QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Some places have retained their original German name. Marburg During WWI the government replaced the name Marburg with the name Townshend, named after a British general. At the end of the war the people of Marburg asked for the old name to be

Peter Ludlow went for a drive to discover what happened to many different placenames, as German favour rose and ebbed at different times, and returned convinced these brief jottings are undoubtedly just the tip of a fascinating set of local histories. During World War I many German-sounding names in Australia were changed because of anti German sentiment. This applied not only to the names of private citizens, but also to placenames, districts and towns. Because most immigrants in the 19th century settled in rural areas, many towns bore German or German-derived names. The presence of such nomenclature was seen as an affront to the sensibilities of many in the Australian population at that time – although, it should be said, the reaction was neither universal nor constant. On the Darling Downs, Bismarck, so named with joyful enthusiasm after the Chancellor’s accession and the unification of Gernany, was an obvious candidate for change – and a permanent one. Others changed then reverted but, at a very local level, street names had settled into the community vernacular and largely escaped notice. Here are some Queensland placenames, as they are known today with their previous German names (see also map on page 83): TODAY PREVIOUSLY Applethorpe Rössler Boonah Blumbergville Carbrook Gramzow (Gramzow Road retained its name) Frenchton Murden Haigslea Kirchheim Ingoldsby Hessenburg Kalbar Engelsburg Kilbimie Fahley Kowbi Hapsburg Maclagan Bismarck Mount Mort Gehrkevale Murra Murra Bergen Neuvre Bergenside Nundah German Station (already changing to suburb name) Witta Teutoberg (near Maleny)

returned, which the government did. Minden (on the Warrego Highway) Prenzlau (near Minden)

Templin Just outside Boonah, was named by W F Hoenhaus after his birthplace in the Uckermark, about 80 km northeast of Berlin. Weller’s Hill (Brisbane suburb) Named after family of Mary Louise Weller who arrived from Hamburg on the Beausite in 1866. Zillmere This was derived from “Zillman’s Waterhole”. Johann Leopold Zillmann was one of the early missionaries whom Dr John Dunmore Lang brought to Queensland. Other towns with German names are no longer on the map. Hebel The town had this name since the early 1880s. It is believed that it was named after a German family who lived there. Sellheim Locality near Charters Towers, named after the German immigrant Philipp Sellheim. He came to Australia in 1855, and was mine inspector on the Charters Towers goldfields from 1880-1888. In 1892 he became Under-Secretary for Mines in the Queensland Government. Many street names of German origin have been retained unchanged. These would have been named after the early German pioneering families of the area, as many roads, streets and features on Brisbane’s northside have been named after the missionary families of Zion Hill. In Chinchilla: Gaske Street, Gaske Lane. In Toowoomba: Hartmann Street In the Mount Cotton/Redland Bay area: Benfer Road, Habermann Road, Heinemann Road, Muller Road, and Ziegenfusz Road (repeated spelling out of the latter must cause present day residents and their visitors some angst!).

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