This project was launched in the 1870s by the New Zealand Government. Under this Scheme workers from Northern Germany (Prussian and Polish) were recruited to help with the development of the country's infrastructure. They received free passage to New Zealand. The development of the German settlements in Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and Southland were the results.
The settlers destined for Southland landed in Port Chalmers and they spend their first nite on land in the Emigrants Barraks in Princes street , Dunedin.
Port Chalmers 1875.
THE PALMERSTON.
Some of the immigrants ( including the Hoffman's) who settled in Germantown, Gore, came to New Zealand on the Palmerston.
The development of GERMANTOWN, Gore
The town developed on the Bucholz section (Pinnacle rd no's 52, 96, 126) and the Coal Reserve Pinnacle rd no's 82,84)
The Bucholz Section: John Bucholz bought section 3 on the Symes and Pinnacle Roads of the McNab sheep run in 1875 when it was made available for the public to buy. It was about 85 ha from the East Gore boundary through Knapdale, Chalton into Otama. He kept a part to himself and sold the rest to some of his countrymen:
Wilhelm Voight - 13.4 ha
Michael Leitze - 13.4 ha
August Regefske - 16.2 ha
John Dovalofske - 4.5 ha
John Klucofske - 4,5 ha
The Coal Reserve Camp: When the railway line between Gore and Clinton was built the workers moved nearer to the job. They were looking for a place to make camp where they would not trespass on private property. Such a place was next to the Bucholz Section and within walking distance from the Pinnacle School that was to be built. They settled on the non-coal-bearing part of the Coal Reserve. Some of the people who lived there were: Joseph Belisky, Jolin Zicosky, William Reinke, Albert Kenisky, August Gutschlag, Daniel Nity, William Robertson, Joseph Stapansky.
Life in Germantown : Twenty to Thirty families lived in the town. Their children attended Pinnacle School the first public school in the Gore district, which opened in 1877 and was moved to Waikaka in 1886, most likely because the families moved out of town,
The people of the town were hard working. When the Gore-Clinton line was finished, some went on to work on the Waipahi-Tapanui line. Others worked on the farms in the district; where there were a high demand for workers during harvest time. Some became farmers around Gore. Michael Leitze and Johan Hoffman had claims on the Coal Reserve, which they worked and sold the coal in Gore.
[ *Otago Museum, Dunedin.
*goregenealogy.weebly.com
*Clark Fortune McDonald & associates
*Hoffman Reunion.
Johan and Anna Hoffman.
23 - 25 Jan 1981.
*Records of the Gore and Surrounding District's
Early Settlers Association. Volume III
October 1940
*Pioneer Recollection I, Herrie Beattie.
No comments:
Post a Comment