Johann Friedrich Krummnow (or Krumnow) (1811 – 3 October 1880) was a German-born settler in Australia. He arrived in South Australia in 1839 and in 1852 he founded a community named Herrnhut located near Penshurst in western Victoria. This was Australia's first intentional community based on the principles of shared property and fervent prayer. Krummnow died at Herrnhut in October 1880.
Arrival in Australia
Johann Friedrich Krummnow was born in 1811 in Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, (later known as Poznań, Poland) and was raised in a German community. He worked as a tailor, cobbler and teacher and was an adherent of a variety of the Moravian Brethren within the Lutheran faith. He arrived in Port Adelaide, on 22 January 1839 from Hamburg on the ship, Catharina, with a group of dissidents, 'Kavel's People'. On board ship he taught girls but was deemed "not completely satisfactory and the community did not allow him to teach in Australia". Although thwarted in his ambition to be ordained as a Lutheran pastor, Krummnow held regular prayer meetings in private homes. By 1842 he was a naturalised English citizen and was legally able to purchase land. At Lobethal German settlers provided Krummnow with the funds for land purchases to establish a community: Krummnow wanted it based on his own principles of shared property and fervent prayer. The Lobethal settlers rejected Krummnow's vision and legally disputed his right to the land titles. After 1847 he spent three years as a missionary: living and working with Indigenous Australian communities around Mount Gambier.
Krummnow is described by Theodore Hebart in 1881:
A similar description appeared in the Hamilton Spectator in November 1880:
Fearing possible excommunication from the Lutheran church for his unorthodox religious views, Krummnow left South Australia.
Founding of Herrnhut
By 1851 Krummnow had moved to the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood where he worked as a tailor, cobbler and preacher. He then moved to Germantown (later called Grovedale), near Geelong, which had been established by Lutherans in 1849. In 1852 a group of German migrants, led by Krummnow, pooled their resources and purchased of land near Mount Rouse, in western Victoria about north-west from Penshurst. As the leader and a naturalised British subject, the title deeds were in Krummnow's name. The settlers erected a number of stone dwellings, including a church described by the Belfast Gazette in 1857 (reprinted in The Argus) as a "very substantial stone church ... [it] is 60 feet long by 27 feet in width, and the roof is 40 feet from the floor ... cost of the building, we are informed, has been nearly £1,800". The settlement was named Herrnhut – after a Moravian Brethren refuge in Saxony – and numbered less than 40 individuals. The Belfast Gazette further praised "the people, proverbially sober and industrious, are prospering as they deserve to do".
The farm predominantly ran sheep but also had a small number of cattle and horses. Krummnow became an accomplished shearer – giving demonstrations to local farmers. Soon, however, the harmony of the group was interrupted by a dispute about the ownership of the Herrnhut land. Krummnow had made the title of sale in his name alone, despite having used funds from the community to purchase the land. His refusal to change this prompted several members to leave the community and leave with nothing. Other Lutherans in the district were discontent with Krummnow, after his group had purchased some 200 Queensland cattle, "a number of these Lutherans with whips and dogs drove the cattle at a gallop to the Station. The cattle were nearly fat, with the result (that) the whole mob died before morning. The resulting loss was 2000 pounds, a severe blow from which the Moravian never recovered".
Krummnow is part of the area's local folklore and it is often difficult to separate the legend from the man. It is said that his treatment of children was overly strict and often violent. Krummnow believed that medicine was unnecessary and all internal ailments could be cured by prayer alone. In May 1864 at the inquest into the death of one of his followers, George Karger, Krummnow described the group's beliefs:
Herrnhut opened its doors to impoverished and destitute peoples as well as providing shelter, food and money for Indigenous Australian communities in times of crisis. At one stage Herrnhut "gave sanctuary to over three hundred aborigines who hunted kangaroos on the property and left many middens at their camping ground".