At about the same time as Coburg was wrestling
with the vexatious issue of its Germanic-sounding name, some residents were
making life difficult for those with German backgrounds.
One such was 50 year old Otto Neuendorf, a
photographer, who had been employed by Pentridge Prison for 26 years. He
claimed to have introduced the finger-printing system of prisoners to Victoria
in 1902 and took the finger-prints of prisoners at Pentridge from that time
until his ‘retirement’ in 1914.
Only a few weeks after war was declared,
Neuendorf, who lived in Moreland Grove (later The Grove), Coburg, placed a
Public Notice in the Brunswick and Coburg
Star, declaring that he was a British Subject (he had been naturalised in
1890) and that he had ‘received many insults’ and intended to take ‘stringent
action against any person who assails his character by spreading false reports
concerning him.’ He strenuously denied that he’d made disparaging comparisons between
the troops at the Broadmeadows Camp and German soldiers.
Argus, 11
September 1914, p.8.
A few weeks
later, a short article appeared saying that he’d resigned from the Penal
Department. I wondered why. Had pressure been placed on him to go? An article
in the National Archives of Australia’s journal Memento, gave me the answer: His son, also Otto, was bitter about
his father’s treatment at the hands of his employers and claimed that his
father had been forced to resign.’
Determined
to show his patriotism, a year later Neuendorf Senior, now of Sydney Road,
Brunswick, donated an ambulance to the war effort.
Argus, 27
August 1915, p.8.
A World War One vintage ambulance and
mobile operating theatre (right) outside a train station. ID
number P02537.003.
Courtesy
Australian War Memorial.
Other sources:
Brunswick and Coburg Star, 4
September 1914, p.1; 18 September 1914, p.3.
‘Resisting the call to arms: men who did not
enlist in World War I’, Dr Bart Zino, in Memento,
National Archives of Australia, Issue 36, 2009. You can read it online at
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