Roman and Alexandra Pavlyshyn papers

Roman Pavlyshyn was born in Western Ukraine on 3 October 1922. When Russia occupied Western Ukraine in 1939, Roman and his mother escaped to Germany. Here Roman worked as a draftsman and completed his schooling. He later studied at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna and was near completion in 1945, when the Soviet Union occupied the country. Roman fled to Germany and completed his architecture studies at Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt. In 1947 he married Alexandra Chushak, another displaced Ukrainian. Together they emigrated to Australia, joining Alexandra's mother in Mackay where she had migrated before the war. There Roman met architect Karl Langer and moved to Brisbane to work for him. In 1951, he resigned and began work for the Commonwealth Works Department. In the late 1950s, he transferred to the Queensland Department of Works. Here he rose to Chief Architect and is remembered for his work on the Queensland Cultural Centre, the courts complex and the executive building. In Brisbane Pavlyshyn became a leader in the Ukrainian community and was a long-serving president of the Ukrainian Association of Queensland. He and his wife were involved in a number of other Ukrainian community groups, including scouts organisations, credit unions and church groups.