From the Rhine to New South Wales: The Gersbach Family’s 1850s Migration


Starting this first post for the Gersbach family blog has been a long time coming! Today I “virtually” joined a meeting of the Society of Australian Genealogists, where the theme was emigration. It inspired me to share the remarkable migration story of my many-times-great-grandparents — and the broader German emigration scheme that brought them here. 

This story builds on my earlier post about Jane Feeney, my great-great-grandmother, who arrived in Sydney in April 1849 on board the Digby as one of over 4,000 young women brought from Ireland under the Earl Grey Famine Orphan Scheme. You can read that post HERE. Jane’s daughter, Margaret, married Francis (“Frank”) Gersbach. Frank was the son of Anton Gersbach and Margaretha Songen, who arrived in Sydney in September 1855 before settling on the Macleay River in northern NSW near Kempsey.



Anton and Margaretha were both from the picturesque wine towns of Eltville and Winkel on the banks of the Rhine, about 50 km from Frankfurt. They married in February 1855 and, three months later, sailed from Hamburg aboard the Wilhelmsburg.


Their arrival is a story I’ve known all my life — not least because of Frank’s family bible, with its beautiful illustrations and faded photographs of Anton and Margaretha. My father and grandmother often spoke of why they left Germany and the life they built here. Anton and Margaretha travelled with Anton’s kinsman Joseph Gersbach and his wife, also named Margaretha. In Sydney, they were met by Anton’s brother John, who had arrived six months earlier and settled at St Marys. Anton made his home in Kempsey, Joseph in Orange, and John in St Marys. All raised large families, and I was always told: “If you meet a Gersbach in Australia, you’re related to them!”

The Vinedressers from the Rhine

Anton came to Australia as a vinedresser — a skilled worker who prunes, trains, and cultivates grapevines. When I looked at the ship’s passenger list for the Wilhelmsburg, every man on the same page had the same occupation. Most travelled with wives and children and many came from the same Rhine region.

It turns out the Gersbachs were part of a much larger migration network — families and friends drawn to the colonies through a German-assisted migration scheme spearheaded by merchant Wilhelm Kirchner.

Kirchner’s Migration Scheme

On the day Jane Feeney arrived in Sydney in April 1849, another ship — the Beulah — docked with 180 bounty immigrants from Germany’s wine-growing heartland. These 47 families were the first to arrive under Kirchner’s scheme.

Kirchner had arrived in Sydney in 1839 and by 1846 was promoting a plan to address the colony’s labour shortage: subsidised migration for German families, with guaranteed incomes of £20–£25 per year. Appointed NSW Immigration Agent, he returned to Frankfurt in 1848, publishing Australia and its Advantages for Emigrants, a persuasive guide that painted New South Wales as a rural paradise.

The timing was perfect — in 1848, revolution swept across Germany. Political upheaval, combined with poor economic prospects at home, made emigration appealing. Meanwhile, NSW faced labour shortages after the end of convict transportation (1840) and with men leaving for the California gold rush.


The Beulah was followed by four more ships in 1849. By 1850, Kirchner had arranged for ships to depart from Hamburg, drawing mostly from south-western Germany. He later added glowing letters from earlier settlers to his publications, further encouraging migration.


These German migrants sought settled rural lives, often working as vinedressers for families like the Macarthurs at Camden or the Coxes at Penrith. After their contracts, many bought land for viticulture, orcharding, or market gardening. By 1853, about 2,000 Germans had arrived in Sydney. A second wave between 1854 and 1857 brought another 2,000, including more from central and eastern Prussia. By the late 1850s, assisted German migration to NSW slowed, with Queensland becoming the new destination after 1859.

Building a Life in Aldavilla

We don’t know who Anton worked for when he first arrived on the Macleay, but within two years he had bought 35 acres by the river — land that reminded him of home — and named it Aldavilla. He later bought another 35 acres.

Margaretha gave birth to their first child just three months after arriving in NSW. They went on to have ten children, losing two in infancy. Anton was naturalised in 1863. He grew maize, raised pigs, and cultivated grapes and tobacco for personal use.

Education was important to them — German was spoken only when they were annoyed! They built a school on their property for their children and neighbours’ children. In 1871, Aldavilla School became part of the public school system.

Anton died in 1907, Margaretha in 1909, and Jane Feeney in 1911. They are buried just metres apart in West Kempsey Cemetery — a poignant reminder of how their lives intersected.

The Extended Gersbach Family

  • John Gersbach (Anton’s brother) arrived in Sydney six months earlier with his wife Clara and five children, later having five more.

  • Joseph Gersbach (Anton and John’s second cousin once removed) settled in Orange with his wife Margaretha, raising ten children.

As more people take DNA tests, I’ve connected with many Gersbach cousins across Australia. The real thrill has been finding distant cousins whose ancestors also left Eltville in the 1850s. These discoveries — combining Frank’s bible, historical records, and genetic genealogy — have enriched the Gersbach story in ways my father and grandmother would have loved.

In the next post, I'll show how my DNA matches with my Gersbach, Songen, Killion, and Feeney cousins — near and far — have helped me understand my genetic makeup. I hope it will inspire others to explore the power of DNA in family history and perhaps join our SAG DNA activities.
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