Schmidts familietræ (www.sm1.dk)

This is not his real name. When Neils and his friend Alex Larsen were about to leave on their "world adventures" a person by the name of Christian Madsen gave them some money so Neils incorporated that name into his own. These two (Alex and Neils ) apparently joined the Danish Navy and ended up in Argentina where they deserted from the Navy. Neils always said in later life that it was such a beautiful country that he would like to go back there but he was afraid he would be arreste d if he did.

The pair who remained life-long friends, doing many things together, returned to Germany. From here they came to the Pacific where they got involved in the coolie trade landing coolies at Cardwell for the Palmer River Goldfields.

Neils lived in various places - Charters Towers, Bundaberg, Maryborough (where he was married), Howard, Bundaberg, Howard, Toogoom.

He eventually owned 2 boats and supplied fish to his good friend Alex Larsen who by now owned a fish shop in Maryborough. Source: Colin Christensen - recollections

After leaving home at about 14 Neils and Alex had a job on a little ship which travelled to Trondheim on the northern coast. There they would load frozen cod and bring them south. The cod would be on drying racks and would be frozen. Neils and Ale x would hammer them down to make as many as possible fit into the hold. The training and experience they gained on this boat enabled them to reach Able Seaman status. This allowed them to move on to employment on larger vessels.

They eventually moved to Argentina and joined the Argentine Navy. They became bored with the inactivity of this life with little more than polishing duties so when a Norweigan ship tied up behind them in port they decided to desert the Argentin e Navy and leave with this vessel for San Francisco. They became involved in the transport of coolies. These possibly were picked up from San Francisco and the goldfields there and transported to the Australian goldfield at Palmer River. When the y reached Cardwell Neils and Alex and most of the other crew decided to try their luck on the goldfields as well. So they bought a pair of boots each and headed off on foot.

The captain warned them that they would be speared by Aborigines so on the first few nights they were convinced that the calls of the mopokes were being made by Aborigines coming to get them. Mervyn Christensen - recollections.

Niels and Julie had five sons Enevold, Alixsander, Johan Belby, Vernon and Valdemar and one daughter Julia Gertrude. Julia married Thomas Patterson, a lighthouse keeper at Woody Island in Hervey Bay on 27 September 1930.

All the children were born at Toogoom except Gertie who was born in Maryborough. Niels then became more involved as a professional fisherman and fishing guide. In 1900 he moved residence to Pialba, then to Urangan and acquired two boats - a yaw l "Laura" which ran charter trips around the bay area islands and even as far as Lady Musgrave Island and the open fishing (net carrying) boat "Gertie". On trips with her husband, Julie would have collected some bird eggs.

For Niels, professional fishing was lucrative. He had the boats and the gear although cotton nets in those days were very heavy to handle. He acquired a large home on the Esplanade at Urangan and also a large parcel of englobo land nearby (Year s later that land was taken over by Valdie and formed the basis of his dairy farm). Niels remained a professional fisherman (assisted only on big mullet runs by Valdie) up until 1933 when Julie died. Marketing of large hauls of fish was always don e via his lifetime mate Larsen who had a shop in Maryborough.

All the children grew up at the home on the Esplanade only moving away for work and on marrying. They attended the State School at Torquay which was a walk of approximately 6 kilometres each way bare footed. Source: Colin Christensen - recollectio ns

The patron requested the addition of Christian Madsen to Niels' name. They caught, cleaned, salted and dried the cod. These were frozen in the cold air. The Argentine ship they were assigned to did not leave the wharf. After deserting they eventua lly arrived in Germany. From here they joined a trading ship sailing to Hong Kong to bring Chinese to the goldfields. Niels always wanted to return to Argentina because it was a beautiful country but felt he couldn't for fear of being arrested fo r desertion from the Navy there. Abraham? Larsen opened a fish shop in Pallas Street in Maryborough and sold fish caught by Niels. He also arranged trips and recreational fishing through this shop for Niels. Colin helped Niels erect a bough shelte r on Musgrave Island in the mid 1930's. Valdie had to help Niels whenever the mullet were running. Before going to live with Tom and Gertie in Cypress Street Niels would have evening meals at Valdie's place. Ollie would get very upset when Niel s would "park" his chewing tobacco on the veranda railing while he had his meal. Source: Colin Christensen