QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Alumnus

Wandering around the St Lucia campus during O-Week in January 1983, I had no real idea what I had set in motion with my decision to pursue a BA in German and Russian. Freshly arrived from ‘Churchie’,

UQ Alumnus Mr Peter Tesch, Australian Ambassador to Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein

As a UQ alumnus I am especially happy to be able to support the burgeoning links between the university and Germany’s leading research and academic institutions. UQ has been particularly active in Germany, and its world-class strengths in diverse disciplines have registered strongly. Whether it is the work of Perry Bartlett and the Queensland Brain Institute’s collaboration with the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, or Russell Boyce’s development of the SCRamjet hypersonic rocket propulsion system in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center UQ’s researchers and scholars are helping me achieve one of my core aims: to give Germans a reason to take a second look at Australia and see us as a highly creative nation – a source of excellence and innovation in education, science, research, culture and the arts. From my perspective, Queensland is prominent in all these fields. Thousands of young Germans return from student exchange and ‘semester abroad’ programs as enthusiastic advocates of the state and of Australia. The Queensland Youth Symphony, which I saw perform on Australia’s national day at World Expo 2000 in Hanover, had a very successful tour of southern Germany in 2012. From mid-2011 Brisbane-based stage acrobats and artists C!RCA spent eight months performing sold-out shows nightly in one of Berlin’s venerable old cabaret theatres. I booked the theatre for an exclusive function for 150 German contacts to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Germany on the eve of Australia Day 2012, and I have never before seen so many senior Germans respond so enthusiastically. In 2013 we mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig Leichhardt, a native of the Spreewald region, some 80km southeast of Berlin. Leichhardt’s scientific research and feats of exploration in the 1840s are renowned in Queensland to this day. Parliamentarians, scholars and researchers in both countries, including at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Museum, are taking a close interest in the activities planned throughout the year. In many ways, Leichhardt’s name symbolises what this book acknowledges, namely, that our historical connections with Germany have profound meaning for the development of the state and of our country and offer a solid basis on which to build the next generation of mutually beneficial collaboration.

where I had studied German, I knew only that I was interested in languages and was happy just to get on with it and let the future evolve. That approach lasted through some very satisfying years at UQ that were marked by close attention to my studies, usually just before exams, and more than the occasional languid afternoon downing pots at the old “Royal Exchange” in Toowong when I instead should have been cracking the mysteries of Russian verbs of motion. Sadly, my role as ‘Schmitz’ in the Max Frisch play Biedermann und die Brandstifter (The Firebugs), produced by the German department’s Alan Corkhill, went un noticed by Broadway. But I had the pleasure years later of a surprise reunion in Berlin with my fellow ‘firebug’, who by then was sitting on the bench of the Queensland Supreme Court and in the UQ Senate. Who says crime doesn’t pay? Realisation dawned, though, as I was rummaging in the federal German archives in Koblenz in 1985 for material for my Honours thesis, that I had to find a way to earn a living from my interest in languages, history and the wider world. So I applied for several government departments and had the good fortune to secure a position in the 1987 graduate intake of the Department of Foreign Affairs. More than 25 years later, as a descendent of 19th century German emigrants who helped settle Maleny and the Blackall Ranges region, and as the son of a post-war immigrant Bavarian mother, I am privileged and proud to represent Australia in the homeland of my forebears. German interest in Australia has gained in intensity and sharpened in focus in the past few years. This has been informed by a growing understanding of the economic and political importance of the Asia Pacific and of Australia’s role in this region and the world. Germany regards Australia as a like-minded country with shared values, common interests and objectives, and the regional and global influence to make us an effective and reliable partner. It has been exciting and satisfying to help shape the evolution of this partnership to a point where we not only engage bilaterally with each other but also jointly collaborate in other parts of the world. Our co operation embraces many fields, like combating nuclear proliferation and promoting nuclear disarmament, our joint development assistance in water projects in Africa, and our combined efforts within the ‘G20’ framework to strengthen global economic and financial structures and practices.

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