Johann Friedrich Krummnow

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Johann Friedrich Krummnow (or Krumnow) arrived in Port Adelaide, Australia on January 22, 1839 from Hamburg, Germany on the ship Catharina, having departed from Europe with a group of Lutheran dissidents known as 'Kavel's People.' Krummnow was to establish Australia's first intentional community based on the principles of shared property and fervent prayer. The community, founded in 1852, was named Herrnhut and located near Penshurst in western Victoria.

Krummnow is described by Theodore Hebart in his book The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (U.E.L.C.A.): its history, activities and characteristics, 1838-1938 in the following manner:

"Another disturbing factor of these early days was the activity of the separatist and visionary, Johann Friedrich Krummnow. He was a queer fellow, deformed and gnome-like in appearance, with a positive genius for bobbing up in the places where he was least wanted, sowing the seeds of trouble and mischief wherever he went. Clandestine prayer-meetings in Light's Pass, exorcising of evil spirits, land dealing at Lobethal - these were but some of the side-issues of his main scheme - the realisation of a communistic settlement."

He is also described in the Hamilton Spectator, November 16, 1880:

"...he was a little, deformed man (sic). His face was dark and wrinkled, his hair, black, long and unkempt. In public he always wore an overcoat of black cloth and latterly of opossum skin, which, with a broad-crowned German military 'cheesecutter' cap, completed a costume which, as I have said, was characteristic of the man."

Fearing excommunication from the Lutheran church for his unorthodox religious views, Krummnow left Adelaide and went to Melbourne, where he worked as a tailor in the suburb of Collingwood. In 1852 a group of German migrants, led by Krummnow, pooled together their resources and purchased nearly 1,600 acres (6.5 km²) of land near Mount Rose, Victoria. In a short span of time, these determined pioneers had erected a number of stone dwellings, including a large church said to be the biggest church in Victoria outside of the Melbourne area. The settlement was named Herrnhut.

Soon, however, the harmony of the group was interrupted by a dispute about the ownership of the Herrnhut land. Krummnow had made the title of sale in his name alone, despite having used funds from the community to purchase the land. His refusal to right this wrong prompted several members to leave the community and leave with nothing.

Krummnow is part of the area's local folklore and it is often difficult to separate the legend from the man. It is said that his treatment of children was overly strict and often violent. Krummnow believed that medicine was unnecessary and all ailments could be cured by prayer alone. Herrnhut is also known to have opened its arms to impoverished and destitute peoples, however, as well as shelter Aboriginal communities in times of crisis.

One of the most significant events in Herrnhut's history is the arrival of Martia Heller, a self-styled prophetess who had set up a similar community at Hills Plain near Benalla, Victoria. The Hills Plain commune failed miserably in its first year, eight of its members (among them children) dying of famine and other related ailments. Krummnow offered to bring Heller's people to Herrnhut, which he did in 1875 in a convoy of wagons.

Some accounts recall Heller as a wild woman possessed of an uneven temper, whose followers brought discontent to the austere Herrnhut community. One unsubstantiated source tells of how the Hills Plain people introduced musical instruments and dance into the community. In a short time, a rift was apparent between the old and new settlers, and in 1876, Heller and her followers left Herrnhut and dispersed.

Krummnow is said to have never fully recovered from Heller's rejection of his beliefs, and spent his remaining days under the influence of alcohol. At his death on October 3, 1879, the local folklore records that he was buried face-down so as to prevent his soul from rising to Heaven. This unsubstantiated claim is most probably false, seeing as those in attendance at Krummnow's funeral were great friends and followers of the man.

The Herrnhut community struggled on for some years until it dissipated in the late 19th century. Partial ruins of the church and other buildings still remain.