- German settlement in Australia
German settlement in Australia began in large numbers in 1838, with the arrival of immigrants from
Prussia toAdelaide ,South Australia . German immigrants became prominent in settling South Australia andQueensland . From 1850 untilWorld War I , German settlers and their descendants comprised the largest non-British group of Europeans in Australia.The Prince George and Bengalee group - November 1838
The first group arrived with Pastor
August Kavel on the ships "Prince George", and "Bengalee". These first immigrants to settle from what is today known asGermany were escaping from what they considered to be religious persecution at the hands of Prussian King Frederick William III. The group was composed of Lutheran immigrants who had left their homeland mainly because of their rejection of Prussian state enforcement of a new prayer book for church services. They developed a settlement at Klemzig, six kilometers from Adelaide.The Zebra Group - December 1838
The next group arrived in December 1838, on the "Zebra" with Captain
Dirk Meinhertz Hahn . Captain Hahn, assisted this group in acquiring land in theAdelaide Hills , where they settled Hahndorf.The Catharina Group - January 1839
The last of the initial wave of immigrants arrived in January 1839, on the "Catharina". This group settled predominantly at Glen Osmond.
The Skjold Group - October 1841
In 1840 a letter was sent to the
Old Lutherans in Prussia to encourage others to also emigrate. Included in this letter was a request for a second pastor to be sent also. The group set sail for Australia, on11 July 1841 on the "Skjold". On a trip beset with sickness, 55 people, mainly young children and the elderly died. OnOctober 28 ,1841 , 213 emigrants from Prussia arrived at Port Misery in South Australia. With them was PastorGotthard Fritzsche , who had been encouraged to emigrate because of the Prussian government’s requirement for a Pastor to accompany the emigrants. The migrants settled at Lobethal, and Bethenien.In 1842, Langmeil was settled.
Hermann von Beckerath Group - 1847
Early German immigrants were instrumental in the creation of the South Australian Wine Industry. One of the earliest wine makers, whose descendants still produce wine, was Carl August Sobels. Born in
Dresden in 1802, he arrived in South Australia on the "Hermann von Beckerath" in 1847. At first he farmed at Macclesfield before moving to Tanunda where he produced table wines. After his death in 1863 the business was conducted by his son Ferdinand.By the mid 1840s, the German community in South Australia had become large enough to warrant its own German-language newspaper. In 1847, the first German newspaper in Australia, "Die Deutsche Post", was founded in Adelaide.
an Francisco Group - October 1850
The barque "San Francisco" (a three masted barque of 450 tons (nm) built in Bjornberg, Sweden in 1846 and owned by J C Godeffroy & Sons) landed a number of emigrants in
South Australia on14 October 1850 [http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerlists/1850Northumberland-San%20Francisco%20RegisterOctober14.jpg] after leavingHamburg on15 June (or 23 June ?) [http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerlists/1850Northumberland-San%20Francisco%20RegisterOctober14.jpg]1850 . The ship almost never arrived, as it sailed straight into a major storm at Port Misery (Port Adelaide), which also wrecked the barque "Grecian" (three-masted, built at Sunderland, England in 1841) earlier that day. It was reported in a local newspaper of the time that the newly arrived emigrants on the ship were from the linen-producing Prussian province of Silesia. Like previous German emigrants to South Australia, the passengers then dispersed throughout the colony.Passenger List of the San Francisco:
Name
Vorname
Beruf
Herkunft
Ehefrau
Kinder
Further reading
* Harmstorf, Ian and Cigler, Michael (1985) "The Germans in Australia" Melbourne : AE Press. Australian ethnic heritage series. ISBN 0867872039
* Tampke, Jurgen and Doxford, Colin (1990) "Australia, Willkommen : a history of the Germans in Australia"Kensington, N.S.W : New South Wales University Press. ISBN 0868403075External links
* [http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting/germanaustralia/e/chron/chron1.htm "German Australia" Chronology]
* [http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/places/zivillager/history.shtml Zivil Lager (Internment Camp): World War One Prisoners Of War At Trial Bay] (online exhibition)* [http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/shipping/mig-sa2.htm] South Australian Migrant Shipping (1836-1860)
* [http://homepage.mac.com/graememoad/Family/Ships/san_francisco.htm] SAN FRANCISCO passenger list and some other link.
ee also
*
German Australian
*Forty-Eighters
*Barossa German
*Ethnic Germans
*Immigration to Australia
*German Baptist settlers in Australia
*Australian place names changed from German names
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