Amelia Kilian

Date:1849?Amelia or Amilie as she was christened, was born to Ernestine nee Hellmscher and Samual Gunther in Prussia around 1849. She married Charles Frederick Kilian, a bootmaker, at Spring Creek in Victoria on 4 May 1869. Their son Henry Otto was born in 1870. Charles moved to Palmerston in 1873 and established a bootmaking business. Amelia and the children joined him after the birth of daughter Amelia Ernestine in 1874. On 23 April 1876, Amelia gave birth to twins Frederick William and Charles Francis, the first European twins thought to have been born in the Northern Territory. Tragically they lost their eldest, Henry Otto, to diabetes when he was almost 21. Amelia not only helped out with the bootmaking business and raised her family, but also operated her own retail business on the corner of Smith Street and the Esplanade. In 1895 when Amelia was 46, she was one of the 82 women who enrolled to vote after the franchise was granted to South Australian and Territory women in 1894. Her occupation was listed as 'married woman'.BusinesswomanGerma