Celebrating the history of forest and bushfire management in Victoria – (Peter McHugh – 2018-19) Page 1

The Balts ….

Thursday 14 November 2019 The first batch of “Balts” destined for the Otway’s

forests arrived in Colac on 8 April 1949, after having

travelled by train from their processing centre at

Bathurst in New South Wales.

Others had been assigned to nation-building projects

like the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Many of these post-war immigrants and refugees came

from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czechoslovakia

and Yugoslavia, or the Baltic States of northern Europe.

Across war-ravaged Europe, there were several million

others just like them who had either been forced into

labour for the Nazis or who were anti-communist and

fled as the Russian Army advanced and the Iron Curtain

fell.

During the dying days of WW2 on 2 August 1945, in a

momentous parliamentary speech, the new Labor

Immigration Minister Arthur Caldwell advocated the

far-reaching policy of “Populate-or-Perish”.

Arguably, the story of modern Australia began right

there with the switch to assisting “Displaced Persons”,

as they were officially known.

Part of their agreement was to work for two-years in a

government-sponsored resettlement program which

opened the door to over 170,000.

The first group of fifteen men sent to the Otway’s

stayed overnight at the YMCA in Melbourne before

catching the train to Colac, where they were greeted

by the local Country Women’s Association (CWA) and

given lunch.

They were transported in an open tray truck along the

rough and winding road to Beech Forest and allocated

wet-weather gear before the final journey to their new

home deep in the bush.

The Forests Commission had built a camp next to the

Aire Valley Redwoods earlier in March 1948 which

consisted of a cookhouse and mess, shower block,

toilets, woodshed and eighteen small two-man Stanley

Huts.

It was reportedly a bleak existence, particularly in

winter, but they made the camp comfortable and

enjoyed the freedom.

Many of these men had previously lived in either

concentration camps, Prisoner-of-War camps or other

detention centres.

But they still had to contend with a language barrier, a

different culture and lifestyle, isolation from friends

and family and occasionally less-than-friendly

treatment from their Australian workmates.

The Balts had come to replant the degraded and

abandoned farmland in the Otway Ranges which had

been progressively purchased by the Forests

Commission and replanted from the early 1930s in a

similar but smaller scheme to the Strzelecki’s.

Their camp was next to a trial plot of Coast Redwoods

in the Aire Valley planted earlier in 1936. The initial

growth of the seedlings was disappointingly slow, but

they are now about 60 metres tall.

This eerie and enchanting grove of redwoods has

become a popular tourist destination.

Measurements in 2004 by Roger Smith show the trees

have the potential to reach as tall as their Californian

counterparts if left undisturbed from bushfire, pests

and disease, or trampling by tourists.

Construction of an all-weather road network by the

Forests Commission during the 1950s made daily

commuting a possibility that led to the closure of the

Aire Valley camp.

Many of the Balts later married and made their homes,

and raised their families, in nearby towns and cities like

Beech Forest and Colac.

Several of the Forests Commission’s other pre-existing

camps, some of which had been used for

unemployment schemes during the 1930s Depression,

and later as Internment and POW camps, were

repurposed once again for the Balts.

The Balts also worked in forest assessment crews and

as camp cooks and many stayed-on with the Forests

Commission to enrich our lives.

Check out this short film about new Australian citizens

at Bonegilla in 1948.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgs8zXziRLY

Redwoods of the Otway’s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwoods_of_the_Otw

ay_Ranges

Celebrating the history of forest and bushfire management in Victoria – (Peter McHugh – 2018-19) Page 2

The first batch of “Balts” destined for the Otway forests arrived in Colac on 8 April 1949, having travelled by train from their

processing centre at Bathurst in New South Wales. But first, they underwent an induction program into the peculiar ways of

Australian life and culture. Photo: National Archives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-war_immigration_to_Australia

The enchanting stand of coast redwoods was planted in the Aire Valley in 1936 and has become a popular tourist destination. Photo: “The Redwoods of the Otway Ranges” by Roger Smith.

The Forests Commission camp of 18 Stanley Huts was built in 1948 for post-war refugees in the Aire Valley. It was bleak in winter and

was adjacent to the coast redwood plantation established as a trial plot in 1936. Photo: “The Redwoods of the Otway Ranges” by

Roger Smith.

The Aire Valley camp in 1959. The coast redwoods were 23 years old and have branches reaching over the rooftops of the huts. The camp had been closed since about 1950 as the all-weather road

forest network extended making daily commuting to work a possibility so the crews moved into the comfort of towns like Beech

Forest or Colac. From: “The Redwoods of the Otway Ranges” by Roger Smith.

The amazing story of Czeslaw Cielesz who spent WW2 in a German Prisoner of War camp. He was one of the first to arrive at the Aire

Valley Camp in April 1949. Czes married Wilma Cameron from Beech Forest, the sister of the local FCV Forest Foreman, Stewart Cameron. Czes and Wilma settled in Colac. Story courtesy of the

Colac Herald – Friday, May 11, 2007.

Celebrating the history of forest and bushfire management in Victoria – (Peter McHugh – 2018-19) Page 3

Crews heading out from a Forests Commission camp with a sled full of pine seedlings for the days planting. But I’m not exactly sure

of the location.. maybe NE Victoria. Source: FCRPA collection.

Two cheerful Polish immigrants, Lucian Krugly and Joe Kurowski, worked with the forest assessment crew at Sandy Creek near

Bullumwaal in 1951. Photo: Leon Pederick.

Bullumwaal 1951. Photo: Leon Pederick.

The Balt Camp near Bullarto was one of many run by the Forests Commission to house post-war immigrants. Source: Blackwood

Publishing

The large cookhouse is in the middle and smaller accommodation huts to the left. Photo: Jack Gittens. FCRPA collection

Two chimneys are all that remain of the Bullarto Balt camp cookhouse.

Celebrating the history of forest and bushfire management in Victoria – (Peter McHugh – 2018-19) Page 4

Wombat Assessment at the Bullarto camp. The stone chimney is visible. BTW - the horse's name was Kruschov. Circa 1950. Photo:

Jack Gittens. FCRPA Collection

Bullarto was bleak in winter for the Balts. Photo: Jack Gittens. FCRPA Collection.

John Heislers was a post-war refugee that made a big impact on forestry in Victoria.

John enrolled in forest science at Riga University in Latvia in 1931 and graduated in May 1940 after various interruptions. Soviet

troops initially occupied the country during the War but later in 1942 Germans occupied Latvia.

In June 1946, John escaped with his family to West Germany where they spent three years in a refugee camp at Wedel near

Hamburg. Here also John worked for a time in the forests, cutting firewood.

He arrived in Melbourne as a refugee in June 1949 and by 1950/51 was appointed to a new position of Plantation Research Officer, later based in Mirboo North, where he remained until November 1970. John was instrumental in reforestation of the Strzelecki’s.

In 1983 he lost his home in the Ash Wednesday bushfires near Macedon and just escaped with his life. His grandson now works for Hancock Victorian Plantations in some of the plantations he

established

Photograph from 1961 in Childers Plantation. Source: Brian Fry.

https://www.victoriasforestryheritage.org.au/people1/articles-about/64-heislers-john.html

Celebrating the history of forest and bushfire management in Victoria – (Peter McHugh – 2018-19) Page 5

The new Labor Immigration Minster, Arthur Caldwell, advocated strongly for post-war Australia to “Populate or Perish”. In a

momentous parliamentary speech on 2 August 1945 he said ..

“If Australians have learned one lesson from the Pacific War it is surely that we cannot continue to hold our island continent for ourselves and our descendants unless we greatly increase our numbers. We are about 7 million people and we hold 3 million

square miles of this Earth surface ... much development and settlement have yet to be undertaken. Our need to undertake it is

urgent and imperative if we are to survive."

Australian Government poster displayed between 1949 and 1951 in reception rooms and dining halls at various migrant reception

centres in Australia. Source: National Archives.

Migrant Arrivals - Displaced Persons from Europe - HMAS Kanimbla arrives at Melbourne with the first group of displaced

persons in Dec 1947 where they joined the train bound for Bonegilla Migrant Camp near Albury. The photo on the cover of

this book is from the National Archives.