The Kahler grave site on Donovan Road, Cabarlah

Grave site on Donovan Road

The children buried in this grave were born to German immigrants Johann Jost (a.k.a John/Joseph) Kahler and Marie Louise Schmaling.

In the middle of the 19th century there was considerable emigration from Western Germany forced mainly by military conflict between Prussia and its neighbours. The area was frequently the 'meat in the sandwich' in many of these wars and young men were regularly conscripted to fight. Families emigrated to avoid their sons being conscripted and to avoid the disruption to their lives. At the same time Queensland officials travelled to Germany to encourage skilled workers to take up a new life in Queensland. The Kahlers and the Schmalings took up this offer. A word about naming - it is common for immigrants to anglicise their first names to match common English names. Throughout the sourced records Johann is called John, Jost is called Joseph and Heinrich is called Henry. On the board at the grave site 'Johann' is spelt as 'Johan'. Also the names and boundaries of German districts have changed since the 1860s which explains the different birthplace names that are found in the records.

Johann Jost Kahler was born in 1840 in Niederasphe, Kurhessen, in the central west of present-day Germany. At the age of 25 he departed Hamburg on the 'La Rochelle' on 28th April 1862 and arrived in Brisbane on 31st July 1862. His sister and older brother Heinrich and Heinrich's wife Elizabeth and their three children also travelled with him. The brothers came to Toowoomba, which had a reputation as a German town and took up a property together at Gowrie junction. In 1866 they sold up and bought land at 'Five-Mile Camp' (eventually called Cabarlah) which had just been freed up for Government sale. [Five-Mile Camp was the main township in the Highfields region. It was renamed Carbarlah in 1883 after the railway was built (the cafe 'Colours of San Cris' is in the original Stationmaster's house). It is thought that the name Cabarlah derived from an Aboriginal expression describing the ring-tailed possum. However, a 1930 newspaper article claims it is a "Native name of the mountains in the neighbourhood". The court house became the administrative offices of the Highfields local-government division. It's lock-up is now at the back of the Farmer's Arms Hotel.] Henry purchased about 10 acres paying up to £5 per acre for Lots 321 and 322. John secured almost 40 acres (Lots 323-325 and 541,542,547 and 548) paying up to £4 per acre.

Kahler land at Five-Mile Camp (Cabarlah)

Marie Louise Schmaling was born in 1851 in Neumark, Thöringen, Germany not far from where Johann was living. Marie, who was 11 years old, her parents and her three siblings boarded the 'Caesar Godfroy' and left Hamburg on 25th November 1861 and arrived in Moreton Bay 3 months earlier than the Kahlers on 29th January 1862. The family travelled west to Cecil Plains on the Darling Downs where they worked at sheep farming for a couple of years and then moved to take up some land at the Government sale at Five-Mile Camp in 1866.

The following year at the age of 16 years, Marie married Johann Kahler (aged 27) on 28th May 1867. Johann and Marie had 18 children in as many years. All were born on their Cabarlah land:
  • Christian Kahler b. 15/11/1867, d. 24/5/1947
  • +John Henry Kahler b. circa 1868, d. 4/8/1868
  • Johann Henrich (John Henry) Kahler b. 23/1/1869, d. 31/1/1950
  • Anna Louisa (Elizabeth) Kahler b. 29/5/1870, d. 22/4/1916
  • Albertine Wilhelmine Kahler b. 27/9/1871, d. 23/6/1944
  • +Pauline Wilhelmine Kahler b. circa 1873, d. 24/12/1877
  • Christian (August) Kahler b. 4/2/1873, d. 15/10/1952
  • Anna Louisa Kahler b. 19/1/1874, d. 22/3/1958
  • John Joseph Kahler b. 7/4/1875, d. 27/7/1942
  • +Mary Louisa Kahler b. 1/7/1876, d. 8/1/1879
  • +William Philip Kahler b. 11/6/1880, d. 26/2/1885
  • Frederick Hermann Kahler b. 22/10/1881, d. 4/9/1962
  • George Ernest Kahler b. 28/7/1883, d. 5/12/1919
  • Carl Johann (Charles) Kahler b. circa 1884, d. 14/7/1944

John, Pauline (State records have her death as 24th December 1877 - she was probably buried in 1878 as stated on the grave-site) and Mary all died young and were buried in this grave site as there was no cemetery nearby. Johann and Marie lost another child, William Philip Kahler who died in 1885 at the age of 5 years. William was not buried with John, Pauline and Mary. He was buried in the Cabarlah Cemetery, which had been opened in 1880.

In April 1870 Johann and Heinrich were implicated in harbouring a German cedar-logger, Johann Herrlich who was accused of murder. On the 12th February 1870 Herrlich had shot a timber-carter Michael Klein for stealing his felled cedar. Herrlich, who had evaded the police for several months, was found by the police in Johann Kahler's house at Cabarlah, resulting in the charge of harbouring. The charge was later withdrawn in court. A Kahler family legend is that Herrlich was known to the Kahlers as a fellow German and that on one occasion prior to the murder Herrlich paid Marie for food with gold.

On Saturday 27th February 1875, The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser published an article titled 'FARMING IN HIGHFIELDS' which mentions the brothers - Johann (John) a farmer and Heinrich (Henry) a blacksmith and wheelwright in Five-Mile Camp. The description of the farms along the Highfields Road between Highfields School and Geham is reproduced in part below:
Leaving the school-house, we passed the farms of Messrs Shultz and Starks upon which we observed evident tokens of progressive cultivation, and arrived at the residence of Mr De Gruchy, In addition to his farm, Mr De Gruchy is preparing to open a general store, and, from his experience, and well known integrity we have no doubt of the success of the venture. The road in this neighbourhood, although studded with properties that have never been improved is backed up with cultivated selections, [so that] in reality the country is by no means so wild and unsettled as at first sight it appears.
A grateful relief to the monotony of the road is afforded in the farms of Messrs J Cossart and J. Kahler, the latter having a good area under cultivation. Mr Smiley also is engaged heartily in agricultural duties and will soon be in a position to enjoy the fruits of his industry, as will also his neighbour Mr Sondergeld who has from fifteen to twenty acres under cultivation. At this point, and in the centre of a cluster of homesteads stands the smithy, the wheelwrights shop, the post office, wayside Inn and store. The smithy and wheelwright's shop are conducted by Mr H. Kahler - an old resident of the district and one who has endeavoured manfully to promote the interests of the settlement and cultivation.
The post office, hotel, and store are the property of Mr A Bearkley, and we shall not be charged with flattery when we state that the business in each department is conducted with satisfaction to the surrounding residents. On our last visit to Highfields the business of the hotel and store were conducted in a bark humpy; today, however, it is transacted in a large and substantial weatherboard building, with requisite and serviceable out-buildings. The hotel is well kept, the rooms clean and airy, the table bountifully supplied, and the bar admirably furnished. Altogether, it is a most desirable and valuable property. On his farm, Mr Bearkley has about fifteen acres under cultivation, while arrangements are in progress for the clearing of adjoining selections.
The great drawback to cultivation in this district is the expensive character of the clearing, scarcely an acre having been reclaimed at the cost of less than £6 per acre, while in many cases the expenses have ranged from that amount to up to £10 per acre.
In about 1893 Johann and Marie found that they had too little land to survive comfortably and so sold-up and bought a 400 acre property called 'Bloomfield' between Geham and Hampton. The family worked this property for the next 40 years. Another reason for moving closer to Hampton was that they would be closer to the Munro Palmtree Mill where several of the boys found employment. [The Munros had originally built their Argyle Saw Mill on Geham Creek behind where Argyle house now stands. They moved their saw mill in 1903 to Perseverence Creek and afterwards Argyle was leased to a number of people until Munro sold the property to John and Marie's son, Johann J. Kahler in 1920. During the late 1930s, Argyle Homestead also served as the Geham Post Office. Johann died in 1942, and the property was transferred to David John Kahler. David Kahler died in 1983, bequeathing an area of 4 acres (1.6 ha), including Argyle Homestead, to the National Trust of Queensland, which subsequently sold the property at public auction. Argyle Homestead was renovated in the late 1980s to provide guesthouse accommodation, and was acquired by the present owners in 1993.]

Johann Jost Kahler died, aged 75, on 1st April 1912 and was buried on 3rd April 1912 in Cabarlah Cemetery. Marie Louise died, aged 84, on 31st July 1933. She was buried on 1st August 1933 in Cabarlah Cemetery with Johann. On 6th September 1933 Marie's obituary appeared in Toowoomba Chronicle. It read:-
'An old resident of Geham District, Mrs Marie Louisa Kahler died recently at the advanced age of 84 years, and she has left a family of 10 children, 57 grandchildren and 58 great-grandchildren. Mrs Kahler was born in Blomenfelde, Prussia and arrived in Australia when she was 12 years old, the voyage in a sailing ship taking 16 weeks. With her parents Mrs Kahler went to Cecil Plains, where sheep farming was followed. Later the family went to Cabarlah where they resided for many years. She was married in 1867 to Johan Joseph Kahler at Cabarlah, and after spending a number of years there she went to Geham where her husband selected land then known as Bloomfield. There they lived for forty years and raised a large and industrious family of sons and daughters. Mr Kahler passed away about 21 years ago. There are seven sons Messers - Christie, Henry, August, Joseph (of Geham), Charles (Oakey), Fred (Dubbo NSW), and Ernest (Cecil Plains). The daughters are Mesdames Horn (Goombungee), Dunnemann (Highfields) and Skinner (Murwillumbah NSW.)'
Headstone for John and Marie at the Cabarlah Cemetery.
The headstone has "John Joseph" Kahler on its eastern face and Marie "Louisa" Kahler on its southern face. All other records that have been found (apart from the obituary) have Marie's second name as Louise.

More recently, this land has been farmed by the Evans family since about 1927 when Cyrus Evans purchased Lot 2 (see map above) as a dairy farm in 1927. Their old home site is opposite the entrance to Borneo Barracks where there are Bunya trees. Cyrus' son Neville, until recently, farmed the land on both sides of Donovan Road between the highway and Link Road.

Some surviving descendents of Johann and Marie Kahler and the current owner of Lot 325 Kathleen Ryan, have given permission to The Happy Valley Road Literary Society to access and maintain the grave site. In 2020 the site was given a tidy-up and a new fence and the Society continues to maintain it.

If you would like to know more about the history of Cabarlah a local resident Linda Galligan has put together a web-site for this purpose.