Hermann Homburg as South Australia's attorney general raided in his office by soldiers with bayonets in 1914
Hermann Homburg, who was South Australian attorney general in 1909-10, 1912-15 and 1927-30, wrote about his experiences during both world wars in South Australian Lutherans and War-Time Rumours (1947)
Hermann Homburg, eldest son of Robert Homburg who became a South Australian supreme court judge in 1905, followed his father into law and politics as attorney general but in an era when Australia was twice at war with Germany.
Born in 1874 at Adelaide’s Norwood and educated at Prince Alfred College and Adelaide University, Herman Homburg entered his father's legal firm, Homburg & Melrose, in 1897 and married Emma Lydia Louisa Herring in an Anglican ceremony, although he was a free thinker. Homburg’s community involvement included captain of Glen Osmond Cricket Club and chairman of the North Adelaide Cycling Club.
In 1906-15/1927-30, he was a non-Labor member for Murray in the House of Assembly and 1933-41 a member of the Legislative Council (Central No.2). He was attorney-general under premier Archibald Peake in 1909-10 and also industry minister in 1912-15, and attorney-general and industry minister in 1927-30 in Richard Butler’s ministry.
Homburg was widely read in English and German. His fluent German was accent-free and he tried to memorise one passage of German literature a day going to work on the tram. His patriarchal manner annoyed those who politically or personally crossed him. As attorney-general, he matched his father’s integrity and was extremely efficient and capable minister. His quick turn of phrase against political opponents and hecklers at meetings added to polarising feelings against him.
In 1914, at the start of World War I, he was in his office as attorney-general when it was raided by soldiers with fixed bayonets. Next January, his resignation, to avoid embarrassing the government in the next election, was regretfully accepted by Peake. Homburg wrote of the “campaign of lies and calumnies against me … because I am not of British lineage”. His brother Robert, a member of the House of Assembly for Burra Burra from 1912, also resigned in 1915 because of “gross slanders” about his loyalty.
Defeated at the election in 1915, Herman Homburg was as much a victim of the swing to Labor as his ancestry. He unsuccessfully contested the Murray seat again in 1924, won it in 1927, lost it in 1930.
Between the wars, he was a leader of Adelaide's secular German community. His home, reflecting traditions of German culture, was possibly even more German after World War I. The German way became ideological for Homburg who was bitter that 67 German place names in South Australia had been changed in 1918.
With Hitler's rise, Homburg failed to appreciate how culture was used by the Nazis. His voluble support for German ways was tactless. The authorities suspected him by the time World War II started in 1939, even if he saw the difference between culture and politics: “Because you … cultivate a love of German literature and music, does not mean you are disloyal to the country you have adopted as your own”.
Homburg’s home and private office were searched and he was interned in November 1940 but released after appeal, under conditions including that he move interstate. In 1941, he was taken to Melbourne and moved to Ballarat. He retired from parliament. In December 1942, he was allowed back to Adelaide, reporting to the police three times a week for 18 months.
No evidence presented against Homburg was more than circumstantial, unsubstantiated or inconsequential. The judges at his appeal said “it is obvious that one or more of the persons reporting may have a grudge against the objector Homburg and under pledge of secrecy be willing to lie to cause him distress and trouble”. The War Precautions Act, that allowed accusation without proof, allowed old scores to be settled.
Homburg recorded his experiences in both wars in South Australian Lutherans and War-Time Rumours (1947). Homburg continued to practise as a solicitor in Adelaide until his death in 1964.
