In Australia, a number of German settlements in the Riverina were established in the late nineteenth century. The settlements were populated by Germans migrating both from established German settlements in South Australia and directly from Germany. Due to the distinct religious and language difference between the new settlers and the established Anglo-Celtic community in the Riverina, these settlements maintained a distinct cultural identity.
Australia became a popular destination for German immigrants from as early as 1838 when religious persecution in Prussia led to the first organised group migration of Old Lutherans to South Australia. What was to follow was a progressive chain migration from the areas in northern and eastern Prussia, that was to last until the end of the nineteenth century. However, with this influx, land soon became difficult to obtain at reasonable prices. Also, land holdings in South Australia proved too small for sustainable cropping with Australian soils unable to cope with the type of intensive farming that was traditional practice of German farmers in the homeland. These factors, combined with the desire of the Germans to live in homogenous communities, their land inheritance practices, and the typically large size of German families, culminated to instigate a second migrational wave from South Australia to the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria from the 1860s. Substantial numbers of German settlers left South Australia to select land in the Southern Riverina. [1]
The Albury region had long been a settlement area for Catholic Germans, particularly farmers and wine growers from the Rhineland, who had begun to melt in with the Anglo-Celtic population. [2] The first South Australian Germans to reconnoitre the Riverina took up land in May 1866. By the end of 1866 Germans had selected seven parcels of land, totalling 1,470 acres (5.9 km2). In the following year an additional 55 properties with a combined area of 7,680 acres (31.1 km2) had been selected by German settlers, while in 1868 a further 51 properties (with 4,503 acres) were selected. While some of those moving to the Riverina were original immigrants who had come to Australia from Germany, the majority were apparently first generation Australia-born Germans. Ethnically, many of the Germans were in fact Wendish or Sorbs, an ethnic community in north-eastern Germany. Even though most were Australian-born, the German and Wendish settlers in the Riverina remained culturally Germans with little if any acculturation to the English environment. This cultural identity could be maintained because these German settlers formed close-knit communities held together by Lutheran Christianity, and also due to their adherence to the German language. [3] As in South Australia, both factors became the distinguishing element from mainstream New South Wales.
While the Germans made up the greatest non-British Isles immigrant community in NSW, their overall numbers were not that large. What made the Germans so visible, was the clustered nature of their settlements: two thirds of all German holdings were concentrated in the four postal town areas of Albury, Jindera (57 properties each), Walla Walla (28 properties) and Gerogery (27 properties) all of which were located close to each other. [4] [5]
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west.
Ebon Atoll is a coral atoll of 22 islands in the Pacific Ocean, forming a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area is 5.75 square kilometers (2.22 sq mi), and it encloses a deep lagoon with an area of 104 square kilometers (40 sq mi). A winding passage, the Ebon Channel, leads to the lagoon from the southwest edge of the atoll. Ebon Atoll is approximately 155 kilometers (96 mi) south of Jaluit, and it is the southernmost land mass of the Marshall Islands, on the southern extremity of the Ralik Chain. In documents and accounts from the 1800s, it was also known as Boston, Covell's Group, Fourteen Islands, and Linnez.
Gerogery is a town established on Wiradjuri land in the Riverina region of the Australian state of New South Wales. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire local government area and on the Main South railway line between Sydney and Melbourne, where it intersects with the Olympic Highway. Gerogery serves a rural farming community. Gerogery has a temperate climate. It lies close to the Great Yambla Range, with its striking Tabletop and Sugar Loaf ridge at the southern end.
Bikar Atoll is an uninhabited atoll in the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is one of the smallest atolls in the Marshalls. Due to its relative isolation from the main islands in the group, Bikar's flora and fauna has been able to exist in a relatively pristine condition.
August Ludwig Christian Kavel was a founder of Lutheranism in Australia.
Culcairn is a town in the south-east Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Culcairn is located in the Greater Hume Shire local government area on the Olympic Highway between Albury and Wagga Wagga. The town is 514 kilometres (319 mi) south-west of the state capital, Sydney and at the 2016 census had a population of 1,473.
The Hume Australian Football Netball League (HFNL), often shortened to Hume Football League, is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing twelve clubs based in the South West Slopes and southern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The league features four grades in the Australian rules football competition, with these being First-Grade, Reserve-Grade, Under 17s and Under 14s. In the netball competition, there are six grades, with these being A-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade, C-Reserve Grade, Intermediates and Juniors.
Walla Walla or Wallawalla is a town in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia and is serviced by the Greater Hume Shire Council. It is about 39 kilometres (24 mi) north of Albury-Wodonga and 130 kilometres (81 mi) south of Wagga Wagga.
The Walla Walla Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in Walla Walla that played in the Hume Football League in southern New South Wales. The club's nickname is the Hoppers, the guernsey design consisted of green and white stripes on the front with an all green rear. Their home ground was the Walla Walla Sportsground in Walla Walla. In 2016, they merged with the Rand-Walbundrie Football Club to form the Rand Walbundrie Walla Giants.
"Squatting" is a historical Australian term that referred to someone occupying a large tract of Crown land to graze livestock. Initially often having no legal rights to the land, squatters became recognised by the colonial government as owning the land by being the first European settlers in the area. Eventually, the term "squattocracy", a play on "aristocracy", came into usage to refer to squatters and the social and political power they possessed.
Balldale is a village in the mid-southern part of the Riverina in New South Wales, Australia. It is about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north-east of Corowa and about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Brocklesby.
Jindera is a small town in the South West Slopes section of the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is situated in the Greater Hume Shire local government area, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of the regional centre of Albury. At the 2016 census, Jindera had a population of 2,222 residents.
Bowna is a locality in the South East part of the Riverina, New South Wales, Australia.
Bulgandry is a village community in the central part of the Riverina. It is situated by road, about 6 kilometres south east of Rand and 12 kilometres north west of Walbundrie.
Dr. Dirk Spennemann, an Australian cultural heritage academic, is an Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage Management at the School of Environmental Sciences, Charles Sturt University in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. His main research interest rests in the area of futures studies focussing on heritage futures by examining issues such as the conceptual understanding of emergent heritage(s), the recognition of heritage sites and objects of future heritage value such as Space Heritage and Robotics; and the relationship between cultural heritage values and the influences of management processes as they play out between heritage professionals and the general public.
Splitters Creek is a suburb of the city of Albury, New South Wales, located west of the Albury Central Business District.
St Paul's College is a coeducational day and boarding school providing secondary schooling in Walla Walla, New South Wales, Australia. It is a member school of Lutheran Education Australia, a network of 85 schools and 42 kindergarten/early childhood centres educating approximately 38,000 students Australia wide, and it forms part of the Riverina group of Lutheran schools together with Lutheran Primary School Wagga Wagga, St Paul's Lutheran Primary School Henty, St John's Primary School Jindera and Victory Lutheran College Wodonga (Victoria).
Ebenezer is a locality in the northern Barossa Valley of South Australia. It includes the historic Ebenezer settlement settled by 72 Wendish Lutherans who had migrated from Silesia in January 1852.
The Central Hume Football Association was an Australian Rules Football competition that was first established in 1928 after a meeting comprising the following clubs: Bowna, Burrumbuttock, Gerogery, Jindera and Walbundrie and was based at Jindera in the Riverina area, New South Wales.
The Riverina Football Association was an Australian rules football competition formed in 1924 from the following clubs - Balldale, Brocklesby Culcairn, Henty Town, Henty Rovers, Holbrook and Walla Walla.