ERNST KLEMKE
| First name | ERNST |
|---|---|
| Last name | KLEMKE |
| Country of Origin | GERMANY |
| Date of Birth | 1837 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1855 |
| Submitted by | PAMELA KLEMKE |
Story
Ernst Heinrich Klemke had been observing many people leaving their Homeland for other Countries as increased population, poor economic conditions, religious and political persecutions and reprisals were making life difficult. Along with many others Ernst also wanted to avoid conscription into the Prussion Army. Relatives and Countrymen had written letters home telling of good fortune and opportunities in Australia. So on the 2nd June 1855, 18 year old Ernst Heinrich Klemke sailed from the Port of Hamburg with 130 other immigrants on the barque (barque means boat) ‘Alster’, a vessel of 130 tons, bound for Melbourne.
The voyage took over three months with conditions on board being notoriously bad, with poor food and accommodation. The Captain of the ‘Alster’ was H Piening and the cargo contained a piano and spirits.
When the bargue ‘Alster’ finally arrived at Port Phillip on the 10th of September 1855 the port was crowded. Victoria was at the height of the Gold Rush, sailing ships, schooners, barques and steamers lay at anchor as many crews had abandoned ship deserting to the gold fields of Bendigo and Ballarat. Passengers and crew of the ‘Alster’ were given grim reminders of the reasons for British Settlement in the Colonies where penal hulks such as ‘Deborah’, ‘President’, ‘Sacremento’ and ‘Success’ anchored in Hobsons Bay with work parties of convicts labouring off the Breakwater on construction of a Pier and in quarries along the foreshore.
A new life
Ernst first set foot on Australian soil at Williamstown where he spent his first night in the pubs and houses along the waterfront. Ernst set his compass for the German village of Germantown, four miles from Geelong. Ernst obtained work at the Mt. Duneed Flour Mill as a ‘Miller’ where in a paddock at the old Mt. Duneed Flour Mill site is a large sandstone block on which once stood the motor which drove the Flour Mill, a relic of the past. Eight years after starting work at the flour mill Ernst married a local girl named Annie Betts who was born in Bothwell in Van Diemen’s Land in 1842. Annie’s father was transported to Australia as a convict for stealing, the parents of Annies mother were also convicts transported to Australia for stealing sheep. Ernst and Annie lived in a cottage near the corner of Heyers and Torquay Roads not far from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. They began a family of 10 children Wilhelmina, Henry, Alfred, Florence, Annie, Emily, Agnus, Alice, George and Carl where all 10 children attended the Grovedale State School. The family later moved to a small farmlet of five acres in the Dennys area on the west side of Torquay road where they grazed a few milking cows, grew vegetables and owned a horse and cart. The family prospered and later acquired a further 18 acres of land. Ernst started working at the Brearley Brothers Tannery at Marshalltown where a photograph was taken of the men outside the factory that shows Ernst with a full wild beard with a strong stocky build. Ernst enjoyed a jovial and amiable disposition and loved to hunt rabbits and other game in season such as quail taking his sons with him and supplying the local hotels with their catch and enjoying a few beers after a hard days work. In 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia came into existence and Ernst received his Letters of Naturalization on 18 June 1901 becoming an Australian Citizen. Eight years later on 31 August 1909 at the age of 72 Ernst Heinrich Klemke passed away.