Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction This case study of the Temple Society Australia tells the story of immigrant adaptation, language change and the development of an inter-cultural sense of belonging. The analysis is based on extensive interviews and surveys of sixty-nine long-term German speaking immigrants, their children and partners and includes active researcher participation in Templer community events. The settlement struggles of the first large-scale groups of established European immigrants in Australia, such as the Templers, during the mid twentieth century have largely been forgotten. Their triumphs and tragedies, their lost hopes and dreams in a country that was unprepared for such large numbers of non-English speaking people is no longer well known. Markus (2001) and Clyne (2003) point out that immigrants successfully built up ethno-specific community centres, clubs, religious centres, community languages schools and aged care facilities with tenacity and drive. They got jobs, built houses and their children excelled in education. Many saw opportunities in the market and used their overseas experience to open spectacularly successful businesses. Assimilationist thinking has closed the chapter of post-war immigrant settlement based on the assumption that such groups assimilated successfully. Their multiple identity formation remains shrouded by a policy that overemphasised conformity during the 1950s, 60s and 70s (Galligan and Roberts 2004, Jupp 2002). The traditional Australian attitude was that the host country bestowed benefits on immigrants who were prepared to learn the Australian way and assimilate. 17 From the 1970s to the 1990s, multiculturalism emphasised the maintenance of cultural and linguistic diversity (Galligan and Roberts 2004). State governments, in particular, celebrated cultural differences and applauded the remarkable economic, linguistic and community building achievements of non-English speaking background immigrants (Jupp 2002). Most importantly, policy makers pointed out that Australia had benefited from the outstanding contribution of those immigrants, and not the other way round. This case study takes immigration and settlement a step further. It examines the adaptation of the Templers across three immigrant generations, including the Australian born children. It also explores how the Templers developed a local and transnational sense of belonging within the context of the bilingual community infrastructure they built up. At the heart of the matter is the dilemma of adaptation or assimilation of the established immigrants in Australia. The narratives of how immigrants and their offspring adjusted, the decisions they made, the cultural and linguistic choices that impacted on their community building, and how their identities were shaped have been insufficiently explored in immigration literature. Current policy has shifted beyond multiculturalism, to expectations concerning national identity, Australian values, patriotism and a quest for definitions of citizenship (Kalantzis 2000 in Hudson and Kane; Dutton 2002; Galligan and Roberts 2004; Castles et al 1998; Allegritti 2000). The Howard Government would like 'our national family' to learn about 'our history and heritage' (Howard 2006: 1). Ifthe Prime Minister wants to renew the focus on teaching Australian history in schools (Howard 2006) then of utmost importance is the inclusion of Australia's diverse immigrant history. Revealing the hidden stories of how non-English speakers overcame their settlement challenges, and the unexpected intercultural networks they developed across oceans and borders (Allegritti 2000) will protect all young people, including those of immigrant parents, from 'the risk of being disinherited from their community' (Howard 2006:6). This study shows that long-term nation-building requires a composite 18 view of diversity that is told through the community-building stories of many immigrants. The overarching aim of this research is to investigate the everyday attitudes and settlement decisions concerning adaptation, assimilation, and language change of ordinary Templers in Victoria. The particular aims involve an examination of attitudes of the Templers at various stages of settlement and policy change in relation to three research questions. These are: • How have the dilemmas of adaptation and assimilation affected Templer settlement in Australia? • What forms of language retention, loss and transmission have occurred in the Temple Society Australia? • How does identity formation amongst Templers affect community strength, sustainability and new localised emerging forms? Context of the study The story of the Templers is set in the post-war era when Australia accepted over a quarter of a million refugees and Displaced Persons mainly from Central and Eastern Europe (Jupp 2002; Clyne 1991,2003). Many were housed in former military camps. Over 500 Templers represent one of the first large-scale groups of ethnic Germans to arrive in Australia in 1941 (Sauer 1991). They were 'accidental immigrants' (Farges 2004:2; Draper 1978; Knowles 2000) who came to Australia involuntarily via deportation from British Palestine for civilian wartime internment in Tatura (Ruff and Beilharz 2001; Kaplan 2001; Clyne 2003; Glenk 2005; Lange 1995; Sauer 1991; Vondra 1981; Hope 2004). With few exceptions, the group consisted of military aged men! with their families (H. Wagner 2007 pers. comm. 11 February). They remained in the country, to be joined, 1 The reason for their deportation was precisely that they were military aged, although they were of course not POWs, because they had been interned as civilians, not as combatants. The aged were mostly left at home in Palestine, because they posed no perceived threat to the British during Rommel's advance in North Africa (P.G. Hornung 2007 pers comm. 27 March). 19 in the 1950s and 1960s, by other Templers who had been scattered throughout the world as a result of wartime displacement. The Temple Society Australia was formed in Melbourne in August 1950 as an autonomous regional branch of a transnational Templer Society (Sauer 1991). The name Templer denotes subscription by religious belief to the Temple Society and in addition is used to self-ascribe allegiance to a common diaspora ancestry. Clyne (2005) states that the language of an immigrant group embodies various aspects of their culture, heritage and identity. He has highlighted the Swabian-speaking Templers in Melbourne as a typical example. The historical background of the Templers is unique. The Temple Society (German: Tempelgesellschaft) is a faith community founded at Kirschenhardthof near Backnang, Germany in 1861. Theologically it has its roots in the nineteenth century Pietism within the Lutheran Church in the State of Wlirttemberg, Germany. As part of mid-nineteenth century mass emigration from Germany, the Templers established pioneer settlements at various locations throughout Ottoman Palestine. They were joined by ethnic Germans from Russia, and later were deported during two world wars. A brief historical overview is presented in Appendix 13. Existing research on the Templers is fragmented. In Melbourne, they have been studied sporadically within the broader context of the diversity of German-speakers and immigrant settlement in Australia (Clyne 1991,2001,2003,2005; Christa 1995; Seitz and Foster 1988; Jupp 2001, 2003). In sociolinguistic studies the Temple Society features in terms of its close-knit social networks, closed culture and remarkable German language retention (Kaplan 2001; Clyne 1991,2003; Ruff and Beilharz in Jupp 2001). A few unpublished theses have focused on language and culture change amongst Templers (lmberger 1979; Fernando 1985). Considerable internal Templer literature exists, including some translations from German, of in-depth pre-migration historical and religious accounts (Sauer 1991; Lange 1995; Glenk 2006). General reference is made to 20 the Temple Society in some broad religious and religious-ethnic studies (Ata 1990, van Sommers 1966). The initial impulse for this research grew out of my insider-status as a Templer. In the mid 1990s I was aware of several internal committees and discussions within the Temple Society concerning the need for organisational review and plans to enhance sustainability. I noticed dilemmas of assimilation and adaptation as well as varying opinions about the Society's status as a German ethnic community. It became clear to me that an in-depth study of a social nature into these issues was worthwhile. At the time, I drew on a similar religious-ethnic study in Melbourne conducted by Goldlust (1993). Delimitations and limitations The boundedness of the Temple Society Australia, based on its geographic clusters and collective identity, makes it an ideal model for sociolinguistic study spanning changed periods of government policies from assimilation, through multiculturalism, to Australian nationalism and the current focus on citizenship. The greater part of the Temple Society membership is concentrated in the Melbourne area. Smaller Templer communities exist in Sydney, Adelaide and Stuttgart, Germany (Ruff 1990). Some families are scattered throughout Australia, in particular in rural Victoria and Queensland. Two community halls, in Bentleigh and Bayswater, are located in the eastern and southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, where religious services and community functions are regularly held. Templer archives, in German and English, are located in the administrative hubs in Bentleigh

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