Tea Gardens and the Engel Family
by Brian A Engel and Geoffrey Butler

This book documents the family history of a pioneering family who settled in the Port Stephens - Myall River region of New South Wales, Australia.

The First Settlers
George Peter Engel (b.17-Jan-1821; d.16-Feb-1900) emigrated from Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany, arriving in Sydney on the Harmony on 22-Sep-1849 (ex-London 20-May-1849). He was a carpenter by trade and had travelled with the third contingent of German bounty migrants, mostly vine dressers, who had been recruited by the efforts of German Consul Kirchner in Sydney. George Peter met and married Josephine Louise Diehl (b.19-Dec-1820; d. 9-Oct-1883) who had emigrated from Strasbourg, France. The wedding took place in the German Church in Sydney on 14-Jan-1852 and their first son was born on 14-Mar-1853 at Harrington Street, Sydney.

While working on bridge construction in Sydney, George Peter had to seek another source of income after his workmen deserted the job to join in the gold rush. In the mid-1850s the family decided to leave Sydney and settle on the eastern bank of the Myall River, in the region which had reverted to Crown Land in 1835, after it had been relinquished by the Australian Agricultural Company.

The family soon increased to five sons, John Alexander (b.1853), Gustav William (b.1858), George Adolph (b.1861), Henry (b.1863) and George Anton (b.1866). Because of the very poor soils on the property (The Fens), an attempt at vegetable farming was a failure so the family turned to meat trading by raising cattle, dressing it in their own abattoirs and delivering it by rowing boat to their customers along the length of the Myall River system and around Port Stephens.

Each of the five boys married and set up home on the family property. Unfortunately the farm was unable to support them all so most were forced to move out and seek employment elsewhere. John Alexander shifted to Bulahdelah where he worked all his life in the timber industry. Gustav William tried various occupations in the Raymond Terrace area before returning to Tea Gardens where he began fishing/oystering while his wife operated a guest house. George Adolph continued the original family business (est. 1888) at The Fens before moving in 1893 to Tea Gardens where he established an extensive trading empire. Henry moved to Wauk Ivory, near Gloucester to work on a dairy which was subsequently destroyed by fire. He moved his family back to Tea Gardens where he started his own dairy and then worked at various trades including ship building. George Anton took up fishing on the Myall River but he, his wife and eventually their five children all died prematurely from massive heart failure.

Josephine Louise was the youngest of ten children in her Strasbourg family. She died in 1883 and George Peter continued to live at The Fens until he died in 1900.