QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Maleny’s centenary

“Founding a dynasty at Witta” was the title of Hardie Buzacott’s piece in the 4 October 1979 issue of The Nambour Advertiser , in which the memories were of hard work, wood and butter – selected extracts reprinted here. When Ludwig Gottfried Tesch and his wife Martha came from Bethania Junction in the Logan district to settle at Teutoberg (now known as Witta) in 1893, they were to establish a dynasty which was to have strong ties with the district continuing to the present. It was here Ludwig Tesch, a blacksmith and wheelwright by trade, set to work to carve a home and living from the solid rainforest which covered the property. In those days, all timber had to be pitsawn, the technique being to dig a deep pit, place the log across the top, and then cut it lengthwise with a crosscut saw with one man on top of the log, and another in the pit below. It was hard work, particularly for the man in the pit, and it was possible to use only relatively soft timbers, which perhaps explains why the first cottage built on the property was built of white beach [sic], at that time plentiful in the rainforests. Under the primitive conditions prevailing in those days, Martha Tesch [nee Fein] bore eight children – six boys and two girls … Maternity hospitals were unknown, and all eight children were born in the home, with neighbouring women acting as midwives. The Tesches are a long-lived family … and it is “the babies” … Norman and Arthur who tell the story of those pioneering days on the range, and a quiet yarn with them rolls back the pages of history, and gives a glimpse into an age and lifestyle that is gone forever. Life was not easy – in fact it boiled down to a matter of survival in the face of tremendous odds. Scrub had to be tilled to grow food crops, and immediately this was done, a constant war had to be waged against the lush growth of wild tomatoes, inkweed and gooseberries which threatened to choke the clearings and kill the grass. Below: Hard at work in the Maleny sawmill in 1894; the Lahey Brothers had the first sawmill in Maleny, the Tesches first in Witta.

Ludwig Tesch plied his trade as blacksmith, using the farm as a base. He also helped establish a saw-mill in Palmwoods. Wages in those days were 5/- (50 cents) a day which normally extended from daylight until dark, with overtime being paid at sixpence (5 cents) an hour … “if somebody could be found to hold a lantern.” A bullock team makes its way across the Obi Obi Creek at Maleny in 1914; the Tesch Brothers expanded workshop is on the right. Image courtesy Sunshine Coast Libraries

The family became involved in dairying, and Ludwig Tesch was one of the first directors of the Maleny Co-operative Dairy Association. With a Mr Fred Vandreike, he undertook the cartage of butter from the newly-established butter factory at Maleny to the railhead at Landsborough, using horse teams. During wet weather, the two often had to carry the heavy boxes of butter up the hill above Walker’s Creek to enable the horses to negotiate the steep climb. The journey began at 2am, and the teamsters did not arrive home until 9 o’ clock the following night. In 1904, Ludwig Tesch established a blacksmith’s shop on the banks of Obi Obi Creek, in the centre of the present township of Maleny. The pioneering enterprise is commemorated in the pleasant Tesch Park, which now occupies the site. Meanwhile Ludwig Tesch turned his attention to saw-milling, establishing the sawmill on the family property at Witta. As the mill was the only one in the district, demand continued to grow, and in 1920, the original engine was replaced with one of 14 h.p. Air travel was just becoming established in Queensland, and Witta was on the main air route to north Queensland. So it was that the early pilots had directions to “fly over the sawmill with the two smokestacks”. A 1906 image of the Maleny Co-operative Dairy Association directors, with Ludwig Tesch seated on the left. Image courtesy Sunshine Coast Libraries

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