During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Australia experienced strong

anti-German sentiment Anti-German sentiment (also known as Anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, its culture, or its language. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment largely began wit ...

. South Australia had a substantial diaspora of

German-speaking German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

people derived from migrants from Germany and Poland during the 19th century. One of the consequences of the sentiment was that many German-sounding placenames were changed. Another consequence was that many

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church schools which taught the children in German were encouraged and eventually forced to close or be taken over by the state. The

Colony of South Australia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

had been established in 1836. The first groups of German emigrants arrived in 1838, encouraged by the founders of the colony. They were escaping religious persecution in

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 ...

, and settling to establish a new life where they were free to practice their religion. The situation in Germany changed after 1840 but hard-working German settlers continued to be encouraged to migrate. The first German-language newspaper in South Australia was published from 1847. Many of these settlers took the Oath of Allegiance and became naturalised citizens so that they could buy land. German immigrant farmers and their descendants spread across the expanding colony, and others took up influential positions in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

as well. In June 1917, 49 schools received notices that they would be taken over by the Minister of Education with effect from 1 July that year. The German teachers were to be replaced by English teachers, if the school could not be closed completely and have the children sent to a nearby school. The action to close the schools was a consequence of the new ''Education Act 1915'' passed by the

South Australian Parliament The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are h ...

late in 1915. Section 53 of the act required that at least 4 hours of teaching each school day be in English, and required head teachers to submit a monthly statutory declaration that this had been the case over the preceding month. The legislation specifically identified German as not being English.

Schools closed

Some schools had voluntarily closed after the legislation was passed. The 49 schools that received notices to close from 1 July 1917 were at: In addition, the

Koonibba Koonibba is a locality and an associated Aboriginal community in South Australia located about northwest of the state capital of Adelaide and about northwest of the municipal seat in Ceduna and north of the Eyre Highway. The settlement ...

Aborigines mission station, west of

Ceduna Ceduna may refer to: *Ceduna, South Australia, a town and locality *Ceduna Airport Ceduna Airport is a public airport in Ceduna, South Australia. The airport, which is owned by the District Council of Ceduna is located adjacent to the Eyre ...

, was not affected at that time.

References

{{reflist Australia in World War I South Australia-related lists Anti-German sentiment German-Australian culture History of Australia (1901–1945) 1910s in South Australia