QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Honorarkonsuln

The story of the German Consulate in Brisbane is a long and interesting one, and diplomatic relations between our two peoples actually pre-date the formation of both Queensland and Germany. Almost 20 years after the small band of German missionaries established themselves at Zion Hill on Brisbane’s northside, Georg Appel was first appointed as Vice-Consul of the Hanseatic Free City-State of Hamburg in 1855. His son, J G Appel, later became a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Queensland Parliament. Looking through the names of his successors, one can see something of the enormous, and often little-known, contribution which German Consuls have made in the development of Queensland. Johann Christian Heussler mlc was appointed in 1880 as the Consul for the German Empire, after having been Consul of the Netherlands since 1862. The first German representation in far north Queensland came in 1886 with the gold rush and mining exploration there, and the opening of a Vice-Consulate in Cooktown, where Dr Axel Kortum md served for a lengthy period. Heussler, of course, with his business partners, had been acting as an immigration agent in Brisbane for some time before his appointment. Fernberg , today Government House, was built as Heussler’s residence and will forever be a reminder of this outstanding consul and his achievements. Heussler ceased his representation duties on 6 October 1900 and Mr W von Plönnies was appointed as Consul for the German Empire. Von Plönnies` successor was Dr Eugen Hirschfeld md, gazetted as Imperial German Consul in 1906, and he and son Otto began many generations of connections with the University of Queensland. On the declaration of war in 1914 the consulates of Germany and Austria-Hungary were closed, nationals of the enemy countries interned and their ships in port seized. It was not until 1930 that the German Consulate was reopened, with Honorary Consul Jos. Beiers, but it was to last only nine years before history repeated itself and the world was again at war. Another 21 years would pass before an office was re-established in Brisbane. Appointed from 1960, Honorary Consul Sir John Rowell was a partner in the legal firm Neil O`Sullivan and Rowell and a member of the Queensland Law Reform Commission. For a quarter-century, Sir John Rowell was the guiding figure for legal aid in Queensland, and received an OBE in 1974 and a Knighthood in June 1980, for service to the legal profession and the community.

German Consulate Brisbane AMP Building, level 32 10 Eagle Street, Brisbane Q 4000 Phone: +61 (0)7 3221 7819 Fax: +61 (0)7 3221 7335 Email: brisbane@hk-diplo.de Honorary Consul North Queensland Shop 11, 12 Lake Street, Cairns Q 4870 Phone: +61 (0)7 4041 5344

Fax: +61 (0)7 4041 6311 Email: cairns@hk-diplo.de

In addition to its Embassy in Canberra, the Federal Republic maintains a Consul-General in Sydney, Honorary Consul-General in Melbourne, and Honorary Consuls in Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart. australien.diplo.de

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