QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Ministry desires and high ideals

They arrived at a time when the seasons were good for agriculture, they received generous government assistance, and the land which Niemeyer acquired for them was of generally good quality (although some parts of Baffle Creek were unsuitable for agriculture). Michael Bernoth was a former German Baptist Church pastor who had joined the Methodists. In 1909 he was stationed at Gatton and, having been authorised to act as an immigration agent, he returned to Germany. Among those with whom he made contact was a group in the crowded working-class eastern suburbs of Berlin. Discontented craftsmen, labourers and urban workers in the new trade unions, they included Social Democrats and Marxists. They formed a large proportion of the immigrants whom he brought to the state. They arrived in three groups in December 1909 (73 people), March 1910 (72) and May 1910 (110) – a total of 255 immigrants. Bernoth arranged land for the three groups in the Rockhampton area, the first at Alligator Creek near the town, for the second at Mt Etna to the north, and the third at Langmorn to the south. In general these people were entirely unsuited to pioneer life: they had no rural experience or farming knowledge, were accustomed to the Vororte (suburbs) of Berlin, and appeared to have unrealistic expectations of their new country. Some refused to leave Brisbane and sought work there suited to their skills. They had been full of complaints during the voyage on the SS Ostwery Grange , and the complaints continued after their arrival. They regarded the generous treatment by the authorities as inadequate, and attempted to (unsuccessfully) have action taken against Bernoth for the amount charged for arranging their voyage and settlement. There was also resentment that the reality of life in Queensland did not match the description given by Bernoth. It is unsurprising that the three settlements at Alligator Creek, Mt Etna and Langmorn did not flourish. In 1910, government authorities decided that, because of the problems this group created, Bernoth would not be entrusted with further recruitment of German immigrants. It was an unhappy end to a long history of successful German immigration which had previously generated the highest community regard for the sturdy and reliable character of the German settlers. Their reputation was succinctly put in a Courier Mail report on the possible resumption of German immigration in 1930. “Few people, I think, will deny that the German settlers of former years proved themselves second to none as pioneers of Australia.”

He had been invited by the Rosevale Progress Association to establish the enterprise, successfully persuading the Apostolic settlers to transfer their farming activity to grow the sugarcane for which their sub-tropical land was well suited. In March 1909, a second group of 170 immigrants in 30 families arrived in Brisbane. Their welcome was in stark contrast to that accorded to the earlier arrivals. Their ship was met at Pinkenba and a welcoming party, comprising leaders of several German churches and communities, treated them to a tram tour of Brisbane and a welcome evening at the Deutscher Turn Verein at Woolloongabba. After a guided tour of farms in the Lockyer and Fassifern Valleys to witness the results of German persistence and hard work, they were directed to land newly opened up on the Binjour Plateau between Gayndah and Mundubbera (about 120km southwest of Bundaberg in the Burnett District), where each family had been assigned 160 acres (65ha), on which to grow maize and cotton. Although most of the land was productive and of excellent quality, they were slower to achieve financial security because it was 13 miles (21km) from the railway siding on the new line between Gayndah and Mundubbera. Many of their descendants still populate the area today. The third and largest group, 234 in all, arrived in May 1910, and joined the previous group on the Binjour Plateau. These Apostolic communities remained cohesive religious groups, although there was some discontent about the strictness of the religious requirements imposed by Niemeyer, including tithing and social restrictions. A few left the church, but most remained in the communities in which they settled. The immigrants recruited by Niemeyer made a satisfactory transition to their new country.

References: Two Pastors and Their Flocks , Perkins and Tampke 1984

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