Dear Members of the Lithuanian Community in Australia,

You may have recently seen the open letter from the Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė to all Lithuanian communities. In the letter she raised the importance of keeping, preserving and making available to everyone the documentation that records and provides evidence of the efforts made in regaining Lithuania‘s independence. It is also very important to Lithuania that the work and efforts of diaspora in the past become more widely known in Lithuania itself.

Australian Lithuanian Community was very active in raising the profile of Lithuania during its years of occupation, fighting for its recognition as an independent country and providing support for Lithuania in its early days of independence. There will be many documents, photos and even films that would record this. Some of this documentation may already be in the Australian Lithuanian archives but much of it may still be in private collection of individuals and in organisation files.

In response to the Prime Minister’s appeal the Lithuanian Embassy in Australia in partnership with your Krašto Valdyba and the Australian Lithuanian Archives in Adelaide will be expediting the focus on getting this information together and digitising it so that it can then be forwarded in digitised form to Lithuania. A two-prong approach is being put in place. The first is to get the information together at the Australian Lithuania Archives in Adelaide. The second is to get assistance through project/grant funding for getting it all assessed and digitised.

We do have the Australian Lithuania Archives in Adelaide that have recently been recognised as preserving a collection of national significance and operates within the published code of ethics relevant to the collection management responsibilities is the Museums Australia (MA) Code of Ethics for Art, History and Science Museums (Revised edition, 1994). It has already started the digitising process of documents in order to make them more easily accessible here in Australia and in Lithuania.

It is important that all records, documentation, photos, films that individuals may have in their private collections be made available to the Australian Lithuania Archives in Adelaide.

It is very important that an authentic record be held in Australia of all that has been done here. However, some may wish for their information to be sent to Lithuania. In that event we ask that they in the first instance contact the Australian Lithuania Archives to ensure a digitised copy is made to remain here before arrangements are made for it to leave Australia.

Together we are appealing to all our Lithuanians to:

• Actively spread information about the appeal for these documents to your family and Lithuanian friends
• Check for any documentation in your family records
• Check with families of deceased active members of your community whether there could be relevant documents that could be passed on to the archives. This is particularly important as many of those that would have been actively involved at the time may not be with us anymore or are now elderly.

It is important to ensure all relevant documents are not lost but preserved and we can only do this by working together.

Darius Degutis Lietuvos Ambasadorius Australijoje

Rasa Mauragienė ALB Krašto Valdybos pirmininkė

4 May 2022

The same new email address now applies to the Lithuanian Papers magazine and to the Lithuanian Studies Society at the University of Tasmania. It is as follows: aptas1929@outlook.com

The previous email addresses (A.Taskunas@utas.edu.au and al.taskunas@gmail.com) have been stolen by unknown culprits and no longer apply to the Lithuanians in Tasmania.

V.Patašius Lithuanian Studies Scholarship

The University of Tasmania has established this scholarship as a result of a bequest of $8,000 by Mrs. Ona Maksvytis in memory of Vytas Patašius, who passed away a year ago on June 16, 2010.


It is hoped other persons and Lithuanian organisations will also contribute to this fund.

For further information, please write to

LSS, PO Box 777, Sandy Bay, 7006 Tasmania, Australia
or email A.Taskunas@utas.edu.au

Also please see on this website – In Memoriam – June 19, 2011, Vytautas Jonas Patašius

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For Australian orders, cheques or money orders for $25(AUS),
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c/- Australian Lithuanian Community-Sydney Inc
PO Box 374 EPPING NSW 1710
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