Seven-year-old Maira Kalnins found herself in the midst of political outrage after she was chosen as the face of the Displaced Persons Program in Australia in 1949.

Maira was travelling with her family to start a new life in Australia after the postwar occupation of her native Latvia by Russian forces. Her pretty face won her the role as the central figure in a publicity campaign to mark the 50,000th new arrival in Australia under the Displaced Persons Program.

In August 1949, then Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell (in the Chifley government) flew to Fremantle in Western Australia to greet the family and bestow a symbolic kiss on young Maira’s face.

‘Records in the National Archives show the level of planning that went into organising the publicity campaign, including the passenger ship Fairsea’s unscheduled stop in Fremantle,’ said curator Tracey Clarke from the National Archives.

‘There was parliamentary outrage at the cost of the trip. A newspaper at the time estimated that the Minister’s trip cost more than £1000, which included £400 to keep the Fairsea at sea for an extra day and £200 to feed the passengers.’

In a Question without Notice in the House of Representatives on 7 September 1949, Mr Harrison asked Prime Minister Ben Chifley about the total cost of the kiss bestowed on young Maira.

The National Archives of Australia has chosen 'the cost of a kiss' as its Find of the Month for July. Documents from the time and a photograph of the Kalnins family are on display at the National Archives head office in Canberra. The information is also available on their website at naa.gov.au.

Background note:
In 1946 the United Nations established the International Refugee Organisation to manage the international refugee problem created by World War II. The following year the Australian Government began accepting migrants under the Displaced Persons Program and July 2007 marks the 60th anniversary of the program. More than 170,000 displaced persons came to Australia between 1947 and 1953. The National Archives of Australia holds the records of many migrants who arrived during this period.