Polish Hill River in Clare Valley begins imprint of another 19th Century European group culture on South Australia
The restored Polish church of Saint Stanisław Kostka, built by the settlers of Polish Hill River and others in South Australia's Clare Valley in the 1870s for the arrival of Jesuit priest Leon Rogalski (at right). At left: A 1910 bridesmaid reflects Polish women's pride in their dresses. Bottom centre: Grandchildren of 1856 Polish settlers Stansilav and Agnieszka Mlodystach.
Images courtesy Polish Community Council of South Australia website
Four Polish families – Młodystach, Wallent, Krollig, Stanitzki – were among 163 passengers on the George Washington arriving in Adelaide on September 11, 1844. From the Prussian province town of Gross Dammer (later Dąbrówka Wielkopolska in Poland), they included baby James, born at sea to Franciszka, wife of Szymon Młodystach. They settled among German Lutheran refugees near Tanunda in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.
A bigger group of 131 Poles,who arrived on the August in August 1856, started the larger ongoing Polish imprint on South Australia. Those immigrants were originally from what was, until 1795, their Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth homeland, wiped from Europe’s map by Prussia, Austria and Russia.
The 1856 Poles in South Australia travelled north by bullock teams and, with most adults probably walking, settled in the Clare Valley’s Sevenhill, Penwortham, Emu Flat, Clare and Mintaro with the largest group at Hill River. This “New Little Poland”, settlement became Polish Hill River. This community gave lasting names such as Father Rogalski Loop, Pawelski Road, Rucioch Road and Polish Hill River Road to the region.
The settlers’ start was difficult with some living in dugouts and hollow trees. In 1857, the first Pole to buy land at Hill River was recorded under the surname Niemiec. John Nykiel bought and sold land, set up a butcher shop and became a vigneron, making wine for 30 years.
The new arrivals built traditional tiny homes, with doors, verandah posts, window frames and sashes in bright blues, reds and pinks. Polish women’s dresses – often skyblue and often-laundered material – matched this brightness. Their hood bonnet was tied with long bow ribbons under the chin, and the flaps covered part of their shoulders. These women, with a heavy wicker basket on each arm, often walked from Sevenhill to Clare. Each basket had butter or other products to sell in town. They returned with groceries and household needs. They preferred the long walk rather that taking a ride since wagon or dray seats weren’t always good for theirl clothing. Most Polish settlers were only part-time farmers on small holdings.
Women worked the land and the men became carpenters, bricklayers, butchers, boot makers and labourers. Dr Anton Sokołowski arrived as ship's surgeon on The Alfred, also bringing the Weikert family and the first Jesuits to the Clare district. Sokołowski, who married Weikert's daughter Pauline, became a farmer as well as a doctor, making calls on horseback. Sokołowski was the first of the Poles to become meber of Clare distict council, followed by others including Michał Ruciak, Karol Kozłowski, Tomasz Niemiec and Jan Nykiel.
Among tragedies suffered by Polish Hill River settlers, Lawrence Konopka had a bullock team that carted copper ore from Burra mine to Port Henry (later Port Wakefield). sometimes for weeks. Arriving home, his three-year-old daughter told how she had stayed with the body of his wife who died during his absence.
The devout Catholics of Polish Hill River formed a committee to bring a Polish priest from Europe, and to built a church and school. Jan Nykiel offered two acres of his land while local stone and even nails by a Polish blacksmith were used to construct the church mainly by the settlers. In 1870, Jesuit priest Leon Rogalski arrived from Krakow, spurring on building the church named after Saint Stanisław Kostka. The school attached to the church opened in 1871 with basic education in: reading, writing and arithmetic but also Polish and music.
Saint Joseph nuns later ran the school before the government took over. By the 1890s, the settlers were greatly depleted as they sought bigger holdings on land being opened in northern areas. In 1893, the remaining Polish community transferred the title to the church and the school to the Adelaide archbishop and in 1924 the school closed.
