Russians in Kuridala, Malbon and Ballara 1916-1921

Kuridala is a rural locality in the Shire of Cloncurry in Queensland and the abandoned mining town. The town of Kuridala was originally named Gulatten, then Hampden, then Friezland, and finally Kuridala in October 1916.
Malbon is a town in the centre of the locality.
Ballara is the now abandoned ruins of a settlement that supported the Wee MacGregor Mine. It is the north-west of the locality.

In the 2021 census, Kuridala had a population of 38 people. 

The Mount Isa railway line also enters the locality from the north (Cloncurry), passes through the town of Malbon which is served by Malbon railway station.

Kuridala

Chebator, Paul 
Surevief, Fred
Nagaevsky, [Mrs] Eugenie 
Nagaevsky, Jacob (John Jacob Nagal)

Barralla

Kalmanoff, Simon  (October 1916), arrived Sydney April 1914, arrived 14 April 1948 in Sydney

"Alleged Assault." The Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1965) 15 September 1921: 2. Web. 11 May 2026 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40137387>.


Malbon

Puzzy, Philipp ( October 1916) born in Odessa 1875
Dimoff, Salvin [Seovini] [Leovini] [Slavi] 

Friezland

Krinitsky, Kosma (October 1916)
Krinitsky, Ylina (October 1916)
Rosenoff, Jack (October 1916)
TOLSTOBROFF, Steve (October 1916)
Chapaloff, Andrey (October 1916)
Dementeff, Peter -(October 1916)
NAGAEVSKY Jacob
NAGEVSKY Eugenia
Aganoff, Alek 
EFREMOFF, Peter 
Tui, Alexander
Elfimoff, John  (1922)
Korniack [or Korneuik], Affanasy (1924 - 1930)
Рыбак Леонтий - Reback, Leonti (1925-26)

Records from the Russian Anzacs identify specific individuals like Paul Semenkin (from Belarus) and Simon Sutchkoff, who lived and worked in Friezland before or around 1914.

Affanasey Korniack, a Ukrainian from Poritsk in Volyn Province, fought in the Russo-Japanese War. He came to Townsville from the Russian Far East not long before WWI broke out. By that time he was nearly forty, being a widover with two children left behind in Russia. He had the trade of a machinist and worked in the mines in Cloncurry and Friezland as a miner.

George Loginoff from Kotelnich in Viatka Province, leaving Russia, spent two years in England, France, and Alaska, arriving in Brisbane in 1913. He worked as a labourer in Friezeland.

Paul Semenkin, from Paluzh in Mogilev Province in Belarus, came to Australia in 1914 and worked in the mines in Friezland with Korniak and Loginoff.