Books and pamphlets
Published by Volkhard Wehner, 1978-2008; a select list
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Except for A Melbourne Doctor, Letters from Ireland and Tea and Charity, the books listed above are currently out of print.
Books currently in print
Contact the author if you wish to purchase any of these books.
Heimat Melbourne; A History of the German-Speaking Community of Melbourne – 1855-1865
2010
c. 350 pages
Cost: $35 retail, plus postage
This comprehensive history of the German-speaking community of Melbourne in the very early life of the Colony of Victoria offers for the first time a comprehensive overview of the enormous contribution made to Victoria, and in particular to Melbourne, by German-speaking immigrants.
Although forming less than 2% of the total population of Victoria, and even less of Melbourne, the contribution of such illustrious scientists as Dr (later Baron von) Mueller, Professor Neumayer and John Kruse, of artists like von Guerard, Grosse and Hennings, of architects like Kawerau, Kuersteiner and Schneider, of composers, conductors and musicians like Elsaesser, Siede and Sprinckhorn, of doctors, newspaper editors, educators and writers, of explorers like Ludwig Becker, William Brahe and Hermann Beckler, of numerous artists, scientists, writers, pastors and businessmen is almost unimaginable. Yet, the aftermath of two 20th century world wars has led to most of them being forgotten, their great contributions now largely unknown and un-acknowledged.
The 15 chapters of this 350-page book cover the history of Germany between 1815 and 1850, immigration to Australia, life in gold-time ‘Marvellous Melbourne’, German associations (Vereine), the German press of Melbourne, religious institutions and the Lutheran church, schools and education, medical services, the German business community, music, art and architecture, literature, the theatre, science and technology, the German contribution to exploration (Burke and Wills), and an assessment of the community’s leaders.
The painstaking work of 35 years of research by this writer has at last brought together much information, adding details to many forgotten lives, and attempting to clear up many misunderstandings.
lIlustrated with maps, photographs and drawings, there are also extensive notes and bibliographies.
Links:
There are numerous links to be found under search terms like Germans, Melbourne, Victoria, Immigration, Burke and Wills, etc.
Some useful ones include the following:
Wendish Heritage Society of Australia
German Australia
The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online
Germans in Victoria – 19th Century
A Year in my Garden 1905; to which is appended
The Story of the ‘Lost Garden of Murrumbeena’ and its Owners
2008
Over 300 pages
Cost: $42
A Year in my Garden is an Australian gardening classic. First published in 1905, it has occasionally been quoted by gardening writers: its charm and evocative style, besides its old-fashioned gardening knowledge, are quite irresistible.
It is surprising therefore that the book’s author is one of gardening history’s most elusive figures who must rightly be considered one of Edna Walling’s major precursors.
Besides presenting a full reprint of the original edition, the present editor has added to the book a substantial sequel entitled ‘The Story of the Lost Garden of Murrumbeena and its Owners’ as well as some additional illustrations. Beside the history of this lost garden, here is told the almost unknown story of gardening writer, rose and flower show judge and inspired garden designer Margaret Tuckett (‘Mrs Arthur Tuckett’) as well as the story of the garden’s second (and last) owner, the far more well-known physician, keen cyclist and bushwalker, art collector and medical pioneer Dr John Springthorpe.
The book is directed to readers interested in gardens, gardening and Melbourne history.
A Melbourne Doctor and his Generation: Leonard Bell Cox, 1894-1976; Neurologist, Orientalist, Art Collector, Gardener
by Volkhard Wehner, with contributions by neurology professor Mervyn J. Eadie and historian Monica Wehner.
2004
550 pages
Cost: $35
This is a monumental biography of a remarkable Melbourne man—a pioneering neurologist, art collector and researcher, National Gallery chairman and rhododendron specialist.
The authors wrap the life of Leonard Cox around the cultural and social life of Melbourne during the first three quarters of the 20th century. Among the highlights of the book are substantial chapters on Cox’s experiences as an AIF doctor in France during World War I, his career as a physician and self-taught pioneering neurologist from the early 1920s onwards, including a historical summary of medical life in Melbourne and Cox’s work as a senior consultant at the Alfred Hospital and neurology lecturer at the University of Melbourne, his activities as a collector of oriental art and assumption of a leading role as the National Gallery of Victoria’s honorary curator of oriental art and later as chairman of trustees of the NGV during the time the National Gallery was built in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. And during his years of retirement Cox continued to play a leading public role by participating in rhododendron culture and research at the National Rhododendron Gardens at Olinda.
Well received, the book has been reviewed or mentioned in journals as divers as the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience; the Royal Historical Society of Victoria’s History News; the journal Health and History; the journal Qi (annual publication of the Australian Chinese Medical Association); the journal Gallery, issued by the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Trust of Victoria’s Trust News, as well as several other publications.
Not a specialist, technical or medical book, it is aimed at the general reader with an interest in the history of medical, cultural and social life in Melbourne in the 20th century.
Download the index of the book here
The index is in PDF format and requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be obtained for free from the Adobe website.
Letters from Ireland; An AIF Doctor's Visit to Ireland in 1918
2004
24 pages
Cost: $20
An annotated collection of letters illustrating the lighter side of life of AIF personnel in World War I.
Tea and Charity; The Life and Times of James Griffiths, Tea Merchant and Philanthropist
Reprinted 2009
50 pages
Cost: $25
Available from Knox Historical Society Inc., PO Box 8124, Ferntree Gully, VIC, 3156 or by email.
A biography of the founder of the now-defunct tea, coffee and cocoa merchants, Griffiths Brothers, covering the period from the mid-19th century until the 1920s.
Works in progress
Letters from the Front; AIF Doctor Leonard Cox in the First World War
Through the Eyes of a Child: Memories of a Wartime Childhood in Saxony