Jeparit World War One German dugout

"The surprising discovery of a German dugout was made in the sandhills north of Jeparit in late May 1916.

The local police received word on Sunday, 29 May, of the existence of a German dugout believed to be occupied by escapees from the military internment camp at Langwarren, south-east of Melbourne, who had been on the run for the last 10 months.

To investigate the site, the police travelled by car 4 miles north of the township on the main Jeparit-Rainbow Road before they had to then walk half a mile across a field of stubble, an area of heavy sand riddled with rabbit warrens, and then had to force their way through thick scrub to locate the site, but the occupants had already fled when they arrived.

The site was well-concealed but commanded a view of the surrounding farmland for miles, including the main road and railway.

This discovery caused a sensation, and with the landowner’s co-operation, onlookers travelling across the district were charged one shilling to inspect the site, with the proceeds being donated to an appropriate patriotic cause.

Although its exact location has now been lost, the structure was described as similar to dugouts constructed by the Germans in the trenches of the Western Front in France and Belgium and was described as clean and comfortable.

The horizontal wooden entry door that opened on a sliding mechanism was well concealed in a clump of mallee scrub, revealing a ladder leading down into a room 7 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 8 feet wide. Four large pine uprights supported a roof constructed of cross timbers, over which cornsacks had been placed and covered with soil. The sand and clay excavated to make the chamber had been spread over a wide area to make it harder to detect, and the space immediately over the roof had been covered with scrub.

The walls were lined with timber from kerosene cases and hessian, and 3 tin funnels were in the roof for ventilation. Two hammocks made of bags were suspended from the central uprights and attached to the walls, and an improvised table and shelves made up the furnishings.

The room contained German newspapers from 1914, playing cards, candles, and empty beer bottles. The walls were decorated with a large amount of German writing, and a signboard inside the door stated, “Home of Deserter and Prisoner of War, 1916”, and "The recruiting officer Kaiser Bill der Grosse”. There was also an intricately carved resemblance of the Kaiser and a drawing of a German officer in uniform.

The room was clean and tidy, although carefully hidden around the site were remnants of rabbits, turkeys, and sheep that had been consumed as food.

The alleged residents, both with German heritage, were Max Langer, who had been arrested in July 1915, in Jeparit for failing to report his movements to the police, and Max Zimmerman, who was arrested for the same reason in Maffra and were interned at a camp at Langwarren from where they escaped together in August 1915.

Once free from the camp, they made their way to Jeparit, where Langer had previously worked and knew the area well. Here they believed that amongst the significant population of German settlers, they would find help to elude pursuit by the police. However, knowing that the appearance of unknown Germans in the town would arouse suspicion, they decided to hide until the coming harvest period by constructing a hiding place in the sand hills between Jeparit and Ellam to a design that they had seen while at Langwarren, which also resembled the dugouts in the German trenches on the Western Front.

While hiding, they survived by trapping wild birds and rabbits and venturing into the fields under cover of darkness to seek food. Evidence was found in the abandoned dugout incriminating several locals who had assisted the fugitives.

Once the usual surge of swagmen and itinerant workers arrived for the harvest, they could break cover without being too conspicuous and seek work on the local farms.

This plan worked well until Langer was re-captured at Katyil in mid-May, and soon after, Zimmerman believed that the police were closing in on him, so decided to travel to Melbourne and gave himself up at Victoria Barracks several weeks later."

From the 'Dimboola Courier' 27 June 2023