Foreword

Your interest in the Mühlberg lineage may be as a descendant or through relation. I have written this history for reasons beyond the inquisitive. I have sought to answer the most relevant of philosophical questions ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Why are we, who we are?’ 

Therefore, this history goes beyond the biographical data, to attempt to bring forth the character of individuals. To my mind, the collection of dates, land titles, certificates, and artefacts are incidental and merely the by-product of the greater aims of genealogy.  With this ambition in mind, this history was especially difficult to compile. As I learnt about the lives of each generation it corrected, my perhaps unreasonable assumption, that previous God-fearing generations prospered with better relationships and stronger community than the modern day. My position in the beginning, could perhaps have been described as romanticism for generations I had always heard so well spoken of. 

Carl Julius Mühlberg seemed like a ghost, when I begun this research around 1996. None of my kin even knew his name. Meanwhile, the English ancestry among our side of the clan, was so well known it dominated. I found this incongruent for having a germanic surname. I was curious, and that was how this book begun. 

The first arrival of pioneers, have a sacred place in history. Monuments, artefacts and histories are plentiful. But once the trailblazing gives way to business as usual for a colony, the subsequent arrivals become a research challenge. If it were not for a missing persons report filed from New Zealand, we might never have known that he was across the Tasman before arriving in Adelaide. This gave rise to whole new lines of enquiry and the records of his life then began to emerge. I was now hooked. 

Most important was the records which identified his origin as Roßwein, Saxony, Prussia. This breadcrumb and the methodical record keeping of Protestant church records in the old world, coaxed entirely forgotten generations. This was now fun. 

The journey and privilege of researching this book has fulfilled the answers I sought to learn. Most interesting has been the interviews and meeting with strikingly similar character traits across family that are not otherwise directly acquainted. In addition, this research has instilled thankfulness, for being in this moment when technology and the remaining descendants; with memories distant enough, have culminated to make this book possible. 

In addition to the various authorities referenced throughout this book, the following organisations and their staff I would like to specifically thank for their assistance in guiding, researching and providing material for this edition.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who made personal contributions. Meeting and spending time with you all, were the most enjoyable moments in writing this history and by far the most illuminating. 

With sorrow, I regret that for some, this work was written too late.