German Wagon

**Fast Facts**
Also known as	Konzag's waggon
Type of thing	Business
Date made or found	The date "c.1870s" was not understood.
Place made	Most likely in the Barossa Valley
Place used	Konzag farm at Roseworthy and then Mallala
Current location	Mallala Museum
Used in	Agriculture. The German Wagon was drawn by a team of two horses on either side of a central pole and was used to transport produce to market and for use in general farming.
Ceased use	The date "c.1930s" was not understood.

Friedrich August Kunzag and wife Christiane emigrated from Werben, east of Berlin in Germany, to South Australia arriving at Port Adelaide in 1854. They lived at Hope Valley where three children were born and then moved to Mt Crawford in 1858 when their family increased with seven more children. It was during this period that the spelling of the surname changed to Konzag.

In 1870 they moved to Roseworthy where Friederich and his third son Friederich August Wilhelm farmed a property 1 1/2 miles west of Roseworthy.

It is believed that the German Wagon was purchased at this time as it was in use on the farm at Roseworthy.

The farmers used the wagon to transport their farm produce to market and for many other daily tasks around the farm.

In 1911 Friederich August Wilhelm Konzag, his wife Minna Louise and family of seven children relocated to Mallala and settled on Section 60 Hundred of Grace, on the eastern outskirts of the township of Mallala.

They brought with them all their house hold effects, farm machinery, horses, wagons and buggies includung the German Wagon.

This was driven from Roseworthy to Mallala by the second eldest daughter Edith Louisa Ellen known as Ellen (who later married William Verner of Mallala).

The wagon was loaded with goods and hanging from underneath the wagon was a cage filled with live poultry.

The German wagon was used on the Konzag farm at Mallala - possibly until the advent of a tractor in the early 1930s.

Friederich's youngest son Ernest (Ern) took over the management of the farm and he and his wife Doris lived in the farm house with their two children - Esme born 1929 and Bruce born in 1930.

The German Wagon remained unused in an old straw shed on the Konzag farm until 1997 when Bruce Konzag and son Richard donated it to the Mallala Museum. John Angas painted it in the traditional colour of blue with red wheels.

Description:

The German Wagon was made of timber with sides that slightly sloped outwards. Vertical struts framed the sides which were lined with horizontal planks of timber. The tailgate was hinged and opened down for ease of loading. The wheels were made of timber with timber spokes and hubs and steel rims. The body of the wagon was originally painted in the traditional colour blue with the wheels painted red.