Peter Andersen Bundesen

Story

There was great unrest in the southern Jutland area of Denmark in the 1860s and 1870s. Prince Wilhelm I of Prussia had made a land grab and was oppressing the Danes in the Schlesvig and Holstein duchies. Peter Andersen Bundesen (known as ‘Peder\’) was innkeeper of the Holdbi Kro (a pub) close to the southern border where, he was also commissed to collect toll from passing travellers. The course of our family history was to change one day when a soldier entered the Kro and demanded bread. Cathrine moved away to get some but the soldier thinking she was trying to escape, shot at her. Fortunately Peder deflected his aim and the bullet narrowly missed. But that was the final straw for the Bundesens – it was time leave their homeland.

Boarding the ship ‘Humboldt\’ in Hamburg in July 1873, Peder and Cathrine along with their children Anthilde, Cathrine (Kate), Petra (Lizzie), Peter Johan and Maria (Mary) sailed for Australia. There were over 100 Danes onboard including the Jeppesen, Boge and Schwenke families Ð who would provide future sons-in-law for Bundesen daughters. German immigrant ships were notoriously foul and crowded and during the four month voyage. Whooping cough, bronchitis and scurvy broke out resulting in 23 deaths. Under the command of Captain Busch, the ship eventually berthed at Maryborough in Queensland and the family took up temporary residence in the immigration barracks. Records state that Cathrine was contracted to a Mrs Goodwin in Maryborough for six months, virtually as soon as they arrived.

Born to farming (the name Bundesen means ‘son of a farmer\’), Peder was anxious to look for opportunities on the land. He first selected a block at Pialba but it was too sandy. He sold and then settled on the Mary River at Gundiah in the Tiaro district, buying two blocks. He named this farm ‘Everest\’ and it was there that a daughter Theresa (Daisy) was born.

Peder\’s brother, Peter Petersen Bundesen, arrived in the district and also farmed close by. With large families they applied for a school and the ‘Deborah School\’, adjoining Peder\’s farm, was duly opened in c.1885. The Bundesens were of the Lutheran faith and it is said that Peder could heal by the laying on of the hands, although this was much ridiculed by the Jessens (also Danish settlers) who lived across the river. But as the saying goes – what goes round comes round – and the Jessens became in-laws of the Bundesens when their daughter Laurina married young Peter Johan.

Of Peder and Cathrine\’s offspring who arrived with them as wide-eyed youngsters on an exciting adventure, they each have stories and families of their own, so just a small mention here. Anthilde married Marcus Boge, an entrepreneurial character and fellow Dane whose many pursuits made him quite wealthy. Upon his early death Anthilde moved to Taabinga Village near Kingaroy where she lived another 35 years and ran the post office with her daughter. Kate married Neils Thorsen, also a Dane and they had six children. Petra (Lizzie) married Julius Jeppesen, a jovial fellow and again, a fellow Dane. Julius was a farmer, having grown both tobacco and sugar cane before moving to Coolabunia to farm with the growing throng of relatives. Lizzie and Julius had eight children. It is said that Julius died whilst telling a joke. Peter Johan, the only son, married Johanna Christina Laurina Jessen, and had 12 children. Peter was just 22 years old when his father died, so he continued to farm ‘Everest\’. Fed up with floods and hard times, he moved his growing family to Coolabunia to pioneer land there. A big man, Peter was an expect axeman and scrub and timbercutter. He was an opportunist and optimistic to the end, and after years of farming at Yalboroo in North Queensland, he died in Mackay aged 75. Mary married John Campbell, a farmer, in 1870. Sadly their daughter Mabel died at age 16 so they adopted a neglected child called Edna. They too farmed in the Coolabunia district, living nextdoor to the Jeppesens. The last child, Daisy, was born in Australia. She married Robert Shaw who was a dairy farmer near Gympie and they raised five children.

Peder died aged 64 from pneumonia and was buried in the Maryborough Cemetery. A struggling, pioneer farmer and poor to the end, he lived just 16 years in his new country. But his humble dream of a better life for his family has given us, his many descendents, marvellous opportunities and rich birthrights in a beautiful and free country Ð Australia. We salute you Peter Andersen Bundesen!

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