Historical information

The Wodonga Historical Society Haeusler Collection provides invaluable insight into life in late nineteenth and early twentieth century north east Victoria. The collection comprises manuscripts, personal artefacts used by the Haeusler family on their farm in Wodonga, and a set of glass negatives which offer a unique visual snapshot of the domestic and social lives of the Haeusler family and local Wodonga community.

The Haeusler family migrated from Prussia (Germany) to South Australia in the 1840s and 1850s, before purchasing 100 acres of Crown Land made available under the Victorian Lands Act 1862 (also known as ‘Duffy’s Land Act’) in 1866 in what is now Wodonga West. The Haeusler family were one of several German families to migrate from South Australia to Wodonga in the 1860s.

This object is a German bible printed in 1702. It was published by Sebastian Göbels at the town of Schleusingen in the Thüringian Forest, and has 1770 pages. The bible was brought to Australia by the Haeusler-Klinge family when they migrated to South Australia in 1846. Ferdinand Haeusler came to Wodonga with other German families in 1866, bringing the bible with him.

Significance

This item significant due to its age and rarity. It has well documented provenance and a known owner. It forms part of a significant and representative historical Haeusler Collection, which reflects the local history of Wodonga. It contributes to our understanding of European colonisation and settlement in Wodonga and north east Victoria in the mid nineteenth-century.

Physical description

A large bible printed in German and bound with brown leather.