Roma’s Very Own German band: The Klaas Family

Roma’s very own ‘German band’: The Klaas family

On the very weekend I first came to Roma (inland western Queensland) to work as a Queensland Parks & Wildlife Ranger in late August 2017, there was a local market at the Bungil Creek open space precinct. As luck would have it, the Roma & District Family History Society had a stall selling a book of the family history of many Roma families (Grave Memories, volume 4). Glancing through the tome my eyes targeted a picture in the book – an old photograph of the Klaas family brass band.
Even though the bulk of my previous research had been centred on musical German-Queensland families of both the eastern and western Darling Downs, I had a strong feeling that the ‘German’ musical influence had spread much further west during the mid-late 1800s, a time when hundreds of Germans landed at Moreton Bay and made the long and arduous trip to western Queensland to take up indentured positions as shepherds or vinedressers for the required two to three years. Of course I bought the book which was the basis of the research for this article on Roma’s musical Klaas dynasty.
As I came to learn, this amazing family, as with many other German-Queensland immigrant families, had both high order musical and metal working talents. Carl Martin Klaas was born at Albaum, Westphalia in Prussia in 1856 and later married Margrethe Koob in 1879 in Siegen. Along with two sons, Carl and Maria, then expecting another child, arrived on board the RMS Merkara at Brisbane in December 1882. Prior to the family settling in Roma in the winter of 1892, Carl worked at Nundah, Fortitude Valley, Southport and Dalby – working mainly as a blacksmith but also as a baker!

At one time the Roma Town Band consisted mostly of members of the Klaas family and son Herman was bandmaster for some time. Herman and Bert were recognised as two of the best cornet players in Queensland. Bert will long be remembered by many as a first class soloist. Another son ‘Stoom or Stoomie’ (Carl Martin Jr) commenced his musical career as a drummer at just two years of age, using a tablespoon as a drumstick and keeping perfect time. Later in life he played triangle and then became an orchestral drummer. Another son, Herman, was a member of one of the first orchestras in Roma. It is known that the original Klaas family band played both classical and more popular German musical pieces.
Herman, Albrecht and Arthur Klaas played in the band when it played as a guest band in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens during the celebrations of the Relief of Mafeking. Over many years there would be four generations of the Klaas family involved in many diverse aspects of the musical industry.

Roma Subscription band – with ‘Stoomy’ Klaas in front with drums.

Carl commenced a small business as a blacksmith in Arthur Street, Roma. The business prospered in the growth period of early Roma and soon traded under the name of Western Pioneer Ironworks, with the telephone number of 24.

They manufactured stoves, scoops, sheep dips, ‘swing chairs’ and iron wheelbarrows. Carl was the first person to manufacture a wheelbarrow from a single sheet of metal, rather than joining several pieces together. He was also a specialist in gas lighting and repair of gas appliances. He was the first man in Queensland to make pliers for earmarking sheep and cattle. When the strong room at Roma Town Council was built, Carl was called in to solve a technical problem. He really was a wizard with machinery and often came to the rescue of local printeries, wineries and other machinery companies. It was also Carl who was called upon to make the unique Stiger Vortex ‘guns’ used to seed the clouds in an attempt to make rain in the horrific 1902 drought.

Klaas family band on the way to a function in Roma.
Even though the name of Klaas is today not well known in Roma, the musical and business influence of this amazing family is well acknowledged and remembered.