Summary

Membership card issued to Dimka Stojkovic by fundraising organisation Ravna Gora in Serbia in 1948. It records donations that Dimka made to this organisation, and it has been stamped by the Yugoslav Royal Army. Dimka Stojkovic was born in Bulgaria in 1919. After long and harrowing wartime experiences in German labour camps, she met her future husband Vojislav Stojkovic, a captured soldier they finally ended up in the same refugee camp in West Germany and were married there in 1947.

The couple migrated to Melbourne via Naples on the Protea in 1948. They went directly to Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre in Albury, with Dimka being quickly employed at the Kew Mental Hospital. In 1952 they had a daughter, Nada, and in 1956 another daughter, Lily. They purchased a house in Footscray in the 1950s and took in many boarders, mostly recently arrived migrants. Dimka worked at the Bradmill Cotton Mill and then the Myer Cafeteria. Dimka died in 1998.

Physical Description

Booklet consisting of one piece of thin blue-grey card, folded twice to create three sections printed front and back. All type printed in black with personal details both typed and handwritten in blue and black ink in Serbian. Several stamps on both sides. Includes black and white photograph of a woman, stamped by 'Yugoslav Royal Army.' Series of dates in 1948 recorded, as well as personal details.

Significance

This document forms part of the Stojkovic family collection which represents the experiences of thousands of displaced persons and refugees from post World War II Europe and their efforts to survive both during the war and afterwards. It also illustrates the challenges faced by these migrants on arrival in Australia as they attempted to begin new lives often with limited English and little support.

More Information