PICKING THE PLUMS IN 2003

The entrance road to Das Helwig Haus B&B  is marked by a prominent sign designed and built for us by Danthonia Signs, a business which is situated about 2 hours drive south of us in New South Wales. Sign making provides work and income for a Bruderhof community. Who are the Bruderhof?

Das Helwig Haus entrance sign

There are, in the Eastern United States as well as the Dakotas and adjacent Canada , communities of Christian followers of Jakob Hutter (d. 1536), founder of the pacifist branch of the Anabaptists. This offshoot of the Radical Reformation, having endured persecutions, found their way to the New World, where they built agricultural communes and prospered. In the 20th century, a similar branch arose in Germany under the leadership of Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, first as a Christian pacifist collective, then as an intentional community.

The mother of my husband, Eberhard Helwig, then known as Lotte Peters, joined the Christian youth group led by Eberhard and Emmy in 1920. The Bruderhof began as just one among dozens of youth-oriented communes that sprang up in war-ravaged Germany.  Later Lotte married Irvine Helwig and Eberhard Arnold became the Godfather for my husband, Eberhard, born in 1926.

In a future post I’ll be writing about Eberhard’s youth in Germany, suffice to say now that for a period of time between 1929 and 1933, Eberhard’s parents left their four sons in the care of the Rhon Bruderhof while trying to establish a new life in Canada. It was during this period that Eberhard Arnold visited the Hutterite communities in the USA and Canada. After his return it was decided to shape the Bruderhof community in a similar manner to that of the Hutterites.

In the past decade the Bruderhof have established a community near Inverell in New South Wales, known as the Danthonia Bruderhof, and renewed their association with my husband.

Most similar Christian groups were short-lived, suppressed under Hitler. During his time with them in the Rhon, Eberhard remembers the Bruderhof being persecuted by the Brown Shirts of the Nazi party.

Ousted by the Nazis, the fledgling community found refuge first in England and then in Paraguay. Post-war interest in the United States led to the founding of the first American Bruderhof in 1954. Since then the movement has expanded steadily. Today there are six communities in eastern United States, two in England, and one in Australia - the Danthonia Bruderhof. When they moved to the United States, the connection with the Hutterites was severed as this group found them too much in the world. The worldliness of the Bruderhof included a shift from agricultural to industrial production, with an associated embrace of technology.

There was considerable adverse publicity in New South Wales as the Inverell rural community feared the impact of such a group within their district, but the Bruderhof were welcomed by the Inverell Shire Council. It was when reading an Australian newspaper that we first learned of their arrival and we discussed the subject with Bed and Breakfast guests from the region who were staying with us at the time. These guests took the news back to the Danthonia Bruderhof, who were delighted to discover the presence, only two hours away of Eberhard Helwig.

Since then we have had on going reciprocal visits with the Danthonia Bruderhof.

Bruderhof youth picking plums

I took the photo above of these three young people who came here as part of a group to harvest the plums in our orchard in December 2003. The men wear plain work clothes but the women of the group wear a modest costume.

The family is the primary unit of the community, though many of the members are single adults. Babies and young children are cared for in a private nursery during working hours, while kindergarten- through to school-aged children are taught in their own schools. Bruderhof teens attend the Inverell high school, after which some go on to trade schools or to the university. Others sign up for a year of service abroad, do volunteer work, or find an apartment and a job. Disabled and elderly members are also a vital part of the community. They are cared for throughout their lives by others in the community.

Picking plums in 2003

The basis of Bruderhof life is the Bible’s New Testament, in particular Jesus’ teachings on love of neighbour, non-violence, mutual service, and faithfulness in marriage. Instead of holding assets or property privately, they share everything in common, the way the early Christians did as recorded in the book of Acts. Possessions are pooled, and in turn each member is provided and cared for. Meals are eaten together, and worship and business meetings are held several evenings a week. Adult members of the Bruderhof take vows of lifelong faithfulness to God, Jesus, and to one another. They affirm that their calling is to a life of community and fellowship with others, grounded in Christian faith. Members of the Bruderhof have never seen it as their business to “convert” others; rather, they seek to live out their convictions, and let their actions speak for them.

The Das Helwig Haus plum orchard in 2003

Everyone who we met from the Bruderhof have expressed their excitement about living at Danthonia and starting a new venture in Australia. They said they welcomed visitors and were thankful for the many opportunities they have had to learn from local friends and neighbours.

In November of 2008 as Eberhard and I traversed the New England Highway down to Sydney we noted the number of unique Danthonia signs we saw, easily recognizable by gold-leaf lettering and sculpture.

I have written about my work of pumping water, irrigating the plum orchard and thinning fruit during droughts in Wildflowers wilderness and wine.

Book cover

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.

To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine send an email to helwig@halenet.com.au The price is $33.00 posted to destinations within AustraIia.

Internationally it is available on

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/

Technorati Tags: Australia, Australian, Bruderhof, Danthonia, Germany, Glen Aplin, plums, Wildflowers wilderness and wine

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