Gnadenthal (Victoria)

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Gnadenthal was a settlement founded by Sorbs in what is now the administrative area of Southern Grampians Shire in the southwest of the Australian state of Victoria . It was about three miles west of Penshurst .

history

Emigration on the Helene

Gnadenthal was a Sorbian foundation. The place was founded in 1853 by a group of immigrants who came from places near Hochkirch (in Upper Lusatia ). These had left their homeland because of religious tensions, political imponderables and economic difficulties.

On September 5, 1851, they boarded the emigrant ship Helene of the shipping company J.C. , which was launched shortly before the voyage at the Reiherstieg shipyard in Hamburg. Godeffroy & Son . Sources list 128 to 163 passengers on board, the majority (98 of 128) of whom were Sorbs. According to the passenger lists known today, there were about 46 children among them. On December 24, 1851, the ship arrived in Port Adelaide . Initially, most of the settlers settled near Adelaide and in the Barossa Valley .

In search of better and bigger properties, some of them eventually came to Victoria near the town of Hamilton. Here they founded a community with the Sorbian name Bukecy (German: Hochkirch). The place was later renamed Hochkirch and in 1918 Tarrington .

Foundation of Gnadenthal

However, some settlers, the Albert, Bürger, Mirtschin, Stephan and Urban families, moved a few kilometers further. Less than eight miles away, they 'd been able to buy cheap land near Mount Rouse, about three miles west of Penshurst . The Bürger family, who originally came from Meschwitz , is well-known here . Peter (1795–1878) and Agnes Bürger (1808–1892, née Schmidt) had emigrated to Australia with their children Johann, Magdalene and Andreas. First, as Paul Bürger quickly became a naturalized English citizen, they acquired land near Rosenthal, South Australia (now Rosedale). However, Bürger soon moved to Victoria with his family, as a settlement there, according to very positive reports, promised more success. So the property in Rosedale was sold again.

Another family that settled in Gnadenthal was the Mirtschin family. Johann (1808–1884) and Maria (1814–1878, née Gude) Mirtschin came from Steindörfel . They had also come to Australia with the Helene , but lost two of their five children (Marga and Andreas) on the trip, who fell ill and died of diarrhea at sea.

present

The descendants of the families who settled in Gnadenthal in 1853 can be found on the remaining farms and in the vicinity of Penshurst to this day. Some of the settlers' children were married to Tarrington and the neighboring Tabor , where Sorbs from Germany had also settled, so that the names of the Gnadenthal settlers also appear here.

Several buildings from the time the settlement was built have been preserved from the former Gnadenthal. These are two small half-timbered farmhouses belonging to the Bürger family in 1853 and a few buildings on the Mirtschin homestead. In addition, the Lutheran-Wendish cemetery to the west of the settlement has been preserved.

The Gnadenthaler Friedhof is of architectural importance for its gravestones and monuments. The iconography here reflects the aesthetics of the various epochs and groups within the community. It stretches east of Day's Lane and is in very good condition. It is divided into an older and a younger section. The first burial in this cemetery took place in 1861. There are 75 graves in the Gnadenthal cemetery.

Trivia

Another German settlement was located about two kilometers north of Gnadenthal. The former Herrnhut , founded in 1852 by a group of German immigrants around the preacher Johann Friedrich Krummnow , is currently considered the first commune on the Australian continent on the basis of the so-called Principles of shared property and fervent prayer (common property and prayer).

literature

  • Trudla Malinkowa: Shore of Hope. Sorbian emigrants overseas . Bautzen 1995, ISBN 3-7420-1634-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g "Sorbian emigrants from our parish in Australia"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the homepage of Ev.-Luth. Hochkirch parish, accessed on November 15, 2015@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.kirche-hochkirch.de  
  2. ↑ Helene's passenger list on www.theshipslist.com , accessed on November 15, 2015
  3. ↑ Line service of Joh. Ces. Godeffroy & Son , accessed November 15, 2015
  4. ↑ Helene's passenger list at www.pfhl.de , accessed on November 15, 2015
  5. ↑ Entry of the Mirtschin homestead on vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au, accessed on July 11, 2017
  6. ↑ Entry of the Gnadenthaler Friedhof on vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au, accessed on July 10, 2017
  7. ↑ Entry of the Gnadenthaler Bürger -häuser on vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au, accessed on July 10, 2017
  8. ↑ Entry of the Gnadenthaler Bürger -häuser on vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au, accessed on July 10, 2017
  9. ↑ entry Herrnhut on vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au, accessed on July 6, 2017
  10. ^ David Levinson, Karen Christensen: Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World . tape 1 . SAGE, 2003, p. 708 .
  11. ↑ JF Krummnow and the “Herrnhut” municipality, Victoria - Krummnow in South Australia on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017
  12. ↑ JF Krummnow and the municipality "Herrnhut" Victoria - In Victoria - founding of Herrnhut commune on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017
  13. ↑ JF Krummnow and the municipality "Herrnhut", Victoria - Hill Plain – Kommune moves to Herrnhut on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017
  14. ↑ JF Krummnow and the municipality "Herrnhut" Victoria - Krummnows death on germanaustralia.com, accessed on 7 July 2017
  15. ↑ Toby Widdicombe, Andrea Kross: Historical Dictionary of . Rowman & Littlefield, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5381-0217-6 , pp. 204 .

Coordinates: 37 ° 51 ′ 56.5 ″  S , 142 ° 15 ′ 3.4 ″  E