QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Challenging, but not “impervious”

To reach his holding the settler would often have to cleave a track through the dense vine scrub before making a clearing in which to build his rough slab hut. Most selections were between 80–200 acres (32–81ha) and initially the clearing had to be done by hand, followed by grubbing out the stumps and cultivating the soil by hand. It was slow and difficult, but in a few years the landscape was transformed. Looking out across the open fields today, is almost impossible to imagine the tangled undergrowth, large trees and hanging vines of that time. Once a small clearing had been created and a first crop sown, many of the men left to work on the building of the new railways, accumulating money needed to purchase farm animals and equipment, as well as to support their families until the first produce could be sold. A view across Marburg in about 1898. Image (digital ID 2515) courtesy Queensland State Archives Copyright State of Queensland

Late in World War I all German place names were changed. In 1917 Kirchheim became Haigslea, Marburg became Townshend, and Minden was Frenchton. In 1932 the historic German names of Marburg and Minden were restored. The German immigrants were for the most part devout Christians. Despite their poverty they built their churches as soon as possible, not in the towns but in the countryside among their farms. Both the Lutheran and German Baptist churches were represented throughout the region. The fact that their worship was in German militated against the rapid introduction of English, and many a teacher in the remote little country schools had the challenge of teaching children who began their school years with little or no English and who reverted to German at home. Farming was a family activity and, in the Rosewood Scrub and Lockyer Valley particularly, teachers often complained that school attendance came second to farm duties. In some schools, attendance fell to 50% for weeks at a time when the potatoes were being harvested.

Few of the blocks had water, and it had to be carried long distances for domestic use and for the essential kitchen garden until permanent water storage could be created. A wide range of crops was grown, including corn, potatoes, pumpkins and some lucerne – and, for a time, cotton as well. In 1883 Thomas Smith built a sugar mill on his Woodlands estate near Marburg, followed a few years later by a rum distillery. Many farmers in the Marburg and Haigslea districts grew sugarcane, but they found the rainfall too low for successful cane farming, and the mill closed in 1918. Cane was replaced in the Marburg area by maize and dairying, but the rich soils in other areas continued to supportintensive mixed farming.

Background: An elevated view of the orderly landscape of the Lockyer region today presents few clues to its unforgiving past. Above: This image by Lyle Radford shows Marburg Community Centre as the building has been restored today. Copyright State of Queensland

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