woar irschte a grußer Pulteroabend. Do hoaben der ins andersch ongezoagn und a andersch Gesicht uffgesetzt, und’s Pultern ging luß, doß de ganze Nochborschaft onfing zu wackeln. Do goabs Kuchen und Wein und Bier, monchmoal ooch bloae Ogen und hernochens a dicken Kupp, oaber grußoartig woar’s. Heutzutoage kummt die Brout med der Brätiger aleene in de Kirche, und hernochens gibt’s oach keene sunne Nudelsuppe wie doamoals. Doas woarn doamoals richtige Nudeln, se kenn mers gloabn. Se longten immer von een Taller in’n ondern, und Kartuffeln und Fleesch und Pudding hoabn ber gegassen, doß der gonz dicke wurden.
A rough translation might be something like this:
A few wiks ago, a letter cum to my address from Pastor Grollmus from Klemzig in Germany. Ackcherly the letter wus addressed to Mr Berthold Schultz, whoos me son, but at the noo in Leipzig at collidge. Me parents cum from Thiemendurf on Oder. Me son went on a visit to Thiemendurf last Oster an’ told aboot everything he experienced ther […] Ther wuz a gert big weddun fest. They all dresst up fancy and pulled a diffrent face, an’ the weddun got goin, wid the hole nayborhood goin crazy. Ther wuz cakes and wine and beer, an sumtimes bleary eys and a thick hed after – but twas grate! Today the brid and groom cum to the church alone, and ther aint any nudel soup like ther wuz then. Them wuz reel nudels, beleeve me. Them were long enuff to go from one plat to t’next, and we ate taters and meat and pudding til we all got qwite fat.
The Lutheran Church was a bastion of the German language, and it was only in the 1890s that services were held in the English language. But over the course of time, there was increasing contact with the Australians of British heritage. It was above all as a result of the lessons in school being in English that led to the gradual spread of English into the Lutheran communities. It was only when policies of discrimination against Australian citizens of German background were introduced during World War I that the German language was almost brought to the point of disappearing altogether.
Prussian settlements during the World Wars
The years during World War I and World War II were a difficult time for the Australians of German background, not just for the original immigrants, but also for their descendants, who had been born in Australia and felt themselves to be Australian. They were regarded as citizens being on the side of the enemy and thus as hostile aliens. Despite repeated declarations of loyalty, they were victimized and discriminated against. German schools and clubs were closed down, and their organizations disbanded. Teaching in German was banned. Numerous individuals of German origin were placed under house arrest and many others including pastors, were interned. In accordance with the War Precautions Act of October 29, 1914, which granted the Australian government wide-ranging powers during World War I, all Australians with German parents or grandparents had to register with the police and were then not allowed to buy or lease any further land and had to transfer all their business shares into state ownership. German language books and newspapers were not allowed to appear, and from 1917 the German minority had their voting rights taken away. Almost seventy locations in South Australia were renamed and given either English names or Aboriginal ones. Even those places names that were of symbolical significance for the first settlers, and indeed for the whole Germanheritage community, disappeared. Some of these name changes were reversed in the 1930s and the other in the 1970s. The discrimination suffered during World War I was a traumatic experience for those Australians of German background, which was then repeated with the repressions during the World War II, and it took many long years for the hurt to lessen.
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
