Teutoberg to Witta - 1916
The 1830’s saw the beginnings of substantial immigration from other than the British Isles. Immigrants came from Italy, Greece, Germany, Malta and Scandinavia. They came to avoid poverty, famine, political and religious persecution.
They came to work on goldfields, railroads, wheat fields and sugar-cane farms. By 1861 there were about 27,00 Germans in Australia and by 1890’s, 40,000. Ludwig Leichhardt came from Berlin in 1842. In Dec 1843 he explored the Blackall Ranges with John Archer.
In the late 1880’s Witta, just outside Maleny was first settled. It was originally named Teutoburg. It was originally settled and named by the Nothling Family, German migrants who had first come to Australia about 1879 and went to Bethania. They then settled the Teutoberg area in about 1887. It is said to be named after the Teutoberg area in Germany from where the family had migrated.
There was a community dispute in 1895 over who owned the land on which the German migrants would build their church. This led to two Lutheran Churches and two German communities within the one district until the issue was finally resolved in 1902.
During the 1914 -18 WW1 there was significant anti-German feeling. As a result internment of German settlers became necessary. German place names were changed to English or Aboriginal names. As a result “Teutoberg” was changed to “Witta” and it was officially gazetted in the Queensland Government Gazette of 20th May 1916. The township area officially gazetted was situated four miles north-westerly from Maleny,
There is some confusion over the name “Witta”. Whilst it is a popular consensus that the name came from an area in Germany but another version is that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word (either wutdah, meaning red cedar, or wetya, meaning dingo).
At the end of Witta Road, Witta is the Witta cemetery and a visit there gives an important insight into the original families who settled the area. Many of those names, including Nothlings, Sommers, Burgums, Teschs, just to mention a few are still well known within the Maleny / Witta communities.
Witta’s economy in the past was based mainly on dairy and beef cattle but today it is fast becoming a “bedroom area ” for the Sunshine Coast.
