Names
Australian Placenames of German Background
Emerton, NSW
Emerton is a suburb 46km west of Sydney's CBD, and named after a German immigrant. Wilhelm Friedrich & Rosina Emert arrived in NSW on 19/3/1853 on the ship Helena. Both were from the village of Siglingen in the Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany (Siglingen is about 45km south-east of Heidelberg). Friedrich worked on farms and as a vinedresser, helping farmers establish their vineyards. He started working as a storekeeper and postmaster at Mount Druitt in 1861 and in 1884 Friedrich and Rosina's house was built in Mount Druitt Road. They named the house 'Siglingen', after their home village in Germany. Friedrich lived at the house until his death in 1899.[1]
Members of the Emert family at their house 'Siglingen' (photo approximately 1880s)
Photo: courtesy of Blacktown Memories Collection, Blacktown City Council
The name 'Siglingen' on the wall of the front gable of the Emert house. The house no longer exists.
Photo: courtesy of Blacktown Memories Collection, Blacktown City Council
Due to Sydney's expanding population, the Housing Commission of NSW decided in the 1960s to develop new housing and suburbs in the Mount Druitt area. The new suburb Emerton was established and developed by the Housing Commission of NSW in 1965. Three historians decided on the names of these new suburbs. There are 20 streets within the suburb of Emerton. All of these streets except one are named after important Germans (or have a German connection). This street-naming was perhaps courageous as World War II had ended only 19 years earlier and there may still have been some anti-German sentiments in the expanding multicultural community.
You could group the Emerton street names into four categories:
SCIENCE: Bunsen, Siemens, Hertz, Hering;
LITERATURE/PHILOSOPHY: Hegel, Kleist, Schiller, Heine, (Gotthold Ephraim) Lessing;
MUSIC: Offenbach, Weber, Mendelssohn, Handel, Bach, Hindemith
THE EMERT FAMILY: Emert Parade, Siglingen Street
◀ Placenames in New South Wales...
♦ References:
Imer, Gerard. (2008, March 18). Email to Blacktown and District Historical Society. (Land Information Officer at Blacktown City Council.)
'Our Suburbs'. Blacktown City Council. Council website.