Bogumila Zielinski
| Town/City | SYDNEY |
|---|---|
| First name | Bogumila |
| Last name | Zielinski |
| Country of Origin | Poland |
| Date of Birth | 10/11/2026 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1950 |
| Submitted by | JULIE MCGRATH |
Story
My mother, Bogumila, the only child of Jadwiga and Kazimierz Dobrzycki, was born in the Polish town of Pinsk, which is no longer in Polish territory. Her father was a Polish Officer by the age of 20 in WWI. In WWII he was captured by the Germans, escaped, was recaptured by the Russians, escaped again and returned home. By this stage Mum did not recognise him as he was just skin and bone. Nevertheless, he joined the underground army. Upon returning home one time for supplies the three of them were taken by Germans to a concentration camp.
My Mum belonged to a stoic family. They were incarcerated in Torun and later she was split from her parents as a young teenager and taken to work on a German farm. She was illtreated but then so were the animals on that farm. Later she was moved to another German farm. Being able to get hold of a transistor radio, the day came when she heard that the war was over. She leapt out of the window of the farmhouse and was later (luckily) reunited with her parents. She married Kazimierz Zielinski (a Polish Pilot) in Flensburg Germany January 1946 in the post war camp. They had a daughter Helena, born 19/01/1947.
The five left Hamburg in 1949 never to live under Communist Rule. The ship General W C Langfitt creaked and groaned so much Mum thought it would split in half. They arrived in Melbourne, Australia, on 14/01/1950 via Fremantle (their new home). They stayed in Bonegilla camp in Northern Victoria where Mum engaged with the wildlife. She thought they had arrived in a prehistoric land when a log suddenly moved, it was only a large Goanna.
Later they moved to Oxford St. Paddington, Sydney. They used their one and only luggage bag as their dining table and shared a toilet with the residents of sixteen other rooms. Mum’s first paid job was at Hermans Electrical. She worked there for a long time, putting switches together until her fingers became very sore. Then she worked at Smiths’ Chip Factory on a conveyor belt with many other women, listening to and singing along with songs on the radio. My sister Helena had a chicken as a pet.
In 1955, they settled into a house in Canterbury, Sydney. In 1958, I (Julie) was born in the lucky country. I learned to speak Polish and English. Mum still resides in the same house today in 2009 when I wrote this for her.