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, the House of Culture in Sulechów/Dom Kultury w Sulechowie, and the municipal authority offices in Sulechów/Urząd Miasta i Gminy w Sulechowie. Over 120 residents of Klępsk and the surrounding villages took part in this re-enactment. Dressed in historical folk costumes and loaded up with old traveling bags and bundles, they started the performance with a service of worship in the Klępsk parish church. They then traveled by horse and cart via Sulechów to Cigacice. On the journey they paid attention to the details – on the previous day boards had been prepared with the historical place-names written on them: Klemzig, Züllichau, and Tschicherzig. In Cigacice, which played the double role of representing the harbors of both Tschicherzig and Hamburg, they reenacted the departure of the emigrants first to Hamburg and then finally on their way to Australia.
“Emigrants” in Tschicherzig/Cigacice before their departure to Hamburg. Re-enactment in 2008.
These particular historical representations were unusual, in that although the popularity of re-enactments has increased in Poland, they are mostly of battles and national uprisings (including e.g. the Battle of Tannenberg 1410 and the fighting during the Warsaw Uprising 1944). In contrast, the performances in Klępsk were not concerned with Polish history, but with the history of the Germans who once lived here. A combination of visits by the descendants of the Australian migrants, exhibitions, and conferences on the theme involving Poles and German Australians have all contributed to making this episode of regional history really familiar to today’s residents of the Oder region. The events of over 170 years ago and the people of that time are closely linked to the present-day story of these three nations.
Dr. Anitta Maksymowicz, is a research assistant at the Museum of the Lubusz Province (Muzeum Ziemi Lubuskiej) in Zielona Góra. The main topic of her research is Polish and German overseas migrations in the 19th and 20th centuries with particular regard to the USA and Australia, along with Polish-American relief campaigns for Poland during the First and Second World Wars. Her book Emigracja zpogranicza Brandenburgii, Śląska i Wielkopolski do Australii Południowej w latach 1838-1914 [“Emigration from the Border Region Between Brandenburg, Silesia, and Greater Poland to South Australia from 1838–1914”] was published in Zielona Góra in 2011. She is also the author of numerous articles in the sphere of museum studies and regional cultural heritage. This article is based on a lecture given by Anitta Maksymowicz in November 2011 at a conference entitled “Let’s go overseas. German Emigration from Eastern Europe.”
Location of the settlement communities of Ohaupo and Te Rore in the Waipa District (Waikato Region, New Zealand, North Island) established by the migrants from West Bohemia.
--.--.--. District boundary
-------- Settlement boundary
Design: W. Heller Cartography: U. Dolezal
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