The Last of the Bonegilla Girls

  There are claims that up to 500 war criminals entered Australia in the post-war years. One of them, the Latvian Konrad Kalejs, arrived in Australia in 1950 and worked as a clerk at Bonegilla.

  I would like to sincerely thank my mother, Emma Purman, and my aunt and godmother, Veronika Wassermann, for answering my many questions about their lives in Hungary and Germany, during and after the war, and their time at Bonegilla.

  I wish I’d been more curious when my grandparents—my Oma and Opa—were alive so I could have asked the same questions of them but, sadly, even if I had, their English was not the best, my German only rudimentary and my Hungarian nonexistent. My fondest memory of them is a simple story they told me once about their lives before the war. They smiled and laughed as they remembered a party in Budapest at which they’d waltzed until the sun came up over the Danube.

  They were brave, simple people who, like millions of others, had their lives forever changed by the war. They lost their home, were deported to Germany, and finally found their way to Australia. They raised their five children here and were still alive to meet all ten of their grandchildren.

  There are now nineteen great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.

  As always, much gratitude to my wonderful publisher Jo Mackay. Thanks, Jo, for having faith in me when I struggled to tell this story. To my editor Annabel Blay, my warmest thanks for your meticulous and constructive work on this book. And finally, thank you to the entire team at Harlequin and HarperCollins, especially the sales representatives who hit the road and talk to booksellers. Your support for Australian authors and stories is priceless.

  Acknowledgements

  A number of books were particularly useful for research for this book. I would like to acknowledge the many publications of Bruce Pennay, including: Sharing Bonegilla Stories, Albury Library Museum, 2012; and Picturing and Re-picturing Bonegilla, Specialty Press, 2016; as well as Personal Stories of German Immigration to Australia Since 1945, Ingrid Muenstermann (ed), XLibris, 2015; and A History of Italian Settlement in NSW, Ros Pesman, Catherine Kevin, NSW Heritage Office, 1998.

  The Staff Rules in the Majestic Milk Bar were borrowed from Stratte Vellis (Vamvadelis) who operated three Tamworth businesses: the Capitol Sunday Shop, the Regeant Milk Bar and the Crown Face. They appear in the book Greek Cafes and Milk Bars of Australia by Effy Alexakis and Leonard Janiszewski, Halstead Press, ACT, 2016.

  I would like to particularly thank the staff of the Albury LibraryMuseum for their assistance in accessing materials in their collection and archive.

  ISBN: 9781489246851

  TITLE: THE LAST OF THE BONEGILLA GIRLS

  First Australian Publication 2018

  Copyright © 2018 Victoria Purman

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