Community & Business
16 December, 2025
Johannes Bange arrives with an adventurous spirit
When seventeen years old Johannes Bange arrived in Brisbane from Germany he came to a colony that was in the middle of an economic recession exacerbated by a prolonged drought.
As the agricultural industry suffered, the Bank of Queensland shut its doors, the government suspended work on major infrastructure and masses of unemployed men protested in the streets of Brisbane.
However, the young man was not deterred and he soon found work clearing land and over the next seven years took whatever work he could find.
Fortunately for the newly formed state of Queensland (1859) gold was discovered at Gympie in 1867 and the resulting gold rush is said to have saved the state from bankruptcy.
Johannes adopted the English version of his name “John” and in time would have benefitted from the much improved economic conditions in the state.
Queensland was not the only corner of the world experiencing dramatic change in the 1860s.
In England, London was experiencing positive changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution with the first section of the London underground railway opened, from Paddington to Farringdon Street.
America was experiencing the political upheaval of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation Speech freeing slaves in the Confederate States in 1863.
John Bange, however, was in a country that was still very much a pioneer land.
A clear sign of this was the failed search in 1863 for the Burke and Wills expedition that was missing during their attempt to cross the continent from the south to the north.
John Bange was up to the challenge of confronting a pioneer landscape and circa 1870 he moved to Toowoomba where, in 1871, he married Margaretha Roessler.
Together they made the bold move to Back Plains where John took up a selection of 320 acres and began turning it from a wilderness into a productive farm.
He built a fine home, “Vineyard Villa”, for Margaretha in Back Plains where, apart from general farming, they became large-scale producers of wine.
In the 1890s they opened a store as well as a winery and Back Plains residents were able to buy everything from working clothes and boots to a loaf of bread.
In another example of his adventurous spirit he built another home on the corner of the Clifton, Ellangowan and Back Plains Roads that was used as an “accommodation” house.
He built two more houses in the same style, all of which are still proudly standing today and commonly known as the “Banger” homes.
These four houses are testament to his skill and foresight and remain as a fine monument to his memory.
John Bange died in 1921 at his home, “Vineyard Villa”, leaving behind an aged widow and six children, Messrs. Harry, Fred, Theo, and John Bange, Mrs Glasheen and Mrs Knight and also twenty-six grand children.
Johannes (John) Bange was buried in the Back Plains Cemetery.
He not only led an adventurous life but proved to be a successful farmer and entrepreneur.
Margaretha died in 1927 at the home of her son John Theodore, and is also buried in the Back Plains Cemetery.
John and Margaretha passed on their work ethic and enterprise to their children.
In particular the children of their son Henry were especially successful in their chosen spheres.
While Henry continued with the business of farming his son, John Joseph (born 1907) took the family in a totally different direction and this direction is maintained today.
John Bange had a love of flying and was a gliding pioneer.
He designed and built the first enclosed-fuselage glider, the ‘Azure Star’ at the age of 25, which he first flew around the Darling Downs in 1935.
Bange was also a cycling enthusiast and had his own cycling dirt track on his property, “Aviadel”, to practice speed racing.
But in was in the sphere of aviation that he was to leave his mark.
He established the Clifton airfield on 13th March 1932 and began the “Aviadell Gliding Club”, which operated until 7th September 1948.
The airfield continued to operate post war for aircraft and the first permanently based general aviation aircraft was the ex-Sir Reginald Ansett 1936 vintage Porterfield aircraft that arrived at the airfield on the 8th of April 1955.
The Darling Downs Sport Aircraft Association Inc. made Clifton its “home airfield” in about 1982, with a yearly Fly-In being conducted in March each year since then to commemorate the first flight of the glider.
John Joseph Bange lived to the excellent age of 90 years and died in 1997.
He was buried in the Clifton Cemetery.
There is an old saying that the “apple never falls far from the tree” and this seems to apply to John Bange’s son, Trevor, who has inherited his father’s love of flying.
On 14th December 2002 Trevor established the Lone Eagle Flying School at the Clifton airfield.
Trevor’s flying activities are well known in the district and he regularly contributes aerial photographs of the Darling Downs to The Clifton Courier.
In 2022 Trevor was awarded an O.A.M. for his services to recreational aviation.
The achievements of this remarkable family are not just restricted to flying as John Joseph’s other sons, Keith and Raymond have also left a considerable mark on the landscape.
Raymond Bange was awarded an O.A.M in 2021 for services to Paramedicine and Health Care Policy.
Keith Bange was well known in the district for work in the area of Landcare and was highly involved in a range of other community groups.
Johannes Bange arrived in Queensland when the state was in financial turmoil.
However, he kept the faith and stayed in Queensland eventually settling in the Back Plains area which proved to be another astute decision.
Queensland eventually rewarded his family as their farming and other investments reaped rich rewards.
Later Bange generations have also contributed positively not only to the Darling Downs but on a state and even a national level.
As many in our society debate the level of immigration that is acceptable it is timely that we remember our nation has been built on the back of migrants from a variety of nations around the world.
