1952-2000
in Australia
Since 2002 a small plaque stands by the road where one of these houses had been erected. Not far from that spot where that poster was unpacked in 1952, it reads in German “Kehre zurueck Kamerard, ihr seit verkauft”. "Return home Colleague you are sold". Wender & Duerholt a building company formed in Lennep in 1881 and the founder of the company Albert Schmidt had received in 1880 an Orden (MEDAL) from the Kaiser of Prussian. Only one hundred years later despite plenty of work available in Germany and Australia the company suddenly folded in 1981.
The company had no need to go to Australia in 1951-52 after the war; Germany itself was along way off in recovering from the war. The sudden closing of the company in Germany and Australia in 1981 drew the attention to many people regarding managememt of the company Wender & Duerholt in Australia and in Lennep in Germany Egyptian Jewish emigre' in 1947; Through Max Liberman creation in 1957 Wender & Duerholt (Australia) obtained partnership contracts in supplying building materials to Reid-Murray development. Building houses, Polita walls inside, brick walls on the outside. The new suburb is called Parra Hill. Previously it was a livestock paddock. Wender & Duerholt (Australia) also employed for that project a German Architect, “Mr. Penner” (centre on this picture) and all workers working on hat site became subcontractors. At the same time at Bennet Ave. Edwardstown the main director of Wender & Duerholt was Mr. Helmut Link who made himself very popular with the Housing Trust and gained his Title “Architect” given by the Housing Trust for building timberframe brickverneer houses.
What was the reason to go to Australia?
Germany was divided into east and west the possibility of another war was looming, due to the Berlin wall. For some young men it was an adventure to go to Australia. For Heinz Schmitz who was born in 1930 had learnt a trade being a joiner, he had enough of making coffins picking up dead bodies and laying corpse into the coffin. For him to sign a contract in supporting Wender & Duerholt in Lennep and getting out of Germany to go to Australia for two years was no problem. It became a different story when arriving in Australia. And again after working two years for Wender & Duerholt (Australia) the situation changed again for Heinz. Some migrants workers know the history of a German surgeon "Dr. Heini Johannes Becker" deportation in November 1947 with a group of many
Italian who had come hier in 1926. Therefore Heinz became an Australian citizen and changed his name to an English pronunciation of name to Henry Smith, due to the formerly Enemy labeling and stayed in South Australia.
Theowner and director Eugen Lohmann working with German practises and tradition had taken a great risk in supplying 500 timber frame houses to the Housing Trust in South Australia. He had accepted the Housing Trust arrangements’ the houses to be paid by the Housing Trust in three stages. Each batch, first payment when loaded on a ship, second payment when arriving on the building site, third payment of 50 houses when finished completed for occupation, final payment "retention money" when the project in 1955 was completed. The culture and unity amongst German people living in Australia Eugen Lohmann was not aware. Due to money problems in 1954 the Directorship of Wender & Duerholt in the South Australian company changed and Eugen Lohmann lost control. In 1958 as being only part director of his company he lost total control of Wender & Duerholt (Australia) due to personnel taxing failure in his company. Eugen Lohmann was ill informed over his Business and tax situation in Australia, due to not managing the English language.
In 1957 -1965 the company Wender & Duerholt built many little cottages for the Housing Trust, rental units, called “Old Folks Cottage. Timberframe brickverneer.
The experimental cottages unfortunately had a short life span. Every person working on these Cottages was a subcontractor. It also paved the way in tendering for the Christies Beach project in 1962. Wender & Duerholt tendering for timberframe brickverneer houses, a price of 50 pounds lower per house than the tendering price given by a very old brick housing Trust builder M.C. Wood. Henry Smith worked for M.C. Wood from 1957 till 1962. (Total of five years.)
The German company Wender & Duerholt (Australia) has built some seven thousand houses in Australia during the time 1952 to 1981, it is recorded by the Housing Trust S. A. that Wender & Duerholt became just a name in South Australia of convenience, however who ran the company was questionable.
Not all workers who had come with the company to Australia stayed loyal to the company Wender & Duerholt (Australia.) Some started their own business, others worked for different building companies, some took life much more important and studied to obtain a different better employment. Wender & Duerholt (Australia) 1952 was originally formed in 1881 in West German Lennep. Many workers made several trips home to their country of birth before they settled in Australia and finally died in Australia. It was not sunshine for all German people in Australia. In someway unfairly labelled "former Enemy Alien" contract worker and it was marked in their papers in 1950-1952. (Department of Immigration.) In 1958 a contract worker was shot (killed) and it was not an accident.
In May 1965 the Rainmakers statue, a personal gift from Eugen Lohmann, Lennep Germany was unveiled by the Hon. Frank Walsh M.P. the Premier of South Australia.
In 1976 - 1978 a son who had lost his father in a work related accident moved to N.Z. to get away from all the confusing stories of history in S.A. and he committed suicide by shooting himself. Teenage boys whose parents had been unfairly labelled as German former Enemy Alien contract worker found the situation very difficult to understand in S.A. To suicide rate for the young people was not uncommented moveing to N.Z. to suicide not to embarrass their families in South Australia.
The question is: Why did this happen?
By political will the multicultural system became more powerful and the voluntary effort made by the early European immigrants became lost. To rewrite history into any documentation, Asian people entering Australia became more important than any effort being made by any person born in Europe, including Germans in the multicultural documentation. History has become an old achieves situation no longer any authorized organization wants to spend time on the early migration history in Australia.