Babcia Zaborska

Genowefa Zaborska nee Zawal born 20 July 1903 in Jelonki, woj Mazowieckie (Mazovian voivodship), Poland, died 10 October 2008, Pascoe Vale, Australia..

My grandmother was known to the family as Babcia, and to my children as PraBabcia, but she was known to many in Melbourne as Babcia Zaborska, and to the local community in Monbulk as Mrs Tom. She was well known within the Polish community for her home-made Polish cheese (twarog or quark), as well as her sour cream. Babcia spent many years of her life here in Melbourne on the farm, tending to the cows, feeding the pigs, and also her chicken, ducks, geese and occasionally turkeys (these were not my favourite of her animals). She also had dogs, "Muszka" (little fly) was my favourite, and innumerable cats, which she insisted on feeding, despite surviving on her pension alone. As she grew older and after Dziadek died, she sold off the chickens and ducks, but stubbornly refused to move from the farm, remaining to tend her flowers and rhododendrons, picking strawberries, and taking up crocheting. She sat at night making shawls and cushion covers, and I am sure that these cushion covers, with multicoloured flowers, still adorn the houses of many people within the Polish community.

Babcia was short in stature but had a heart of gold, that belied her often gruff and grumpy demeanour. She was the mother of eight children, four of whom survived beyond early childhood, and who, in fact, survived Siberia and the travels to Africa. One daughter remained in Africa and the remaining three arrived in Australia along with Babcia and Dziadek on 14th February 1950. Irena remained in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) with her husband and had two sons, one of whom died in tragic circumstances in 1973. With her second husband, Irena had another daughter, who now lives in Johannesburg along with her husband and daughter.

Babcia was not actively involved in Polish community activities, she was too busy working to survive, and assist Dziadek to collect enough money to build a house. Along with my father and his close friends, Dziadek built a double brick, 3-bedroom house in Glenroy, during weekends, as he worked at the abattoirs in North Melbourne during the week, while Babcia travelled to a hospital in Kew every day. Once the house was completed, my parents moved in along with me, as well as Babcia's youngest daughter and subsequently her husband. My mama stayed home with me while the remainders all worked until Dziadek was forced to retire. Once I began school, Mama also went back to work. Dinners were frugal and busy, and I do not actually remember Babcia cooking.

I do remember weekends and Wigilia (Christmas Eve) when friends and family gathered. The table was full, the room was tight, but the atmosphere was wonderful and for us, as children, it was exciting. I should note that in Polish children do not refer to adults by their first name, so they are either Pan or Pani (Mr or Mrs) or Ciocia and Wujek (Aunt and Uncle). Since many of the extended family and friends, had no family in Australia, they became a part of our family.

Babcia and Dziadek, along with my Mama and Ciocia arrived in Fremantle via the "USS General Langfitt", disembarking on the morning of 15th February 1950, and were transported to Cunderdin (WA) camp. Mama stayed in Perth and was sent to Perth Hospital to work. Babcia and Dziadek and the youngest of their children, Jadzia moved from Cunderdin to the Nullarbor so that Dziadek could work replacing sleepers on the railway line. Babcia set up a kitchen in a tent, and there she cooked for the family as well as for many of the young men who were single and were looking for a meal that reminded them of home. It was in this way, that Mama and Tata met, as he was one of these men who took advantage of the catering services provided by Babcia. They lived in this way until 1952 when they had all worked off the two-year contract that they had to repay for their transport to Australia.

The first of the young men moved to Melbourne and found that jobs were easy to come by at Holden in Fishermen's Bend. So, they contacted friends and many of them, including Babcia, Dziadek and my parents travelled to Melbourne.

But really, how did Babcia arrive here? If you read the short history, you will realise that Babcia was born when Poland was under Rozbiory (partitions) and was therefore born and lived under Russian rule until the age of 15. Babcia was born in Jelonki a small village near Lipsko. She came into the world as the only daughter of Jan Zawal and Agnieszka (nee Piwowarska). She had two older brothers and three younger brothers. In 1916 her world fell apart, as did the world of her mother, with the death of her father. Her mother was pregnant with their youngest child, and it became Babcia's responsibility to look after the family. At the age of 13, she sought work on other properties, tending geese and pigs, to bring home money and feed the family. My PraBabcia also took in a lodger, who was an educated man, in fact, he was a teacher. As part of his payment for lodging and accommodation, he agreed to teach Babcia to read and write. Babcia, therefore, worked from dawn to dusk and then studied at night after she had helped her mother deal with the children.

Babcia read, spoke and wrote Russian and Polish, as, despite the penalties, that would be received if the authorities knew that they continued to speak Polish at home, her parents ensured that the Polish language was nurtured and used within the house. Since they were living in a farming community, the children did not attend schools. This requirement did not come in until the end of WWI when Piłsudski enacted a requirement for children to attend school.

Babcia met and married Dziadek, Tomasz Zaborski in 1924, He was a widower, whose wife and two young sons had recently died. Dziadek was 25 and Babcia was 21, so she also said that she had married an old man. They were married in Lipsko and their first daughter Janina was born in Jelonki. Soon afterwards, Dziadek managed to buy some land (10 hectares or 40 morgen which was the measure that Dziadek always quoted) in the Kresy region which bordered Poland and Russia. They moved to the civilian settlement, Zańki near Świslocz, Wołkowysk, on the road between Slonim and Białystock. Today Świslocz is in Białoruś, Belarus, and is known as Svislać. Zańki no longer exists, and their house definitely does not exist. Mama remembers as they were being transported to the Urals, seeing the Russian soldiers and the locals sitting at their house and burning the wood that Dziadek had cut and prepared to build their new house.

Babcia and Dziadek began their life in this area under a large oak tree, while Dziadek built a house and Babcia began to till the soil and sow plants. Their first winter was difficult as the snows came earlier than in the areas from which they had moved, and they were still living under the tree. The house had been built by the second winter. Babcia worked in the field as well as looking after the children as they came along. Dziadek appears to have been considered quite wealthy as he had two horses, and Babcia often repeated that he was called upon for weddings and they were regularly asked to be godparents to the local children.

Again, on 11 Feb 1940, Babcia's world fell apart, as NKVD soldiers came banging on the doors at 2 am demanding that they pack and leave the house. Dziadek burned all of the family papers and family photos while they were packing, and Babcia often told me that she had set the dough starter so that she could make bread the next day so that they had no bread to take with them, To the day she died, Babcia would never throw out bread. She could go without other food but always looked for her bread. They were transported by cart to the station and sat there through the night waiting to be moved into a train carriage. They were herded into cattle trucks, there were no windows, and in the middle of every carriage was a hole in the floor. I had heard about these conditions, but it was not until I saw the Siberian display in Gdansk, that I realised just how cramped these carriages were. These were the conditions that they endured for months as they were transported across Kresy and Russia towards the Urals and further into Siberia. Babcia and the family were dropped at Chelyabinsk (just north of Kazakhstan) and then moved to a copper mine, where both Babcia and Dziadek worked in appalling conditions, with very little food. They eventually learned of the formation of Anders Army (based on the Sikorski-Majski Pact in July 1941) and discovered that they were "free" to leave Chelyabinsk and to find Buzułuk, where the army was forming. This was some 760 km away and they walked for two weeks to get there, with Dziadek carrying their one suitcase, and the younger daughters.

They ultimately arrived on The Caspian Sea and travelled by sea to Pahlavi (Iran), where they had clothes removed, and many were placed in hospitals to deal with Typhus, lice and other maladies that were the result of near starvation for over a year. Dziadek left with the army to Palestine. Ciocia Janka joined the women's forces but came back to find Babcia and her sisters. Babcia had come down with Typhus and was in the hospital. Mama was in another hospital due to an infection in both eyes, while her two sisters were in two different orphanages as they were too young to be alone. Ciocia Janka searched until she found the entire family and reunited them.

From there, Babcia and her daughters travelled via India to Africa, where they lived in Bwana M'Kubwa until the closure of the camp in 1950. Dziadek joined them in Africa before they left for Australia.

Once retired, Dziadek bought the land in Monbulk, choosing land which was the exact shape and size of the land he had been forced to leave in Zańki and he moved in the early 1960s with Babcia following some 2 years later. They worked hard but lived out their lives on this farm. The grandchildren spent every set of school holidays with Babcia and Dziadek, in what was a very unstructured environment. Babcia looked after her animals, milked the cows, made her sour cream and cheese, while Dziadek was working in the fields until sunset. He would come in at evening and light the kerosene lamps, as it was some time before electricity was connected to the farm. The grandchildren made their own adventures, and activities, and came in when we were hungry or the mosquitoes came out just before dusk. As adults, there was always someone at the farm on the weekend to check in on Babcia and Dziadek, and so they lived out their lives, as they wanted to, but not in their country of birth until Dziadek died on Babcia's birthday in 1978. Again, Babcia was alone but she refused to move back to Glenroy to live with her daughters.

The Ash Wednesday bushfires were particularly traumatic for the Dandenong Ranges and Beaconsfield areas. The fires were raging in the afternoon and had closed access to Upwey and the local roads, Babcia refused to leave when we checked in at 6 pm. She was fine, she said. We checked in again at 11 pm when we saw that the fires had gone down to Officer and had turned back towards Warburton. Coming from Wantirna South, where we were living at the time, we decided to come through Mount Evelyn, knowing that we could not pass via the Burwood Highway, As we came down Macclesfield Road, the ring of fire was close and very bright across the entire view of the Warburton Ranges. We found Babcia sitting and crocheting by candlelight, Apparently, the power had gone out some time ago, but she was burning her Gromnica (a candle that is blessed in February and is used in times of danger). By the time we arrived, the phones had also gone out. Babcia sat there with her worldly possessions, her small bag of clothes, and her multiple large bags of wool (She had paid for this and didn't want to lose it to the fire).

It was not until around 1995 that Babcia finally agreed to leave Monbulk and move to Glenroy. There she enjoyed every Polish Senior Citizens organisation she could find and would go visiting the Polish neighbours, preferring to visit rather than stay at home. Babcia loved receiving gifts, mainly because then she was able to regift these and pass them onto someone else. She remained fiercely independent and refused any form of support.

Babcia's 100th Birthday was a major celebration, in fact, she celebrated this for almost 6 months, as various local Polish organisations held small afternoon teas on her behalf. She did not receive a letter from the Prime Minister or the Queen, but she received a certificate from a Polish organisation, and that was far more important to her. She still had her wits about her, though her memory was beginning to play tricks and some of her stories were a great source of amusement, especially when she started talking about her second husband (we are still trying to find him). Unfortunately, at the age of 103, Babcia suffered a fall and broke a number of ribs. From the hospital, the Aged Care nurses recommended that she needed to move into care, where she stayed until she passed away at the age of 105.

Babcia's answer to the question of how she managed to stay so healthy and so independent, was clean living, living in the homemade blackberry "Juice" may also have helped.

Babcia was interviewed by the AMCS on the occasion of her 100th Birthday, The article is in Polish, and some "facts" may be in doubt, however, the link will take you there, to read Babcia's view