German Australians: Difference between revisions

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Germans have been in Australia since the commencement of European settlement in 1788. At least seventy-three Germans arrived in Australia as convicts.<ref name="Donohoe 1988">Donohoe, J.H. (1988) ''The Forgotten Australians: Non-Anglo or Celtic Convicts and Exiles''.</ref>

 

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Germans formed the largest non-English-speaking group in Australia up to the 20th century.<ref>G. Leitner, Australia's Many Voices: Australian English – The National Language, 2004, p. 181</ref>

 

{{See also|Klemzig, South Australia#Background|German settlement in Australia#The Skjold_Group – October 1841}}

[[Old Lutherans]] emigrated in response to the 1817 Prussian Union and organized churches both among themselves and with other German speakers, such as the [[History of the Lutheran Church of Australia#First Lutheran Body in Australia (Kavel-Fritzsche Synod)|Kavel-Fritzsche Synod]].{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Although a few individuals had emigrated earlier,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://passengersinhistory.sa.gov.au/node/941781|website=Passengers in History|title=09/06/1837-16/10/1837: Solway [Hamburg to Nepean Bay]|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref> the first large group of Germans arrived in [[South Australia]] 1838, not long after the [[British colonisation of South Australia]]. These "Old Lutherans" were from [[Province of Brandenburg]] (then a [[Prussia]]n province), and were trying to preserve their traditional faith. They emigrated with the financial assistance of [[George Fife Angas]] and the Emigration Fund. Not all subsequent arrivals shared this religious motivation, but the [[Lutheran Church]] remained at the centre of the German settlers' lives right into the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|website=Adelaidia|title=Germans|url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/subjects/germans|first=Ian|last=Harmstorf|others="First published in ''The Wakefield companion to South Australian history'', edited by Wilfrid Prest, Kerrie Round and Carol Fort (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2001). Edited lightly and references updated"|date=5 June 2015|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref>

 

[[Forty-Eighters]] is a term for those who participated in or supported the [[Revolutions of 1848|European Revolutions of 1848]]. Many emigrated as a result of those revolutions. In particular, following the ultimate failure of the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|"March Revolution" in Germany]], a substantial number of Germans immigrated to Australia. See [[Forty-Eighters#Forty-Eighters in Australia|Forty-Eighters in Australia]].

 

By 1900, Germans were the fourth-largest European ethnic group on the continent, behind the English, Irish and Scots.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harmstorf|first1=Ian|last2=Cigler|first2=Michael|title=The Germans in Australia|location=Melbourne|publisher=AE Press|series=Australian ethnic heritage series|year=1985|isbn=0-86787-203-9|page={{page needed|date=September 2019}}}}</ref> By 1914, the number of German-Australians (including the descendants of German-born migrants of the second and third generation who had become Australians by birth) was estimated at approximately 100,000.<ref>[[Kay Saunders]], Roger Daniels, Alien Justice: Wartime Internment in Australia and North America, p. 4</ref>

 

After the [[Second World War]], Australia received a large influx of ethnic German [[displaced persons]] who were a significant proportion of [[Post war immigration to Australia|Australia's post war immigrants]]. A number of German scientists were recruited soon after the War through the ESTEA scheme some of them coming by migrant ships such as the [[Partizanka]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/08109029408629379|title = The Employment of Scientific and Technical Enemy Aliens (Estea) Scheme in Australia: A Reparation for World War II?| journal=Prometheus|volume=12|number=1|pages=77–93|year=1994|last1=Homeyer|first1=Uta v.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ_VCQAAQBAJ&q=partizanka&pg=PT30|title=Some Personal Stories of German Immigration to Australia since 1945|last=Muenstermann|first=Ingrid|date=30 May 2015|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=9781503503137|language=en}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}} In the 1950s and 1960s, German immigration continued under assisted migration programs promoted by the Australian Government. By July 2000, Germany was the fifth most common birthplace for settler arrivals in Australia after United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy and New Zealand.<ref name =immifednp25/> By 1991, there were 112,000 German-born persons in Australia.

 

[[File:Torrens-Island-Internment-Camp-plaque.jpg|thumb|Plaque commemorating the internment camp on Torrens Island]]

[[File:A group of German prisoners of war playing zithers and guitars in their national dress, Berrima Concentration Camp, New South Wales, ca. 1916 (16652710979).jpg|thumb|Group of interned Germans playing zithers and guitars in the Berrima camp]]

After the war ended, the camps were shut down and most of the occupants were deported,<ref name="nat" /> but German immigration was only made legal again in 1925. The German population increased slowly as a result and eventually came to a halt in 1933 with [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power#Seizure of control (1931–1933)|rise to power]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tampke |first1=Jurgen |title=Germans |url=https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/germans |website=The Dictionary of Sydney |access-date=4 September 2017 |date=2008}}</ref>

 

[[File:Georg Auer certificate of identity.jpg|thumb|Georg Auer, a Jew from [[Austria]] who came to Australia on the [[HMT Dunera|HMT ''Dunera'']]. He was interned until 1942 and later joined the Australian Army.]]

 

The internment camps in WWII were constructed for three reasons: residents could not be allowed to support Australia's enemies, the public needed to be placated, and those who had been captured overseas and transported to Australia had to be housed somewhere. All Japanese people were immediately imprisoned, but it was only after the war criminals of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy were discovered that Germans and Italians were sent to the internment camps. This was especially true for those living in northern Australia, because that was where the enemy was expected to invade. More than 20 percent of Italians in Australia were held in internment camps as well as a total of 7,000 people with connections to the enemy, 1,500 of which who were British nationals. 8,000 people from overseas were detained in Australian camps and in 1942, the camps were at their largest, with a total of 12,000 internees in the country. In addition to British people of German origin, Australian fascists could not escape imprisonment: leading members of the [[Australia First Movement]] were interned, including [[Adela Pankhurst]] and [[P. R. Stephensen]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Wartime internment camps in Australia |url=http://naa.gov.au/collection/snapshots/internment-camps/index.aspx |website=National Archives of Australia |access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref>

 

 

 

The [[Australian wine]] industry was the creation of German settlers in the nineteenth century.<ref>[http://pmtranscripts.dpmc.gov.au/browse.php?did=8956 Speech By The Prime Minister, The Hon PJ Keating, Mp Luncheon The His Excellency Dr Von Weizsaecrer, President Of The Federal Republic Of Germany Parliament House, Canberra, 6 September 1993] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407070444/http://pmtranscripts.dpmc.gov.au/browse.php?did=8956 |date=7 April 2014 }}</ref>

 

The [[South Australian German Association]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=27 July 2021|title=The German Club|url=https://thegermanclub.org.au/|url-status=live}}</ref> has held the annual traditional [[Schützenfest (Adelaide)|Adelaide Schützenfest]] in [[Brooklyn Park, South Australia|Brooklyn Park]] Australia <ref>{{Cite news|title=Schutzenfest 2021|work=Weekend Notes|url=https://www.weekendnotes.com/schuetzenfest-2021-the-german-club/|access-date=27 July 2021}}</ref>

 

Historically, German newspapers were set up by early settlers, with many being forced to close or merge due to labour shortages caused by the [[Victorian gold rush]] of the 1850s-1860s. A number of the earliest [[South Australia]]n newspapers were printed primarily in German, and these included:

 

 

The [[Special Broadcasting Service]] airs a German-language radio program on SBS Radio 2 every weekday from 7 PM to 8 PM. They also air German broadcaster Deustche-Welle's Der Tag news program every morning as part of its WorldWatch programming block.

 

===Missions founded by Germans===

*La Grange Mission at [[Bidyadanga]] (1955/6–1985)

 

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Name!!Born!!Description!!Connection to Australia!!Connection to Germany

|[[Markus Zusak]]||1975||Writer||Born in Australia||German ancestry

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==See also==

* [[Barossa German]]

* [[European Australians]]

* [[Forty-Eighters]]

* [[German New Zealanders]]