From the Oder River in Poland to the banks of the Broken in Benalla is quite a journey. Such was the massive transition undertaken by Sabine Smyth (née Burczik).
Sabine can aptly be described as a citizen of the world, having arrived in Australia in 1984, bringing with her an awareness of her family and cultural history.
The opportunity to gain a similar understanding of our backgrounds can be accessed through the Benalla Family Research Group which has, for many years, constructed the family trees of numerous local people.
Sabine’s father’s family were ethnic Germans living in Poland in Ratibor. Her DNA is half German and half Slavic.
In the area they lived, control alternated between Germany and Poland, depending on the outcome of the most recent war.
In World War II Sabine’s paternal grandmother and father, as a baby, fled to Bavaria to escape the horror of being captured by the Russians.
They returned after the war to communist rule in Poland where it was a crime to speak German in public, German graves were vandalised, and they were allocated the poorest housing and jobs.
Sabine’s grandparents eventually moved to Germany in 1958 with their four-year-old son, Klaus (Sabine’s father).
The other side of Sabine’s family consisted of her grandparents and five children.
They had comprehensive family history records, having lived through the Nazi regime in which each household had to prove non-Jewishness for at least six generations.
Sabine’s family traced their family tree to within a total area of 80 sq km back to the 1700s.
The only child to survive the war was Sabine’s mother, Katharina.
The two elder brothers were declared missing on the Russian Front, a euphemism for being killed.
The third, younger, brother died of appendicitis because there were no medical facilities for civilians.
Sabine’s mother’s sister was killed during a birthday party in the house next door to where they lived.
An allied bomber levelled the house; being at home saved Sabine’s mother’s life. Everyone in the neighbour’s house was killed.
These events are but a few snippets of life for her family during the war years.
They provide some insight, however, admittedly superficial, as to what life was like on the other side.
Sabine’s parents met and married in 1962. At 19, Sabine moved to Australia, leaving behind her family but carrying with her an awareness of her familial and cultural history.
It is this awareness that manifested itself in her devotion to the self-imposed task of gathering memorabilia related to Benalla’s migrant centre.
Her own family story has resounding echoes of Benalla’s post-war migrant settlers, whose families had suffered the trauma of war.
When the war had finally ended, camps of displaced persons were established all over Europe.
Migration agents from Australia, Canada and the United States, interviewed displaced persons with a view to recruiting them as migrants.
The Australian agents had one strict criteria — the recruit had to be white.
The White Australia policy was rigorously enforced. On the more positive side, Australian recruiters encouraged whole families to come whereas other countries would only initially recruit breadwinners.
Australia also accepted women with children with no breadwinner. People of all backgrounds were welcome as long as they were healthy.
It was soon discovered that many of the women were highly competent as breadwinners.
All were encouraged to ‘have a go’ in the land perceived as being one of milk and honey.
Most migrants who landed at the Benalla Migrant Camp stayed for two years, working to pay the cost of their transport to Australia.
They worked at places such as Renold’s Chains and Latoof Callil clothing factory.
They were identified as Balts because it was assumed that they came from Baltic countries.
Sabine has become a passionate advocate for the preservation of all remaining elements of Benalla Migrant Centre, some of which have received state heritage listing, and also for the establishment of the Migrant Exhibition in Hut 11.
This self-imposed task has resulted in the gathering of vast amounts of memorabilia related to the centre.
Benalla is indeed fortunate to have citizens such as Sabine to educate and inspire our community to achieve an understanding of our place in the world, and how we have arrived at that place.
At a time when such understanding seems ever more difficult to grasp, it’s increasingly important that voices such as Sabine’s continue to be heard.
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