Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
June 2019
Letter from Daniel Hoffheiser (Sandhurst, Australia) to his father in Hamburg, around August 1859
Historical Context
This letter is sent by Daniel Hoffheiser from Australia to his father in Hamburg in 1859. He describes in detail the gold nugget depicted on the letterhead. This is the ‘Welcome Nugget,’ which was the largest gold nugget ever found until 1869. The site of the discovery is in Ballarat in the state of Victoria, where Daniel is also digging for gold, hoping to find the treasure of his life.
Brief Biography
Daniel Hoffheiser is born on September 22, 1836, in Hamburg. Nothing is known about his youth, but his fluent and nearly flawless letters suggest a higher education. As a young man, Daniel is not drawn to the middle-class career in his father’s timber trade, but to the gold of Australia. On April 18, 1855, he boards the sailing ship ‘Neumühlen’ in Hamburg, bound for Melbourne. Various letters to his father in Germany recount the hard work in the goldfields, illness, and accidents – and the never-ending hope of returning home ‘with such a lump.’ Daniel’s father practices patience, although he would prefer to see him working in the family business. He even supports his son’s adventurous plans by paying a substitute to serve in the military for Daniel. This allows him to stay legally in Australia. Daniel holds onto his dream for at least six years, then returns to Germany – without the hoped-for wealth in his luggage.
In Germany, he works in his father’s timber business. In May 1869, he marries Auguste Caroline Mühlbach. After the death of his father, he takes over the family business and runs it successfully until he himself passes away in 1912.
Significance of the Object
The “Welcome Nugget” was discovered on June 9, 1858, by Cornish settlers in a mine in the heart of Victoria, Australia. Weighing 69 kilograms and resembling the size and shape of a horse’s head, it remains the second-largest gold nugget ever found to this day.
In the Northern Hemisphere, one could call this discovery a summer fairy tale, as it occurred right at the onset of summer, which falls calendar-wise on June 1 and meteorologically on June 21. The sun is now closer to the Earth in the northern hemisphere. However, in Australia, it is a winter fairy tale, as June marks the beginning of the cold winter months in the Southern Hemisphere.
Daniel Hoffheiser likely experienced five or six winters in Victoria, which are relatively mild with an average temperature of ten degrees Celsius, while snow-capped mountains and ski areas can be found in the highlands. The Australian winter has very little in common with the winters Daniel knew from Hamburg (with average temperatures around 1.5 degrees Celsius). Unfortunately, we do not know how, if at all, the climate influenced his decision to return to Germany. However, we do know that his return was successful and that he established a family in Hamburg with whom he spent many more summers and winters in the Northern Hemisphere, as confirmed by his great-granddaughter and her husband, Karin and Rainer Kröger, who have handed over many objects from Daniel Hoffheiser’s estate to the German Emigration Center.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de