2 FAMC F58 BIOGRAPHY: From 1839 to 1842 Maximilian Ferdinand lived inBerlin,studying Egyptology with his brother Ernst. KarlRichard Lepsius(1810-84), also from Naumburg, taught themold Egyptian hieroglyphics.Lepsius chose bothMaximilianFerdinandand Ernst to join 'the GreatPrussian Expedition'to Egypt, which set out in 1842 'and remained inEgypt forthree years - all expenses being paid by King FriedrichWilhelmIV of Prussia'. Lespius was leader of this 'completeandwellequippedexpeditio n'. Maximilian Ferdinand andErnst were its official artists:'it was their task to copythe hieroglyphical inscriptions and sketch thegeneralterrain of the regions'. BIOGRAPHY: Maximilian Ferdinandwas subsequently appointedto theRoyalMuseum at Ber lin,where he spent 3 years 'painting hieroglyphic murals intheEgyptian Rooms'. BIOGRAPHY: Their work was featured in the12-volume work, Denkmèaler Australiat.Aegypten undAethiopien (Records from Egypt andEthiopia),publishedbetween1849 and1859. (Note: t he King of Prussiasubsequently donated acopy of this extraordinary work tothe State Library of Victoria; it ishoused in the RareBooks Collection, *SEF 493.1 L55.) BIOGRAPHY: In September1849Maximilian Ferdinand (the fifthbrother toarrive),arrive d, on the "Australia" BIOGRAPHY: Maximilian Ferdinandbecame the acting Prussian Consul inSouth Australia He was'toppled' from this position in 1855, when 'QueenVictorianegotiated theappointment of Francis Dutton asPrussianConsul. BIOGRAPHY: Whe n Maximilian Ferdinand arrived inSouth Australia, 'he wasimmediately appointed the firstPrussian consul in South Australia,retaining this positionuntil 1855'. Believing that minersin SouthAustralia werebeing exploited, heencouraged them tohea d fortheVictorian goldfields. Maximilian Ferdinand himselfheaded for Ballarat in1852, with his brother, Moritz, thenreturned to Glen Osmond withsufficient funds to build ahouse andtake up viticulture: 'he continuedto allyhimselfwith membersof t he German community who were incitingtheminers to strike in order to improve conditions and pay,and heencouraged the formation of "friendly societies" andotherworking-classself-help groups, hoping, in particular,toprovide free secular educatio n forworking-classchildren.' A government school at Glen Osmondwasestablished in 1859. BIOGRAPHY: After Moritz's death,Maximilian Ferdinand supported hisfamilyand managed theestate. In 1868 he helped foundthe'SèudAustraliaralischer Allgemeiner Deuts cher Verein, aGerman society open to allclasses of migrants', and in 1872set himself up as an agent for theSouth Australiangovernment's assisted immigrationscheme. In February1882,he left Adelaide, on theGerman warship, Carola, to returntoBerli n 'for a reunion of the Lepsius expedition members',then returnedagain to Adelaide in February 1883, on theSiam. BIOGRAPHY: The article mentions that allknown copiesof his sketches'were destroyed duringthe First World War'.BIOGRAPHY: ILLERT, Chr is. Commemorative Biography ofMaximilian FerdinandWeidenbach. [Berri, S. Australia:Science-Art Research Centre, 1981.] SHIP: The "Australia"in September1849.

Weidenbach ILLERT, Chris. Commemorative Biography of Maximilian Ferdinand Weidenbach. [Berri, S. Aust.: Science-Art Research Centre, 1981.] SF 920.71 W42I

Maximilian Ferdinand Weidenbach was born in 1823, in Naumburg/Saale, Prussia. His father, A. Weidenbach, was a drawing master who, in the late 1830, ‘attained great professional eminence’ through the publication of his book, Ansichten aus dem saal- und Unstrut-Thale, nach der Natur gemalt (Views of the Saale and Unstrut valleys, drawn from nature).

There were at least 7 children in the family: (1) Friedrich Moritz (1815-58), Curator of the Gardens at Planitz, near Dreden, who married Diosma Augusta Staubke, and had 6 (?) children; (2) August Friedrich (born 1817), who married Juliana Wilhelmina Berling; (3) Ernst (born 1819?); (4) Gustav Adolph (born 1821); (5) Maximilian Ferdinand; (6) Anton Joseph (born 1825?); and (7) Julius Clemens (1829-48).

In his foreword to the book, Chris Illert writes that, perhaps ‘all seven of the Weidenbachs were not brothers’, although ‘Maximilian, Moritz, Ernst and Julius were certainly brothers’. He states that he has made the ‘simplifying’ assumption that all 7 are brothers, and that he considers it ‘essential from the point of view of reader comprehension to assume that they were’.

From 1839 to 1842 Maximilian Ferdinand lived in Berlin, studying Egyptology with his brother Ernst. Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-84), also from Naumburg, taught them old Egyptian hieroglyphics. Lepsius chose both Maximilian Ferdinand and Ernst to join ‘the Great Prussian Expedition’ to Egypt, which set out in 1842 ‘and remained in Egypt for three years – all expenses being paid by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia’. Lespius was leader of this ‘complete and well equipped expedition’. Maximilian Ferdinand and Ernst were its official artists: ‘it was their task to copy the hieroglyphical inscriptions and sketch the general terrain of the regions’.

Their work was featured in the 12-volume work, Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien (Records from Egypt and Ethiopia), published between 1849 and1859. (Note: the King of Prussia subsequently donated a copy of this extraordinary work to the State Library of Victoria; it is housed in the Rare Books Collection, *SEF 493.1 L55.)

The first of the Weidenbach brothers to come to Australia was August Friedrich. He arrived in South Australia in September 1846, on the Pauline. Initially he worked at ‘the ill-reputed Glen Osmond mines’, owned by Sir Osmond Gilles and managed by Herman Conrad Stakemann (the Consul from Bremen). Edward Henkel, who had ‘held a responsible situation at the Hanoverian Government mines in the Hartz Mountains’, was foreman.

Because the Glen Osmond mines were unsafe, labourers tended to stay there no longer than they needed to” ‘generally the only men who worked there were those who, unable to pay the fare for their passage to South Australia, had signed an agreement to work off their debt.’ Chris Illert writes that August Friedrich developed a strong dislike for Sir Osmond Gilles. In January 1847, in an Adelaide tavern, ‘two or three assailants’ served Gilles a ‘jocose roasting’. Gilles was later ‘charged for being drunk and disorderly’ and had to appear in court on the following day. There he vowed that he ‘would not forget the insult’. It is not clear from the text whether August Friedrich had been involved in the tavern incident; ‘shortly after, August Friedrich took up farming in the Hope Valley district.

His younger brother, Julius Clemens, arrived in South Australia in December 1847, on the Herman von Beckerath. It seems that Friedrich Moritz Weidenbach had arranged for Julius Clemens to become a gardener in South Australia for Carl August Sobels, who arrived in South Australia with Julius Clemens. However, they then went their separate ways. Sobels entrusted Julius Clemens to the care of Carl Gustav Schledlich, a labourer who had worked for Friedrich Moritz in Germany. Schledlich and Julius Clemens then ‘wandered the South Australian countryside in search of work’.

Within a matter of months Julius Clemens was dead. (Some ‘half a century later’, Schledlich wrote memoirs, which Chris Illert has drawn upon.) An inquest was held and concluded ‘death due to bronchitis’. A surgeon had been called for on 31 January 1848. Dr. Julius Pabst (‘formerly of Berlin’) came. Julius Clemens died on 6 February, in the house of Ferdinand Naumann, with Schledlich by his side. Chros Illert suggests that there was more to it, and that August Friedrich and Friedrich Moritz had been ‘fully informed’. Ferdinand Moritz and his family arrived in South Australia in March 1848, on the Pauline (the third child was born on the voyage). In the book there are 6 children mentioned: (1) benno (born 1843), who married Minna Helen Illert (1867-1930) and had 3 children; (2) Max (born 1847?); (3) Ann (born 1848); (4) Edwin, who managed the ‘King of Hanover’ hotel for his mother; (5) Clara, who owned a boarding house for ‘refined gentlewomen’; and (6) Julius, who ‘owned a network of general stores at Millicent, Maitland and Port Augusta – which he apparently kept provisioned by operating his own private shipping company from Rivoli Bay’.

The fourth Weidenbach brother to come to South Australia, it seems, was Gustav Adolph, who arrived in 1849 ‘under an assumed identity’. In September of the same year, a fifth brother, Maximilian Ferdinand, arrived, on the Australia

Maximilian Ferdinand became the acting Prussian Consul in South Australia. He was ‘toppled’ from this position in 1855, when ‘Queen Victoria negotiated the appointment of Francis Dutton as Prussian Consul.

‘Maximilian (Max) Ferdinand Weidenbach (1823-1890)’, The Dictionary of Australian artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870. Edited by Joan Kerr. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992 (p.848). AI 709.9403 D56K

Maximilian Ferdinand Weidenbach (1823-90) ‘was the fifth of at least seven sons of a drawing master at Naumberg in Thuringia, Prussia’. The article mentions 6 Weidenbach brothers who settled in South Australia, but names only 4 of them:

(1) Moritz (died 1858), the oldest brother, who came to South Australia in March 1848, with his wife and 3 children; (2) August Friedrich, the second oldest brother, a coach-bilder and engineer, who came to South Australia in 1846, worked ‘in the notorious Glen Osmond tin mines’, then farmed in Hope Valley; (3) Maximilian Ferdinand, who came to South Australia in September 1849, on the Australia, together with 2 other brothers, whose names are not given; and (4) Julius (died 1848), who came to South Australia in 1847.

Maximilian Ferdinand had studied in Berlin under the Egyptologist, Richard Lepsius. Together with his brother, Ernst Weidenbach, he was appointed artist on Richard Lepsius’s 1842-45 Egyptian expedition, ‘sponsored by Friedrich Wilhelm IV at Alexander von Humboldt’s instigation’. Maximilian Ferdinand was subsequently appointed to the Royal Museum at Berlin, where he spent 3 years ‘painting hieroglyphic murals in the Egyptian Rooms’.

When Maximilian Ferdinand arrived in South Australia, ‘he was immediately appointed the first Prussian consul in South Australia, retaining this position until 1855’. Believing that miners in South Australia were being exploited, he encouraged them to head for the Victorian goldfields. Maximilian Ferdinand himself headed for Ballarat in 1852, with his brother, Moritz, then returned to Glen Osmond with sufficient funds to build a house and take up viticulture: ‘he continued to ally himself with members of the German community who were inciting the miners to strike in order to improve conditions and pay, and he encouraged the formation of “friendly societies” and other working-class self-help groups, hoping, in particular, to provide free secular education for working-class children.’ A government school at Glen Osmond was established in 1859.

After Moritz’s death, Maximilian Ferdinand supported his family and managed the estate. In 1868 he helped found the ‘Süd Australischer Allgemeiner Deutscher Verein, a German society open to all classes of migrants’, and in 1872 set himself up as an agent for the South Australian government’s assisted immigration scheme. In February 1882, he left Adelaide, on the German warship, Carola, to return to Berlin ‘for a reunion of the Lepsius expedition members’, then returned again to Adelaide in February 1883, on the Siam.

The article mentions that all known copies of his sketches ‘were destroyed during the First World War’.

Commemorative biography of Maximilian Ferdinand Weidenbach / written ... by Chris Illert Bib ID 1742469 Format BookBook Author Illert, C. R. (Christopher Roy)

Description Henley Beach, S. Aust. : C. Illert, 1981 84 p. : ill., facsims., map, ports. ; 30 cm. ISBN 0959720138 Notes At head of title: Science-Art Library.

Available from Mr. C. Illert, P.O. Box 115, Henley Beach, S. A. 5022.

Includes bibliographical references.

Subjects Weidenbach, Maximillian Ferdinand, 1823-1890. | Weidenbach, Maximillian Ferdinand, 1823-1890. Biographies | South Australia -- Biography.