Harz to Adelaide

Question

This file has to be on here somewhere, but I don't see it.  What are the reasons so many Germans immigrated to Australia?
http://www.ronebergcairns.com/famgeodmhist_25.html 

I have a copy but was searching for an online file to share as it is a long story.  I'm probably going to put this link on many of my German profiles and thought the Australia project and su-category Germans to Australia would like this.  Really can't imagine this is new to most, but maybe.

just a pargraph or two:

Harz to Adelaide: 1848-1854

FROM THE HARZ MOUNTAINS (KINGDOM OF HANOVER) TO ADELAIDE AND BEYOND: GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED EMIGRATION 1848-1854

by Renate Vollmer

South Australian Genealogist 20:2 (April 1993)

Germans have emigrated to South Australia ever since the first settlements were established in 1836. The best-known group of early German immigrants - Lutherans from Prussia - arrived only two years after the founding of the colony, and, continued throughout the century, several hundred Germans arriving every year ¹. However, with the exception of the Prussian Lutherans and a few distinguished individuals, little is known about most of those German emigrants.

In the middle of the 19th century, large numbers of emigrants (from the Harz mountains in the Kingdon of Hanover) arrived in Adelaide - 1100 alone between March 1849 and January 1855. How did this sudden influx of Germans from one particular region come about? In 1848, the Ministry of Finance in Hanover and the local authorities in the Harz had decided that in order to improve the economic situation of the region, emigrations should be encouraged ². South Australia was picked as the most promising location for several reasons:

Comments

see https://hahndorfsa.org.au/history/

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Very interesting story that adds to the original post, thanks.

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see https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/settlement/display/90288-pioneer-memorial-gardens for the names of the initial German descent settlers of Hahndorf.

Thank you Michael, Will & Steve for your contributions here. Interesting knowledge that should somehow be retained.

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Most of the pioneer families that settled in Hahndorf migrated on the ship Zebra. Most of the passengers on the Zebra came from near the village of Kay (Kije, Poland) which was in the South-East corner of the Prussian province of Brandenburg.
A Wikitree member has linked the passenger list of the Zebra with many Wikitree profiles: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Zebra_Passenger_list_1837

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I am commenting on this again to hopefully catch some who may have missied this post about some early emigation from Germany to both Australia and the US,   I think this is great history.

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Thanks Michael. This is worth commenting again. 2 years later there are new members of Wikitree. Can you add the tag 'Germany' to reach a broader audience?

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Hi again, all who are interested.  I just did a search for something else and this website came up and may be of interes to others who follow early history of the Kingdom of Hannover, and in this case the Harz in particular.

An interesting story about life in the early years of the Harz.  Written in 1826. and to me very well written and illustrated.
For a teaser read this: On the mountain stands the hut

where the old miner lives;
There the green fir rustles,
and the golden moon shines.

In the hut there is an armchair,
richly carved and whimsical,
the one who sits on it is happy,
and the lucky one am I!

http://www.goethezeitportal.de/index.php?id=6670
URL listed as not secure, I had no problems but more settings gave me no warnings and would have blocked unsecure content  -- You decide before you click.

Answer 1

Thanks Michael. I learn something new every day. Before reading your contributions in Wikitree, I did not know that emigration to Australia was financially supported by the Kingdom of Hanover.
I'll add another note about the time line. Many people know that German immigrants started coming in large numbers in 1838-1841 (Bengalee/Prince George/Zebra/Catharina/Skjold). Last week I found out that 50% of passengers on Solway (arrived Kangaroo Island, Oct 1837) were Lutherans from the Prussian province of Pomerania - inside 12months of the foundation of South Australia.

Comments

I received that from an Aussie Schintler who I call cousin.  I was thinking it was spread around Australia widely, but then I said it can't do much harm to post it again.  And apparently it was a good thing at least on your account.

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Thanks again Michael. This information deserves to be shared again. It's history that happened a long time ago and would not be common knowledge today. I have an Aunt who is a descendant of the Schunke family from Hanover, but I did not know that emigrants were assisted by the Kingdom.

Answer 2

I have a pdf copy of the article which I could email to you if you wish.

Gail

Comments

After another search I found a link online here:  Why Germans emigrated to Australia

But I do have a .pdf also, thanks.  I don't think I can post a .pdf on wikitree, or just don't know how to do it.
http://www.ronebergcairns.com/famgeodmhist_25.html

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Hi Michael,

Nice to e-meet you. You can 'post' a PDF to Wikitree it just becomes unreadable. I have tried it myself without success. :(

What you need to do is to convert the PDF into a picture format such as PNG. Any converting program may be used, there are many available. Personally I use https://pdf2png.com/ . Once converted then you just post it as you would a photograph.

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Thanks, but then I would have to fib and say I owned it since I don't have official notice that I am clear to publish it.  I think it is pretty much open license, but can't prove it.