CHAPTER 15 | 1914–1918 – World War 1
obliterated from the map for over half a century. The Falkenberg family’s Krondorf winery was renamed Glen View during this difficult time, but the Krondorf vineyards moniker remained. Eventually, places would revert to their original settlement names, like Hahndorf, Krondorf, and Siegersdorf, but the anti-German backlash in South Australia had been unrelenting, and in 1917, the South Australian government ordered that all Lutheran schools be closed down in an effort to further purge German culture. This heavy-handed authoritarian interference is arguably among South Australia’s uglier moments in history, yet it serves to highlight the scaremongering, heightened anxiety, and extraordinary grief and suffering of families. The South Australian Nomenclature Act and similar legislation in other states not only obliterated German names from the Australian map but undermined the legacy of early settlers. The contribution of German immigrants to the Australian wine industry during the 19th and early 20th centuries was profoundly important to its culture and technical advancement, some of which may have been lost to history. Yet, over the succeeding years in the Barossa Valley, the cultures and shared heritage of German and English immigrants gradually intertwined. The region exemplifies one of the most cohesive and generous agricultural communities in the country, if not the world.
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