The Bethania Germans

Abstract

German immigrants took up land in 1864 in the area of Queensland on the Logan River approximately twenty miles south of Brisbane now known as 'Bethania.' They were followed by others and the settlement spread. The area was identified as German for about 100 years. For the historian the questions are: how the Germans came to this area; how they maintained a more or less German identity for so long; and then why that German identity disappeared. 'Bethania' is an anglicization of the name taken by the Lutheran congregation, 'Bethanien,' the German form of the biblical 'Bethany.' In the 1868 'Queensland Post Office Directory' the name 'Betanien' was applied to the locality occupied by Germans and served by the Logan Reserve post office, but the name did not then come into general usage. 'Bethania' became an official place name from 1885 when the railway station and associated post office were given the name 'Bethania Junction.' The area occupied by the Germans and situated in a bend of the Logan River was referred to as the 'German Pocket,' a somewhat confusing term as there were various German Pockets in Queensland, including one farther down the Logan. For purposes of this thesis it is convenient to refer to the area at all times as 'Bethania.'