Language, Acculturation and Identity in the German Community of Rural South East Queensland

Abstract

This paper discusses the maintenance of German language and culture in a rural settlement in Australia. The study is based on interview data gathered among first generation German immigrants who settled in South-East Queensland between 1955 and 2001. The paper focuses on two main aspects of language maintenance: firstly, the impact of the assimilationist ideological climate in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s and of multiculturalism from the 1970s onwards; secondly, the rural Queensland setting. The first part of the paper reviews the history of German migration to Australia with specific emphasis on South-East Queensland. The second part describes the study and discusses respondents’ German identity, their experiences of cultural and linguistic adjustment in mainstream Australian society and their efforts and attitudes towards maintaining their German language. The findings of this research demonstrate that covert and overt assimilationist policies have had a crucial impact on the intergenerational maintenance of German language and the shaping of German–Australian identities.

Keywords:

• acculturation
• German Australians
• language maintenance and shift
• language and identity
• language attitudes