Blanka Buring Investigated By Military Police Intelligence Section

Blanka Buring Investigated By Military Police Intelligence Section

On the 27th June 1940 Miss Stella Armstrong made a report to the police about Miss Blanka Buring. The following is a paraphrase of the original report which I obtained from the National Archives of Australia.

Miss Armstrong says that she met Miss Buring about two or three years ago at the Women’s Club in Elizabeth St, Sydney. Miss Armstrong believes that Miss Buring is of German nationality. Stella reported that Blanka had said to her she hated England and was going to visit her beloved Germany.

Miss Armstrong also reports that Blanka had received an unexpected dividend in 1939 and that she was deciding whether to buy a car, or a house in Avalon. Stella noted to the police that Blanka also had a sister in South Australia.

As I was unfamiliar with this kind of activity I did some searching for context. I knew that German people were interned during World War II but I didn’t realise that every day Australians of German descent were reported on and then questioned by the police.

During World War II the Police Subversive Organisations Branch combined with elements of the Commonwealth Police, Navy and Army to form the Military Police Intelligence Branch to fulfill the role of a domestic security service. This involved the monitoring and control of enemy aliens, internees, prisoners of war, and suspected enemy agents plus the prevention of espionage, sabotage, sedition, and trading with the enemy.

Transcript of the above statement

No 14 Police Station Manly 12 July 1940

We beg to report having interviewed Miss Blanka Buring of Plateau Road, Avalon, on the 11th, instant, with the following result.
Miss Buring stated that she reside (sic) alone, does not associate with the local residents, and drives to town twice or three times a week in her own car.
She is about 60 years of age and was born in Australia of German parents, who came to Australia from Germany when they were each three or four years of age. Her parents are now deceased, and during their lifetime neither of them visited Germany. They were engaged in business as wine merchants and her brother Leo Buring, who resides at Emu Plains, is still connected with the same business. She receives an income from the South Australian branch of this business. She has been residing in this district for about two years, and is considered to be of good reputation but of an eccentric nature, as she has been observed walking alone on the roadway muttering to herself.
She has no associates in this locality except that she occasionally calls at the local store and Post Office.
She stated that she had visited a number of foreign countries including Spain, Italy and Germany and was last in Germany in the year 1929 for a period of three weeks when she was investigating social service work. During the year 1936, she visited England, Spain and France. On her return to Australia she resided at Mosman and later moved to Avalon. She stated that she was a most loyal British subject, and that in regard to the war, her sympathies were definitely with the British. She said “I think it must be admitted that one can find some good in every country, and I do think that Germany was unjustly treated in the Versailles Treaty. Having travelled (sic) about the world a lot, I am naturally broadminded and people do not seem to understand my outlook. I do not remember ever making any remark that could have been interpreted as being disloyal.”
This person is not required to register as an alien.

There wasn’t anything further of note in this packet from the National Archives.

Apart from being astounded at this course of events I also learnt a lot about Blanka from her statement. I didn’t know from where she derived her income so finding out that she was supported by Leo’s business answers my questions about how she could afford her overseas travel. This also explains her owning her own house and car. I am pleased to know she was comfortable at this stage in her life.

Instead of thinking of her as eccentric as the report suggests we would now think of Blanka, perhaps as an introvert who kept to herself. In her own words she says that people didn’t understand her, “I am naturally broadminded and people do not seem to understand my outlook.” By this time in her life Blanka had worked as a nurse, volunteered on boards and in training new social workers. Her broad-mindedness would have served her well in those endeavours. Blanka wrote about the need for social workers in hospitals and investigated what other countries were doing in this regard during her travels however I have yet to ascertain whether she worked as a social worker herself in hospitals or elsewhere.

This blog post is part of a series I’m writing about Blanka Buring. The previous post in this series is:

An Interesting Journey

You Can Research Your Home

If you live in an older home in South Australia you may be able to find out about it by following the tips from the State Library and State Records of South Australia, you don’t need to be a historian to find things out.

You will be surprised by what you can find out about the home you live in.

The State Library has a downloadable guide for Researching your locality in the collections of the State Library of South Australia which covers

Almanacs and directories
• Architecture in South Australia
• Mapping sources for South Australian history
• South Australian newspapers

as well as Tracing the History of a House

State Records has House or Property History which takes you through how to use their Archives Search, the South Australian Integrated Land Information System (SAILIS), Location SA, Maps of the Surveyor General’s Office, 1808-1946, land tax assessment returns and more.

An Interesting Journey

An Interesting Journey

I’m beginning an interesting journey to research and publish articles about my 1st cousin 3x removed Blanka Buring. Blanka is the sister of well known Australian wine expert Leo Buring. There are many, many websites, articles, books etc about Leo but very little about Blanka or her sisters Meta and Edelgarde. My main focus at the moment is Blanka. This will be a long term project which I’ll be able to work on in between my other work and interests.

No one in my immediate family had any photos of Blanka so I was thrilled to find one right at the start of this research.

I’ve done a small amount of editing to the photo as it is a newspaper photo and very poor quality. I haven’t been able to remove the discolouration and make it look passable yet.

Blanka was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 24 Mar 1881 and died in Avalon, New South Wales on 11 Jun 1956. She is the youngest surviving child of Theodor Gustav Hermann Buring and Henriette Friedricke Louisa Lina Dohrenwendt.

Blanka attended Norwood school and the Advanced School For Girls whose purpose was to prepare girls for entry into the University of Adelaide. She passed her Junior Examination in 1896 and Senior in 1898. Blanka then went on to study Invalid Cookery at the School of Mines in 1912 and Nursing at Adelaide Hospital (now Royal Adelaide Hospital) in 1913. In 1915 she also completed study at Queen’s Home which became the Queen Victoria Hospital. This study was possibly in midwifery or paediatric nursing.

After a time of nursing in Western Australia and after the death of her father she began travelling the world. Her trips throughout the 1920s and 30s included British Columbia, America, Crete, and Spain. I am yet to find out the full extent of her travels. The newspaper reports of her travels speak about her interest in social work particularly with regard to nursing and hospitals.

I am currently researching the influences in Blanka’s life growing up and whilst at university to see from where this interest in social work came. I have found connections to Catherine Helen Spence and indirectly Miles Franklin. Blanka’s uncle Heinrich Franz Rudolph Buring and his family were all part of the Adelaide Unitarian church right down through the generations to my mother. The Unitarian beliefs of social justice and individual beliefs (no one guiding creed) may have also influenced Blanka however I still need to confirm this.

I won’t go into detail of Blanka’s life achievements here on my blog just yet. This will come in future posts.

This is a far deeper dive into an individual’s life than I have previously undertaken. It differs from my usual genealogical research in that I wouldn’t usually look heavily into childhood or family influences in someone’s life. I do look at historical context and people’s achievements when researching but nothing like this depth of research. It is very interesting and has so many aspects of life in South Australia, feminism, German immigrants and Adelaide society that I am very happy to have found this wonderful person to research and write about. There is so little about Australian women’s achievements from the turn of the century that I’m hoping to add a small piece to the wider picture.

Another area where this research differs from genealogical research is the software I am using. Being a proponent of Free and Open Source Software I am using Zotero to gather and organise my research rather than a commercial, proprietary software such as Endnote or others. Not having been to university I hadn’t used this form of software before but I am finding Zotero extremely easy to use and will continue to use it in my future genealogical research.

The journey continues……….

What I’m Doing During COVID 19 Isolation

I thought I would write a bit about what I’m doing during this isolation time. I am self-isolating at home because I have pre-existing health conditions which put me at risk if I were to contract the Corona Virus.

I love crafts and have several on the go at the moment. I’m crocheting large and colourful pieces to yarn bomb the tree in my front yard. I’ll do another post with pictures when it is finished.

I’m doing some cross stitch along with many others as part of the Stitch and Resist project.

“Through the act of craftivism we hope to
make connections and community
make political statements
make important cultural objects
make a difference
and make change

I’ve also been doing some traditional wet felt making.

In Progress
Finished Pieces

I’m not sure yet but I may try and make something which incorporates all three of these crafts. If it happens I will post photos.

Facebook, genealogy, my grandchildren and my pets are also keeping me occupied during this time. What are you doing to fill the hours?

January Genea Pourri

January Genea Pourri

I have been inspired by Jill aka GeniAus and Alex at Family Tree Frog to write about what genealogy related things I’ve been up to.

Early in the month I started a new 6 generation pedigree tree for a customer.  These are some of the things I have found out so far:

  • one ancestor had a joint patent on the South Australian icon the Stobie pole with the inventor James Cyril Stobie 
  • another was instrumental in opening up the goldfields in Kalgoorlie/Boulder in Western Australia and was knighted for their efforts at home during World War I.
  • one was a postage stamp printer and their grandfather was a pioneering printer in Glasgow, Scotland.

I’m currently using a combination of Ancestry, Find My Past, Family Search, Scotland’s People, National Library of Scotland, Trove, Google Books/Maps/Newspapers, State Library of South Australia to research this family.

Although it’s an online tree that I’m building I still use a Family Group Sheet word processor document to record family members who I’m not sure belong in the tree I’m creating, so while I still have questions about them I’ll keep them in a document until I’m sure they belong in the online tree.

I maintain a Facebook group Saving Graves South Australia as well as the public page which goes with it Say No To Reuse of Graves.  There has been lots of activity lately as we were shocked to find out just last week that human bones had been found in a rubbish heap at Cheltenham Cemetery, South Australia.  Adelaide Cemeteries Authority has assured our members that they’re conducting an internal review of procedures.  We are encouraging our members to keep in touch with the ACA and follow-up on this event.

I have visitors stay with me from the couchsurfing.com website.  Just recently a lovely woman from England who is a military history buff stayed with me.  She had heard about a military museum on Yorke Peninsula and wanted to know if there was public transport to get there.  She was disappointed when I explained that there was no public transport and hiring a car would cost too much.  I decided to take her and we set off on our road trip.  It took us three hours to get there but it was well and truly worth it.  This large museum covers many buildings and contains not just military memorabilia but many historical artefacts and photos.

Bublacowie Military Museum

 

Isaac Ludlam Executed For Treason

The Pentrich Revolution

Jeremiah Brandreth, William Turner and Isaac Ludlam were considered the revolution ring leaders and labelled the Pentrich Three.  With over 500 men they set out to march on London to petition the King to better workers’ rights.

Jeremiah Brandreth, or the `Nottingham Captain’, was to actually lead the rebellion. Despite some rather wild stories about his origins, Brandreth was an unemployed framework knitter from Sutton in Ashfield. He had, almost certainly, been involved in Luddite activities.

Sunday 8th June 1817, Brandreth spoke at a crowded meeting in the White Horse Inn in Pentrich………

The rebels assembled at 10 am at Hunt’s Barn in Garner’s Lane, South Wingfield, to march to Ripley. The march route.

There was a traitor to the rebellion, in their midst, and they were stopped at Eastwood the following day.

By early morning, the two groups had come together again and had reached Eastwood. There, two magistrates accompanied by twenty fully armed men and Officers of the 15th Light Dragoons, met them. Mundy, one of the magistrates, afterwards described the confrontation: “we came in sight of the mob who though at three quarters of a mile’s distance from us no sooner saw the troops, then they fled in all directions…throwing away their arms”. Not a single shot was fired and, within a very short space of time, 48 men were captured. Some, however, stayed at large for quite a while. Isaac Ludlam was arrested at Uttoxeter, Brandreth at Bulwell………..

…….. all of the prisoners were isolated until the time of their trial in Derby; their relatives sold everything, down to their beds, to provide funds for their defence and a committee was formed in London to campaign for their release. 46 men of Pentrich, South Wingfield, Alfreton and Heanor, were indicted at the Derby Assizes on 26th July 1817 as having committed High Treason, along with “a multitude of false traitors, …500 or more”. The overwhelming majority of those on trial were labourers and framework knitters, but there was one each of a farmer, tailor, blacksmith and sawyer.

On 7 Nov 1817 Jeremiah Brandreth, Isaac Ludlam and William Turner were executed by hanging and beheading.

These sites provide more information about Isaac Ludlam and the Pentrich Revolution.

At the bottom right hand corner of the above image are my grandparents Jim and Bette Hardy.   Charles T Hardy my great grandfather changed his name from Wigley to Hardy as did my Grandfather.  If you follow the tree upwards you will find Isaac Ludlam near the top right hand corner.  Isaac Ludlam and Obadiah Wigley married sisters.  Isaac was also a witness at Obadiah and Mary Wheatcroft’s wedding.

In researching this blog post I’ve also found out that William Wheatcroft, Mary’s brother also took part in the revolutionary march.  That’s three brothers in law who took part.  William and Obadiah suffered no direct repercussions  however, as stated above, their relatives sold everything, down to their beds, to provide funds for their defence. 

The defeat in court and the deaths of Brandreth, Turner and Ludlam must have had a huge impact on them but Isaac’s death would have had the biggest of all.  Fourteen of their fellow revolutionaries were transported to Australia, six were jailed in England, twelve were tried and freed and many more were apprehended but not charged.

Obadiah and Mary Wigley moved to Mansfield, Nottinghamshire some time between the revolution and Obadiah’s death in 1828.  This move affected their son James as you can see in this blog post.