QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Doctor Wuth md In the story of settlement of the Darling Downs, an unusual character emerges from the strands of the Kanowski family histories, compiled by Max and reported by cousin Russell. “In 1859, before Separation,” Dr Humphrey Cramond wrote, “there rode on to the medical scene in Dalby a remarkable man, a medical personality.” Born in 1833 in Hannover, Ernst Magnus Wuth graduated from the University of Giessen in Hessen, and responded to an advertisement in the Weser-Zeitung offering free passage for a working ship’s doctor on an imminent voyage to the Fifth Continent. So Wuth joined the 37.6m (123ft) barque Solon in Bremen, sailed from there on 15 December 1858, and worked an eventful passage, electing to disembark at Moreton Bay. His first letter home, edited and reproduced here courtesy of the family historians, is a fascinating historical document. Through Ernst’s words he reveals an independent, at times feisty, personality which speaks volumes about this quick-thinker and the challenges and attitudes of the time. His comments on local marital prospects are amusing, the more so because the issue is dealt with briefly so he can return to the topic of his favourite horse! Despite this, he married in November 1861. Wuth’s medical practice was interrupted when the new Medical Board of Queensland declined to recognise his qualification, which had not been endorsed by local registration. After a two-year hiatus, formal recognition of his German degree by the University of Melbourne confirmed his practice in Queensland, and he worked in Springsure, Tambo and Townsville. Wuth’s letter reveals a bit of a showman of dogged determination, with a frank – and sometimes brusquely so – take on human nature, who nonetheless had the makings of a keen bushman, with an eye on things botanical and a gentle relationship with the Aborigines. While overseas in December 1885, he died in a Philadelphia hospital, apparently after a very, very big night out. It is as well his misgivings caused him to leave the vessel in Moreton Bay for we may otherwise have never read such a letter of the times. The Solon bounced her way through the South Passage, returned to Sydney, and took a load of coal up to Manila then a load of sugar back. On passage to Geelong on 28 April 1860, she was driven onto a lee shore in wild weather and wrecked near Shoalhaven, south of Sydney, the only death that of Julius, the ship’s boy.

Dalby, 27th December 1861

My dear Father, It was the same day I write this letter to you, that the ship’s Pilot of our ship the “Solon” left the ship with my letter in which I promised to you, to write again in two years time. You see, dear Father, I do keep my promise. I cannot put it in words, how hard it has been for me to give you this long time, but I had to be responsible and could not write how I really felt in my heart. But before I go on writing I ask the almighty God, who helped me to get safely into this country to listen to my prayers so that my words in this letter give you some comfort. I intend not to write too much about the trip. The wind was good and the weather fine till we reached Africa. Right from the beginning of the trip I had lots of work with all the patients, but in my free time I studied the English and Dutch language, there was no other person on board ship of my educational level. The two Helmsmen have been superior over Captain Rohde, a rough but quite good man, but because he drank too much alcohol he caused enormous harm not only once but often, and I saved him often from the danger he got himself into. Till we arrived in Capetown I had studied English and Dutch because I thought at the start of my trip that I would stay on for the whole trip – Australia – Hong Kong – Batavia, to enter the Dutch service, but the rough and unstable mind of the captain put me off. After arriving in Capetown I was surprised to find the people of all five Continents together there: Chinese, Hottentotts, Mulatto, Bushmen, Kaffers, etc. etc. etc. Grapes were in season, they are a delicious fruit there, thick as plums back home and the Cape wine is very cheap and is similar in taste to the finest Madeira. There I found a surgical case in a Danish shipmate who had been treated for a contusion on the upper arm. They dismissed him but not in good condition. The man carried a heavy load on his left shoulder when he fell against a sharp rock, the kind you often find at anchorages. It was the first house in Capetown that I entered, the house of a German Merchant, where I found this unhappy man. Unhappy because he did not feel well and secondly because he was of no use any more. I examined this man and found a fractura colli numeri and published this case and it became a courtcase.

84