was at the back of it observing my dad, near the front, arranging chairs in rows for an upcoming event when he suddenly lost his cool, lifted a chair high above his head, and smashed it with maximum force down into the floor. i had never seen him before, nor did ever afterwards, lose control like that. it was scary. only other photo of the camp in my possession is @ flic.kr/p/8NiMUV