ANTON BERGER (1840—1923)

A German Immigrant

Anton Berger emigrated from his homeland in Germany and stepped onto Melbourne soil on 28 January 1870.¹ He resided near Seymour in Victoria before journeying to Hill End in New South Wales, possibly in search of gold and then settling with his young family at Kogarah. His final move was to Miranda in the early 1890s. His brother, Adam Berger also emigrated and in 1889 at Hill End he married Josephine Werner who was a sister of Anton’s wife.²

Anton had reached the Sydney environs by 1883 as it was in this year that he married Catherine Dorothea Werner and their marriage was registered at Petersham. The couple settled in Kogarah on the eastern side of Rocky Point Road, approximately where Moorefields Racecourse was located.³ Today, this area includes St George TAFE, James Cook High School and Moorefields Girls High School.  Anton established a market garden, one of many found along Rocky Point Road. Edward Thacker, who later was acclaimed as the ‘Patriarch of Miranda’, was another market gardener and neighbour of Anton Berger.  It was at Kogarah that three of Anton and Catherine’s children were born.

In the early 1890s Anton procured a leasehold from the Holt-Sutherland Land Company and his young family crossed the Georges River to begin their life again at Miranda.⁴ The Berger farm fronted The Boulevarde, Miranda (now Gymea) with its eastern boundary at Manchester Road and western boundary at Milburn Road. The land was probably scrubby with some tall timbers to clear in order to establish gardens.   It comprised almost 9 acres in 1907 and like most market gardens in this area fruit and vegetables were grown for the local and Sydney markets.⁵ Pigs were raised too. In these early days, it was said that Anton paddled his market cart across the Georges River by the old ferry at Tom Uglys as there was no puntman.⁶ It is perhaps not surprising that the Bergers were again neighbours of the Thackers whose poultry farm and orchard fronted Sylvania Road not far from its intersection with The Boulevarde. Anton too was able to take advantage of a nearby creek which flowed approximately the course of Manchester Road to water his gardens.

Not long after settling at Miranda, about 1892, Anton joined with Edward Thacker, John MacFarlane, Edward Lye and other locals to form a community co-operative aimed at lowering costs of transporting local produce to market and obtaining supplies for the then isolated community of Miranda. This co-operative was known as the Holt-Sutherland Horticultural Society.⁷ Over the years the society evolved into the Miranda Agricultural Bureau and then the Miranda Co-operative Society which flourished until the mid 1970s .

 In October 1892 Anton signed a petition as one of 14 residents of Old Farm, ‘Homewood’ requesting a school to be opened near the Old Farm on the Holt-Sutherland Estate as it was in a central location for the children of the signatories to attend such a school.⁸ Being the father of five children, Josephine Caroline born 1884, Adam Francis Henry born 1886, Frederick Anton born 1888, Reuben Joseph born 1892 and Otto Record born 1897, Anton intended that his children  benefit from a formal education. This petition resulted in the opening of Miranda School in 1893.

The 1901 census shows Anton as the head of the household at Miranda with 6 males and 3 females at his home on the night the census was taken in March 1901. This indicates there was another two people with the Berger family on census night. One of these could have been Catherine Berger’s father, Francis Henry Werner who was a blacksmith. He is shown on electoral rolls from 1894 to 1899 residing at Sutherland. Francis Henry Werner’s origins were in Prussia from where he emigrated in 1855.⁹ Most of his children, including Catherine were born at Tambaroora near Hill End and this is possibly where Anton and Catherine first met. Catherine’s mother, also named Catherine died at Miranda on 20 August 1899 at the age of 69.¹⁰

The early electoral rolls of 1903 and 1906 do not show Anton Berger listed as a person eligible to vote. His wife Catherine appears on the 1903 Electoral Roll, the first Commonwealth roll where women residing in New South Wales were permitted to register to vote. In 1906 Anton’s daughter Josephine, who had turned 21, is the only member of the family found on that roll.

In September 1909, Anton Berger made an application to become a naturalized Australian.  Anton stated he was born on 7 December 1840 at Budenheim, Rhinessen Germany which lies on the border with France.¹¹ Anton’s brother Adam, who was a carter living in Blues Point Road, North Sydney, also applied for a naturalization certificate in July of the same year. He had been residing in Australia since his arrival in 1881.¹² Anton, however had arrived in Melbourne on 28 January 1870. The application was written in the flowing script of Edward Thacker JP, Anton’s neighbour and friend of 25 years. Anton signed his own name.

As Anton’s children grew to adulthood they established their own farms and market gardens. Daughter Josephine married in 1907 Adam Schell whose father, like Anton came from Buddenheim. Eldest son, Adam was appointed to the NSW Constabulary on 5 March 1908 and was stationed at Kogarah. At the time of his mother’s death in 1944, Adam had been promoted to Sergeant and was with the Hurstville Police.¹³ Frederick is shown in electoral rolls residing on the Boulevarde, his occupation a gardener until his death at the age of 30. Reuben and Otto both married and had families of their own. Various electoral rolls indicate the brothers’ residences at Manchester and also Milburn Roads which possibly indicates their homes were built on their father’s land. While Reuben remained a gardener, Otto became a poultry farmer.

On 20 September 1923, Anton Berger died at his Miranda home at the age of 83. He was laid to rest in the Catholic section B of Woronora Cemetery, graves 28 and 29 where his wife’s parents and son Frederick had been interred. His wife Catherine was also buried here on 7 August 1944.

Sue Hewitt

First published in  Sutherland Shire, Some Early Residents, 2006, by Botany Bay Family History Society. Compiled by Maree McKinley and Sue Hewitt.    

Click on the name ANTON BERGER in the heading of this story . You will be taken to the database entry for him and his family.

  Endnotes:

1   NAA:A1, 1909/11122

2   Oral history George L Berger; NSW BDM Index

3   The Propeller 28 Sep 1923; Sands Sydney Directory

4   1890-91 Electoral roll

5   1907 Rate Books

6   The Propeller 28 Sep 1923

7   SSHS Bulletin Feb 2001

8   Miranda Public School 1893-1993: a centenary history, Miranda P.S. Centenary Committee

9   SRNSW:CGS 1041, [4/1202]