Langmeil/Okunin, Kay/Kije, Harthe/Karczyn, Keltschen/Kiełcze and Tirschtiegel/Trzciel, among other places, and they fled because they came into conflict with the king and were then persecuted. Frederick William III had decided to establish a state church in order to unite Lutherans and Calvinists. For this purpose, he started by introducing a new Order of Worship, and in 1817 he called on his subjects of both denominations to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Reformation with joint Communion Services, and in so doing to affirm their agreement to the unification of the two churches. Certainly, at first, the faithful were not averse to this, but the Lutherans soon turned against the United Church and the interference of secular powers in matters of liturgy and orders of worship. The stronger their resistance, the harsher the punishment for this insubordination. Lutherans who refused to join the United Church or forbade interference in their own confession of faith and maintained their own existing liturgies, were harassed and discriminated against. This persecution quickly worsened with them being threatened with a ban on their own celebration of worship and heavy financial fines, even going so far as the confiscation of their property. Lutheran pastors were no longer allowed to teach or to distribute the sacraments under threat of imprisonment. For many years the Lutherans tried to alleviate the situation but without success.
At the end of 1835, a group of members of the congregation in Klemzig, led by their pastor, August Ludwig Christian Kavel, decided to leave Prussia. This was the start of a mass exodus of Lutherans, who mostly went to the U.S., although some of them decided on Australia, including the group around Pastor Kavel. He travelled via Hamburg to London at the beginning of 1836, in order to organize the departure of his congregation. At first, it was still unclear where they should emigrate to and three possible destinations were considered: Southern Russia around the Black Sea, the U.S., and Australia. Although the Prussian authorities put all kinds of obstacles in the way of those wanting to emigrate for almost two years, they finally received their general exit permits in 1837. Then, Pastor Kavel was able to organize the sea crossing and raise the finance needed for his congregation. Anyone who could not afford to pay for the journey themselves or could only cover the cost as far as Hamburg, was – at the request of their Pastor – offered financial support by George Fife Angas. Angas, a British banker, businessman, and philanthropist, was the co-founder of the South Australia Company for the settlement of South Australia. He prepared the infrastructure for the settlement and bought or leased land for the new arrivals on favorable terms. He paid the travel costs, and it was agreed that the migrants could pay off their debts in installments once they were established in the settlements.
The settlement of Australia
South Australia was a very young colony. It was established as a free colony (i.e. only free settlers were accepted) through the South Australia Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1834. The colony was intended to be an ideal British province, with no unemployment and no discrimination on religious grounds with the settlers there representing the best British values. The colony was established according to the principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a pioneer of colonization. He advocated a systematic development of the countryside through the sale of plots of land at an affordable price, but which should still be sufficiently high (“sufficient price”) that no-one should fall into the temptation of owning more property than they were capable of cultivating for themselves. Wakefield encouraged the settlement of married couples and young families, who would then work in the agricultural sector, and he also attached great importance to high moral standards on the part of the settlers. In contrast to this, New South Wales had been founded as a penal colony and did not demonstrate any long-term sustainable development. Most of the settlers there were men, many of them with a criminal past who had been forcibly settled there. The Prussian Lutherans who accompanied Pastor Kavel to settle in South Australia, on the other hand, complied very well with the ideal that was being looked for – as also did their descendants. The settlers were mostly deeply religious, extraordinarily industrious, and highly principled agricultural workers and craftsmen with many families among them too. Underpinned by these immigrants, there soon arose independent communities in the most important areas settled by the Lutherans – in Adelaide Hills and in Barossa Valley.
In 1841, 1844, and 1845 these first settlers were followed to Australia by inhabitants of other villages in the district of Züllichau/powiat sulechowski and the district of Grünberg/powiat zielonogórski, led by their pastor, Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche, as well as from the districts of Bomst/powiat babimojski, Meseritz/powiat międzyrzecki, and Crossen/ powiat krośnieński. Further migrants came from neighboring villages such as Langmeil, Karge/Kargowa, Goltzen/Kolesin, Salkau/Żółtków, Tirschtiegel, Harthe, Kay, Lang Heinersdorf/Łegowo, Nickern/Niekarzyn, Möstchen/Mostki, Jehser/Jeziory, Klastawe/Chlastawa, Krummendorf/Krężoły, and Bentschen/Zbąszyń. In 1838, there had already been an emigration of inhabitants of other places in the border area between Brandenburg, Silesia, and Greater Poland, especially from Skampe/Skąpe, Muschten/Myszęcin, Rentschen/Radoszyn, Schwiebus/Świebodzin, Rissen/Rosin, Rackau/Raków, Friedrichsfelde/Podlesie, Freistadt/Kożuchów, Sprottau/Szprotawa, and Klippendorf/Przygubiel.
Places of origin of migrants to South Australia from 1838
Religious persecution did not continue for very long as the main reason for emigration. From the 1840s up to the beginning of World War I, most of the migrants wanted above all to improve their economic situation or to follow relatives who had emigrated previously. This so-called chain migration increased the influx of people as those already in Australia brought out their family and friends to join them. According to estimates, there were altogether around 18,000 settlers who came to South Australia from German-speaking countries between 1838 and 1914, of whom over 6,000 were from the central area along the Oder. This border area between the three Prussian provinces of Brandenburg, Silesia, and Posen was inhabited mainly by German-speaking Protestants, but also by Sorbs and Poles, who were mostly Catholic. Many of the Lutheran migrants were farmers and craftsmen, for whom the decision to emigrate to Australia was a decisive one, as they would have hardly any chance of seeing their homeland ever again. It is certainly the case that the first organized departure consisted of not just family groups but whole congregations, who travelled together as functioning communities. This mitigated the feeling of being aliens in the new country, all the more so as they then also settled down together in their new homeland.
The voyage to Australia
The journey to Australia lasted three or four months. First, they had to reach the international ports, and the 1838 emigrants went there by boat. They met up in Tschicherzig/Cigacice or Crossen/Krosno Odrzańskie and travelled on the so-called Oder barges along the rivers Oder, Spree, Havel, and Elbe and the connecting canals to Hamburg. The first group – around two hundred people – departed on June 8, 1838 on two Oder barges from Tschicherzig to Hamburg. This part of the journey usually lasted two to three weeks; while on board the Lutherans celebrated worship and sang hymns and psalms.
On the way the emigrants encountered various reactions. Many people were curious, but very often they came up against misunderstandings about their motives for emigrating, and many times they were regarded as criminal rebels and insurgents. A majority of Prussians were antagonistic towards Lutherans as a result of a long-lasting and latterly defamatory campaign on the part of the Prussian state. During their stops on the way, they were often forbidden by the police to sing religious songs or to celebrate worship – their singing drew particular attention.
Route by water from Tschicherzig/ Cigacice to Hamburg. Drawing by Robert M. Jurga
After only three weeks the first group reached Hamburg. At first, Angas only sent one ship from England, the “Prince George” under the command of Captain Frederick Chilcott, which was originally due to set sail on July 1, 1838. But there were not sufficient places on board, which meant that some of the migrants boarded the “Bengalee” with Captain
