A eucalyptus tree in Springton in which Johann Friedrich Herbig lived with his family for several years.
Prussian traces to be found in Australia
As farmers and craftsmen, the Prussian settlers from the central Oder region had less of an influence on the highbrow culture of the colony than educated Germans like the “Forty-Eighters” who came from cities such as Berlin, Breslau/Wrocław, and Liegnitz/Legnica as a result of the revolutions in 1848. But amongst the former there were also people whose value to society has not been forgotten, such as the teacher and educationalist Wilhelm Traugott Boehm, born 1836 in Muschten near Züllichau, who founded the Hanhdorf Academy, as well as another school. Immanuel Gotthold Reimann, whose parents had emigrated from Groß Schmöllen/Smolno Wielkie in 1850, is reckoned as the “father of music” because of his work in musical education in South Australia. He founded the first Music School in Australia, the Adelaide College of Music, which later developed into the Elder Conservatorium of Music.
One of the best-known settlers is Johann Friedrich Herbig from Grünberg. Herbig first took up residence inside a tree, which was to serve for several years as his home on the new continent. At first, he lived there alone, then together with his wife, Caroline Rattey and finally with their first two children as well. The story of the Herbig family shows how hard things were for the settlers in the beginning and remains symbolic of all the pioneers.
Kurt Johannsen is a legendary inventor and engineer whose ancestors came from Bomst/Babimost. One of his most famous inventions is the so-called road train, a heavy goods truck with a particular driving system, that revolutionized goods transport in Australia by making it possible to transport goods over distances of several thousand kilometers and is still in use today. There are many other immigrants who played an important role in the history of South Australia.
Gravestone in the cemetery at Gruenberg in the Barossa Valley giving an outline of the life history of Anna Maria Altmann who came from Weiche (probably Weichau/Wichów) near Freistadt/Kożuchów in Silesia.
The Germans brought their social and cultural ideas with them to their new homeland. The immigrants and their descendants found great support from their faith. They founded the Lutheran Church in Australia, which is still active today and is a central point of reference for the descendants of the Prussian immigrants. Their religious traditions were extremely important for the first immigrants and gave them a sense of identity. Traces of the first immigrants are also to be found in the cemeteries, as many gravestones carry a mention of the place of origin of the person who died. The material and spiritual culture of South Australia has also been enriched by the customs of the German Lutherans, including their musical and culinary traditions. The immigrants brought their recipes with them to Australia and subsequent generations preserved the culinary secrets of their mothers and grandmothers. Still in the present day, sauerkraut and pickled gherkins (saure Gurken) are eaten and are still given their German names – an example that Prussian cuisine is still alive and well. In addition, the Germans are experts in the production of sausages and processed meats, and these have also kept their German names that in South Australia they speak of Mettwurst (smoked pork sausage), Knackwurst (coarse sausage, often beef), Blutwurst (blood sausage), Presswurst (brawn), and Leberwurst (liver sausage) . An important tradition of the immigrants from the borderland areas between Brandenburg, Silesia, and Greater Poland was wine growing, which developed into one of the most important industrial sectors. South Australian wines enjoy an outstanding reputation world-wide. Wine had been produced and cellared in the homeland of the German immigrants since the 13th/14th centuries, although it was not done to a very large extent, and yet many of the immigrants planted small vineyards immediately after their arrival. They benefited from the knowledge and traditions that they had brought with them from the area around Grünberg, Züllichau, Tschicherzig, and Mosau/Mozów, as well as from the favorable natural conditions – the excellent soil conditions and the climate. On a more widespread basis, winegrowing only really developed in South Australia from the 1880s.
The winegrower Stephen Henschke on the Hill of Grace vineyard, planted in the mid- 19th century by Nikolaus Stanitzki.
Progression into the wine industry could be very different from one another. Some of the immigrants planted grape vines without producing wine themselves, other pressed the grapes into wine solely for their own use, and for many others wine production provided extra income. Others only began to press their grapes into wine after several years, or even decades, whilst others took over a vineyard that had already been planted. Among the most famous wine producers whose forebears came from the central Oder region were the Auricht, Henschke, Kalleske, Schrapel, Nietschke, Mattner, and Lehmann families. Thanks to forward-planning with a quarantine policy, South Australia remained free of the phylloxera vine pest which repeatedly destroyed vines in Europe and beyond. Many of the vines which were planted 70-90 years ago are still bearing fruit today, and there are some still in use after 100 years. Thus, in South Australia today there is wine being produced from some of the oldest vines in the world.
Prussians in South Australia today
Most of the German immigrants from the central Oder region settled first of all in South Australia, but some of them traveled on to Victoria or New South Wales. Today, their descendants make up a significant community in Australia being very conscious of their identity and their German cultural heritage, which is distinctive from that of the Anglo-Saxon majority. Since the 1980s, there has been a widespread interest in Australia in researching into family history. One hundred and fifty years after the first immigration, the fourth, or even the fifth generation began to make enquiries into their background. In a search for their roots, Australians have been traveling over the past 30 years to the homeland of their ancestors, which has belonged to Poland since 1945. However, a lack of language skills has made it difficult for them to communicate with the local population. The Poles were also rather suspicious of the overseas visitors. They had previously accepted German visitors coming to see the villages and towns of their former homeland with some understanding, albeit finding this rather unsettling, but they were much more suspicious of the Australians who were coming more and more frequently and wanted to find the old cemeteries. The final result of these visits has however been that many Poles living in this region have now come to know the history of the emigration to Australia. This has led to a change in the attitude of the present inhabitants towards the German past of their homeland, meaning that denial or indifference have gradually been turned to an interest in the history and the destiny of the former inhabitants.
A nice example of the way, in which people have empathized with the destiny of the former inhabitants of the Oder region and have indeed even been able to identify with them, was the historical re-enactment of the “Emigration from Klemzig and its surrounding area to Australia, 1838” (“Emigracja z Klępska I okolic do Australii w 1838 r.”). This was performed in 2008 and 2009 in Klępsk and Cigacice by the local residents. This was initiated by the local priest of the Klępsk parish, Olgierd Banaś, and the organizing of it also involved staff from the Museum of Lubusz Province in Zielona Góra/Muzeum Ziemi Lubuskiej w Zielonej Górze,