Newcastle Museum Showcases German-Speaker History
Margarete Ritchie was just three years old when she and her family left Austria in 1955 to make a new life on the other side of the world.
Their journey across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to Australia is just one of the stories woven into the rich tapestry of memory in Newcastle Museum’s new exhibition, Heimat in the Hunter, which opens to the public tomorrow.
Hedy Fairbairn, Associate Professor Julie McIntyre, Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge, Julie Baird, Dr Sacha Davis, Tim Crakanthorp and Dr Jaime Hunt take a look at the new Heimat in the Hunter exhibition, which opens at Newcastle Museum tomorrow.
Developed in partnership with the University of Newcastle and drawing on the academic research of Dr Sacha Davis, Dr Jaime Hunt and Associate Professor Julie McIntyre, the free exhibition reveals the history and experiences of German-speakers in the Hunter region.
German is the tenth most common language other than English spoken in Newcastle and the Hunter.
Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge said exhibitions such as Heimat in the Hunter offer a valuable insight into the history of our city.
“It is important to share and preserve stories of the communities and residents who have made Newcastle what it is today,” Cr Kerridge said.
“I commend the work of Newcastle Museum and the University of Newcastle on this wonderful exhibition, which will hopefully promote better understanding of the city’s many migrant community experiences.”
City of Newcastle’s Director of Museum, Archive, Libraries and Learning, Julie Baird, said partnerships between Newcastle Museum and research institutions like the University of Newcastle offer new ways to connect the public with contemporary historical research.
“This is a history not just of German-speaking migrants, but of courage, creativity and connection, where objects become anchors for memory, cultural continuity and the migrant experience,” Ms Baird said.
“Heimat in the Hunter brings together humble objects, images and interviews that reveal extraordinary stories and the importance of home and connecting world events to our shared local stories.”
The exhibition showcases items from the Museum’s collection as well as treasured family heirlooms generously loaned by members of the community.
Margarete’s story is brought to life through the remarkable travel album created by her father, Franz Ranzenbacher, which is filled with descriptions and photographs of their journey as well as a hand-drawn map of their migration route.
Travelling with her mother, father and eight-year-old sister, Margarete set off from Genoa aboard the MS Aurelia and sailed through the Suez Canal to Columbo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), before docking in Fremantle and then finally Sydney, where they caught a train to the Greta Migrant Camp.
“I am quite honoured to have my parent’s quest to make a good home for their family in Australia, far from the turmoil in Europe in the early to mid-1950s, included in this exhibition,” Mrs Ritchie said.
A beautiful wool dinner suit tailored by Franz Schwaller helps tell the story of Viennese migrant Ernst Baumwald, who left war-torn Europe in 1939 to make a new life in Newcastle.
With strict limitations on what he could bring with him, Ernst arrived in Australia with little more than some clothing, a collection of German-language engineering books and his precious slide rule, which are among the items loaned to the exhibition by his daughter Hedy Fairbairn.
“Ernst was a civil engineer and spent the larger part of his working life at Newcastle’s State Dockyard. He was responsible for the design of the turntable on the Southern Hemisphere’s first drive-on-drive-off passenger ship, Princess of Tasmania,” Mrs Fairbairn said.
“Two vital items came with him from Vienna: his technical books/manuals and his slide rule. He relied on those books all his working life. Every calculation and computation for his design work was made with that slide rule. Later in life he purchased a pocket calculator, but the slide rule was never truly replaced.”
University of Newcastle Discipline Lead for History, Dr. Sacha Davis, said German-speaking migrants form an important element in the rich history of the Newcastle and Hunter region.
“Their experiences on the one hand are individual and specific, and on the other hand speak to the story of migration to the region more broadly. Yet German-speaking migration to the region has frequently been overlooked,” Dr Davis said.
“The great strength of this exhibition has been the passionate and generous involvement of the community in the telling of these stories.”
Visitors to the exhibition are also encouraged to share their stories via a QR code as part of the University of Newcastle’s current research project, German as a Heritage Language and Culture in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, led by Dr Hunt.
This exhibition has been supported by the NSW Government, through Create NSW, the University of Newcastle Copley Bequest Pilot Research Fund, and the Australian Linguistic Society.
Heimat in the Hunter opens on Tuesday 17 June and will be on display until Sunday 21 September.
https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/about-us/news-and-updates/latest-news/newcastle-museum-exhibition-highlights-history-of-german-speakers-in-the-hunter