| Mieczyslaw Woźniczko was born in Chomentow, a village in the southern highlands of Poland about 100km north of Krakow. He was born in a small timber and cement cottage next to a wooden church dating back to 1357 (14th Century), and its associated cemetery which adjoined Dad’s father’s orchard. His father Piotr was the village soltis or village head man/administrator. Piotr’s first wife, Mietek’s mother, died when Mietek was just a small child. There were 6 children, three from the first marriage and three from a second marriage.
The cottage had one room called the salon where everyone slept and a small kitchen with a wood fire stove, and tiles which could be slept on when temperatures dropped deep into the minuses in the middle of bitter winters. The cottage still stands to this day. I was there with Dad’s only remaining sibling Marysia, just a few days ago. The annual harvest festival of the district was being celebrated in Chomentow this year, and so I observed the traditional harvest procession with associated traditions. With Dad (already passed) waiting for me to get a flight home to Australia for his funeral, I participated in the special dozynki mass and brought some blessed bread from the harvest offerings to put into his coffin.
War broke out on 1 September 1939, when Dad was only 16 years of age. Prior to that he attended the local primary school and worked to help his parents on the farm. Some of the skills he learned from working on the farm proved useful in future situations. Dad was rounded up by the Germans at age 18, and sent to Leer, Germany, to a forced labour camp. From there he was sent to work on a German farm, when Ukrainians in larger numbers were brought to the camp. Dad said that the Poles had worked hard and had earned the trust of the Germans. They were needed on the farms due to the fact that German farmhands were conscripted into the German armed forces.
Dad worked on the German farm for the next 4 years. Initially his ration was 100g of bread per day and a small slice of butter. However, Dad knew how to grow crops and look after horses. The German Bauer considered Dad a valuable worker and ultimately treated him quite well. He even gave him cigarettes. Dad has smoked since he was eight years old. When a law was passed that German nationals were not allowed to eat at the same table with Poles and other non-Germans, Dad told the Bauer that he didn’t mind eating in the kitchen as long as there was good food and plenty of it.
At the end of the War (8 May 1945) Dad was taken to a number of different camps for Polish deportees and Prisoners of War, in Lower Saxony, Germany. He worked for the British army, volunteering as part of the CMLA which was the Civilian Mixed Labour Organisation under the command of the British Army. Throughout 1946, 1947and 1948, he worked as a watchman and drove army trucks transporting food and supplies. He wore a military uniform but he was not actually a sworn-in Polish soldier.
One day two British officers came to ask him what he wanted to do in the future. Like many other Poles, Latvians, Estonians etc Dad did not want to be repatriated to his homeland due to it being under Russian control. He wanted to migrate to another country as far away as possible from all that he had seen and experienced. Australia was accepting displaced persons from the War. On 11 October 1949, Dad was accepted as a migrant by Australia. The Authorities recorded his surname as Wozniczka.
After a journey of 30 days on the ship, the “Fairsea”, which Dad described as relaxing and enjoyable, Dad arrived in Darling Harbour, Sydney on 1 January 1950. A requirement of being accepted by Australia was that he had to work under contract for two years. He was initially sent to the migrant camp at Bathurst, and after a few weeks, to a cement factory in Kandos. As soon as the two years was up, Dad, with an earned amount of 1,000 pounds came to Sydney. He spent three days on a Hyde Park bench, before finding out about work being offered at Sydney airport. It is during these days that Dad was helped by the Salvation Army offering him food and some help. He never forgot the assistance of the Salvos and always donated generously to their Appeals.
The airport job involved demolition of some old buildings using dynamite. Dad had absolutely no knowledge of this type of work but learned quickly. When the work ran out, Dad was successful in getting a job at Rheem Australia as a spray painter. He worked his way up to the position of leading hand and stayed with the Company for 33 years until his retirement.
With the money earned from the airport job, Dad bought his first property at 6 Rickard Road, Bankstown, initially together with a Polish friend who he later paid out when he moved to Newcastle to work in the steelworks. He also met Jozefa Wozniczka (Mum) whilst at the local dentist and started dating her. He had seen her earlier at Polish dances (zabawas) over the years and even danced with her, but because she was 10 years younger, there was no immediate relationship until he pursued her later. Polish girls were sought after by Polish men, in preference to young women of other nationalities. Once their marriage was imminent, Mum moved into the Rickard Road house, Bankstown, with her father.
After they married on 27 December in 1954, nearly 70 years ago, two children were born, first Leszek on 22 October 1955 and then Urszula on 22 December 1957. Dad worked double shifts to pay for his children’s private education and built a new house in Bankstown some years later.
Józefa i śp. Mieczysław Woźniczka na spotkaniu z małżonką Prezydenta RP, Pierwszą Damą Agatą
Kornhauser-Duda 22 sierpnia 2018 w Marayong Nursig Home. |
Further moves occurred to Liverpool and Newport Beach and ultimately, in 2016 to the Holy Family Services Nursing Home (mum) and retirement village for dad. Due to COVID, dad joined mum in the Nursing Home where they had adjoining rooms and were inseparable until two months after Dad’s 101st birthday, when he passed away peacefully in his sleep after a wonderful life. He is survived by his loving wife, Jozefa, his two children Leszek (married to Kasia Strugarek) and Urszula (married to Anthony Lang), two grandchildren Dariusz Krol (married to Alinka Mrozik) and Joasia (married to Simon Fisher), and two great grandsons, Sebastian and Aleksander Krol.
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