Paul Carl Muehlberg

Paul Carl Muehlberg

Nildottie, South Australia

Paul married Clara Elisabeth ‘Lizzie’ Hettner on the 15th of February 1906 at St. John’s Lutheran Church Forster, which was completed only one year earlier. Witnesses to their wedding were Friedrich Wilhelm Hettner (Clara’s brother) and his wife Hermine Amanda Hettner nee Muehlberg (Paul’s sister). 

They settled at Nildottie on the River Murray, where Paul leased four acres and a fishing reach (Section 108), for five shillings annually (£0:5:0).  Nildottie is derived from the aboriginal name, ‘ngurltartang,’ which means ‘smoke signal hill.’ The lease was entered into from 1917, however it is known that they resided at this location many years prior, as their children Oscar (born 1907), Carl (1909), Rosa (1912), and later Fraziska (1920); all grew up at the property. The lease also cites Paul as a 'Labourer' of Nildottie. 

Lobsters and fish that he caught he sold himself throughout the district as well as exporting to Murray Bridge by trading boat. The produce was packed in crates lined with willow leaves. Profit from the current business arrangement, enabled him to purchase a block of land at Nildottie. On the ploughed block, he grew oranges, lemons, pears, peaches, nectarines and grapes as well as many vegetables. He built a two room stone house before later adding on a back section the length of the front section, with a cellar dug into the hill. Floods however, like the 1931 would reach the house and the family would have to temporarily relocate further up the hill. In this year Paul’s occupation and that of his son, Oscar was listed as labourer. 

Paul and his family would often visit Bertha and Frederick’s family at Fox’s Creek on weekends and vice versa. As was the German custom Paul was a keen duck shooter, a pursuit he shared with his sons and brother-in-law Fred Fox. Prior to his death, it was said of Paul that he planned to sell the Nildottie property to the neighbouring Miegel family, without informing Clara. Although it is true that the next occupier was Ludwig Bernhard Miegel of Nildottie, we now know that the property was leased. 

On Saturday 4th of August 1934, Fred Fox and friends visited the Nildottie property. According to one version: 

‘Whilst Paul commented to Clara how happy he was that they had arrived, he circled the dining room table in the opposite direction to his methodical custom. He promptly collapsed and suffered a fatal heart attack.’ 

According to another version: 

            ‘After playing cards with friends until midnight, Paul died in bed age 68.’ 

Paul Carl Muehlberg is buried at Nildottie Cemetery. 

Clara Elisabeth ‘Lizzie’ Hettner

Clara Elisabeth ‘Lizzie’ Hettner was born to Ernst Gottlieb Hettner and Anna Emilie Liesette Hettner nee Gericke on the 25th of February 1887 at Walker Flat.

Paternal grandparents journey to Australia

Clara’s father, Ernst Gottlieb Hettner was born the son of Johann Gottlieb Hettner, native of Panten, Liegnitz, Silesia, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland); who arrived with wife to be Maria, aboard the ‘G.H. Wappäus.’ Johann’s trade was listed as farmer on the passenger list. It is thought that Johann would have fulfilled a compulsory period of military service training in Prussia when younger. Military connections are found much earlier, where the Hettner name was recorded on the rolls of the Teutonic Knights (Saxon descendants) of Pomerania in the 11th Century. Hettner is also noted in European military enterprises during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and West Prussia. 

The ‘G.H. Wappäus’ was built in 1835 at Sunderland, United Kingdom. Departed Hamburg on the 21st of October 1848, arriving at Port Adelaide via Melbourne on the 31st of March 1849 under Captain T.M. Peterson. The difficult voyage unfortunately cost the lives of 11 children and five adults, while four children were born at sea. On arrival in the colony, Johann Gottlieb Hettner purchased a seven-acre property in Lobethal (Lot 15, Sect 5125) where St. John’s Lutheran School is now located. Johann’s vineyard was one of only a few in the district (It was sold in 1865 to Johann Menkins a local Storekeeper).

On the 14th of May 1849 (less than three months since arrival), Johann Gottlieb Hettner married Maria Rosina Ernst, daughter of Anna Rosina Ernst, native of Pohlschildern, Liegnitz, Silesia, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland); at Lobethal by Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche. Johann and Maria lived at Lobethal for 19 years where seven of their children were born before relocating to Lenswood Road in 1865. By 1868, they lived at Parrot Hill, Moculta. Nine years prior to relocating to Moculta, Johann assisted as a mason in the construction of the Zion Lutheran Church at Gnadenberg. Johann Gottlieb Hettner died on the 2nd of September 1887 at Moculta of dementia. He is buried at Gnadenberg Lutheran Cemetery, Moculta. Maria Rosina Hettner nee Ernst died on the 26th of March 1912 at Stockwell and is buried at St. Thomas Lutheran Cemetery, Stockwell.

Of Johann and Maria’s seven children Ernst Gottlieb Hettner (Clara’s father) was the eldest, born on the 21st of July 1850 at Lobethal and was baptised by Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche a week later. Before Ernst Gottlieb married, he lived at Lobethal and then Moculta with his parents. He learnt the trade of blacksmith under Carl Heinrich Linke at Moculta, before moving to Stansbury on Yorke Peninsula to operate his own Blacksmith shop. At Stansbury, he would meet future wife Anna Gericke. 

Maternal grandparents journey to Australia

Clara’s mother, Anna Emilie Liesette Gericke was born in Berlin on the 30th of September 1852 to Johann Leberecht Gericke and Maria Dorothea Kiekebusch. Anna was five years old when she made the voyage with her parents and siblings Gustav and Mathilda aboard the ‘Grasbrook’. Her father Johann was listed as a carpenter and farmer upon arrival in the colony. The ‘Grasbrook,’ built in 1853 at Hamburg, was captained by H. Bruhns. Five years after arriving at Port Adelaide it was stranded and then sold.

The Gericke family lived at Williamstown before relocating to Yorketown, Yorke Peninsula (a three week trip by wagon). 

Ernst Gottlieb Hettner and Anna Emilie Liesette Gericke were married on the 14th of December 1874 at Evangelical Lutheran Chapel near Edithburgh. By 1878, they moved to back to Ernst’s home at Moculta where he returned to work for Linke’s between 1879-1883. From 1885 to 1886, they lived at Rhine Villa (now Cambrai) before finally settling at Walker Flat around the year 1886 a year before daughter Clara was born. 

Ernst purchased almost ten acres of land at Walker Flat (Section No. 295) where he rented a cottage for the family to live in whilst he continued Blacksmithing in a nearby shed. In 1886, he built a blacksmith shop and begun building the Hettner Homestead. The stone for the Homestead was blasted from the river cliffs (near Walker Flat ferry) and barged across the river to the site. The rock was hand sawn while soft before hardening after exposure to air. Here they raised their ten children, of which their fifth child, Friedrich Wilhelm would later marry Hermine Amanda Muehlberg and their seventh child Clara Elisabeth ‘Lizzie’ would marry Paul Carl Muehlberg. 

Two months prior to his death, Ernst Gottlieb divided Section No. 295 between his sons Friedrich Wilhelm and Gustav Adolph. Ernst Gottlieb Hettner died on the 13th of November 1913 at age 63 of stroke at Walker Flat. Anna Emilie Liesette Hettner nee Gericke died on the 17th of December 1915 also at age 63 in Mannum of stomach cancer and was buried two days later. Ernst and Anna rest at Walker Flat Cemetery, Walker Flat. Clara’s parents were foundation members of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Forster. The church also served as the school where Clara was educated. 

Clara Elisabeth Rodert died on the 14th of December 1968 at age 81 due to cerebral artery thrombosis (stroke) in the Soldier’s Memorial Hospital, Murray Bridge. She was buried three days later, at Murray Bridge Cemetery, Adelaide Road, Murray Bridge.

Descendants of Paul Carl Muehlberg & Clara Elisabeth ‘Lizzie’ Hettner