German speaking Immigrants: The Finger and Fankhauser families (Part 1)
By Marilyn Poole 2018
This article is the first of a series in which I will discuss the migration to Australia of the Finger and Fankhauser families and their early settlement in Hawthorn, Balwyn and Doncaster. I will select just a few family members with connections to Boroondara and nearby areas as these are very large families and it is not feasible to take all into account.
In the early years of the 19th century there was political and economic instability in much of Europe. The Napoleonic wars ended in 1815 and rising prices and insufficient work for returning soldiers led to economic difficulties especially in areas such as Prussia. Many people emigrated because of unemployment, crop failures and for political and religious reasons. The ‘Old Lutherans’ opposed the forced union of the Calvinist and Lutheran churches to form a new state church with the introduction of a new prayer book. Those who tried to continue with the old ways and opposed the union of churches were persecuted and property confiscated. As Glenda Dovile (2003 p. 5) writes at the beginning of her family history of the Finger family that during the 1840s their lives became difficult as `there was economic collapse, famine, religious intolerance and revolution’.
The Finger family came from Silesia, then a province of Prussia later part of Germany. In World War II Silesia was invaded by Russia and most of the German speaking population were expelled and many were murdered. This area is now part of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Fankhauser family originally came from Lanersbach, Zillertal, Tyrol, Austria. In 1837, about 400 people left the valley of Zillertal in order to escape persecution for their Protestant beliefs, many of these exiles finding a home in Silesia where they established a ‘colony of faith’. They were offered housing and land near Michelsdorf, Silesia (now Myslacowice, western Poland) by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia. Johann Gotthard Fankhauser’s family were among those who left Zillertal for Silesia.
The decision to emigrate must have been a difficult one as Christian Benjamin Finger was middle- aged and it was courageous for him and his family to search for a better life free from religious persecution. The safe haven that the Fankhauser family had found in Silesia changed with the death of King Friedrich Wilhelm III and they, too, found that religious persecution would drive them from Silesia to migrate to Australia.
Emigration
The question of German immigration to the Port Phillip District was raised in 1846 (Darragh & Wuchatsch 1999 p. 2). An editorial in the Port Phillip Gazette in December 1846 referred
“A healthy, useful and moral immigration 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 and their habits unexceptionable...” (Ibid p 1)
Large groups of German speaking immigrants began to arrive in Victoria in 1849. William Westgarth was the leading figure in organising German immigration to Victoria and was Convenor of the German Immigration Committee formed in 1849. Westgarth was a merchant, financier,
politician and historian and left Leith in Scotland in 1840 for a new life in Australia. He was impressed by the quality of German immigrants to South Australia and ‘persuaded the colonial land and emigration commissioners to subsidize the emigration of German “vine dressers, agricultural labourers and shepherds” to Port Phillip and made the recruiting arrangements in Germany’ (Serle 1976). The first ships from Hamburg arrived in 1849. In March, 1850, some German and Wendish farmers established the Westgarthtown settlement (part of Thomastown since 1900). Other groups settled in Hawthorn, Richmond, and Boroondara and also founded a community in what is now Doncaster.
It is interesting to note that on Christmas,1850 so soon after their arrival, these German speaking immigrants introduced the tradition of the Christmas tree and set up the first Christmas tree under the Southern Cross in Melbourne. They continued the traditions of their home-land and held a religious service, sang hymns, distributed gifts to children and were assisted in their efforts by English officers and friends (Darragh & Wuchatsch 1999 p.84).
Both the Finger and Fankhauser families travelled to Melbourne on the immigrant ship the Pribislaw, a 350-tonne barque, which left Hamburg on 23 August 1849 with 223 passengers (Wuchatsch 2010). On board was Christian Benjamin Finger together with his wife and six children plus three from his previous marriage. Also on board, was Johann Gotthard Fankhauser who travelled with his wife and 4 children and two single Fankhauser males. (Wuchatsch Passenger list of Pribislaw). The original passenger list of the Pribislaw has not been found. The embarkation list would have been prepared in Hamburg but apparently lists pre-1850 have been lost or destroyed. Reconstructed passenger lists have identified 183 of the 198 passengers who arrived in Melbourne (Pribislaw 1849/50 Passenger list).
The voyage was arduous resulting in the deaths of two adults and ten children so that the passengers forced Captain P. W. Niemann to make an unscheduled stop in Rio de Janeiro on 27 October 1849 (Wuchatsch 2010). The passengers signed a petition which they sent to the Hamburg consul in Brazil regarding the quality of and shortage of food on the voyage so far. Although the consul could not help them, the Brazilian authorities were prevailed upon to investigate the passenger’s complaints regarding the food.
Our ship bread consists mainly of pea flour and is of the worst quality, that is, hard as stone, totally mouldy and decayed and interspersed with worms...only a small portion of it was consumable...the peas and pearl barley were mainly stale and mouldy...The drinking water, being the main part of the provisions, would have stayed fresh, if it had not partly been filled into barrels which had formerly been used for fish oil and other things and therefore added an unbearable taste to the water and made it undrinkable...The butter is of the worst quality and hardly worthy of the name butter. About this we only remark so much that the people on board collected it in kegs in order to use it as wagon grease in Australia...But to show what importance butter and bread have for us, we give our daily meals here: for breakfast, coffee with bread and butter; for lunch, meat and vegetables; and for dinner, tea with bread and butter. Thus, we are dependent on bread and butter for the majority of our meals. The existing flour is mouldy and part had to be given to the pigs and part thrown overboard...Brazilian civil servants came on board our ship, investigated the existing leftovers of our provisions, and had them thrown overboard because they were rotten. Worms were even found in the vegetables and maggots in the butter
(excerpt from a passenger’s journal reproduced in Wuchatsch 2010).
The Finger Family
Christian Benjamin and Caroline Finger’s house in Weinberg Road (now Wattle Road), Hawthorn being restored, March 2003. Source. G. Dovile.
Christian Finger senior made a number of land purchases and sold them to his sons and others (Ibid). By 1854, he and his sons were finalising land transactions in Doncaster and in Richmond. By the late 1850s Christian senior had purchased lots 6, 14, 26 and 30 of Elgar’s Special Survey. On an 11.8-acre property, he established a market garden. Campbell Street now runs down the middle of what was Christian Benjamin’s property on Mont Albert Road Balwyn. His son Carl Heinrich Finger (always known as Henry) and son-in-law Christian Volkmann lived nearby. Shortly after this purchase he gave lots 26 and 30 to his son-in-law Christian Volkman a site where Camberwell Grammar School now stands (Ibid).
In 1855 land was reserved in Kew for a cemetery and in 1858 the first Board of Cemetery Trustees was appointed by the Governor-in-Council. The trustees represented the main religious groups. Christian Finger senior was appointed to the first Board of Trustees for Boroondara cemetery in 1858 (Ibid p.47). He continued in this position for many years. The South Bourke Standard recorded the meetings of the trustees and Christian Finger attended meetings and was in the position for many years well into his 70s. The second burial at the cemetery was held on 22 March 1859 of his four-day-old unnamed grandson (Ibid).
The Lutheran community were anxious to hold regular services in their own church and the Lutherans were one of the first religious groups to receive a land grant in East Melbourne on which to build their church. A trust fund was established to finance the building and Christian Benjamin Finger was appointed one of the five trustees and donated £30 towards the building and his wife Caroline donated £1 (Ibid p 62). His children were also generous in their donations.
The new church building was dedicated in June 1854 and the first wedding there was Christian’s daughter Marie to Andreas Kaiser (Ibid). In 1873, it was decided that the original building was too small and a larger building was needed. As an honoured trustee and the oldest member of the congregation, Christian Benjamin (known as Vater Finger) laid the foundation stone for the new building on 17 March 1874 (Ibid). Christian continued to be involved in church and missionary affairs until his death.
According to Dovile (Ibid) Christian senior continued to sell his produce at the Queen Victoria market until his 80h birthday travelling from Mont Albert Road, Deepdene to the market in a spring cart. Around the time of his 80th birthday his horse “played up” and he decided to retire.
Caroline Friedericke Rumler wife of Christian Benjamin Finger c. 1879 source Gwyneth Baker
Christian Benjamin Finger c 1879 Source Gwyneth Baker
Acknowledgements
Sources
- Darragh, T. A. & Wuchatsch, R. N. 1999 From Hamburg to Hobson’s Bay German Immigration to Port Phillip (Australia Felix) 1848-51
- Dovile, G. 2003 The Fingers of Australia & Silesia 1703-2003
- Serle, G. 1976 ‘Westgarth, William (1815-1889)’Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 6, MUP The Argus, Monday 4 February 1850 p. 2; Saturday 29 November 1884 p.4
- Wuchatsch. Robert, 2004 ‘Pribislaw 1849/50 Passenger List’
- http://www.wendishheritage.org.au/articles/pribislaw-184950-passenger-list/
- Wuchatsch Robert 2010 The 1849/50 Voyage to Australia by the Pribislaw’
- http://www.wendishheritage.org.au/articles/the-184950-voyage-to-australia-by-the-pribislaw/
German speaking Immigrants – the Finger family (part 2) By Marilyn Poole
This is the second article in the series on German speaking immigrants who made their homes in the parish of Boroondara and nearby areas. The Finger family settled first on an allotment in Weinberg Road (now Wattle Road), Hawthorn. By 1880 most of the land along Weinberg Road had been sold to German settlers. Christian Benjamin Finger the patriarch of the family bought land in Hawthorn, Balwyn and Doncaster where he established market gardens, vineyards and orchards (Darraugh & Wuchatsch p. 132).
Carl Heinrich Finger (always known as Henry Finger)
Carl Heinrich Finger third child of Christian Benjamin Finger and his wife Caroline Friedericke Rumler was born on 21 Feb 1831 in Quirl, Silesia, Prussia. Henry was probably educated at the Buchwald Lutheran School and followed his father’s footsteps in becoming an orchardist (Dovile 2003 p. 142). He travelled with the rest of his family on the barque Pribislaw and arrived in Port Phillip in February, 1850. Henry worked on his father’s farm until he was 21 years old and then became a contractor. He purchased a horse and dray and saved enough money cutting and carting wood to buy land (Ibid). He was naturalised as a Victorian citizen in February 1852 at the same time as his father and brother Wilhelm.
Part of Elgar’s Special Survey
(Research by G. Dovile and G. McWilliam) Source Glenda Dovile 2003
In 1859 Christian Finger senior purchased lot 14 (approximately 7 acres) of Elgar’s Special Survey (Dovile 2003 p.517) now divided by Campbell Road. In 1860, he also purchased lots 6, 26 and 30 (Ibid). However, lots 26 and 30 were given or sold to Christian Volkman his son-in-law. Christian Finger senior established his market garden in Deepdene on his acreage and continued to take his produce to market until he was around 80 years old.
On 29 July 1859 Henry Finger purchased lot 3 consisting of 5 acres (Ibid). However, it is generally understood that Henry owned 10 acres of land near the corner of Burke and Whitehorse Roads and so it seems likely that he also owned either lots 1 or 2. The Boroondara rate books of 1857 indicate Henry had 5 cultivated acres and 3 uncultivated ones and that by 1863 there was a house and land.
Henry married Johanna Caroline Aumann on 16th December 1854 at the German Lutheran Church in East Melbourne. Johanne Caroline Aumann was born 6 February 1834 at Profen, Silesia, Prussia. Henry and Caroline lived in the 2-room cottage Henry built on his land in Deepdene and this is where their first five children were born. Henry cleared the land, planted fruit trees, grew vegetables and started a nursery for fruit trees (Dovile 2003 p. 144). Apparently, one very hot day a north wind was blowing which wrecked the fruit trees in his orchard, burned the young plants and removed much of the top soil.
Following this disaster, Henry decided that he would do better in Doncaster for fruit growing rather than Deepdene and purchased 50 acres of land around the old Waldau church on the north side of Waldau Lane (now George Street, Doncaster) (Green 1970 DTHS). Henry was familiar with Doncaster as his elder brother Christian had been living in Church Street for 12 years (Green 1975 DTHS). The land was originally owned by Frederich Straube. From 1868 onwards Henry was rated as having a farm in Doncaster. He planted an orchard on the lower land and a vineyard on the slopes at the rear. According to Irvine Green (1970) the experience with his Deepdene property made Henry very interested in land and soil conservation. The drains and earth works he constructed around Ruffey’s Creek were apparently very impressive and remained so until the land was sub-divided.
Henry Finger’s Homestead, George Street, Doncaster East. Built 1870, demolished about 1972.Victorian Heritage Database B2791 http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/66509. DTHS
In 1870 Henry built a large brick homestead with clay he quarried from the land along Ruffey’s Creek and burnt his own bricks (Green). As Green (1970 DTHS) points out, Henry built his house in a style that comes from central Europe with a ‘high pitched shingle roof and a skillion roof on one side’ (Green 1975). ‘To accommodate workers for the orchard, outhouses were built and additions made to the house providing a new kitchen and men’s dining room’ (Ibid). Work practices were different in those days and wages were cheap, the Victorian government ‘encouraged employment by offering a bonus of £3 for every acre of new orchard planted’ (Green 1985 p. 21). In the larger land holdings, men lived in huts and ate in the kitchen or lunch room at the rear of the homestead. (Ibid). Many years later, Henry’s son, John Traugott Finger said “he could hear his workmen talking and laughing in the lunchrooms and wished he could be with them but with the strict German tradition of the time he had to sit in formal seriousness in the family dining room. (Ibid). Green pointed out that ‘There was a social distinction between owners of an orchard and those who were employed. Often, even when they sat at the same table, the family were served better food than the men (Ibid)
Henry Finger’s Barn
Henry Finger’s barn Victorian Heritage Database 22413. The old barn built by Henry Finger in 1870 once stood behind his homestead and is one of the earliest barns remaining in the district. Now relocated at Schramm’s Cottage Precinct 62-68 Victoria Street, Doncaster.
Dovile (2003 p. 144) writes that correspondence between Henry and Caroline’s five daughters indicate that by 1876 they were growing potatoes as well as grapes.
‘Threshing had to be done...Fruit picking, particularly plums and grapes were mentioned and in October both strawberries and cherries were sent to the Melbourne Exhibition’ (Ibid).
Green (1985 p. 39) writes:
‘during the night, carts trundled along the road to Melbourne through Kew and Richmond and on to the market. The horses walked steadily and the driver slept during the long slow drive to reach market early in the morning. The night long trips started as soon as fruit ripened and continued even after picking finished, with fruit from the cool stores’...The long steep hill on Doncaster Road, from Koonun (sic) Creek to Balwyn Road, was tiring so the driver would stop to rest his horse, turning the cart side on so it wouldn’t roll back. Soon he would fall asleep but the horse knew the way and after resting plodded on. On arrival at the market the driver backed his wagon into a stand, if he had one. Each grower that had his own stand would keep it year after year in the same spot’.’
In the early 1880s Henry had stall 62B at the Victoria Fruit Market (Ibid).
Henry Finger died on 3 December 1884 at Waldau and is buried in the Waldau cemetery. His land was divided between his two sons Johan (John) Traugott Finger and Ernst Ferdinand Finger (always known as Ferdinand). Apparently, they tossed a coin and Ferdinand won the block with the house and John won the block that became the reserve. Henry’s wife Caroline survived her husband by thirty-seven years. Apparently, she spoke German all her life and knew little English. Glenda Dovile writes that when English speaking visitors arrived she had a few handy English phrases on the back of the door such as ‘Good morning”, ‘How are you?’ “Come in” and so on (Dovile 2003 p.146). Caroline had assisted her husband during her married life and continued to work in the orchard helping her two sons after his death. She continued living in the homestead until her son Ferdinand married in 1892 and then she moved to a smaller house at the back of the large family home. Her grand-daughter Emily Fankhauser lived with her and helped with the house-work (Ibid). When Ferdinand moved to North Balwyn Caroline went to live with him and his family and died there on 10 December 1921 aged 87 years. She is buried in the Boroondara cemetery
Post-script
During 1883 and 1884 there were numerous advertisements in The Argus for the sale of the Deepdene Estate which comprised of 16 acres at the corner of Cotham and Burke Roads. Henry Finger formerly owned allotments of about 10 acres of this estate selling in the 1860s prior to his move to Doncaster. One advertisement in The Argus (Saturday 3 November 1883 p. 3) said:
This beautiful property (so called after the celebrated estate of Mr. Hope, near London, in consequence of the extraordinary similarity of the magnificent views from the two estates) is situated in one of the most fashionable suburbs of Melbourne....The panorama from Deepdene, combining extensive bay and inland views, extends over a distance of 50 miles, and while the several villages seen in the valley below render, the scene most diversified and cheerful , the lofty mountain range in the distance, on which the snow in winter may be seen lying for weeks together, renders the situation unequalled in Victoria’.
As land became more difficult to sell the sales pitch became ever more lyrical. The Argus (Saturday 29 March 1884 p.3) described the outlook from the Deepdene Estate ‘combining extensive sea and inland views, forms a PANORAMA of FIFTY MILES, in which valleys and villages, snow clad mountains and verdure-clothed hills, sea and river, are so grouped as to form a picture that for variety and beauty is perhaps, unequalled in the colony’. A later advertisement in The Argus described the Deepdene Estate as being ‘splendidly situated in one of the most charming of the Melbourne suburbs” and ‘is within half an hour’s ride by rail or roadl of the General Post- Office’ and ‘is the healthiest suburb of our southern metropolis” (The Argus Saturday 19 April 1884 p. 2).
It may interest readers regarding the origins of the name Deepdene. The Deepdene was a large country mansion with extensive grounds not far from Box Hill and near Dorking, Surrey. The Australasian (Saturday 23 November 1895 p. 41) described it having ‘a history running back several centuries. It has some claim to celebrity as a place associated with literature’. Thomas Hope, owner of The Deepdene early in the 19th century and perhaps the richest man in England, wrote the novel Anastasius. Hope was a descendent of a wealthy Scottish banking family, an amateur architect, and a man of refinement and taste who owned many paintings, antiques and sculptures. His publication ‘Household Furniture and Interior Decoration’ (1807) became very influential. During the time Thomas Hope owned The Deepdene, it was known as a centre for artists, intellectuals and the celebrities of the era.
Acknowledgements
My grateful thanks to Glenda Dovile for her help and generosity in allowing me to use family photographs for this article
Sources
- Darragh, T. A. & Wuchatsch, R. N. 1999 From Hamburg to Hobson’s Bay German Immigration to Port Phillip (Australia Felix) 1848-51
- Dovile, G. 2003 The Fingers of Australia & Silesia 1703-2003
- Green, I. 1970 ‘Carl Henry Finger Homestead’ DTHS newsletter http://dt-hs.blogspot.com.au/1970/08/the- finger-homestead-1870.html
- Green, I. 1975 11 DTHS newsletter
- Green, I. 1985 The Orchards of Doncaster and Templestowe Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society The Argus Saturday, 3 November 1883, p. 3; Saturday 29 March 1884 p. 3; Saturday 19 April 1884 p.2 The Australasian Saturday 23 November 1895 p. 41
Source: Marilyn Poole 2018. Published in Balwyn Historical Society Newsletter - May 2018 & April 2018. Jun 2021: Permission granted by author Marilyn Poole to reproduce in full on this page.
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