Georg Philipp Heinrich Helm
| First name | Georg Philipp Heinrich |
|---|---|
| Last name | Helm |
| Country of Origin | Germany |
| Date of Birth | 8/12/1820 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1854 |
| Submitted by | Helm Ken |
Story
Georg Philipp Heinrich HELM (known as Philipp) was born August 12 1820 in the village of Schriesheim, a grape growing and farming region just north of Heidelberg in Germany and grew up there and became a skilled bricklayer / stone mason He married Katharina Barbara Frauenfelder (Barbara) on February 28 1848 which would see him leave Germany and follow his father in law, John Peter Frauenfelder (known as Peter) and migrate to Australia.
Peter Frauenfelder and his family arrived in Sydney on April 4 1849 on the bounty ship BEULAH with many other bonded German families. He, with the Schubach and Rau families walked the 350 miles to Kyeamba on the Hume Highway, east of Wagga Wagga. At the end of their 2 year bond time, they left Kyeamba and walked to Albury, took up land and developed vineyards in the region, including Rutherglen. Peter Frauenfelder wrote letters to Georg Philipp Helm, his daughter Barbara and other families in Schriesheim imploring them to come to Albury and start a new and better life.
On August 10 1854 Georg Philipp, Barbara and 4 children sailed as fully paid passengers from Hamburg on the Victoria, with 16 other German families many who were from their village. The ship arrived November 21 1854 in Melbourne and they walked to Albury to join the other German relatives who had settled there. Philipp took up farming, grape growing and returned to Melbourne on August 29 in 1856 to take out British naturalization. This was done by many new settlers as it was requirement before purchasing land. Albury had a very large catholic German population which developed the biggest vineyards in Australia Ð Murray Valley Vineyards. The first Albury newspaper the Border Post was published for 10 years in German as the major language was German. It continued to be bilingual until about 1900.
Philipp and Barbara had another 4 children in Albury and this generation started a successful wheelwright, blacksmith business and also the Helm Brass Band which was very successful at band contests in the district. Philip William Helm grand son was an outstanding musician, and became band master of the Melbourne City Band. Philipp Heinrich Helm died August 10 1874 in Albury leaving his wife Barbara and 8 children. The Helm name has now gone from Albury, but many descendants continue throughout Australia.
Great, great grand son Kenneth Helm continued the German grape growing heritage by establishing a very successful winery near Canberra – Helm Wines.