HAGENAUER, Rev. Frederick Augustust (1875-1957)Frederick (Friedrich) Augustus Hagenauer was enrolled at Geelong College from 12 February 1889 to 1891. He had previously attended Scotch College (Melbourne) from 12 March 1888 to December 1888.
Frederick Hagenauer appears in the Annual Report prize lists to 1891 and several books awarded to him are held by the Geelong College Archive.
Frederick, son of Friedrich Augustus Hagenauer (1829-1909) was born at Stratford, East Gippsland on 14 July 1957.
Pegasus in December 1957 published a brief obituary:
'Rev. Frederick Augustus Hagenauer, who died suddenly at Bairnsdale on July 14 at the age of 82, was a well-known figure in the Presbyterian Church, in which he remained active till the day of his death. Attending the College from 1889 to 1891, he then proceeded to Ormond College, was ordained at Yarram in 1900, and only retired from regular duty in 1950.
He held strong views on many church and social questions and was always a fearless fighter and a challenging preacher. In later life a throat affection and faulty eyesight did not deter him from conducting services, which he memorized in full and carried through without a hitch.' His brother,
Henry Alexander Hagenauer (1878-1949), was also educated at Geelong College. His other brothers, Gustave Alfred Hagenauer (1869-1945), and George Herman Hagenauer (1871-1959), were both educated at Scotch College (Melbourne).
Friedrich Augustus Hagenauer (1829-1909)
'Harry' Hagenhauer’s father, Friedrich Augustus Hagenauer (1829-1909), Moravian missionary, was born on 10 March 1829 at Hohenleuben, Saxony, of Lutheran parents. He left school at 14, worked for two years with his father and then on railway construction. Influenced by Pastor Lohe and Dr Schmid at Greiz, he applied in 1850 to study at Herrnhut, Ebersdorf, where the Brotherhood of Moravian priests accepted him as a missionary trainee in 1851. On 27 November 1856 he was instructed to go to Victoria with F W Spieseke who had returned to Europe after the Lake Boga Mission, established with La Trobe’s help in 1851, was abandoned.
The Central Board appointed to watch over the interests of the Aborigines, which first met on 7 June 1860, set up two stations and planned more government depots and missions financed by various churches. In February 1862 after negotiations between the Moravians and the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Hagenauer and his wife arrived in Gippsland where the Presbyterians hoped to secure two large reserves on Green Hills station with support from the central board. Objections by squatters led the Board of Land Works to change the site and in August 1863 some 2356 acres were secured at Lake Wellington on the River Avon.
The Hagenauers moved to this reserve calling it 'Ramahyuck'. Hagenauer resigned as secretary in 1906 and died aged 80, at Lake Tyers on 28 November 1909. On 15 June 1861 at St Paul’s Church, Melbourne, he had married Christiana Louisa nee Knobloch, a missionary from Saxony. She died on 23 October 1917. Of their nine children, seven were born at Ramahyuck. A son was acting secular manager at Ramahyuck until it closed in 1908.
Sources: Pegasus December 1957 p57.