Friedrich Eduard Krichauff

Friedrich Eduard Heinrich Wilhelm Krichauff (born December 15, 1824 in Schleswig , † September 29, 1904 in Norwood near Adelaide , Australia ) was a German-Australian botanist and politician .

Life

family

Friedrich Eduard Krichauff was the son of the upper court attorney and accountant Johann Carl Krichauff and his wife Julie (born von Bertouch).

The father of his wife Dorothea Sophia Arivolina (née Fischer) (1836-1919), whom he married on May 10, 1853 in Bugle Ranges, also came from Schleswig-Holstein ; of his four sons are known by name:

• Edward William Krichauff (1858 - 22 December 1925), trustee of the state bank;
• Friedrich Charles Krichauff (born June 27, 1861 - † March 25, 1954), architect .

education

He attended school in Schleswig and Husum , then went to Kiel and began studying botany at the University of Kiel and was also a gardening assistant in the university's botanical garden .

In 1846 he moved to the University of Berlin and matriculated as a student of philosophy ; in Berlin he joined the March Revolution in 1848 . Disappointed by the outcome of the freedom movement, which also meant the end of the Schleswig-Holstein uprising , he decided, as a so-called 48er, to follow his childhood friend Ferdinand Müller , who had emigrated to Australia in 1847.

Emigration to Australia and professional activity

He went on board an emigrant ship in Hamburg and reached Australia in December 1848.

Together with Ferdinand Müller, who was also a botanist, he acquired with the help of Samuel Davenport (1818-1906) land in the Bugle Ranges between Strathalbyn and Mount Barker, east of Adelaide, in order to cultivate it; In 1849 he was naturalized in South Australia . Shortly afterwards Ferdinand Müller returned to Adelaide.

He experimented intensively with plants and seeds on his own land and developed new cultivation methods. The beneficiary of his agricultural research was his friend Ferdinand Müller, who had meanwhile been director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne and who was happy about donations of plants for his herbarium .

Political activity

Friedrich Eduard Krichauff gained his first political experience at the local level as a councilor in Macclesfield and head of local government in Strathalbyn. On March 9, 1857 he was elected from the Mount Barker district and was the first of German descent into the South Australian Parliament, which met in Parliament House in Adelaide, but resigned from his office on March 12, 1858.

His re-election for the Onkaparinga district took place on April 5, 1870, he then resigned again on May 22, 1882 to undertake a trip to Europe and America; During this time his forest law was passed in 1873 and he initiated the formation of a forest authority in August 1875 and was briefly commissioner for public works and agriculture minister under Prime Minister Henry Strangways (1832-1920). After his return he was elected to Parliament on April 8, 1884 for the Victoria district and represented his constituency there until he came to the Legislative Council of South Australia for the southern district in June 1890; he stayed there until May 18, 1894.

In 1888 he became chairman of the Central Agriculture Office and remained so until it closed in 1902.

Writing

He also appeared as a scientific author and published, among other things, a paper on fertilization methods in the field and in the garden in 1901 , he published in The Chronicle and published papers in 1879 on the water supply from artesian wells and pipe wells, in 1896 on the sugar beet industry and in 1899 on the Wine industry.

Trivia

In 1914, in response to the outbreak of World War I , numerous places with German names were renamed, including the small town of Krichauff. It was named Beatty in honor of a British admiral ; since 1940 the former Krichauff has been called Mount Mary (see also: Renaming of German place names in Australia ).

In the Finke Gorge National Park , through which the Finke River also runs, an area was named after him.

Fonts (selection)

• Forest conservancy and timber supply: a paper read before a meeting of the Chamber of Manufactures in the South Australian Institute . Adelaide 1875.
• The customs, religious ceremonies, etc., of the Aldolinga or Mbenderinga tribe of Aborigines in Krichauff Ranges, South Australia . Adelaide 1890.
• The future of our wine industry and the results of manuring vineyards in Europe and Australia . Adelaide 1900.
• Fertilizing Field and Garden . Adelaide, 1901.

literature

• Friedrich Eduard Krichauff . In: Bernd Philipsen: Schleswiger heads . Husum 2013. ISBN 978-3-89876-671-5 . P. 109 f.
• Friedrich Eduard Krichauff . In: Australian Dictionary of Biography .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary. In: Chronicle (Adelaide, SA: 1895-1954) . Adelaide, SA December 26, 1925, p. 22 ( gov.au [accessed August 10, 2020]).