As told by John Drummond in July 2001.
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The story of the Trudewinds in Australia and Wodonga, (and those two things are synonymous for they are the only family of that name who ever came here), began on February 20, 1868, when my grandfather, Anton, arrived in Melbourne on the sailing ship the Suffolk. The voyage took three months to the day.
They left East India docks, London, in November 1867.
My grandfather was born in Eversberg, Germany, which is a very small village two-thirds of the way up the country towards the Belgian border somewhere near the Ruhr River Valley.
Anton didn't come on his own, and for that story I rely on Des Martin's book A Tale of Twin Cities. Albert Schlink, who was the patriarch of the famous Schlink family of Wodonga, moved here a year or two prior to that - about 1866. He acquired land along the Huon Creek Road, and I suspect it was part of what was later Des Martin's property.
Albert Schlink needed a wife. There was nothing available locally so he went back to Germany and he married Francesca Trudewind in October 1867. This lady was not an immediate connection of our family, obviously related but I don't know how. Apparently her parents insisted they had a chaperone, and her cousin Herbert, joined them on the voyage. So, on that particular voyage was Albert Schlink, his bride, Francesca, their cousin, Herbert, and my grandfather, Anton.
Herbert was 44 when he arrived here. He lived with the Schlinks. He died at the age of 59 years, so he only lived for another 15 years after he arrived in Wodonga. He was buried with the Schlinks - Albert, Francesca, and a couple of their children who died very young in life.
On September 24, 1869, approximately 16 months later, my great-grandfather, Anton's youngest brother, also named Herbert, who was 14 years of age, arrived on the Somersetshire. They must have got the message from Anton that Wodonga wasn't a bad sort of place and decided to make it their home too.
