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At the time of Australian Federation in 1901, German immigrants constituted two per cent of the population of Victoria.

This book examines how they settled, formed a communal infrastructure, and how they related to their Anglo-Celtic hosts. It is shown that their attempts to form a cohesive community failed, by investigating the role played by the Lutheran Church, German associations, community leaders, and the rift between rural and urban communities. The changing relationship between the British Empire, the German Reich and emerging Australian nationalism receives close attention.

The book tests and then proves a hypothesis that rural communities were more resilient and better equipped to survive, while urban communities were not.

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