Swiss Club WA

1992 some pictures form Christel Bouton

More from the history corner

An Introduction to the History of the Swiss Club in Western Australia.

Hi, to all the Swiss Club Members of WA.

My Name is Sergio Paini and I am one of the oldies from way back. A lot of the Members know of me for I have been a Club member since it started in the Year 1976. I migrated from Zurich in 1958 to Perth, and I have called it home ever since, despite the original Idea to stay for 3 years and then returning back again to Switzerland. There was something about this place and pretty soon I knew this was going to be my future home.

Our new Swiss Club President Lorenz Wuthrich has approached me with the idea of presenting a History of our Swiss Club in WA.

I presumed that Lorenz, looking at me, seeing greying Hair and not much of it, I could be the right person to ask. It could be something interesting to do and being retired for some time I am very happy to look back and bring to Life the things that happened a long time ago.

Some Information has come to me already as I have made some enquires, and everyone is keen to help. If you happen to come across information and old Photograph from 1976 onwards, may I please borrow those? Also I have been given some of the Swiss Club Magazine’s from 1993 onwards, and if any older publications exist, please let me know.

With the help of other older Members I am sure we can put something together that will give us some insight to the early days of the Swiss Club.

I will need to rummage through some of my own things and try and find some of the old Photos.

My 1st Job will be to record the names of all the past Club Presidents. I have contacted some already and they kindly offered their support, others have left WA and 3 have passed on.

Hopefully I will be able to publish my 1st contribution soon.

If you have any Items you would like to offer to me, please contact me on 93822268

Sergio Paini

History corner continued

As I am writing this, I recall the many members who are not with us any more, past Presidents of the Club, Committee Members and the people who have come and gone

It is a coincidence that this year we will celebrate the 40th anniversary since the establishment of the Swiss Club in WA, so it is a good time to start and go back to the early days and recount part of our history. The early days after my arrival stick in my mind like it was yesterday.

The 24th of June 1958 was a beautiful sunny winter’s day when I disembarked the P&O liner Stratheden and set foot in Fremantle.

My boss Gus Wigger was there to greet me and I started work in his Hairdressing Salon the next day. The nearly 4 weeks at sea gave me the opportunity to learn some more of the English Language and I also met people on board who were from Perth and on their way home again.

I soon met some other Swiss Hairdressers, Josef Wildisen and Nick Schwitter who worked for Gus’s brother Karl. Josef became my best man at my Wedding and later on a President of the Swiss Club. The 3 of us became good friends.

With most people who migrate to distant countries, at first you are drawn to your own kind, and soon enough I met some other Swiss people, young and old and from all walks of life. But I quickly embraced the Australian way of life which appealed to me.

Perhaps I might give you a little insight of those early years before the formation of the Swiss Club.

Some of the early social gatherings with the Swiss were of a various nature such as barbecues, home dinners, outdoor entertaining, exploring the countryside and of course there was the other famous Swiss tradition, a game of Jass, which sometimes ended on the rather noisy side!

Post mortem, and more Post mortem!!

In 1958 we celebrated our first “ Metzgete “ around 30 people gathered at Oscar Brogle’s Cabinetmaking Factory in Belmont and indulged in Blut & Leberwurst, Gnagi and the Ladies cooked other fine goodies, and of course there was plenty of liquids to wash it all down.

Emil “ Mick“ Brogle, with the help of a Butcher produced the Pig, and Mick in possession of a recipe made the Sausages which were “ guet wi diheime “ Later in the evening [ or was it in the morning ? ] the remaining Pig was auctioned off and not a morsel of it was left. The Metzgete was celebrated every year since then to this day at many different Location.

Some years later the Swiss community welcomed our first Swiss butcher, Josef “ Sepp “ Koller and he soon produced the Swiss specialities we all had missed for so long. Later he opened his own Shop and he became a valued member of the Swiss Club. Whenever there was a function and a “Barbie was involved, “ Sepp stood behind it and made sure that his Servelat and Bratwurscht were cooked to perfection.

Another Swiss couple we became Friends with [and still are] is Benny & Agnes Schildknecht. I could rattle off heaps of stories, but this one is worth mentioning.

One winter night a Fondue was organised at Benny & Agnes’s place.

It was my 1st Fondue ever and soon the wine started flowing quite freely. Then someone produced a bottle of Kirsch and that went down without any trouble. But the Party had to come to an end.

On the way home I somehow managed to lose my Tie out of the car window on Shepparton Rd. Victoria Park but I didn’t realise it until I got home.

Without much hope I decided to check next morning and sure enough I found the Tie again in the middle of the road and there wasn’t even a Tyre mark on it, and it was worn again for quite some time. Traffic wasn’t heavy in those days…

Another Swiss Gentleman I soon met was Hans [Bill] Schweizer who was our Honorary Consul in WA. He arrived in Australia from Singapore in 1950 and settled here in Perth, he was also a Foundation member of the Swiss Club of WA and wrote its first Constitution.

This man had a fascinating life but more of him later.

I still remember the 1st of August celebration in 1958 which was held at the Highway Hotel in Nedlands. Around 30 people gathered there and soon the sound of Yodelling was heard combined with munching of Servelat and other Swiss goodies. In those days a few Butchers of mainly Jugoslaw, Tscheck and Polish origin produced smallgoods originating from their countries, including Sausages that were tasting like the Swiss ones.

We bought them from Mr. Simkowich [ Josef Koller had his first job there] in North Perth. Soon Josef offered other Swiss specialities, Fleischchaes, Landjeager, Schwartenmage, Aufschnitt and Bratwurscht. Within a short time Sepp started his own Butcher Shop and he never looked back. Sadly he passed away too early in his life.

So the years went by we got accustomed to the Australian way of life but always kept our Home country close to us especially on the 1st August, when many of the Swiss gathered to celebrate our National day.

Recently Rita Zeller the wife of our late Swiss Club President David Zeller found an old File with lots of old Papers going back to the early 1970, it was passed on from Hannelore Walter [ an ex Swiss Club President. ]

Next time I will write a few things about the 1960 and early 70 before I tackle the formation of the Swiss Club of WA.

Sergio Paini

History of the Swiss Club WA

The years 1960 – 1970 brought some significant changes to Perth and there was quite a substantial increase in the Swiss Population in Perth and W.A.

There was renewed activity going on amongst the Swiss community during those years especially the 1.of August celebration and there were always discussions about forming a Swiss Club.

That eventually happened, not as the Swiss Club that exists today but as a preliminary Club called “ Schweizer Gruppe “ which was formed on the 8. June 1973.

Towards the end of 1958 [ the year I arrived in Perth ] the Rhein – Donau Club was established in Myaree Perth, and a number of Swiss people where Foundation Members of that Club.

Most of the 1.August celebration where held at the Rhein – Donau Club in the following years, but there was a lot of disagreement between the Swiss people whether they should join that Club as a “ Schweizer Gruppe “ and eventually it was rejected.

A lot of people, namely Hans Schweizer, Ruedi Abplanalp, Martin and Peter Huber, Benny and Agnes Schildknecht, David and Rita Zeller, Jakob Heitz, Rick Weiss, Hannelore Walter, Emil Brogle and many others were involved in establishing our Club.

Finally on the 3.November 1976 the “ Swiss Club of WA “ was officially founded at the Chalet Rigi Restaurant in Kalamunda, and on the 5.December 76 we celebrated our first function there,“ the Samichlaus “

Jakob Heitz was our 1. Elected President of the Swiss Club. He and his wife Susi had great organizational skills and they put a lot of hard work in to the Club. Unfortunately [ for reasons unknown ] Jakob Heitz resigned a year later.

In 1978 Martin Huber was elected as new President.

New things were organized for our Members such as visits to Bowling Alleys, the Zoo, Car Rally’s, Easter Picnics and so on, but a very popular outing was the Barby - Picnic at Chittering Vally.

Ruedi Abplanalp [ our Honorary Consul, more of him later ] offered a beautiful Property in Chittering Vally that belonged to Midland Brick Works for our yearly Picnic. It was high up in the Hills, and getting up there felt like being in Switzerland.

As long as I can remember, always held on a beautiful September or October Sunday.

Benny Schildknecht once supplied a Dance Floor [ made it himself ] and Gerry Dauth [ more of him later ] a generator to provide the Music. I think that Dance Floor is still lying around somewhere. Who knows, it might get used again one day.

Till next time. Sergio October 2016