Matts Anders Lehrback, a Finnish seaman from Uleaborg (Oulu), came to Australia in 1884 on the Russian barque Felix and deserted his ship in Geelong. He continued working as a seaman and stevedore, settling in Fremantle, where he joined the Freemason Lodge and married Louisa Rasmus. They had four children. Matts later worked as a water-police constable, station hand and miner in Western Australia.
He enlisted in the AIF in April 1917, but was discharged a month later as an ‘overage’ person (by that time he was nearly fifty).
After the war he lived in Western Australia working as a labourer; his son Carl Sanfrid served in the AIF in WWII.
Waine Henry Pontynen, a Finnish sailor from Helsingfors (Helsinki), came to Sydney in 1916 and worked as a house painter.
He enlisted in the AIF in Brisbane and served with the 4th Machine Gun Battalion on the Western Front.
After the war, while in England, he married an English widow, Catherine Sharp (née Cummins) and came with his wife to Brisbane, where he worked as a painter.
Joseph Skovronski, a Polish man from Warsaw, came to Brisbane in 1912 via the Russian Far East, where he spent a number of years before emigration. His brother Stanley Skownonski lived in Australia as well. Upon arrival Joseph worked as a signwriter in Brisbane and Sydney.
Enlisting in the AIF he served with the 1st Field Company Engineers on the Western Front.
After the war he settled in Sydney, married an Australian girl, Isabella Toakley, and continued his occupation as a painter, decorator and a successful artist.
John Arman, an Estonian from Pärnu, in 1916 moved from Halifax, in the cane-cutting area of Queensland, to Greta in New South Wales, working as a labourer.
Enlisting in the AIF in Sydney, he served with the 45th and 56th battalions on the Western Front. In October 1918 he was killed during the attack on Hindenburg Line.
Russian Anzacs