Luka and Jela Bartulovich
| Town/City | Broken Hill |
|---|---|
| First name | Luka and Jela |
| Last name | Bartulovich |
| Country of Origin | Blato Korcula, Croatia |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1925 |
| Submitted by | Christine Adams |
Story
Remembered by daughter Vinka
Dad came to Broken Hill from Blato, Yugoslavia in 1925. He was the eldest in a family of eight sisters and one brother so he came out here to work and buy land for his family in Yugoslavia. It was a hard life, even after he paid off this [family] home, because of helping them all over there.
Quite a few Yugoslav men come out here so they all lived together in boarding houses or homes. They used to rent a home and look after each other. Dad worked on the mine until his retirement. He died when he was sixty-nine.
Mum and the two boys joined dad in 1935. It took ten years before mum and my two brothers could come out here. Another son and their daughter were left in Yugoslavia because dad couldn\’t afford to bring them out. There were already people in Broken Hill from the same village that helped them settle.
We children couldn\’t speak a word of English when we started school. All the families mixed together, so the kids all mixed together, and we all spoke Yugoslav.
Mum looked after the garden and then she\’d cook the food the Yugoslav way. She made stuffed capsicum, cabbage rolls from the cabbages in the garden.
We live right next door to the Napredek Club; 305 Piper Street! There was dancing every Sunday night. We as families enjoyed our lives because we were going out with mum and dad. The club provided concerts and dancing and mum and dad were there, so we were there. Our social life at the club was wonderful. The Club used to go for a picnic every year at Penrose Park or Silverton.
That\’s the way we were brought up and, to not go to the club even as a teenager at eighteen or nineteen was unthinkable. Friday you\’d buy some material, get some material and make a frock. You\’d know you were going out Sunday night!
My parents never went back to Yugoslavia. My father said he had enough of Yugoslavia and he didn\’t want to go back for a visit. They were happy here.