Collection of material relating to migration of Mihkelson family from Estonia to Australia, via Sweden, in 1948

Date1940s

Object numberANMS1545

NameArchive series

MediumPaper

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Dr Anu Mihkelson

Terms

Miscellaneous

DescriptionThis collection relates to the migration of the Mihkelson family from Estonia to Australia, via Sweden, in 1948. It includes family heirlooms, household objects, handicrafts, clothing and personal items packed when Oskar and Magda Mihkelson fled Estonia, items relating to their lives as part of a vibrant Estonian exile community in Sweden, objects and images connected with their voyage to Australia on TOSCANA, and items relating to the family's early years working in the migrant communities of Tully and Mount Isa in Queensland.HistoryWhen Russia invaded Estonia in 1944, Oskar and Magda Mihkelson fled on a merchant ship bound for Sweden, carrying their most cherished family possessions - the family silver, jewellery, monogrammed linen and photo albums. In Sweden they joined other Estonians who worked together to maintain a sense of community and nurture Estonian traditions and language. Magda gave birth to her only child, Anu, in Sweden, and contributed to the family income by knitting traditional Hapsaala scarves, weaving handbags, hats and decorations, sewing dolls clothes after traditional Swedish designs, and crafting glass Christmas tree decorations over a Primus stove. The Mihkelson family was sponsored to Australia by an Estonian family living in Sydney and embarked from Italy on the TOSCANA in 1948. When the Mihkelsons arrived in Australia, they were advised to head north to the cane-cutting communities in Queensland. Like many post-World War II migrants, Oskar was lured to the mines in Mount Isa, living in single men's barracks before sending for Magda and Anu. He worked as a carpenter for Mount Isa Mines and the family built a house with the assistance of other Estonian immigrants. Magda was a talented artist and often drew scenes from her past, etching wooden photo album covers with scenes of Tallinn, and embroidering scenes of Estonian winters. She continued to create traditional Estonian embroidery, but incorporated images of the brilliantly coloured Australian parrots in her garden. Following Magda's death, Anu returned to Estonia for the first time, retracing her parents' lives and reuniting with old family friends. She collected souvenirs during this trip and was given material connected with her family's past. Her parents' neighbours offered her Magda and Oskar's complete dinner service, given to them for safekeeping before they fled to Sweden in 1944.SignificanceThe Mihkelson collection provides an intact, complete representation of what one family managed to pack when they left their homeland in the years after the Second World War. This material was cherished for 60 years, a testament to the family's intense nostalgia and attachments to a home they could not return to.

The Mihkelson collection allows the museum to explore the context and push/pull factors for post-World War II immigration, the plight of new arrivals in migrant communities in north Queensland, and their enduring links with homelands. It also represents men's work in the mining and sugarcane industries, and women's domestic needlework in rural immigrant communities, broadening the story beyond the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme in the popular consciousness.