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Engelhard Weigl
Acclimatization: The Schomburgk brothers in South Australia
Chapter 2
It is Christmas Day, December 25th 1849 on the newly-founded farm. The harvest has mostly been brought in; on December 20th Richard’s first daughter was born. After having searched for suitable and affordable land for quite some time, having built houses for the two families and having worked on the unfamiliar land in their gardens and fields, the brothers allow themselves for the first time to look back and take stock. The day is dedicated to letter-writing. Three letters still exist, letters Otto wrote on December 25th and 26th to three eminent scientists and friends in Germany. The first is addressed to Alexander von Humboldt, the second to Heinrich Wilhelm Dove[1], and the third to Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg[2], a widely-travelled naturalist and professor in Berlin, whom Otto refers to as his teacher. All three scientists are members of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. As far as I know there are no other letters Otto wrote from Australia, at least none that have been preserved. Writing letters seems to have been a task that Richard left to his brother in the beginning. Only after Otto’s death in 1857 does he start writing letters to Berlin, which are still kept there. For the first five months after their arrival, however, the brothers remain silent. One has the impression that they did not want to make contact before being in a position to report on their first successes. No document has been preserved that gives a description of the voyage and of their first impressions of the new country.
The letter to Humboldt is well composed and starts with a description of Adelaide and its surrounds. The brothers are quite aware of the changes to the coastal landscape brought about by white settlement. After only 13 years, Adelaide was already quite a developed colonial town, similar to many places in Europe; hardly anything reminded one of its original state. It is as if the Schomburgks had left Germany to go on a long journey and then arrived back in Germany again. Otto describes the arrival thus: „On the 5th of August - after much yearning - Kangaroo-Island, its elongated stretch of coast quite sterile with hardly any trees or shrubs, lay in front of us, and there I brought another young citizen of the world into existence, and on the 6th, at noon, in the harbor of Port Adelaide, the anchor was cast into the ground of the new homeland, which welcomed us with its green fields and forests. A long, from the outside quite monotonous past, full of bitter experiences, lay behind us - with the first steps on firm land a new life began for us - new in every respect; but from the first moments on shore the eye found so many links connecting us back to our loved native country we had left behind, though we were reminded of it with nearly every step we took. The long wavy mountain range, which cuts South Australia from Southeast to North, reminded us of the familiar southern slopes of the Harz Mountains, and in Mt. Lofty, we could see a striking similarity to the Brocken, while the verdure of the meadows was made up of various German species, and the lush wheat fields and the numerous cow herds made us feel welcome. No wonder therefore, that we soon felt at home, especially since we also met some upright Germans. Our wish to find a plot of land as soon as possible, where we could build our huts, sow and harvest our grains, was not granted quite so speedily as we hoped, since in the immediate vicinity of the city of Adelaide all the land had been sold already and could only be bought again at enormous prices, which we could not afford. And it was important to us to stay as close to the present centre of the colony as possible, since we can only there find a market to sell our future produce profitably. In Mid-September, after having walked about in the surrounds of Adelaide for a long time, we found a section for sale right on the Gawler River, 27 miles from Adelaide, 4 miles from Gawler-town, the second city of the colony, consisting of 84 acres, already fenced and meeting more or less all the requirements we had put forward. [...] On September 26th 1849 the friendly spot was baptized ceremoniously in which act it received the name Buchsfelde [...].“[3] The living quarters are described in the letter: „two caves, a shack built into the slope of a considerable depression and a small cabin“, the latter being the only one built above ground. The other abodes did not have windows. 25 acres had already been plowed and sown with wheat and barley. Otto reports that these fields had been harvested on December 24th at 43 degree Réaumur. And he stresses time and time again that the construction of the houses, as well as the harvesting, had to be achieved without any outside help. The lack of workers in the new colony, a result of the restrictive British emigration policy, made hiring day labourers or contract workers prohibitively expensive for the new settlers.[4] Otto tries to describe the working conditions on the new farm with a considerable degree of humour, even though they must have been hard for him, a man, who had formerly been an academic. There is no time for science when you have to fight for your „existence and subsistence“ every day „from 3 or 4 in the morning to 8 o’clock at night in temperatures frequently more than forty degrees Réaumur, working as „gardener, farmer, carpenter and bricklayer with axe, spade and scythe.“[5] But the seeds they brought from Germany had germinated and grown and so they were full of hope that their living conditions will improve quickly. „Melons and cucumbers in abundance [...] many garden fruits grow to such a size in the new Fatherland, that they are hardly recognizable.“[6] The Schomburgk brothers do not seem to be surprised by the harshness of the working conditions they are encountering in this first founding phase, but they are full of optimism and convinced that they will succeed, „in a climate so thoroughly healthy and on „fertile ground, which rewards all efforts a thousand times.“[7] As much as this letter is written in the conviction of having found in South Australia a country, which in many ways resembled and even exceeded their native country, there are already aspects mentioned in this first analysis of the climatic condition that will later endanger their endeavours. In the letter to Humboldt Otto writes: „During the whole harvest the thermometer never showed less than 29 degrees Réaumur in the shade at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but the heat did not have as exhausting an effect on us as 20 degree would have done in Germany, in spite of the fact that the work was hard and we unaccustomed to it. Only „the hot wind“ is a dreadful guest, which luckily to date has only descended on us once. On October 24th at 11 o’clock my brother and I were in the nearby woods to cut trees for our new dwellings, when we were suddenly prevented from it by a truly suffocating heat. When we left the woods, we felt the hot wind breathe on us: It continued until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when a cooling south-easterly triumphed after a long fight, bringing with it some refreshing rain. The thermometer, exposed to the wind, while being in the shade climbed to 36. 7 degrees; with the south-easterly it fell to 17. 3 degrees. The effect of the wind on the young vegetation [...] is completely devastating. Luckily these winds usually only occur towards the end of December, when they cannot damage the harvest anymore, because it has already been brought in.“[8] This quote shows that Otto Schomburgk not only observed the weather meticulously, but that he also tried to verify his impressions with precise measurements. As important as the report of the brothers about their personal experiences and their first successes in agriculture might have been, what was really expected of them by their correspondence partners in Berlin was a contribution to science, something along the lines of the report Alexander von Humboldt produced after his travels in the Americas. Humboldtian science - the combination of precise observations of flora and fauna with an accurate analysis of climatic conditions based on measured data - that is what the brothers were supposed to undertake in South Australia, a place still largely unknown in Germany. Such were certainly the expectations of the three scientists to whom the letters were addressed. It comes therefore as no surprise that the letter to Humboldt starts with a detailed definition of the geographical position of the author in „Buchsfelde at 34 degree 41 seconds southern latitude, 138 degree 54 seconds eastern longitude.“ The Academy of Sciences in Berlin seems to have been interested in accurate data on the climate in Australia. On his expedition to British-Guyana Richard had already shown that he was capable of undertaking successful scientific research.
It was, however, the independent scholar Otto Schomburgk, who had applied to the Academy requesting a „microscope and other necessary meteorological instruments“[9] (with the exception of a barometer which he had already received from a private individual). Otto gives the following reasons for his application: „On April 3rd this year I will, together with my brother Richard Schomburgk, leave our Fatherland to establish a new home for myself in South Australia. The conviction that I will be able, through diligence and serious and honest efforts, to contribute a lot to further the knowledge about the flora and fauna and the climatic conditions of this country, about which so little is known as yet in this respect, has had a considerable influence on my choice.“[10] The Academy granted the request on account of to the high esteem in which they held his brother Richard; and Otto received the microscope and various meteorological instruments. In the Academy’s reply to Otto, written by Professor Encke on March 16th 1849 it says „that the Academy learnt with greatest interest that your and your family’s imminent move raises the prospect of our receiving extensive and ground-breaking information about a hitherto rather little known continent which has not yet been the subject of much scientific research. This information would be especially relevant to the natural sciences. The reputation your family’s name has gained through one member of your family in another part of the world will certainly be a great pledge for you to take scientific research as much into account as the conditions will allow, in spite of the efforts necessary for the new settlement.“[11] The instruments were handed over to Otto Schomburgk with the proviso that they always be kept „by your family and within the circle of your new collaborators in the service of the sciences and in memory of the Academy.“ The instruments could not be disposed of but should rather be handed on to suitable scientists working in support of the sciences. In exchange for its generosity the Academy expects to be informed of the „characteristics of natural conditions in those regions.“[12] In his first letter to Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, written on December 25th 1849, Otto actually keeps his promise to the Academy by sending them the meteorological data (mainly temperature and barometer measurements) he had gathered during the voyage to Australia.[13] In his letter to Humboldt he also reports on the construction of his own small weather station, so that Buchsfelde can from now on be seen as the meteorological station for South Australia.“[14] But Otto’s main scientific undertaking was ill-fated. It turned out that his thermometer was not well chosen. The temperature range of his precision instrument only went up to 30 degrees (that is 37. 5 degrees Celsius). And Otto seems to have found out about it only once he was in Adelaide. He writes to Humboldt: „As happy as I was when I opened my box of packed instruments after landing and found them all well preserved, so bitterly painful for me now is an error of Greiner, who packed a psychrometer for me, which does in fact go down to minus 30 degrees Réaumur, a temperature unknown here, but it also is only capable of measuring up to plus 30 degrees Réaumur, which is now, when we often have 33-34 degrees in the shade [41.25-42.5 Celsius] quite useless for my observations. I therefore have to draw your attention to the fact that my observations can only claim to be completely accurate up to 30 degrees, because if the temperature is any higher I have to resort to an ordinary everyday thermometer, since another instrument from Greiner, that I brought with me, broke.“[15] The carelessness and also the ignorance about climatic conditions in Australia seem to have had a detrimental effect on Otto Schomburgk’s scientific ambitions. He begs Prof. Ehrenberg and Prof. Dove to send him an instrument capable of measuring higher temperatures. „With the present instrument my tables would only be patchwork, since the extreme temperatures are only based on an ordinary thermometer, made by some obscure mechanic in Berlin, which was given to me by a helpful neighbour.“[16] In his letter to Prof. Dove, Otto stresses that „until now no observations have been made in South-Australia“ and gives that as a reason for the „total ignorance about temperatures and climate, which is so full of contrasts, as anywhere in Germany.“ And he adds in explanation: „We have had a difference of 20 degrees within 24 hours numerous times.“[17] The three letters Otto sent to Germany at Christmas 1849 are the only evidence we have documenting his scientific endeavours. After five months he seems to have fallen silent and there are no observations of climate from Richard either. Otto continued to live in Buchsfelde for another 8 years, where he died in 1857. But in the minutes of the Academy of Sciences traces of Otto can still be found. It says in the minutes of April 10th 1851: „Mr Dove has informed us of news about Mr. Schomburgk from Adelaide and proposed that an excerpt of the scientific part be accepted into the monthly journal. signed Ehrenberg.“[18] Other minutes of Nov. 6th 1851 reveal the following: „Mr Dove read out a letter from Schomburgk from Australia containing a complete year’s meteorological observations.“ The last entry is on January 12th 1854: „Mr Dove presented a meteorological diary by Mr. Otto Schomburgk from Buchsfelde near Adelaide in South Australia, ranging from July 1851 to June 1852 (the 3rd year), and made some accompanying remarks concerning the relevance of these observations. The journal contains observations of temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind direction and warmth of the soil to a depth of three feet.“[19] In spite of an intensive search in the archives of the Academy in Berlin I have been unable to locate these journals. There was also no indication that these journals had ever been published. It seems therefore that an interesting document detailing climate data from the early years of the colony has been lost.
In the early 1850s, to be precise in July 1851, a well-known liberal German travel writer by the name of Friedrich Gerstäcker, who took part in the 1848 revolution, visited Buchsfelde and wrote about it in his travel journal: „While Richard Schomburgk is an excellent gardener, his brother Otto combines all three academic faculties in one person, he does not only work in the fields and the garden and helps out as an architect and veterinarian, he also runs significant medical practice in the area, mainly in obstetrics, and has also been appointed justice of the peace of his small district and will soon also preach - once the Buchsfelder people have built a church, which is happening at the moment.“[20] Otto also worked as a journalist, he was co-founder of the „Südaustralische Zeitung“. Gerstäcker describes their situation as follows: „A large garden, laid out by Richard Schomburgk, which has taken him a great deal of trouble and hard work, is nearing completion, vines and orchards have been planted, several buildings, which they started in order to be more comfortable will probably also be finished this coming winter, and they can say that in this foreign country, after having left their homeland, the worst is over for them.“[21] Gerstäcker, however, does not stop there, on this conciliatory note. He realizes that a price has been paid for this arduous and fragile success, a price we would today describe with the modern notion: „Migrants face a death of self“. First the Schomburgks leave behind friends and family, then on Christmas Day 1849 they receive the news that their father has died of Cholera in Berlin. This affects the brothers deeply and makes the separation from their world of origin painfully clear. The challenges they are confronted with in their new environment also demand that they let go of ambitions which formerly were integral parts of their identity. One can only meet these new demands, if one is ready to part with some aspects of the old self. Grieving about the loss of the old identity coincides with the construction of a new identity. Otto tries to meet the various new demands by committing himself to an enormous workload. But already in his first letter to Ehrenberg, after only 4 months in South Australia, Otto implores him not to forget him: „If you leave me I will sit here at the end of the world like Emperor Redbeard in the Kyffhäuser mountains, not having the slightest idea of what is sought and achieved in the fields of science in Germany.“[22] For Richard, who quite consciously always called himself only a gardener, the move from Berlin to Adelaide might have been easier. We do not have any documents pertaining to this period of his life. His later letters are full of complaints about the difficult working conditions. The journalist Gerstäcker uses a simple picture to impressively illustrate the problems of identity. „It is much easier to transplant a turnip than a rose, the one can be pulled up as it is from the soil and then stuck and patted down elsewhere; after the first rain or the first can of water it will be completely at home. But with the rose, the thousands of roots and fibres, if not torn off when it is taken out, have to be cut back to prepare it for the chosen cramped accommodation, and that often hurts the poor rose terribly. It will, nevertheless, grow and flower, and in the following year put forth the most beautiful buds and flowers.“[23] We do not know how much Otto’s new life in Buchsfelde was influenced by mourning about the old life he had left. At the age of 47 he died in Buchsfelde.
[1] Heinrich Wilhelm Dove (1803-79) German meteorologist, born in Liegnitz. He was professor of natural philosophy at Königsberg and Berlin. His Distribution of Heat was published in 1853 by the British Association, and his Das Gesetz der Stürme (1857) has also been translated.
[2] Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876) German naturalist, born in Delitzsch in Prussian Saxony. Professor at Berlin from 1839, he travelled in Egypt, Syria, Arabia and Central Asia. His works on microscopic organisms founded a new branch of science, and he discovered that phosphorescence in the sea is caused by living organisms.
[3] Otto Schomburgk to Humboldt, op. cit. (n. 6).
[4] Alan Atkinson and Marian Aveling (Ed.): Australians 1838. New South Wales 1987, p. 125: „In South Australia there were no convicts at all, and the principles by which the colony had been founded, aiming as they did at a thoroughly British settlement, made it hard for the settlers to hope for many Asians.“
[5] Otto Schomburgk to Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, 25. 12. 1849, Buchsfelde, in Archiv der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Nachlaß Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg.
[6] Otto Schomburgk to Humboldt, op. cit. (n. 6).
[7] Otto Schomburgk to Ehrenberg, op. cit. (n. 24).
[8] Otto Schomburgk to Humboldt, op. cit. (n. 6).
[9] Otto Schomburgk to the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin, 17. 1. 1849 manuscript in: Archiv der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Bestand Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1812-1945), II-VII, 76. UnterstÜtzte Unternehmungen der physikalisch-mathematischen Klasse 1847-1859, p. 22.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Prof. J. Encke, Berlin,16. 3. 1849, op. cit. (n. 28) p. 52.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Otto Schomburgk to Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, Buchsfelde, 25. 12. 1849, manuscript in: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Handschriftenabteilung, Slg. Darmst. Australien 1849: Otto Schomburgk.
[14] Otto Schomburgk to Humboldt, op. cit. (n. 6).
[15] Ibid.
[16] Otto Schomburgk to Ehrenberg, op. cit. (n. 26).
[17] Otto Schomburgk to Dove, op. cit. (n. 32).
[18] Archiv der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. II-V, 32 Protokolle der Sitzung der Gesamtakademie (10. 4.1851), p. 88.
[19] Archiv, op. cit. (n. 37), II-V, 35 Protokolle der Sitzung der Gesamtakademie (12. 1.1854), pp. 3-4.
[20] Friedrich Gerstöcker: Reisen. Stuttgart. Tübingen 1853, Vol. 4 (Australien), pp. 328-9.
[21] Ibid., pp. 327-8
[22] Otto Schomburgk to Ehrenberg, op. cit. (n. 24).
[23] Gerstäcker, op. cit. (n. 39), p. 328.
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