Source:Graetz, Colin. Daring Pioneers

Summary

This is a family history and genealogy book on the Doering family of South Australia. The story begins with the birth of two "Christmas babies", the progenitors of the Doering clan: Emilie Wilhelmine Kunz, born in Brandenberg, Germany, a little west of Berlin, on December 22, 1844, and Carl August Döring, born on the outskirts of a town near the Polish border on December 26, 1844. After the German government moved the Kunz family to the border territory, Carl and Emilie met as teenagers and married when they were 20 years old. Because of the increasing conflicts between the Poles and the Germans, Carl felt compelled to protect his young family and made the decision to leave their farm and homeland, and in 1881 emigrated to Australia.

This book commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Doering family in Australia. In 1982 Carl and Emilie’s offspring numbered about 875. The Daring Pioneers is the story of this family.

Forward to the Book

"All descendants of Carl Doering owe a debt of gratitude to Colin Graetz, the Doering committee and those responsible for research for this book. The Daring Pioneers is a family history book that is perhaps different than the many family books printed in the last decade, as Carl and his family only arrived in South Australia in 1882, and to many would not be called as pioneers. After perusing a few pages of this book this assumption is soon found to be false. The Doerings were true pioneers or several districts in South Australia, in particular Dutton and Loxton.

"Following on from his excellent publication The White Wens of St Kitts, Colin has again written in a very heart-warming way and exemplified how the Doering forefathers pioneered on their farms, their home life, food, religion, schooling and daily living up to modern times. Colin is to be congratulated for his effort in writing this book as he is not a descendant, but as he has an appreciation of the traditions, hardship and personalities of pioneers from material given to him he has made a very interesting account of the Doering family.

"Australia is a young nation and South Australia even younger, but even so, much history of the towns and their inhabitants have been lost and to those who have the skill and dedication to go back and glean family stories from the past deserve our admiration and thanks. As a family-book author and local historian I know the time and effort which is required.

"I have known the Doering family at Dutton all my life and through this book their contribution to this State is being made known. I recommend this book as an excellent example, to anyone interested, in the way an early family pioneered in a small country community. I congratulated Colin for his dedication, and all descendants should be deeply indebted to him for this splendid effort."

--Reg. S. Munchenberg

Book Review

The Daring Pioneers, in my view, is close to what every family history book should look like and an example of a book every prospective family historian who would like to write their own ancestral history should review first and then emulate. What is fascinating is that the author, Coln Graetz, was not even a Doering offspring, and yet put life and passion into his finished manuscript. This 228-page genealogy is not only well-researched, fact-filled, and photographically poignant, but it draws the reader into the lives of its subjects, weaving genealogy, individual and family vital statistics, and historical perspective into a thoroughly interesting read, even for someone not related to the line. (I myself am a distant relative, only collaterally connected through siblings of the early family who remained in Prussia and later immigrated to United States rather than follow this branch to Australia.)

As Mr. Graetz relates in the preface of his book, "These and other facts may well have been lost in time had this book not been written." How very true. He took recorded facts and historical circumstances and spun the family folklore, legends and elderly memories of retold stories to make a rich family history that will be passed to future generations as a treasured heritage of which they will be proud.

Probably the only drawback to this book is the lack of source citations, resource documentation and references to original records. So for the avid genealogist with a connection to the family like myself, in a technical sense this book's 'reliability quality' cannot be regarded as a primary, but should be considered secondary in using it's vital statistics, and tertiary or questionable in its retelling of family folklore. --BobC 22:30, 7 March 2009 (EST)

Usage Tips

Bib ID: 2912014

Format: Book

Author: Graetz, Colin, 1944-

Publisher: Doering Family Centenary Committee, 1983. (Adelaide?)

Description: xii, 228 p. ill., maps, ports. ; 25 cm.

ISBN: 095920220X

Notes: Cover subtitle, "A history of the Doring-Doering family 1844-1983." Includes indexes.

Available from: Mrs. H. Graue, Box 9, Tanunda S.A. 5352.

Subjects: Doering family. South Australia - Genealogy.

Other Authors: Doering Family Centenary Committee

Available at the Family History Library.