Zander family

Australia

New  zealand

Life in a new land for 1.0  johann & Maria

 

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A New Land

 

Johann and Maria left the village of Tucheim in Prussia that is situated some 40 E.N.E. of Magdeburg and 86 kilometres W.S.W of Berlin. At the time of emigration it was a small agricultural village in the Province of Saxony and the Government District of Magdeburg, Rural or Local District of Jericho II the centre of which was the town of Genith.

More information will be presented about Tucheim on a specific page, but suffice to say at this stage it was a pleasant rural location between two brooks, with the Weinberger brickworks established in its midst during 1840.

 

Lets set the scene by taking a brief look at developments that had taken place prior to their arrival in South Australia that faced Johann Andreas and his wife Maria Dorothea when they arrived in 1877.

Land sales at this stage in history were much controlled by the Government of the day and during good seasons they were easily persuaded to open up more parcels of land extending agriculture further and further northward. The Surveyor General of the day, George Goyder warned about the unreliable nature of the rainfall in the north of the state and produced a line on the map, marking the southern limit of the great northern drought of 1865.

Land Act followed Land Act and the conditions of purchase changed dramatically in a short period of time. From 1870 to 1871 the time over which the purchase could be paid off lengthened to eight years and then shortly later to ten years. First up a deposit of 20 percent was required, this was quickly reduced to 10 percent with the next 10 percent required at the end of 3 years. In 1872 the government opened up all land south of Goyder’s line for settlement.

 

These changes in the land act and the unusually good seasons of 1870-1876 made the restrictions north of Goyder’s line appear totally unnecessary. In 1875 some 29 inches (737mm) of rain fell on Adelaide, this served to strengthen the old idea that “Rain followed the plough” and had the agriculturists of the day eager to continue north. The accumulated wisdom and experience of the years along with the fact that the line actually marking the southern limit were all ignored and it was not long before settlements had pushed as far as north as Hawker, to Carrieton in the North-east and as far east as Terowie. But it was to become painfully obvious by the early 1880’s that settlers had moved well into the marginal areas of agriculture.

 

As it turns out 1877 was not what you would call a good time to arrive in Australia and in particular South Australia  if you were to be involved with agriculture, but for people who had been persecuted for their religious beliefs, it was good for the soul. Conditions were not to improve as in the early 1880’s crops failed with monotonous regularity and production declined as the decade proceeded(Global Warming at this time?? Or is it the cycle that the earth goes through??). Rabbits and plague locusts added to the problems that farmers had to face at this stage of being involved with working on the land.

 

Imagine arriving in a new land, trying to cope with a different growing season and temperatures that were very different from those in your recently departed homeland, land that needed to be cleared, soil that was of a different composition, along with a host of new plant varieties and pests. A home had to be built after the land was cleared as well as building up the necessary working plant and animals.

How do you think you would cope in this situation?

Not to mention things like a new language to learn, dealing with isolation compared to the village life that you had grown accustomed to and provide for an ever increasing family – what a situation to find yourself in. The included stories will show there was some heartbreak – the loss of young lives and that of mothers during childbirth or shortly afterwards, the loss of life or injury from farm accidents or fire, but to balance this out there are many who survived to be successful in their daily lives and provide support for others in their families or the wider community.

 

After disembarking the family of Johann and Maria focused on agricultural work firstly moving north of Adelaide to Freeling, living and working in the area for several years before moving to Hamilton where they worked for four years before moving on to Waterloo(119 kilometres north of Adelaide), then to Emmaus, working on the land at each of these locations.

 

A final move was made to Rocky Plains east of Robertstown where the family home and farm was established, a substantial stable was built that easily housed 12 draught horses to work the land and ponies that were used for travel. The stable(ruins remain to this day- 2007)  also had facilities for milking cows to accommodate family members a kitchen that included a large bake oven, along with other rooms of pug and pine construction were also built to accommodate a large extended family. A more humble straw roofed structure served as an semi-outdoor eating area, that would have been fine on temperate days, but imagine the heat of mid summer, not to mention the flies, or the freezing cold biting southerly winds in mid winter.

 

Clearing the land on the family farm, as well as for other land owners in the district, provided wood for fencing, building as well as for cooking and heating. Mallee roots (stumps) were grubbed out of the ground split up with an axe and sold to the Eudunda Farmers Cooperative at Bower for 4/6 to 5 schillings a ton helping to provide a regular source of income.

Water was precious, a well was dug and dams built to store water and provide unsupervised, secret, boating episodes.

 

Family members lived, worked and entertained on this property until 1942.