Johann Friedrich Krummnow

Johann Friedrich Krummnow (* 1811 in Posen , † October 3, 1880 in Penshurst ), often also written Johann Friedrich Krumnow , was a German settler , preacher and missionary in Australia . He is considered one of the co-founders of the Lobethal community in South Australia. With the establishment of the Herrnhut commune near the city of Penshurst in the southeastern state of Victoria , he created a congregation in 1852 that is the first commune in Australia to be based on the so-called Principles of shared property and fervent prayer .

Life

emigration

Krummnow was born in Poznan and grew up in a German community. Later he worked as a tailor , shoemaker and teacher. He was eventually ardent supporter of the Moravian Church (ger .: Moravian Church ) and emigrated through the support of Pastor August Kavel with 130 people group comprising Lutheran dissidents , the so-called " Kavel's People " to Australia.

On board the barque Catharina , the group finally arrived on January 22, 1839 in Port Adelaide ( South Australia ). On the ship, he taught the girls in the group, which he was no longer allowed to do after the ship arrived in Australia, as this group was not really satisfied with Krummnow's work or his work as a teacher was not entirely flawless. The settlers arriving with the Catharina in South Australia then finally founded the place Glen Osmond .

Although initially curbed in his ambition to be ordained as a Lutheran pastor, Krummnow held regular prayer meetings in private households. In 1842 Krummnow was finally naturalized as a naturalized English citizen . He thus got the right to buy land.

Lobethal

First of all, Krummnow supported a group of Lutherans who had arrived on the Skjold in Australia in October 1841 to help Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche found the Lobethal parish near Hahndorf . The German settlers provided him with funds to purchase land for his own community. Krummnow's concern, however, was that this should be done on the basis of common property and prayer. He met with little approval from the new settlers and the Lobethalers simply rejected this vision, which led to disputes over land ownership. The German settlers ultimately had to fight for their right to property.

Krummnow also stated that he could drive out the devil. Which he tried unsuccessfully every now and then. Krummnow was seen as a seedy figure who was not trusted across the board. There were serious considerations at the time to excommunicate him . Before this was done, however, Krummnow left Lobethal.

Herrnhut

After 1847 Krummnow worked as a missionary, lived and worked with Aborigines , the native Australians, near Mount Gambier in the southeast of what is now the state of South Australia. He eventually left South Australia entirely. In 1851 he moved to Victoria in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood and worked here as a tailor, shoemaker and preacher. He then moved to Germantown (later Grovedale ), near Geelong . Germantown had also been founded by German Lutherans two years earlier.

In 1852 Krummnow led another group of German migrants who jointly bought 1,584 acres of land near Mount Rouse, about 3 miles northwest of Penshurst . As in Lobethal, he took advantage of the fact that he was now a naturalized British citizen and had himself entered as the owner in the deeds.

Convinced of Krummnow's ideas, they founded the Herrnhut Commune . The settlers built a series of stone buildings, including a church and operated agriculture . Since Krummnow, despite the joint acquisition of the land, was entered in the land deeds as the sole owner and he refused to change this, a dispute soon arose in the settlement . Some settlers then left the community, others stayed in the face of alternatives or were convinced of the goal of the project.

In the 1870s, the Herrnhut commune ran into economic difficulties. It had a brief upswing once again through the admission of a group of settlers in economic distress around the self-proclaimed prophet Maria Heller , who founded a similar congregation in Hills Plain near Benalla , Victoria, at the beginning of 1875 , but quickly failed.

Heller's followers soon brought unrest and discontent to the strict Herrnhut community. And after Heller's arrest in August 1876 as a dangerous madwoman who was suffering from religious mania on the basis of a complaint by a Moravian resident , the group around their prophetess left Herrnhut again.

Krummnow is said to have never fully recovered from Heller's rejection of his faith. He spent his remaining days under the influence of alcohol and died a few years later on October 3, 1880. Herrnhut held out for a few years. Ultimately, however, it turned out that Krummnow had never properly arranged his estate during his lifetime, so that the remaining residents of the commune had to fight in court for their whereabouts on the site.

Aftermath

Krummnow was a controversial figure in South Australian and Victorian history. His eccentric behavior had not only made him friends in the early Australian settler community, so that it is difficult to tell legend and truth apart from the traditions about him. Among other things, he is said to have treated children excessively strictly and harshly. He also believed that medical treatment was unnecessary. In his opinion, belief in God alone should be sufficient to deal with internal complaints.

On the other hand, the Herrnhut settlement was open to the poor and the needy. She cared for, protected and supported the indigenous population. Up to three hundred Aborigines temporarily found shelter in Herrnhut, on whose lands they were allowed to hunt kangaroos .

At present, Herrnhut is considered to be the first commune in Australia based on the so-called Principles of shared property and fervent prayer (common property and prayer). And even if Herrnhut ultimately failed after Krummnow's death, the town of Lobethal, which was created under his influence, has existed to the present day. The buildings of the church that was built there are now used as an archive and a museum. Some exhibits testify to the founding time. The ruins of Herrnhut in Penshurst, more than 500 kilometers east of Lobethal, are considered historical evidence of the Australian settlement policy at that time.

Krumnow Lane , located northwest of Penshurst, is named after Johann Friedrich Krummnow and leads through the former Moravian lands.

Further publications on the topic

• William James Metcalf, Elizabeth Huf: Herrnhut: Australia's First Utopian Commune . Melbourne University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-522-84993-6 .

Footnotes and individual references

1. ↑ Augustin Lodewyckx: The Germans in Australia . 1932, p. 137 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} J.F. Krummnow and the municipality "Herrnhut", Victoria - Krummnow in South Australia on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017.
3. ↑ 6.41 km²
4. ↑ ^{a b} J.F. Krummnow and the "Herrnhut" commune, Victoria - In Victoria - Founding of the Herrenhut commune on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Entry in Herrnhut on vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au, accessed on July 6, 2017
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Toby Widdicombe, Andrea Kross: Historical Dictionary of . Rowman & Littlefield, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5381-0217-6 , pp. 204 .
7. ^ David Levinson, Karen Christensen: Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World . tape 1 . SAGE, 2003, p. 708 .
8. ↑ ^{a b} J.F. Krummnow and the municipality “Herrnhut”, Victoria - Hill Plain – Kommune moves to Herrnhut on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017.
9. ↑ ^{a b} J.F. Krummnow and the “Herrnhut” commune, Victoria - Krummnow's death on germanaustralia.com, accessed on July 7, 2017.