FLASH  BACK

   Baltic Migrants Arrival at Peterborough,1948
                    
     Few people would remember in 1999 that it is 51 years ago since
  the first Baltic migrants arrived  at Peterborough to be trained
  for railway work in South Australia. The Balts were the first 
  displaced persons to come to South Australia as migrants and they 
  were accepted almost to a man by the local people because of their
  youth and their apparent enthusiasm to learn all they could of
  their new home and join in the activities of their new country.
    They were willing employees who were prepared to work long hours
  and many shifts in order to help them establish themselves financially,
  but one of their most severe problems was the language barrier. One 
  Fireman could not understand the meaning of the word "rest", and when 
  the crew arrived at its destination to go to barracks, this Fireman 
  would not leave his engine and slept on the footplate. He had been told
  to work his engine to Wilmington and back, but was not told specifically
  to go to bed at Wilmington.
     With Mr.and Mrs. Allen Ind at the migrant hostel established in
  Peterborough, where these lads were first encamped in tents and later
  in rooms of more solid construction, it is recalled the young Firemen 
  sitting up late at nights drinking coffee to help keep them awake so
  that they could pursue their study of the language and the instruction
  papers necessary to qualify as Firemen and Porters.
      Some of the older Enginemen found it hard to converse and understand 
 the young migrants, and some of the young migrants found it hard to
  understand just what the Enginemen were thinking, but mostly it was a
  happy association which extended for many years afterwards, and, today,
  we have a lot of those Baltic migrants listed among our senior staff
  members in the Loco. and Traffic Running and among the Station Masters' 
  ranks.
      In the early days most migrants wore gloves on their hands when doing
  hard and dirty work, and the reward for this was apparent when some of
  them left the Railways and went into other positions, and some into their
  own usinesses. The talented boys were pleased that they had protected 
 their hands and fingers to equip them for delicate work in future life.
     The accompanying photos show the first classes of migrant Porters and
  Firemen in structed at Peterborough.
  
         Railways Institute Magazine, May-June, 1973