Do you know this girl?

This young girl was on board the Fairsea in August 1949, when the then-Minister for Immigration, Hon. Arthur Calwell came to welcome the 50,000th new migrant to Australia at Fremantle, Western Australia.

The 12 year old Polish girl, dressed in a Krakowski folk dress, welcomed the Minister on behalf of the group of newly arrived Polish migrants (see text on the main page).

She did not know any English and yet was taught to recite a moving speech. Supposedly the Minister was so touched by the sentiments that he thanked this young girl.  Not knowing what he was saying - she looked at him blankly.

The speech was written by the leader of the group, Mr. Jacek Janusz Wyszogrodzki who currently lives in Melbourne, Victoria.

However we do not know who this twelve year was.  We would like to find out how the life of this young girl turned out to be in this new country - Terra Nova.

We know that the Fairsea was on its way to Newcastle, New South Wales - and that most of the newly arrived migrants ended up at Greta migrant camp. But we have no further knowledge of this young girl.

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