German Traditions, Influences and Leisure Activities in Australia

German Traditions, Influences and Leisure Activities

(Before unification in 1871, "Germany" consisted of many independent states and kingdoms. In these pages the word "German" refers to all areas from which the immigrants came.)

Photo: wedding Weddings

In the German settlements weddings were great celebrations that could last for days. The wedding ceremony was held on a weekday, often on a Thursday. As was the case in Germany, in the 19th century German brides in Australia did not wear a white wedding dress, but a black one, with a white veil. Federschleißen was a common activity before the wedding; the friends and relatives of the betrothed couple met in order to make feather beds from goose down. The Polterabend was another important custom - the friends of the couple gathered in front of the house of the bride's parents on the evening before the wedding and made lots of noise with pots and pans and the like. Later in the evening they were all invited into the house for a drink and something to eat. Often people played pranks on the groom, for example they set his horse loose or something similarly inconvenient. After the wedding the married couple left the church on the traditional German-style wagon.
Photo: Friedrich and Bertha Matschoss, c.1890. State Library of South Australia.

Food

Food is another way in which German-speaking immigrants have influenced life in Australia, especially in South Australia. The German immigrants brought their own recipes with them from Germany, and these Prussian cooking traditions and recipes were translated and modified according to local conditions in the Barossa. Many of these foods are still popular amongst the general population around South Australia. Of course the German settlers made lots of different types of sausage: Mettwurst, Blutwurst, Leberwurst, Weißwurst etc. Streuselkuchen was the typical everyday cake (it's still common in South Australia, though better known as "German cake" or "crumble-top cake"). Honey biscuits were also popular, especially at Christmas time.
Photo: Shop in Angaston, Barossa Valley

Language Influence

Barossa-German is the official name for the variant of German that developed in the Barossa Valley in the 19th century. The origin of this variant was in the East Central German dialects of the area around Brandenburg and of Silesia (mainly northern Silesia), which at that time were provinces of the kingdom of Prussia. Many of the first settlers in the Barossa Valley came from Brandenburg and Silesia. Barossa-German had many unique characteristics that arose from the influences of life in the Barossa Valley, for example the local landscape, weather and plants. The well-known South Australian writer Colin Thiele (1920-2006), whose grandparents were German immigrants described Barossa German as: "that quaintly inbred and hybrid language evolved from a century of linguistic isolation". Barossa-German has almost completely died out by now.

Some words of Barossa-German are used in English in South Australia today. Dorothy Jauncey wrote about them in her book "Bardi Grubs and Frog Cakes - South Australian Words" (Oxford University Press, 2004), for example 'butcher' = a 200-millilitre beer glass (in other parts of Australia it's called a "glass" or a "seven" [7 ounce] - Dorothy believes that this comes from the German word 'Becher' meaning a cup or a mug; 'Fritz' = a type of sausage (in other regions of Australia it's called "Windsor sausage", "Devon", "Polony" or "German sausage"); and 'Kuchen' = cake.

In the Barossa Valley you can hear expressions such as "Are you coming with?". This English sentence reveals German sentence structure, i.e. "Kommst du mit?" A young woman in Tanunda in the Barossa Valley was surprised when the author of this website explained to her that this sentence is a feature of English in the Barossa Valley. This author hopes that this feature will continue there for a long time!

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