Exodus

For the next few posts, I'm going to indulge myself by including some speculative scenes - recreations of events as they may have been experienced at the time..

Always in italics, these 'cameos' are intended, like any other illustration, to add life and colour to the story. Please bear in mind, that although based on known facts, these scenes are FICTION. Personalities are merely supposed, and appearances guessed at. At times I have used astrological profiles based on date and place of birth. 'Dolly' Niewand, for example, is almost pure fiction. We don't know what she really looked like, or what the children called her - but I had a lot of fun inventing her!

Now bear with me while I set the scene...

In 1848, the Ministry of Finance in Hanover and the local authorities in the Harz decided to provide financial assistance to emigrants in the form of an interest-free loan, to be repaid within three or four years. South Australia seemed a suitable place, as the new copper mine at Burra would provide employment for experienced miners, and letters from earlier German emigrants were favourable.
The consul of the Kingdom of Hanover to South Australia, Mr C.L. Meyer, was in Bremen at the time and added his recommendation of the new colony. Mr Meyer also offered to help the emigrants to establish themselves. (And to collect the loan repayments, for a small consideration.)

On 8th August 1848, public notices went up, detailing the government’s offer of financial aid for emigration. Information on the climate of South Australia, average wages and the cost of living was also given.  Within a few weeks, over 700 people applied. They gave many reasons for wishing to leave, mainly poverty, and a desire for a better future for their children. Some also hoped for less exhausting work, or wanted to escape their in-laws. Those with large debts or large families were weeded out, as were the sick. Dependants could not be left behind as a continuing drain on the government, either.

You'll recall that at this point the family consisted of Dorothea Niewandt (Dolly) and her stepchildren Henriette (Nettie), Friedrich (Fred) and his wife Henriette, Frederika (Freda), and Heinrich (Heinie). It's August, 1848, and Fred and Heinie have finished work for the day...

 “Hurry up Heinie, your supper will be cold!”  The speaker stood in the road, the late summer sun casting long shadows behind him.
“Hang on Fred, I’m just reading this notice – didn’t you see it?”
“Another notice, who cares? They put up so many – don’t do this, remember that, mind the rules….” The speaker was clearly more interested in his evening meal.
“No, this isn’t about the mine, look!”
Humouring his younger brother, Fred walked over to the notice-board outside the mine office. “Opportunities in Australia” he read and shrugged. “and how are we supposed to get there?”
“It says here the Government will pay our fares, or at least give us loans” retorted Heinie, and grinned. “They obviously want to get rid of some of us.”
Fred smiled too “I can just see myself going home and telling Henriette that we’re off to Australia – like fun!” Heinie laughed aloud; everyone knew his sister-in-law wasn’t one to mince her words.
The brothers stepped out along the path, and nothing more was said on the subject.
 
But oddly, when Fred mentioned the notice that evening as they ate their supper, Henriette seemed quite interested. She knew that easygoing Fred would stay where he was, doing the same old work, until the day he died. Which was just as likely to be sooner than later, Henriette reflected sadly.
She had already lost her first husband in a mining accident, and she knew miners didn’t make old bones anyway, especially drillers like Fred – the dust got into their lungs, and they coughed their way to the grave.
Despite her sharp tongue, Henriette loved her husband, who worked so hard to keep her and the girls, when there was work to be had. She knew how disappointed he’d been at missing out on the overseer’s job, and it would have meant guaranteed work hours, too. She wouldn’t mind taking a look at that notice herself……

Fourteen groups left the Harz between 1848 and 1854. Once an application had been accepted, often only 4-6 weeks before the sailing date, the family had to sell all those possessions that couldn’t be taken along, and equip themselves as best they could for their new lives. New clothes would be made or bought, and all the necessary paperwork, birth certificates and passports obtained. Goodbyes must have been very hard; for the emigrants leaving parents, brothers and sisters, and the graves of lost children; and for those who stayed behind, farewelling their sons and daughters, knowing they would never see them again in this life, or the grandchildren yet unborn.

The Niewandt family must have been among the early applicants, as they left on the third ship bound for Australia, the Ceres, in December 1849. The passenger list shows Dorothea Niewandt, widow, accompanied by her children Henriette, Friederike, and Heinrich; and Friedrich and his wife Henriette accompanied by the two Dahle girls. The timing could not have been worse for Christian and Henriette, because she was about to have another child, and the baby would be born on the ship.

Other family and friends were part of the group that left Lautenthal for Australia. Andreas Conrad Martin Niewandt was a second cousin to our family. His wife, a relative of Henriette, had recently died, and perhaps he thought a fresh start would be best. Henriette’s sister-in-law, her husband and their small children were also going.