Tschirpig Family
in South Australia
by Brian Vogt
The South Australian Register.
Adelaide: Wednesday, December 22, 1847.
THE "GELLERT," FROM BREMEN.
The arrival, within the space of one week, of two German emigrant ships, is an event of too much present and prospective
importance to admit of our allowing it to pass without particular comment. Last week we had to announce the addition
to our population of no less than 295 souls in the Beckerath, from Bremen ; that ship, however, had scarcely taken her berth
alongside the wharf, when she was joined by the Gellert of 600 tons, with 247 additional emigrants from the same port, in
113 days. This arrival not only brings us recent dates from the European Continent, but it also affords most
opportunely an important accession of hands to assist in the farming operations of the season, the most recently-arrived
emigrants being nearly all agriculturists and husbandmen, from the eastern borders of Germany. They will, in the first
place, doubtless, be anxious to join their relations and acquaintances in this district, and in the several flourishing
villages in the County of Light and in the Mount Barker districts ; but under their directions will doubtless be ready
enough to engage in harvest work, or other employment, at the remunerative rate of wages current in the colony. In
noticing this seasonable addition to our manual strength, we must also regard with satisfaction the continued influx of a
respectable class of passengers from Germany; and in this respect we should have felt unmixed satisfaction, were it not our
painful duty to record at the same time the mournful news of the death, on the passage, of the Reverend Philip Oster, the
Lutheran pastor of the emigrants, who was ailing when he embarked, and died of consumption, at sea, leaving a widow, two
daughters, one son, and a spiritual flock, which, like his more immediate family, sensibly feels the bereavement of a
zealous and affectionate pastor. One other adult passenger and two children also died on the passage. The
educational wants of the juvenile emigrants were provided for through a schoolmaster ; and it is to be hoped that a worthy
minister of religion will soon be found to replace the one whose loss is so much lamented. The emigration from Germany
to America is going on as extensively as ever ; and, although many of the emigrants have to make long journeys into the
interior, to join their countrymen who have preceded them, the cost of transit has been so much reduced by railroad and
steam-boat facilities, that the expense is but a trifling addition to the moderate cost of the Atlantic passage. The
difference of expence incurred in the South Australian voyage is an admitted obstacle to more extensive emigration hitherward
; nevertheless, some have learnt to estimate the favourable nature of our seasons, which interpose no obstacles to their
immediate settlement, besides other advantages, which, as they become known, will doubtless have their due effect. It
is already known to the generality of our readers that the Prussian General Assembly, after eleven weeks' incessant labours,
was rather abruptly dismissed. The Government, it appears, found fault with the Representatives of the people, for
spending valuable time in the discussion of abstract principles, instead of engaging at once in matters of practical utility
and public works, such as the Eastern Railroad, &c. The real point at issue was, however, practical enough ; for,
notwithstanding the avowed disinclination of the (so-called) National Representatives, the Government persisted in its
endeavour to force the Assembly to proceed to the election of a Standing Committee (Auschuss), with powers to act between
the periods of the General Sittings ; and such was the mutually imperfect conception of Constitutional privileges, that the
Members of the Assembly, some unconditionally, and others under protest, proceeded to such election. By the
Constitutional Law of Prussia, the General Assembly has nothing to do but to advise; and whatever resolutions the majority
of members may have come to, it depends entirely upon the Government to adopt or reject their advice. There is,
however, a very marked improvement in the public spirit, as well as the conduct of the affairs of Germany ; and the present
freedom of discussion is quite unprecedented. The leaders of popular movement were not unfrequently called to undergo
the test of public prosecution and public trials ; but these became the never-failing means of raising them in public
estimation. We notice an instance of this is the case of Von Beseler and Lorenzen, in the
Duchy of Holstein, who, on
the 21st of August, were put upon their trials before the Supreme Court in
Glückstadt, the former for having presided at a
large public meeting held at New Munster, on the
20th July, 1846, for the purpose of addressing the Assembly of the States
on the subject of the succession to the Crown; and the latter for being the author of the Address unanimously adopted upon
that occasion. The decision of the Court was not known when the Gellert sailed. A public trial was also impending upon
some Polish-Prussian subjects, for conspiracy. The Court was daily crowded ; and the impression was, that, although a
conviction would ensue, sentence would be commuted or suspended, as a matter of grace or leniency. Whatever the
results of these political trials may be, as regarding the individuals, the fact of their being public, and not secret, as
heretofore, was a very important feature, as manifesting a positive advance in the attainment of the long desired liberty of
the subject.
Source: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/48544032
. Spelling & grammar meticulously preserved. 
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