QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Champion of the far north Johann also lost Mucki in his insolvency but again recovered its ownership within 12 months. He built a new home behind his store, where he and Elizabeth lived out their lives, daughter Mary Creagh eventually taking over the business. Johann Hubinger was one of five members appointed by the Governor to the six-member Cardwell Divisional Board which held its first meeting in 1884. It was the forerunner to a long and prominent career in local government. In 1887, Hubinger was elected chairman, the start of 22 continuous years as a member of Cardwell’s local government. In an era when elections were held annually, he was elected chairman 15 times – a record that endures today. He was also the first chairman of the Cardwell Shire Council, which evolved from the old Divisional Board structure in 1903. As shire chairman, Hubinger repeatedly travelled from north Queensland on sailing ships to and from Brisbane. Often the motivation was because the Queensland Government had refused a request for development funds. According to family lore, Johann never came back empty-handed. In an era before motor vehicles and railways in northern Australia, Cardwell was one of the ports at which many vessels called on their routes along the east coast and through the Pacific. It was while he was waiting, besuited and ready to go on one such planned council trip, that Johann Hubinger suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died some days later on 14 September 1908. This essay has been extracted from ‘The Calophyllum Shore – A Cardwell Memoir’ jointly published by Cardwell & District Historical Society and 3e Innovative, and kindly made available by Murray Massey, a great-grandchild of Johann Hubinger.

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They had five more children. In such a small and remote community, Johann became ‘jack of all trades’, owning and operating a range of businesses: storekeeper, haberdasher, ironmonger and butcher as well as baker. Around 1877, he built a home on the northern side of Liverpool Street on the sand ridge about where the railway line is now. Several descendants still live on allotments he owned. In October 1882, Johann bought the freehold in Victoria Street and started a butchery around 1886. In April 1892, he was declared insolvent after a fire had destroyed his store the previous November and one of 14 listed creditors demanded payment. Twelve days after he was declared insolvent, he received £850 in an insurance payout and within a year reclaimed title to his land. The narrow coastal strip along Queensland’s far north can be very unforgiving terrain even in the 21st century, as this view across the Hinchinbrook Channel suggests; it is hard to conceive the challenges of weather and wildlife which the early settlers had to face.

Many years ago, Cardwell’s museum was named the J. C. Hubinger Museum, in recognition of the contributions by Johann Christian Hubinger and the family to life in the district. Overnight on 2/3 February 2011, Cardwell and its immediate coastal neighbours took a direct hit when Severe Tropical Cyclone ‘Yasi’ crossed the coast. After the catastrophe, the museum was rebuilt in replica on the original foundations. The NOAA satellite image shows Cardwell’s location, with Yasi two days from landfall, on 31 January.

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