Introduction: From the notes of Helen M. Lindsay, Canberra, ACT. (my father's cousin)

Friedrich Wilhelm with his wife Anna Elizabeth (nee Muhlnickel)Semmler. Reasons for Migration:
       Religious persecution forced so many families to leave their homeland and  venture in faith, to new lands such as Australia and also America.       As early as the 17th Century, the rulers of Prussia had attempted to dictate to  their subjects in matters of religion, however these early attempts failed and the  great majority of the people remained loyal to the Lutheran Church.       Then Friedrich Wilhelm I tried "union" of the two Churches (Lutheran and  Reformed) rather than "conversion" of the Lutherans. The Lutheran Pastors were  forbidden to raise their voices in objection to this new approach.       The next ruler, Friedrich the Great, was less concerned with this policy, but  when Friedrich Wilhelm III came to the throne of Prussia in the late 18th Century, he  determined to follow the policy of the "union". He also tried to impose a form of  worship which the Lutherans violated the scripture.
       By a decree issued in 1823 he called on all the ministers to subscribe only to  the confessions of the New Church, established by himself.
       To continue in the teachings and practices of the Lutheran Church meant secrecy  and hardship and if caught, punishment. Therefore many Lutherans considered migration  to be their only solution.
       Through the generosity of the English Baptist, George Fife Angas, the first  sailing ship with German Lutherans on board arrived in Port Adelaide in 1839. Several  more ship-loads arrived within a few short years under the assistance of Mr. Angas  and despite opposition from the Prussian Government.
       About the mid 19th Century Johann Rudolph Muhlnickle arrived in Australia and  it was apparently because of his letters, encouraging migration to his sister, Anna  Elizabeth (married to Friedrich Wilhelm Semmler) that the Semmler family also decided  to migrate.
       From records it appears that the Semmler family lived in the Province of Posen  in Prussia, which is today, Poland. They apparently lived in Neckla and/or Briesen  and Braunsdorf seems to have been their congregation.
       These places are approximately 20 miles from the city of Poznan (Posen) towards  Warsaw. They would almost certainly have sailed for Australia from the Port of  Hamburg.

      It is from these early origins to where our "Australian" history commenced. 

Helen Lindsay provided much of the early well researched information on the  Semmler, Hahn and Kubal branches of the family and Rona Schilling much of the Harder- Harders branch back in 1980. I decided at that time to incorporate it into my  original family tree on computer.
       Since then I have obtained additional information from various family members,  and other sources. I recently have put my mother's and my father-in-laws family trees  onto this Tribal Pages Website, a Private site requiring an Access code available  only to family members.
       I have added some of Helen's information on each main family member, as per her  original hard copy under "People and Stories" along with additional stories of my  own.
     
       This has been a project on and off again, for 29 years in the making,  and of course family trees being what they indeed are, will never be complete.        It is a legacy for my children and grand children and YOURS, to know of and  take pride in their fore-fathers and their Heritage. This is not simply MY family  tree, it is OURS and though I have many of the family branches included, I am lacking  dates for some younger members, therefore any additional information and photographs  (room for tones of them) or stories are indeed most welcome to be included.       I give you an insight into the Harder-Harders Semmler families, purely from my  point of view, as I believe I owe it to them to help keep alive their memory for the  time and effort that they invested in my upbringing and if it deviates from the  conventional, then no offence is meant but rather, the kind of tribute that I  sincerely believe they would have me pay them.
       I sincerely thank Helen and Rona for instilling in me the desire to one day  ensure that a version of our family history is on computer for all the family to have  access to and those family members who have already supplied me with material, and  have been such a wonderful source of information and those who have offered to loan  or photocopy photo's and documents for the purpose of this family record,  particularly all of my Semmler Aunts, especially Dot, Kath, Mavis, Valma and Lorna,  bless her heart, as those who knew her well will understand that no sooner had I  posted the request for info, that I had it back in the very next mail, also to Ash  McPhee, Lorna's grandson, many thanks.

I extend a very "special" thank you to Lynne Dawe for permitting me to add a  great deal of her information on the Western Australian Harders branch of the family,  (some of which will be added in the next few weeks)along with an extra two dozen  Dahlenburg family members. 
       My tree only dates back to Hans Harder born: 1674, earlier information is  purely with Lynne's gracious consent, as my own original tree's members are only some  1760 members strong. 
       All information of Lynne's is shown with her as a citation, and the information  has been extensively resourced by her. With the exception of a few extra branches of  the Harders family that I had, Lynne has indeed resourced this much further with all  the Western Australian branch.

If I have made any mistakes with dates etc. they are unintentional, as I have  simply compiled this from the information at hand at this time. And from my own  stories I hope the reader will find as much enjoyment in sharing my family's  experiences as I did ... by being there.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Dianne (nee Semmler) Haines.