Names
Australian Placenames of German Background
Marburg, Queensland
Marburg is 17 km west of central Ipswich and 55 km west of Brisbane, just off the Warrego Highway en route to Toowoomba.
A welcome sign at the entrance to Marburg, Queensland.
In the 1870s the Marburg area, which has been known by various names, was settled mainly by Germans. Many of the early German families established dairy and pig farms as well as vegetable and grain crops. One of those early settlers was Mr. J. L. Frederick (perhaps his name was Frederich?) and the locality became known as Frederick.
According to an article published in 1907 in The Brisbane Courier the name Marburg was suggested to the early German settlers by a railway station-master. Apparently an incident had occurred recently at Marburg in Germany, the historic university town 110km north of Frankfurt am Main, such that it was reported in the news in Australia, and the station-master suggested that the nearby village could be named Marburg also, and he started to call it that himself. The name Marburg took off with the locals.[1] The name of the post office was changed from Frederick Post Office to Marburg Post Office on 1/10/1879.[2] On the 31st August 1907 the Brisbane Courier claimed: "Quaint is the term most frequently used in describing the Marburg, of Prussia, and it is just as applicable to its godson, the little Queensland village fourteen miles out from Ipswich."[3]
A town entrance sign in the university town of Marburg, Germany.
A view towards the upper part of the historic area of the city of Marburg, Germany. According to the Brisbane Courier in 1907, Marburg in Germany is usually described as looking "quaint".
In the early 1900s nearly 80% of the people of Marburg were Germans or of German descent.[4]
In 1917 as a result of the anti-German feeling of the time the name was changed from Marburg to Townshend (after Major General Charles Townshend, British Army officer). The locals and their local council were not happy about the name change; at a meeting on Thursday 30th August 1917 the councillors of the Rosewood Shire Council decided to send a petition to the Federal authorities asking that the name Marburg not be changed. All the councillors signed a petition in favour of retaining the name of Marburg.[5] However, the authorities went ahead and changed the name to Townshend.
In 1920 the people of Marburg requested that the name Marburg be reinstated and the authorities agreed to this.[6]
Campaign to reinstate the name Marburg
After World War I the people of Townshend/Marburg started a campaign to regain the name Marburg for their town. A leading figure in this campaign was the local doctor, Dr. Euchariste Sirois. Doctor Sirois was born in Quebec, Canada in 1854 and trained in dentistry and medicine at McGill University in Montreal, before working in Canada and in several states of the USA. He then moved to Queensland and set up a medical practice in Marburg, where he became a respected member of the community. Dr Sirois started a petition to reinstate the name Marburg and 'over 200 signatures were gathered and many letters were sent to the Post Master General and the Governor of Queensland'. After much insisting the name changed back to Marburg in 1920.[7]
♦ Notes:
1. MARBURG AND KIRCHHEIM - Prosperous Teutonic Settlements (1907), p.12
2. "Post Office List". Opening and Closing Dates. Phoenix Auctions. (Search result *Marburg*). Retrieved 23 October 2022.
3. MARBURG AND KIRCHHEIM - Prosperous Teutonic Settlements (1907), p.12
4. MARBURG AND KIRCHHEIM - Prosperous Teutonic Settlements (1907), p.12
5. Townshend or Marburg? (1917, September 4). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 6. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20145026>
6. BACK TO GERMAN NAME. (1920, January 10). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15874785>
7. Ipswich Libraries (2013), 'Dr. Euchariste Sirois'.
♦ References:
Appleton, Richard. & Appleton, Barbara. (1993). The Cambridge Dictionary of Australian Places. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.185
MARBURG AND KIRCHHEIM - Prosperous Teutonic Settlements. (1907, August 31). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 12. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1557850>
Ipswich Libraries. (2013). Dr. Euchariste Sirois and The Marburg Private Hospital. Local Stories. <www.ipswichlibraries.com.au/dr-euchariste-sirois-and-the-marburg-private-hospital/>. Retrieved 23/10/2022.