Carl Andreas Winkler

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Carl Andreas Winkler was born in Germany in about 1827. Germany, at this time, was experiencing a religious upheaval resulting eventually, in many thousands of German Lutherans leaving their homeland to seek religious freedom elsewhere. Many came to the newly formed colony of South Australia and settled in the Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills.

Twenty-eight years later, Andreas Winkler joined the exodus from Germany to South Australia. On 26 May 1855, he left his home in Diebzig, Duchy of Anhalt, Germany on board the ship ‘La Rochelle’, and sailed to Australia. After an uneventful journey, he arrived at Port Adelaide, South Australia on Monday 3 September 1855. Settling in the Barossa Valley area, near family & friends who had previously emigrated, Andreas took up farming. On 7 February 1861, he married 20-year-old Caroline Wilhelmina Bensch, eldest daughter of Samuel & Christiana Bensch, at the Church Bethanien, Bethany, South Australia.

Andreas and Wilhelmina\’s first child was born in Daveyston in 1862. He was named Carl Andreas (Charles Andrew). Another son, August Friedrich, was born in 1863 at Freeling, followed by Wilhelm two years later. Wilhelm died just after his first birthday. In 1867, Friedrich Albert was born & shortly afterwards, Andreas and Wilhelmina decided to move their family north to new land opening up on South Australia\’s Northern Yorke Peninsula. In 1870, at Wallaroo, their fifth son was born. Heinrich Friedrich only lived for four months. Soon after, another tragedy occurred when their eldest son died from typhoid fever at nine years old. Eventually, though, another two sons arrived, Charles William in 1874 and Alfred Henry in 1876. Finally, in 1881, after seven sons, a daughter was born; she was named Amelia Augusta.

Wallaroo was a thriving community of Welsh smelters and Cornish miners. The largest copper smelters outside of Wales processed copper ore from mines at nearby Kadina and Moonta. Andreas gained work as a smelter. For a time he also worked as a quarryman raising flux (limestone) which was used as part of the ore processing. In 1878, however, low prices for copper ore caused the mines to shut down for a time and many men left the area to seek work. Nearing fifty years old, Andreas found employment as a labourer. The Northern Yorke Peninsula endured a period of hardship and unemployment between 1880 and 1890. The mines had reopened but were operating at a loss, hundreds of men were out of work, many packed a swag and headed off to Broken Hill in search of work. Andreas may well have been one of these men, as in 1883, he and Wilhelmina separated. When he returned to Wallaroo, Andreas lived with his son August at Wallaroo Mines (Kadina). He also spent some time at Wallaroo with another son, Charles, and his family.

Unable to work, Andreas was not happy to be living off his sons and threatened to commit suicide a number of times. On 15 December 1908, the Invalid and Old Age Pensions Act became law in Australia and a national aged pension scheme was set up. Shortly after the scheme began in July 1909, Andreas approached the local police officer in Wallaroo inquiring about obtaining a pension. To be eligible for the pension he had to become a naturalized British subject. The required papers were applied for and duly returned to Wallaroo. However, Andreas did not return to the police station to collect the papers until six months later. When he did return, the officer was not available and Andreas was told to come back in one hour.

For some reason, Andreas did not return to the police station. Instead, on 26 February 1910, he walked to nearby Wallaroo Beach, took some explosives out of his pocket, and blew himself up. His remains were found lying on rocks near the powder magazine. He was eighty-four years old.

At the time of his death, Andreas had seventeen grandchildren. Amongst them were farmers, miners and tradesmen. Five of his grandsons and great-grandsons were soldiers. One grandson died on the battlefields of France in 1918. Today, more than four generations later, his descendants number more than two hundred.

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