Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Liebe (18 January 1862 – 4 March 1950) was a building contractor and farmer in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Early life

Liebe was born on 18 January 1862 in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, to father Edward Liebe. When he was 15, he left school to become a builder's apprentice. Following the completion of his apprenticeship, he moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and attended a

technical school In the United States, a technical school is a type of two-year college that covers specialized fields such as business, finance, hospitality, tourism, construction, engineering, visual arts, information technology and community work. Associa ...

where he studied building. Liebe helped to construct the

Budapest Opera House The Hungarian State Opera House ( hu, Magyar Állami Operaház) is a neo-Renaissance opera house located in central Budapest, on Andrássy út. Originally known as the Hungarian Royal Opera House, it was designed by Miklós Ybl, a major figure o ...

, before joining a partnership with his brother-in-law Joseph Klein. They worked on

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

's National Assembly Building, and constructed military barracks, colleges, and a bridge.

Australian builder

Liebe and Klein moved to

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

in 1885, and later to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

after their work was noticed by Melbourne-based architects. While based in

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

Liebe built the markets at Newmarket and houses in Carlton. In 1892 Liebe left Melbourne for

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He broke off his partnership with Klein in 1896, and established himself as a builder with premises on Murray Street by 1900, the year he was

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

. He collaborated with architects such as Porter & Thomas, J. H. Grainger and W. G. Wolf, to build many monumental buildings. His most notable works include

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it ...

, His Majesty's Theatre, the 1908

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

building, and the Peninsula Hotel. He also constructed several other hotels, banks, and railway stations for the Midland Railway Company of Western Australia.

Agriculture

Liebe had bought of land at Wubin in 1908. At the outbreak of World War One, with the construction industry declining, he redirected his attention to agriculture. He sold his construction business in 1914, cleared his land, and established a wheat crop. In 1929–30 Liebe produced 100,000 bags of wheat, an Australian record. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

saw him lose £52,900, so Liebe sold properties he owned in Perth, and diversified into sheep farming. By 1945 he had a flock of 23,000 sheep which yielded more than 450 bales of wool.

Death and legacy

Liebe died, unmarried, on 4 March 1950 in Perth. He was buried in Dalwallinu cemetery's

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

section. At probate, his estate was valued at £194,768. The Liebe Group, a non-profit farming research group originally called LBW, was renamed after Friederich Liebe. Liebe was recognised as one of the most influential Western Australian businesspeople in ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'' 2013 list of the 100 most influential.

Early life

Australian builder

Agriculture

Death and legacy

References

Further reading