Germanic South Australian History

King of Prussia

Toward the beginning of the 19^th century the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm III, believed that a united Protestant Church would help make his nation strong. Like his predecessors, he tried to affect a union between the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church (established by John Calvin). Although the King was known as a pious man, his actions showed a disregard for liberty of religious expression. In 1817, he decreed that the Lutheran and Reformed Churches were to unite under the one Church (the “Union”), to be administered as a department of the State. He also attempted to impose on this Church a new Order of Service or “Agende” which was in the main devised by him. Initially there was little opposition to the adoption of the new “Agende” because it was presented to the Churches as a recommendation only, with assurances given that congregations could decide individually whether or not to join the “Union.” However, as the 300^th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession of 1530 was approaching, the King made the new “Agende” compulsory for all congregations and planned to invoke the “Union” to mark the occasion. This raised opposition amongst both the worshippers and the ministers, which forced King Friedrich III to propose in 1834 a type of confederation of the Churches as a fall-back position from the “Union” fostered in 1817.

Protestant Dissent

The Lutherans resisted strongly any moves, which attempted to have them (being the vast majority of the Protestants), absorbed by the very small minority group represented by the Reformed Church, which was headed by the King. The Lutherans insisted on the separation of the Church and State and particularly objected to the proposed ordination service for pastors which contained a vow of faithfulness to the King described as “King and Bishop” and leader of the Church. The title of Bishop the Lutherans found most unacceptable. In 1834, an appeal by a representative group of Lutherans, to have freedom of religion in a self-governing Lutheran Church, was rejected by the King. The King endeavouring to suppress the Lutherans legislated against private religious gatherings and insisted that only ministers ordained by the State could fulfil ministerial roles, that children should partake in the State's religious education programmes and that ministers must use the King's “Agende.” Persecution of Lutherans by State Police in the administration of the King’s laws only appeared to make the Lutherans firmer in their resolve to worship according to their conscience and if this could not be done in their homeland then, as their deprivations became more severe, they would seek their freedom elsewhere.

Pastor Ludwig Christian Kavel

Pastor Kavel had been unsuccessful in his attempts to organise migration for his followers to Russia or the United States of America where many other Germans had moved. After hearing in Hamburg of the new colony in South Australia, Kavel travelled to London to meet the founder of the South Australia Company, George Fife Angas, who was recruiting workers for the new colony. When the South Australia Company was not able to meet the cost of transport for Kavel’s group, Angas, a Congregationalist sympathetic to the cause of dissenters, paid £8000 himself. Angas though managed to combine profitable business with moral duty, as the land he later sold the Germans was at ten times the price he had paid for it. Further, interest charged by Angas was by some estimates as high as 400%. In 1838, Pastor Kavel and about 486 of his Lutheran followers from Klemzig, near Zullichau, and nearby villages in Brandenburg, migrated to South Australia. As it had been decreed by the State the people who emigrated “for the sake of their faith” had to be accompanied by their pastor, the tendency was for the majority of members of a congregation to move with their pastor or convince their pastor to emigrate with them. Kavel’s flock established themselves on the banks of the River Torrens at Klemzig. The name was in remembrance of the village in Brandenburg. Meanwhile Captain Hahn of their ship, the ‘Zebra,’ advised other German settlers not to settle in Klemzig since he doubted the quality of the soil. Captain Hahn negotiated for these settlers to buy land in the Adelaide Hills. These colonists honoured their Captain by naming the settlement ‘Hahndorf’ or ‘Hahn’s Village.’ Upon the death of King Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1840, persecution of the Lutherans was brought to a halt by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. By this time, however Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche (as a result of deprivations experienced under the previous King and contact with Pastor Kavel in South Australia) had planned to emigrate to South Australia with his congregations from the province of Posen, the district of Schwiebus and Zullichau, and the Gruenburg area. The previous experiences of broken commitments led Fritzsche and his followers to distrust the new conditions announced by King Friedrich IV and as many of them had already sold their goods and property in order to emigrate, they were unlikely to alter their plans.

Observations of Lobethal

Effects of WW1

By 1900, ten percent of the South Australian population was of German origin. Since all occupational groups were represented in the villages and settlements, the communities were mainly self-contained. Unfortunately, the closed nature of German settlements and allied propaganda was to cause the public to regard German South Australians with suspicion and hostility at the outbreak of World War One. Although being well respected and involved in all aspects of South Australian Society, Germanic South Australians became enemy aliens during the First World War. Their citizenship rights were removed by the War Precautions Act of 1914, despite many being born in South Australia; and those who had arrived had taken oaths of allegiance.

Between October 1914 and August 1915, 300 German men were arrested, often at gunpoint, on the slimmest of pretexts and held without trial in an internment camp set up at the Torrens Island Quarantine Station near Port Adelaide. As the war progressed anti-German prejudice assumed absurd proportions. Even the humble Berliner bun became a threat to national security. It has been known ever since as the Kitchener bun, named after Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War. Under the Nomenclature Act of 1917 Lutheran Schools were closed and German town and district names were changed, a few of them are:

Hahndorf, which was known as Ambleside but has had its original name restored.

Blumberg, known ever since as Birdwood.

Rhine Villa, known ever since as Cambrai.

Restoration of German Place Names

Lobethal, which was known as Tweedvale (honouring the town’s major industry), had its name restored in 1935. Klemzig, which was known as Gaza but has had its original name restored too. During World War Two, only those Germans who were not naturalised were under suspicion along with any other foreigner from a nation at war with the Commonwealth.