Exners and Mosigs

Exners and Mosigs Arrive from Germany
Young Frederic (whose full name was Charles Frederic) was the son of Frederick Ehrenfried Exner and Bertha Mosig.
The parents of both Frederick and Bertha had arrived in Melbourne on 1 October 1857. They were Carl Ehrenfried and Christiana Exner (nee Kriegel) and Carl August and Susan Helene Mosig (nee Frederick) who were German immigrants who had travelled from Hamburg aboard the ‘Gottingen’.
Both couples settled in the area now known as North Dandenong but which was in the 1850s called Narre Warren (as was also the area now known as Rowville and Lysterfield).
Carl Ehrenfried and Christiana Exner had four children the eldest of whom was Frederick born in 1861.
Frederick married Bertha Elizabeth Mosig, the daughter of their close friends, Carl and Susan Mosig, in 1881.
Frederick and Bertha had nine children of whom the eldest child, Charles Frederic, was the one killed in the shooting accident. His younger brother, Henry Albert, and sister, Matilda Emma, were the two mentioned in the article as dying of typhoid fever not long before the death of young Fred. As well, Frederick and Bertha had suffered the sadness of losing three other children through illness: four year old Carl in 1892 and babies Clara in 1893 and George in 1898. So only three of their nine children survived to adulthood.
However, despite these tragic losses, the Exner and Mosig families continued to be substantial farmers in the North Dandenong area for more than a hundred years until they sold their farmlands for housing development during the 1960s and 70s.
When Lyndale High School was established in North Dandenong in 1961, the Principal chose the names of four local pioneer families for the school house system: Heywood, Swords, Mosig and Exner.

Ehrenfried Exner of Rowville
Ehrenfried (pronounced Enfred) was a cousin of those North Dandenong children but grew up in Rowville closely associated with the Sutton family (after whom the major lake on the Lakes Estate is named).
Ehrenfried from childhood was a hard worker and by the age of 14 he was driving loads of vegetables on the family’s horse drawn wagon to Victoria Market. Through careful saving he was eventually able to buy his own horse and wagon and while still a teenager was on the way to becoming a successful farmer in his own right. He eventually became the most successful market gardener in the Rowville area.
In 1913, at the age of 25, he married Ethel Taylor. Ethel was a daughter of John and Sarah Taylor whose name is commemorated in the naming of Taylors Lane (and Taylor Ward) in Rowville. As a young man Ehrenfried had helped out on the Taylor farm and his assistance became more and more valuable as John Taylor became increasingly crippled with severe arthritis.
Violet Gill and her husband Leo were share farmers with Ehrenfried on a property north of Wellington Road where the Silkwood Rise Estate is now. Violet speaks very fondly of Ehrenfried and his kindness to her and Leo over the years they worked for him. He was a very good employer. Ehrenfried bought an old timber house in Lysterfield and had it moved to his farm for them. He ensured that it was refurbished and made very comfortable before they moved in.
Nellie Gill has happy memories of the dances held on the verandah of Stamford Park when she was a teenager. Ehrenfried provided the music on his button accordion. Later he built a large barn on his property where Stud Park Shopping Centre now is and dances were held there.
On the day of the dances the kids shaved wax off candles onto the wooden floor and then one of them would sit on a hessian bag while the others would push them about and in that way the wax was spread into the floor to make it ‘fast’ for dancing.
Ehrenfried needed plenty of workers at harvest time. Nellie and the other Rowville youngsters were expert pea pickers: “We could really crawl along those furrows,” Nellie remembers. Ehrenfried paid them two shillings and sixpence a hundredweight which was five kerosene tins full.
Gordon Hobbs who established the Lysterfield Store in 1929 had, as a lad, worked for Ehrenfried at Rowville. Ehrenfried taught him a great deal about the market gardening business and Gordon put this knowledge into practice when he moved with his family to Lysterfield in 1916.
The first crop to be planted in a newly cleared piece of land was tomatoes. Following that peas or beans were planted in that patch. After that cabbages and cauliflowers could be cultivated. The only time that the seedlings were watered was when they were first planted out. After that they were left to the elements.
Hedley Hobbs, Gordon’s brother, remembers Ehrenfried being very strict about people’s behaviour when he was MC at the Lysterfield Hall dances. Many young men would hang around outside the hall because they were too shy to come in or were too poor to afford the one shilling entrance fee. However, when supper was served, Ehrenfried usually relented and allowed them to come in for a hot drink and something to eat.
Clare Davison (nee Wright) remembers Ehrenfried being the MC at the Lysterfield dances. “He was a tallish man and slim. Of course, none of the men were fat in those days they all had to work too hard! He always brought two of his nieces to the dances. They were lovely girls.”
Gwen Hayes remembers Ehrenfried’s generosity. “He helped lots of people, but in a quiet way. He was a genial man he never growled at people.”
George Gill recalls an occasion during the war when Ehrenfried came across some soldiers at the back of his Wellington Road property helping themselves to his watermelons. The soldiers were very embarrassed being caught in the act but Ehrenfried simply said, “Take them boys, and enjoy them.”
Ehrenfried and Ethel had no children but I believe that they helped rear a young girl named Pat Mercer. I’d be grateful if anyone could put me in touch with this lady who would be in her early sixties now.
Ehrenfied was a great supporter of local activities and the proceeds from the dances held in his barn went to good causes. One of those causes was the project to build a hall at Scoresby. When this was achieved in 1924 Ehrenfried was a leader in the efforts to establish the Scoresby Recreation Reserve behind the hall. Ehrenfried was a great supporter of the Scoresby Football Club and was its president for many years
As a mark of respect and gratitude for his efforts, the people of Scoresby dedicated the entrance wall and gates to the recreation reserve in Ehrenfried’s honour following his sudden death on 4 July 1957 at the age of 68.
On that day he was driving his truck along Wellington Road with a load of firewood for his widowed sister in-law, Mrs Garvie, who lived in Jacksons Road. As he crossed Dandenong Creek he apparently became unwell and stopped the truck. He was found dead slumped along the truck’s running board.
I’ll record George Gill’s affectionate words as a final tribute to Ehrenfried: “What a wonderful man! He was like a second father to me. Everyone had great respect for this very generous man.”
Bryan Power

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