QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Darling Downs dynasties

business and reputation such that he was able to officially secure Sir Arthur’s patronage. By 1883, Martin had added stationery to his business, selling dress patterns and fashion journals. He died in Toowoomba in 1912. 1870 brought news of the Franco-Prussian war, and the local German population, headed by Christopher Roggenkamp and Messrs Kluge and Prussong, formed the “German Patriotic Society” to mobilise support for the war effort. On 20 February 1871, Christopher sent the proceeds of the German Patriotic Society fund – a princely total of £57 – to the new German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. On 13 April 1875, Christopher married Anna Nielsen. They established gardens and an orchard on their land in Albion Street and leased a section of it as a Chinese market garden. Music was an important family activity, with Anna a pianist and her new husband becoming secretary of the local German band. Their children were encouraged to play an instrument, and they would hold recitals, regular musical events with other town members and even travel to neighbouring towns to perform.

Around the time Christopher arrived, Martin married Mary Price in Warwick, and they later moved to Allora to take over the Dalrymple Hotel, on the corner of Drayton and Raff Streets beside Dalrymple Creek, the intersection known to this day as “Roggenkamp’s Crossing”. The pub was the centre of the commercial and

social life of the district, and dances and weddings were regularly held there as it had the only wooden floor in the town. Martin operated the hotel/store and continued to practise photography there, in partnership with Christopher, who had taken over the Warwick studio. Warwick, the first area of free settlement outside Moreton Bay, was still a small place:

Christopher was, from his earliest years in the colony, active in social and civic affairs and, on 1 April 1878, he became an Australian citizen. In 1883, he was secretary of a committee to raise funds to help the victims of severe flooding in Germany. He was also interested in education and, in 1892, represented Warwick as a member of the Committee for State Schools. In 1912, he was made a life member of the Hospital Committee. To augment his own photographs, Christopher also bought negatives from a few travelling photographers passing through Warwick. Some were from the well-known William Boag, manager of the Australian Photographic Company. Many of these, and Christopher’s own photographs, found their way to the State Library of Queensland’s Haig Collection. Christopher Roggenkamp died on 17 February 1918 at his home in Albion Street and was buried in Warwick Cemetery beside his wife, Anna. His photographic legacy did not stop there but has continued on through the Roggenkamp generations to the present day.

from two slab hut buildings in 1852, it had grown to 241 dwellings and 1,181 inhabitants by 1861. Such a small population made it difficult for Christopher to make a living with his camera alone and, in the early years at least, he also traded

in livestock and opened the studio for just a couple of days a week. But it seems business continued to grow and, on 21 February 1865 he bought the Albion Street block from Martin for £175.

Martin fared less well, however, and was declared bankrupt in November 1867. He relocated to Toowoomba in 1873/74, where he opened a photography studio in Ruthven Street. One of the earliest, longest serving permanent photographers in town, by 1880 he had rebuilt both his

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