Den Danske Forening

HEIMDAL July 2018

Copenhagen poster by Martin Schwartz

Medlemsblad Newsletter for the Danish Association Heimdal – Established 1872

THE DANISH ASSOCIATION “HEIMDAL” INC 36 AUSTIN STREET NEWSTEAD QLD 4006

Contact details: 0437 612 913 www.danishclubbrisbane.org

Contributions We would love to share your news and

stories. You are welcome to send emails with

stories, news and photos to the editor for

publication. The closing date for the next

issue is 19 July 2018. We reserve the right

to edit or not publish your contribution. Any

material published does not necessarily

reflect the opinion of the Danish Club or the

Editor.

Editor: Lone Schmidt

Phone: 0437 612 913

Email: treasurer@danishclubbrisbane.org

Webmaster: Peter Wagner Hansen

Phone: 0423 756 394

Skype: pete.at.thebathouse

Email: admin@danishclubbrisbane.org

Web: www.danishclubbrisbane.org

From the Editor

On a road trip in Denmark

Just back from Denmark and a simply fantastic May spring filled with sunshine. All records on file were broken in terms of temperature, sunshine hours and rainfall. Last summer was miserable and Denmark deserved to finally enjoy some warm weather. The farmers missed the rain, the crops were drying out. For the record your

president even went swimming in the sea at Karrebæksminde, which was a surprising 21°. The Soccer World Cup has started in Russia. With Denmark and Australia in the same group, our loyalties will be divided. They clash on 21 June, so look out for this match. We’ll be celebrating midsum-mer this year with the Estonians at Petrie together with the Saga Vikings – make

sure to come by and sing around the bonfire. There’ll be hot dogs and coffee and cake available.

The Grasshopper Bridge at Karrebæksminde

WELCOME TO OUR

NEW MEMBERS

David & Sarah Dodds, Coomera

What’s on at the Danish club?

Café Danmark Friday 22 June 2018 from 6 pm

Come in and say ‘hej’, we have lots of ‘smørrebrød’ (Danish open-faced sandwich) ready for all. The bar offers real Danish beer, including Tuborg, Tuborg julebryg and Sort Carlsberg. The craft beer from Skovlyst is only served in one bar in all of Australia (as far as we know)

and that’s also us! Add to this Faxe Kondi and all your favourite licorice including Matador Mix and Super Piratos. We also have herring back in stock. Get delicious Danish pastries, rye bread and other specialty breads direct from Britt’s Organic Bakery. Skt Hans bonfire Saturday 23 June 2018 at Saga Vikings, Petrie from 4 pm

Scandinavian Film Festival Starts 19 July 2018 and runs until

5 August 2018 at Palace Cinemas Go to scandinavianfilmfestival.com for more details Café Danmark Friday 27 July 2018 from 6 pm

ooOoo

Legestue / Play Group Every Friday 9.30-11.30 (check times and dates with Maria Faurskov Nielsen on 0427 015 411 or moffe33@hotmail.com)

Do you need Danish beer, snaps, chocolate or licorice?

Price listBeer

Faxe Premium Beer 24x33 cl (cans) $ 60

Tuborg Green 24x33 cl (bottles) $ 60

Tuborg Classic 24x33 cl (cans) $ 60

Tuborg Gold 24x33 cl (cans) $ 65

Tuborg Julebryg 24x33 cl (cans) $ 65

SKOVLYST 15x50cl (bottles) $ 75

SKOVLYST Gift pack 4x50cl $ 20

Snaps

Taffel (Rød Aalborg)100 cl $ 75

Jubilæum 100 cl $ 75

Brøndum 70 cl $ 55

Other

Gammel Dansk 100 cl $ 70

Ga-Jol Granatæble 16.4% 100 cl $ 55

Ga-Jol Blå Original 30% 70 cl $ 55

Faxe Non-alcoholic 24x33 cl (cans) $ 35

Faxe Kondi 24x33 cl (cans) $ 35

BEER AND SNAPS ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS OF THE DANISH ASSOCIATION HEIMDAL

Licorice and other goodies – mainly from Denmark

Haribo Skipper Mix 500 g $ 10

Haribo Matador Mix 500 g $ 10

Haribo Super Piratos 425 g $ 10

Haribo Click Mix 425 g $ 10

Haribo Matador Mix Dark 375 g $ 8

Haribo Skipper Mix 135 g $ 4

Haribo Mini Super Piratos 135 g $ 4

Haribo Lakridssvesker 135 g $ 4

Pingvin Blanding 300 g $ 6

Pingvin Blue Jeans 250 g $ 6

Pingvin Heksehyl 400 g $ 8

Pingvin Poletter 250 g $ 6

Pingvin Lakridsflip 125 g $ 4

Pingvin Stangmix 300 g $ 6

Toms Bridgeblanding 225 g $ 7

Fazer Tyrkisk Peber 150 g $ 4

Ga-Jol blå, gul, sort 2x23 g $ 3

Makrel i tomat $ 2.5

Amanda Torskerogn $ 5

Herring from Viking $ 8

SKT HANS IS ON AGAIN!

SAGA VIKINGS IS HOSTING SKT HANS CELEBRATIONS AGAIN THIS YEAR

SATURDAY 23 JUNE 2018 from 4 pm “Black Forest” 110 (149) Byrnes Road North, Joyner QLD 4501 This will be a time to celebrate the Danish culture within its Viking history! There will be food and drink to buy, a raffle and an opportunity to catch up with friends around a campfire. Then we will move on to a rousing rendition of Vi elsker vort land by the side of the bonfire ... and yes, let’s do both versions again this year! So come and join us at our Viking village. Don’t forget to bring along a torch, a comfy chair and warm clothes. And if you have some Viking garb, then bring that along too!

# Head for the YMCA camp in Byrnes Road, drive to the end of the road and it’s on the right side You’re welcome to camp on our site overnight

Things that happen when you live with a Scandinavian (part 2)

Specialist equipment starts to appear in your kitchen:

Exhibit 1: Ostehøvl

For slicing cheese. What is important to know is 1) You must NEVER make a ski slope and 2) you will never again be allowed to hack away at the cheddar with a blunt

knife. Ever.

Exhibit 2: Filter Coffee Machine

Scandinavians drink more coffee than anyone else in the world. If you live with an

ultra Scandi, you’ll have a MochaMaster (these brew the fastest). But any filter machine works. From now on, your coffee will be so strong you’ll be awake 19 hours

a day. Coffee before bedtime (around 9 pm) becomes normal. Milk in coffee is for

wimps.

Exhibit 3: Smørkniv

For butter. Never use your own, only use the designated knife for butter.

Increased Nakedness

Look, it’s a body. It’s not anything Scandinavians think is sexual: It’s skin. We don’t

care. There will be nakedness. If there is a sauna, there will be nakedness there, too. You may sit next to your new Father in Law, naked. On a small flannel. Get used to it

and let it all hang out.

Breakfast changes

You will have sandwiches for breakfast. And probably sour milk. But definitely

sandwiches – with cheese – and jam. Together. And coffee, a lot of coffee. There will

be crispy bread – and it will re-appear at lunch. And for snacks. It never, ever ends.

Dinner is at 6

Dinner is at 6. Not 6:05, but 6 pm. Except, when you invite people over, the invite might be for 6, so therefore people must arrive at 6 pm. By 6:05 food is served. DO

NOT BE LATE for anything, ever again.

Manners

Before you eat, say ‘Velbekomme’. When you’ve finished your food, say ‘Tak for mad’

(thanks for dinner). Fail on this and you will sleep with the fishes. Also, shots of 40% alcohol with some meals will eventually become the normal (always look people in the

eye when you say ‘skål’, or you’re just rude.)

(source: found on Facebook)

Den Kongelige Livgarde 1658 – 2018 Tak til Lars Glerup for artiklen Den Kongelige Livgarde blev oprettet af Kong Frederik den III den 30. juni 1658 og kan derfor i år fejre 360 års fødselsdag. Livgarden var dengang opdelt i to enheder, en var Livgarden til fods, den anden var Livgarden til hest. Livgarden fik to hovedopgaver, den første var at værne om monarken og familien samt de kongelige slotte og palæer. Den anden opgave var at uddanne infanterisoldater (kamptropper), som indgik i resten af hæren. Disse to opgaver er stadig de samme for Livgarden den dag i dag. Livgarden har gennem tiden været indsat i mange krige så som Livgardens ilddåb i forsvaret af København 1658-59, samt mange europæiske krige i 1600-tallet og 1700-tallet, og Livgarden indgik i Københavns forsvar under Napoleons-/Englænderkrigene 1801 og 1807-14. Livgarden til Fods deltog siden i 1. Slesvigske Krig 1848-1850 mod oprørerne fra Slesvig-Holsten og tropper fra Preussen og andre tyske stater samt i 2. Slesvigske Krig 1864 mod Preussen og Østrig. Under 1. Verdenskrig, hvor Danmark var neutral, indgik Livgarden med to bataljoner i Sikringsstyrken. Under 2. verdenskrig forsvarede Livgarden Amalienborg 9. april 1940 mod tyske tropper, ligesom det kom til træfninger 29. august 1943. En kaptajnløjtnant og en oversergent blev dræbt på Livgardens Kaserne i Gothersgade den morgen i 1943. Et meget stort antal gardere har også været i udlandstjeneste under FN, NATO og inter-nationale koalitioner - på Balkan, Afrika, Afghanistan og i Irak. Dette har desværre ikke været uden tab. Livgarden har siden oprettelsen i 1658 og til i dag stået vagt om monarken, den

kongelige familie samt de kongelige slotte og palæer, med undtagelse fra 29. august 1943, hvor Livgarden blev afvæbnet af den tyske overmagt og frem til den 10. maj 1945. I denne periode var det det danske politi, som havde overtaget vagten ved Amalienborg og Sorgenfri Slot. Mange af politimændene var tidligere gardere og vidste, hvordan vagten

skulle klares! Læg mærke til at jakken er knappet til venstre! Sabelkvasten i rød angiver Gardere fra første vagthold. Den blå uniform med bjørneskinds-hue, som vi ser den i dag, blev anvendt i krigen 1848-50 og 1864 (Slaget ved Dybbøl) samt – uden bjørn – 9. april 1940. Det skal lige indskydes her, at der hænger et eksemplar af uniformen

samt Gardersabel med kvast i salen i Den Danske Klub Heimdal. Uniformen består af lyseblå bukser med hvid stribe på siderne, (1822) en mørkeblå dobbeltradet våbenjakke (1848). Den dobbeltradede jakke knappes til højre i lige måneder og til festlige lejligheder, hvorimod den knappes til venstre i ulige måneder. Der tilhører også en blå kappe som bruges om vinteren. Den røde jakke bruges kun til specielle lejligheder så som Dronningens fødselsdag, Nytårskur, bryllupper og statslige besøg. De første bjørneskindshuer kom til i 1805, men modellen som ses i dag er fra 1850. I bjørnen opbevares et par ekstra hvide handsker samt skråhuen som bruges om natten eller på meget varme dage! Livgardesablen, model 1854, som Garderne bærer i dag, udvikledes i Frankrig i omkring 1800. Store mængder erobredes af tyskerne efter Napoleons nederlag i 1815. Ved fordeling af krigsbyttet efter de danske sejre i 1848 – 50, over de tyske styrker, tildeltes sablerne Livgarden. De værnepligtige gardere er de eneste menige soldater i hæren som kan og må bære sabel! “Pro Rege et Grege” – ”For Konge og Folk”

Get all your Danish Baked Goodies from Britt’s Bakery at Café DANMARK 4th Friday of each month

Authentic Danish Pastry & Organic Bread Products

Kringler, Smørtærter, Kanelstænger, Birkes, Rundstykker, Fuldkornsrugbrød, Kransekagekonfekt, Småkager, Knækbrød og bagerens dårlige øje.

For information, order forms and delivery details, go to our website: www.brittsorganic.com.au

Unit 5/10 Energy Crescent, Molendinar QLD 4214 Phone: 07 5571 6881 Fax: 07 5571 6947 Email: brittsorganic@gmail.com

Steen Selmer is our local representative for Danes Worldwide – contact him via queensland@rep.danes.dk The new residents have started moving into their units across from the club in Austin Street. After living with construction works for nearly two years it’s just wonderful to get our street back again. Membership fees for 2018/19 will be due 1 July 2018. Fees remain unchanged at $60 for a family / couple and $40 for a single person. Please pay to club’s account with Suncorp BSB 484-799 Account

number 024951468 or cash at Café Danmark or even via Paypal Need a new passport? The next

date for the mobile biometric kit to

be in Brisbane is 29 October

2018.

Please contact the Danish

Consulate in Brisbane c/o Health

& Hearing Ltd for appointments.

Telephone hours: Monday to Friday

9am – 4pm

Phone: 07 3366 9355

Mobile: 0423 812 678

Who do you think you are? Thanks to Martin Jørgensen for his story

It all started with a small painting I inherited from my mother in 1982. After Mor passed away I did some research on the painting of a two mast skonnert through Handels- og Søfartsmuseet at Kronborg in Helsingør. The skonnert, ‘Lille Stine’, was listed in their archives and was owned by Captain Martin Jørgensen, my great grandfather, in Frederikshavn, Jylland. Now I wanted to know more about the Captain and through difference sources I got to know that he lived and worked in Frederikshavn all his life. I did some research in Rigsarkivet in Copenhagen and found he was married and had two sons and a daughter. Looking at micro film for hours is very trying and can be difficult to read the church books where the writers were not too careful with neat writing. And the text often faded. I let the research go for some years but with my wife Jan we decided that the painting really should go back to Frederikshavn where they have a very big and extensive museum outside the town - Bangsbo Museum - recently renamed Nordjyllands Kystmuseum. So in 2009 on a visit to family in Denmark we went up to meet the museum inspector, whom we had contacted previously, to hand over our painting. The museum has a large oil painting of ‘Lille Stine’ painted by the same artist, I. Dahl 1888, and in lower right corner the inscription “Lille Stine” af Frederikshavn Kaptajn M. Jørgensen. I was amazed to see that.

Well ‘Lille Stine’ now had a good home and would be looked after forever. I asked the museum if we could have a small plaque put on the frame - it has finally been done. Only took 2 years and numerous requests. Public servants never move very fast anywhere! It’s done and reads:

“Lille Stine” ført af Kaptajn Martin Jorgensen. Giver: et oldebarn af kaptajnen.

Now the search for my ancestry started again. I had got to know that the skipper belonged to Flade Kirke and had baptised and confirmed children here. We looked in the church yard hoping to find a grave stone with oldefar’s name on it - but no, there was none to be found and we were told that a grave no longer existed. He died in 1925. Just to be in the church was a very moving experience. I could feel him there. Thanks to Lone Schmidt, our treasurer, who gave me a contact for ancestry search more family were found, however the list was still incomplete. Jan was looking for a Scottish ancestry contact and a Danish Genealogist name popped up. I contacted him in early June 2016 and told him we were leaving for Denmark in early August and if he could find something of my ancestry it would be very good. Two weeks later he sent me a long list of names. Most had passed away and some only a few years ago. But it also showed that the skipper had two sons (one son is my granddad) and ten daughters! And on this list were four people - all my distant cousins, all of us great-grandchildren of Skipper Martin Jørgensen and his wife Ane Larsen - still alive and living in Frederikshavn and Aalborg! Wonderful! My brother in Denmark got me the phone number for a lady in Aalborg - I rang and talked to her husband who happened to turn 83 on this day - my wife is your relative but she is out at present - playing golf - as one would at age 81! Anyway, I got email contacts and soon had contact with the other three people, two sisters and a brother, in Frederikshavn. So in August we went to Denmark to see my family in Copenhagen and now also my new found family in Jylland. We went to Frederikshavn and met them all there. Fantastic. They had no idea that I existed and vice versa until 2 months earlier. We had a great reunion first in a private home and then for a good Danish lunch in a Viking looking longhouse with bearskins on the chairs. One cousin in particular, Birthe, was very interested in the family history and invited us to her home - she had something she knew we would be interested in. She had lots of items that belonged to Skipper Martin, our great grandfather, - a beautiful pair of brass binoculars, rope and tackle from ‘Lille Stine’ and lots of old photos. All will eventually be willed to Bangsbo Museum.

Jan was very busy now sorting lots of papers and what was of interest I photo-graphed. Best of all was a beautiful photo of Skipper Martin Jorgensen himself aged about 30. For some years I had hoped to find a photo of him, and here it was - a very moving experience.

Too soon it was time to return to Copenhagen to catch a plane to Ireland booked months ago. However, what an experience to find and meet Jorgensen family members I didn’t know about till Niels found them. We are still in touch with especially Birthe and will meet her and the others again this September. I also found we were related to the Skagen artist Anna Ancher, married to Michael Ancher, and will visit Ancher House. Another family member is Vogue super model Karlie Kloos. She came to Melbourne last year to model clothes for David Jones. Well, I will leave you Niels’s contact if anybody should want to track their family - you never know where it will end up. Niels Moller Jensen moll@outlook.dk https://www.facebook.com/danish.genealogist/

A very Norse tour of Scotland and Iceland (part 1) By Kim Tvede

A wife who comes from a line of McGregors and a daughter deciding to get married in Edinburgh Castle were fortunate circumstances which led Maxine and I to spend nearly a month exploring Scotland’s Highlands, Orkney, and The Hebrides. Given we were so close to Iceland, we also managed to squeeze in a week touring in Iceland. While we knew of the Viking/Norse connection to the regions, we certainly had our eyes opened to the depth and range of the influences of Norse settlement around the end of the first and the beginning of the second millennia. Firstly, My apology for my error in my previous article on what happened to the Vikings where I incorrectly attributed the tale of Ragnar Lothbrok’s death in a pit of serpents to the hand of the king of Essex. It should have said the king of Northumbria. Mia culpa for not checking my memory before writing. Stage 1: The Scottish experience We had limited time and wanted to know what we were seeing. The narrow single lane roads with frequent passing points were also the only concession to the numbers of vehicles on the roads, so we elected to travel Scotland by small Mercedes mini-buses with driver-guides run by a Scottish company, Rabbies. This included B&B accommodation in small villages and towns as part of the deal. Since we merged three regional tours into one, we swapped from one mini-bus to another as we changed from Highlands to Orkney tours, and then to the Hebrides tour. Firstly we were exchanged in an inn carpark in the WWII commando training area near Ben Nevis. On the other swap we stayed in the small coastal town of Ullapool (old Norse – Ulla’s homestead) in a B&B for a day before picking up the next tour and ferry to The Hebrides.

We were not long on our journey before the many clan stories of mayhem, murder and revenge of the Scots as told by our very knowledgeable and entertaining guides started to take on a particular pattern. They sounded like saga. Clearly the Norse both fitted in and also inter-married over centuries to create a common sort of culture. We also were exposed to the pre-history of the Picts, man-made loch islands for homes called

Crannochs and round hill-forts, admired by the Romans, known as Brochs, also Scots Black-houses (which look like and stem from scaled down versions of Norse longhouse homesteads – they didn’t have as many slaves or extended family and clan to accommodate, just the livestock at one end), and of course, castles which protected clans from other clans and Viking raids, and fortresses designed to either protect from or launch raids across the borderlands with England and its precursor dominions. Once on the west coast, on the islands, and in the north of Sutherland and Caithness, the Norse influence was very noticeable. The Gallic language was very

prominent in road-signs and quite widely spoken on the islands, especially The Hebrides Isles of Lewis and Harris. After some exposure to the language and the ever-present information provided by our guides, the extent of old Norse penetration into Gallic became more apparent. For instance, I’d never eaten Haggis before. It’s still not my favourite food, but seeing it is finely-chopped sheep lung, liver and kidney with onion, oatmeal and spices, looking like mince, and cooked in a lined bag traditionally made of sheep stomach, I suddenly could see the connection to Hagge, or in old Norse, Haggw, or Icelandic, hoggva. Local knowledge says the dish arrived in Scotland in a longship. Words like Bairn, and kirk, were easier to see the Scandinavian connection. The old Norse words like ness (narrow peninsula), smoo (sea cave) gloup (sea cave collapsed on the landward side so one can see the cave from the landward crevice, reportedly also has a second meaning referring to an aspect of female anatomy) were less so. When travelling in Scotland one gets used to seeing the blue and white diagonal cross flag (Saltire) of Scotland, so we were a little surprised to arrive in Caithness and Orkney to find regional flags that looked for all the world like they were Norwegian. Not a Saltire in sight. The main male names on Orkney are still Magnus and Eric. The medieval church in Kirkwall had a longship on the altar and a Norwegian bible. Clearly the history of several hundred years of

Norse influence extended past the loss of dominion by the aging Norwegian king Haakon to the rising Scottish king Alexander. Even today, when males with old Orkney and Shetland names were analysed they showed 75% Scandinavian DNA. A really tasty highland-style Orkney scotch we tried and which is available in Brisbane was called ‘Viking Scars’.

On Orkney, as well as later on Lewis, we spent some time exploring the 3000+ year-old Neolithic stone circles and settlements at Stennis, Ness of Brodgar, Skara Brae,and Callanish. We also appreciated the more recent WWII history of the fleet harbour at Scarpa Flow, and the Italian POW church made of Nissen huts and amazingly fitted out with make-shift materials. We did crawl into an old Neolithic burial mound, Maes-howe, that had held lots of human bones in various chambers. This also has a Norse connection after a party of Norse broke into the mound for shelter from a blizzard. Stuck there for some days, they carved runic inscriptions into the flagstones, including a reference to ‘hairy breeches’ Ragnar Lothbrok. If you want to really be immersed in such continuity of history, this experience is recommended so long as you can crawl the 7 metres from the entrance to the main chamber… and don’t disturb the nesting swallows. On Lewis, where the famous Viking chess pieces were unearthed, I finally decided that to get a good deal on a meal and a ‘wee dram’ or a beer, one needed to speak

the local language, and purchased a beginner’s book on Gallic. I’m not sure it worked, but the book itself was a cultural experience with its focus on traditions of partying, drinking, singing and dancing. No mundane ‘Can you direct me to a toilet?’ in this book. Lewis and Harris (of woven tweed fame) though, are quite religiously focussed around the Free Church and quite severe and strict. Sundays are for worship and reflection, not work. Interestingly, the church of St Clements on Harris attributes its origins to Danish settlement, not Norwegian.

On the islands of Skye and Mull we found that the Hebrides and surrounds were once under the ‘Lord of the Isles’, Somerled, and that history stemmed from Viking raiding then settlement. Orkney and Shetland were separately under another Norwegian Earl. The small monastery on the Isle of Iona, off Mull, was the place Christianity came from Ireland with Saint Columba. They also brought the recipe for whiskey. If it

were not for frequent Viking raids and invasion, the Irish national treasure, the religious Book of Kells might have stayed in Scotland where it was begun instead of being taken to safety back in Ireland. We were not aware before we came to Scotland just how many of the Norse settlers simply stayed and eventually changed allegiance to the Scottish king after Haakon’s loss, and that a number of clans and family names stem from this history, so the McLeod, McDougal, McDonald, and many others, were actually Norse clans. The stories of vengeance spoke to a hard time with death common, so if to be made memorable it had to be made particularly gruesome. All of this led us to explore the Norse world and especially its links to Scotland, Scandinavia and Ireland in more detail in Iceland. The cross-links between the Celts and Norse in terms of hedgerow beliefs and practices around ‘hidden people’, like seal-people - Silkies, as well as daily life seemed to have much in common.