History

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During the 1950's Australia embarked on a migration program to entice people from Europe and Great Britain to start a new beginning in a young growing country. With the promise of plentiful work and the land of opportunity many Austrians took up this challenge and immigrated to Australia. Around 2,000 Austrians finally settled in South Australia. The difficulties encountered in these early years found the need to keep together and the idea of an Austrian Club was made a reality in July 1957.
Our first President Hans Neubauer along with Martin Frittman, Harry Gross, Erwin Johannik and others got together to lay the foundations for our present Association.
At its first official meeting in July 1957, the following guidelines and aims were laid down in an effort to establish such an Association:
• to maintain the Austrian cultural heritage
• to build a home for the club
• to establish a group of folk dancers
which should give Austrians living in Adelaide and South Australia a feeling of togetherness.
It was a hard beginning. Continuous effort and ceaseless will to succeed on the part of all members of those days paved the way for the Austrian Club. In October 1957, the first dance was held in the "Parkside Institute' in the presence of the Austrian Honorary Consul, Mr. J. A. Nelson, and his wife. According to the minute book the first meeting of the elected committee members took place on 27 January 1959, in the Clubrooms in Franklin Street. The first subgroups were formed:

Austrian Keglers

Austrian National Dance Group

the Table Tennis Group
More and more Austrians and their friends took part in the monthly dances which were held in various places. So the club increased its membership. In 1963 an attempt was made to amalgamate the "Austrian Social Club" and the then existing soccer club "Austria". Despite efforts on both sides the amalgamation could not eventuate due to financial difficulties. In November 1964, the first outdoor festivity was undertaken in "Loftia Park" with only 79 active members, followed by another one in November 1967. At both events the folk dancing group under the leadership of Walter Feuerreiter was indispensable to their success.
For years the office bearers made every effort to get a clubhouse of its own, until in 1970 their plan became a reality. Members volunteered their help and gave building material and money. And thus from an old school building our present clubhouse emerged. General expansion and interior construction made it possible to form more subgroups namely:
the Pensioner Group the Library Chor 'Alpenfrieden'
the Dart Group Austrian Golfers Shooting Group 'Enzian'
the Ladies Gymnastics Group Glockner Chor the Children's Needlework Group
Sadly the six groups in black not exist anymore. The remaining groups are very active, particularly our cultural groups who have performed consistently at our club functions and for many outside venues across Australia.
A community group within the club is "Radio Austria 4" who are responsible for Saturday, Wednesday and Sunday programs on Radio 5EBI FM 103.1 Mhz. This group has not only entertained us for many years but has provided a vital link between the club and the Austrian community in South Australia.
An experiment was made with a Sunday "Frühschoppen". This proved an instant success, and is now a permanent part of the summer social programme together with fortnightly dances the year round.
The Austrian Association is a volunteer organization, monies derived from functions are used to improve club facilities and for the betterment of members.
Over the last 50 years the members of the Austrian Association can indeed be very proud of their achievements. The commitment put in by so many members over this period of time proves our club has been an outstanding success.