The Walla Walla area was home to the
Wiradjuri Aboriginal people who inhabited this area for many thousands of years prior to European settlement. During the 1860s the bushranger
Dan "Mad Dog" Morgan frequented the area holding up the Round Hill Station at nearby
Morven. He also established a lookout at a granite outcrop 6 km north of Walla Walla adjacent to the Walla Walla Station and
Billabong Creek. Walla Walla was established in 1869 when 56
settlers of German extraction moved from their home in the
Barossa Valley of
South Australia in the search for farming land. In all, 56 people made the trek in 14 covered wagons and 2 spring carts, leaving their hometown of
Ebenezer in October 1868. This group was led by Father Klemke and it comprised the families of Michael Wenke, Andreas Mickan and Andreas Lieschke; as well as two Klemke families, the Fischer, Terlich and Hennersdorf families and two single men in Ferdinand Schmidt and Wilhelm Luhrs. Ethnically, most of these families belonged to a minority group known as
Wends or
Sorbs and some had only recently emigrated from the North Eastern German States. This was neither the first nor the last trek by German South Australians to the
Riverina with other settlements established nearby at
Jindera, Bethel,
Gerogery, Wallendool (
Alma Park), Dudal-Cooma (
Pleasant Hills),
Mangoplah, Edgehill and
Henty. The Walla Walla Hotel was opened in the early 20th century by Mr Fredrick Voss, the original publican. At the turn of the twentieth century, Walla Walla was charactered by its close-knit community which contributed to its preservation of the German language and the old ways. Although the
First World War fostered a sense of
nationalism (albeit strongly allied to the
British Empire) this period was a challenging time for the Walla Walla community due to its ethnicity and the political issues of
conscription and
disenfranchisement from the electoral roll. In all, four local residents, including two Justices of the Peace and members of the
Culcairn Shire Council were
interned in the
Holsworthy Concentration Camp. Tellingly, the honour board at the Walla Walla Soldiers Memorial Hall describes the war as one against '
Prussian Militarism' rather than Germany. With the outbreak of the
Second World War, tensions evident during the
First World War did not take long to resurface. This time the attention of the authorities was directed toward the Lutheran pastors in the region, rather than its civic leaders. This was the case because conscription was no longer the issue that it had been in the First World War and some Lutheran pastors had shown pro-German sympathies with the resurgence of Germany. These pastors (including Pastor JTP Stolz from Walla Walla) were questioned and their activities were monitored. ==Schooling==