The flow of German immigrants to Australia was advantageous both to them and to Australia, but only a small number came – 5,600 from 1847 to 1850. Many of the men were trained vinedressers and agriculturists. There was a depression in the Port Phillip District during the early 1840’s, and the recovery period resulted in a high demand for labour in towns and in rural areas. German immigrants had arrived in South Australia and were looked upon favourably and advertisements were posted in Germany enticing people to migrate to Australia.
An editorial in the “Port Phillip Gazette” of 9 December 1846 states: “A healthy, useful and moral emigration has been taking place during the last five years between Germany and South Australia. Our Adelaide contemporaries speak in the highest terms of their German Colonists – they are most industrious, temperate and peaceable in their habits, exceptional in their morals, and of sound religious principles. They have been accused of being narrow in their expenditure, but this is more than counterbalanced by the fact they buy everything for ready money; in a word the thrifty German forms the beau ideal of a useful Colonist, and his industry is calculated to be of no ordinary advantage to the Colony he has selected for his future abode.” “We do not envy our neighbours their good fortune in possessing such a useful class of Colonists, but we think that, if possible, this District ought to take some steps to obtain a supply from the German Ports. We believe those persons who emigrate from that country pay their own passage, and commonly bring capital to some extent with them. They generally settle in communities and cultivate the soil, and are adverse to parting company and spreading over the face of the country. Port Phillip possesses many agricultural districts, which would be eminently fitted to receive these hard-working emigrants, and we are inclined to think that if they could be anyway acquainted with the resources, and the capabilities of this District, we might expect a fair portion of those inclined to emigrate.”
These people came primarily because of religious or economic reasons; however some came to escape the stifling autocracy and bureaucracy of Germany. Many Germans were brought here by an employer. The prospective employer had to apply to the government, supplying a list of people he wanted to bring out which include their names, ages and occupations. Married couples had to be less than 50 years old and single people more than 21 years old.
Between 1848 and 1850 five ships sailed from Hamburg to Hobson’s Bay and about 1,500 emigrants from them settled in the Port Phillip District.
The first ship was the “Godeffroy,” built in 1839-40. It had a rapid voyage of four months despite losing its rudder in the Bay of Biscay and being forced into Plymouth for repairs.
Next was the”“Wappaus.” It had to call into Bahia in Brazil to take on fresh water.
The third ship was the “Dockenhuden,” a new ship built near Hamburg. It ran short of provisions and water and had to call into Rio de Janeiro.
The fourth ship was the “Emmy.” It was built in Stockholm in 1847. It made the voyage in 99 days, sailing directly from Hamburg to Hobson’s Bay without stopping on the way, but there had been a high mortality rate of 28 persons – 16 of them children; and there were two births. The ship arrived on 19 December 1849 and 224 of the passengers disembarked in Port Phillip to be accommodated in the Government Immigrant Barracks where they could be engaged for employment. This had been built the previous year on the corner of Spencer and Collins Streets and the austerity of the buildings reflected government determination to discourage dependence on charity.
Authorities insisted the segregated accommodation in dormitories was temporary. The “Melbourne Morning Herald” reported 29th December that, ‘the number of “Emmy” passengers remaining in Port Phillip was 200, of whom 100 had been engaged and that upwards of 69 had been taken to Geelong.’
Then on 5th January 1850 the same paper stated “all the “Emmy” passengers in the barracks had been engaged, their services being in great demand.”
Amongst those on board were my forebears, Johann August Schwerkolt (known as August) and his bride Paulina. They settled on land in Northcote, which he farmed and eventually purchased. He then increased his acreage in 1861 by paying cash for 63 acres in Mitcham at one pound per acre. He used to walk between the two properties until he had moved his family to Mitcham in 1865 where his youngest son was born.
In order to farm this land he first had to clear it, initially providing wood and charcoal to the growing populace of Melbourne before he could build a house and establish an orchard and vines from which he made wine that won him an award for the best Colonial wine at an Exhibition in Amsterdam in 1882.
It was a subsistence farm with dairy cows, bee hives and vegetables growing along with a quarry from which he extracted stone to build a home where he raised the remaining five of nine children born to them. In Northcote one child had drowned and two had died very young from diarrhoea. In Mitcham another son aged 4 was killed under a tree being felled by his 9-year-old brother who was engaged in making fence posts.
In 1880, stone screenings from his quarry were used in the construction of Whitehorse Road. He maintained ownership of his Northcote property as well as farming in Mitcham.
In 1884, his wife Paulina died at the age of 61 and a year later he married a German widow, Wilhelmina, who had three daughters of her own. He was 62 and she was 40. He built a new stone cottage to begin life anew in what we now know as ‘Schwerkolt Cottage.’![[Schwerkolt Cottage]](http://www.pppg.org.au/images/Schwerkolt%20Cottage.jpg)
( Source: https://www.victorianplaces.com.au )
Twins were born, but only the son survived. August himself died in 1887 of pneumonia and enteritis, leaving Wilhelmina five months pregnant with their daughter Mary who eventually inherited the Cottage and Northcote properties, both of which were rented to tenants.
In 1964, the Nunawading Council purchased the Cottage and five and a half acres of surrounding land to restore as an example of a heritage pioneer cottage which is now open to the public.
Written by Rosalie Whalen with material from “From Hamburg to Hobsons Bay” by Thomas A. Darragh and Robert N. Wuchatsch.
Contributed by Rosalie Whalen – PPPG Member No. 1245