Summary

Black and white image of Dimka Stojkovic (nee Dimitrinka Nikolova Caraschobanova) and her sister Slavka walking along the street in Sofia, Bulgaria in the late late 1930s. Dimka is on the right and Slavka is on the left. 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.

Description of Content

Two women dressed in suits walking through a paved square in a city setting. The woman on the left wears a dark jacket, gathered in at the waist with a single row of buttons down the front. The bottom half of the jacket has embroidered detail. The woman wears a knee length skirt, and carries a black handbag. The woman on the right wears a blazer with wide lapels, a white blouse with a ribbon tie at the neck, and a straight knee length skirt. Shops and ornate buildings in a tree lined street can be seen in the background. A black car behind them to the left, and a man dressed in uniform can be seen walking nearby to the right.

Physical Description

Digital image.

Significance

This photograph 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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