Summary

Letter from the Commonwealth Employment Service, at the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre, to Dimka Stojkovic, dated 22 October 1948. The letter states that employment has been found for Dimka at the Kew Mental Hospital and that it will commence on 25 October 1948.

Dimka Stojkovic (nee Dimitrinka Nikolova Caraschobanova) 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 from the former Yugoslavia, now Serbia. They 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, although they both quickly found work in Melbourne. 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

Single foolscap size sheet of paper, typed in black ink . Addressed to Mrs Stojkovic, Dimka outlining employment arrangements at Kew Mental Hospital as an assistant nurse and departure and arrival details from Albury to Melbourne 25 October 1948.

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.

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