Hermann Rieck

 ( People From Delmenhorst ) 

At the time that Rieck settled in Korora, Aboriginal people and timber getters lived in the area, but there was no farming. He initially lived in a lean-to built in the space between the spurs of a large fig tree. In 1887, he built a hut made of slabs and lined with many thicknesses of newspaper. Accessed 171222. He established a farm where he experimented with a variety of crops, including sugar cane, maize, fruit, tobacco and pumpkins, as well as running livestock. Accessed 17/12/2022. He pioneered a method of clearing plots for cultivation by using pigs to dig up and manure the soil.

Rieck was naturalized as a British subject in the colony of New South Wales in 1886.

The only available transport out for the bananas was a weekly mail coach and an occasional ship to Sydney. Other farmers were slow to follow Rieck and he remained the only grower in the region for decades. People thought that bananas would not grow well in a climate so far south and Rieck was regarded as a ‘crank’. However, gradually people came around and newcomers started growing them. By the 1940s, the Coffs Harbour area had become a major centre of banana growing in Australia. Accessed 171222.

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Marriage

Wanting to marry, but thinking that no woman would want to come to such a remote place, Rieck advertised in newspapers for a governess to educate his non-existent children. Accessed 1/1/23. Fanny Cox, who had worked as a teacher in South Australia, Accessed 1/1/23. answered his advertisement and travelled to the area by ship. Rieck showed her around his home and property, but she became alarmed when it became apparent that there was no wife and children living there. When he admitted to deceiving her, she was angry and demanded to be taken to Grafton where she had friends to stay with. Nevertheless, she agreed to marry him, and they were married in Grafton in 1892. Accessed 2 January 2023. Despite this unconventional start to the marriage, it was reported to be a happy one.

In 1899, the Riecks travelled to Europe and stayed 9 years, touring on bicycles through England, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.‘Laura’s Early Days’. Laura Standard and Crystal Brook Courier, 6 April 1928, p. 3. Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188862346. Accessed 2 January 2023. While they were away, the Rieck farm was managed by Fanny’s brother, Tom Cox. The Riecks returned to Korora in 1908.

The Riecks had no children.

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Journalism

Hermann Rieck wrote articles promoting the Coffs Harbour region for a range of Australian newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, including a German-language newspaper in South Australia.‘Early Coffs Harbour: How Settlers Fared’. Coffs Harbour Advocate 23 Nov 1926. Trove. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188559341. Accessed 2 January 2023. His articles induced many people to settle in the area.

While on their bicycle tours in Europe, Hermann and Fanny Rieck wrote a series of jointly authored articles about their travels, which were published in several Australian newspapers. Accessed 2 January 2023. Accessed 2 January 2023.

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Final years

By 1913, Hermann Rieck had failing health and was advised to live in a colder climate.‘Exiled in Germany- In Munich Before and After the War’ by Mrs Fanny E. Rieck. Queenslander, 27 October 1923, page 5. Trove. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22648666. Accessed 2 January 2023. They moved to Munich, Germany, where they bought a house in the village of Deisenhofen. When war broke out in 1914, they were detained as prisoners of war, but allowed to live in their home with restrictions. They suffered greatly from the shortage of food due to the war and from the cold. After the Armistice, when the German Mark experienced hyperinflation, they were affected by loss of the value of their savings. In 1921, their cottage caught fire and belongings were lost. Hermann Rieck had a stroke in July 1921 and died in August that year. He was buried in Deisenhofen.

Fanny Rieck was able to raise sufficient funds from sale of their cottage to return Coffs Harbour in 1922,‘Home and Foreign Parts’. By Mrs. Fanny E. Rieck. Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW). 23 September 1922, p. 6. Trove. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194694232. Accessed 2 January 2023. where she lived in difficult financial circumstances. In 1928, she returned to live in Laura, South Australia, where she had grown up. She died there in 1942. Accessed 17 December 2022.

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Places named after Rieck

There are several places in the Coffs Harbour area named after Hermann Rieck, although some of them have misspelled his name as ‘Reick’. These are:

• Herman Reick Avenue, Korora

• Reicks Close, Sapphire Beach

• Riecks Point and Riecks Point Beach, Sapphire Beach

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Categories: People From Delmenhorst, German Farmers, German Journalists, 19th-century Australian Farmers, Australian Journalists, 1830s Births, 1921 Deaths, Year Of Birth Uncertain