QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Auswanderer Informationen

They produced brochures, advertisements and pamphlets, and employed sub-agents who could work for them in other parts of the German states, and usually had special deals on offer by their client government. Some were less scrupulous; most tried to present the destinations in the best possible light … and if reality on arrival turned out to be much, much harsher than the rosy picture, well, who was going to turn round and go home? As conditions changed in the German states in the second half of the 19th century, and emigration – whether to the New World or the Fifth Continent – became a popular talking-point, no less than eight specialist emigration newspapers appeared (although only two continued for any length of time). These newspapers reported (three times a week by the Allgemeine Auswanderungszeitung ) on the economic and legal situation in the countries whence Germans were bound, published reports from their own correspondents and letters from people who had migrants, and included, of course, advertisements from migration agents. Many emigration associations were formed, their intent to advise prospective migrants more thoroughly. Apart from counselling and advice, almost all these associations also had the aim of guiding German emigration to specific countries or regions, where German communities could be established, and where ‘national development and independence, though under foreign sovereignty, could be guaranteed’. They were able to warn about negative aspects of certain countries, and to counter the sometimes unrealistic and wild promises given by migration agents. Postscript: From the end of World War II until the early 1970s, Australia was actively seeking migrants, to increase the population and because of the shortage of workers in Australia, particularly for major national projects. The Department of Immigration produced publicity stories and photographs of individual migrants and their families who had settled successfully in Australia. These ‘success stories’ were published widely overseas – 20th century versions of publications produced 100 years earlier by people like Wilhelm Kirchner and Johann Heussler.

Letters home from those who had emigrated were treasured personal contacts and a source of many valuable, first-hand impressions and insights, about both the travails of the voyage and the reception in the strange new land. These letters contained specific information about the experiences of the friend or family member and were a valuable source of first-hand advice. The information in letters reached others as well, though, particularly when the recipient lived in a village, where all inhabitants were keenly interested in the fate of someone whom they knew. Letters were often passed around, and copied out by hand for distribution to others. Some letters were even published in local newspapers. Many books came to be published, to fill the gaps in specifics and logistics understandably omitted from the personal accounts. The first book to be published for those interested in emigration to Australia was compiled in 1823 about Tasmania – ‘a most remarkable colony in the South Seas’ – and a tide of publications followed. By 1867 Heussler published Kurze Beschreibung der Kolonie Queensland , which was followed, in 1898, by Mühling’s Ein Führer durch Queensland . Emigration agents were employed by foreign governments to recruit immigrants for their country or region, such as Johann Heussler, who returned to Germany for the Queensland Government, and Wilhelm Kirchner, who did the same for the NSW Government and later Queensland also.

Background: A coal-burning paddle-steamer puffs her way down the shimmering waters of the Elbe in this 1850s image, and (top) this map shows the river’s course on its 1,100km journey from the mountains of Silesia to the North Sea.

References: http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting/germanaustralia/ index.htm

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