The Schmidtkes first emigrated to Australia from Posen, near the Polish German border in 1882. August Schmidtke and his wife, Pauline (nee Welk) settled at Peters Hill, near Marrabel and Saddleworth in the Mid North. When Pauline died 16 days after giving birth to their fifth child, leaving August with five young children, he married a widow with three sons, Anna Maria Schumann, and had another five children.
