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Abstract

In Australia, Lithuanians have always been a tiny minority: they have never approached even 0.01 % of Australia's total population. However, their impact on the Australian culture has been far greater than their numbers suggest.

A few Lithuanian migrants started trickling into Australia 170 years ago, but most of the earlier information is sketchy and anecdotal. Some early Lithuanian migrants had resettled from England to Australia during the 19th century, but nothing further is known about them. One hundred and eighty-seven persons were evacuated from the three Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) in October 1940 and arrived in Brisbane two months later, in December 1940.

It was not until the late 1940s and early 1950s that larger
numbers, l.e., approximately 10,000 Lithuanian migrants, came to Australia. Most of them were refugees, who had fled from Lithuania in or around 1944, to escape the second Soviet occupation of their country (1944-1990). These immigrants initially saw Australia as a temporary stopover, because they were hoping to return home soon. Their hopes were not fulfilled.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Taskunas, AP
Journal or Publication Title:	Lithuanian Papers
Publisher:	Lithuanian Studies Society
ISSN:	1031-3958
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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