Adolf Wilhelm Bergman was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden. The auspicious occasion of Adolf’s birth coincided with the 3rd day of April 1877. But seven years later, on the 11th November 1884, Adolf’s world was shattered when his father, at the end of his shift as a conductor, died in a tragic railway accident.

Little is known of the in-between years in the Bergman household, but Adolf’s name appears in the Household Book of 1900, as a resident of a Lutheran Orphanage in Gothenburg. Adolf was thirteen years old. Perhaps he had become a troubled teenager without a father to guide him? Or perhaps his mother couldn’t stretch the household budget far enough to feed herself and three hungry children? Did she think Adolf would fare better in the orphanage than his two younger siblings? The reason is less important than the emotional state of Adolf at the time. Did he feel out of place in the orphanage, while his siblings lived at home with their mother?

Fast forward to 1911.

Adolf was thirty-four and living in Australia, but he had a different name: Alfred Berg.

What happened in the intervening years to bring Adolf across the world, minus his birth name? When did he leave Sweden? Where did he travel? When and why did he change his name?

The only clues are in Adolf’s application to become an Australian citizen in November, 1911. A requirement of the naturalisation process back then was to have lived in Australia for seven years. Adolf seemingly met that requirement, according to the details on the form:

• arrived in Australia in 1902 and lived in:
  • Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
  • South Australia (no specific place)
  • Broken Hill, New South Wales (NSW)
  • Brewarrina, NSW
  • Wellington, NSW

It seems that Australia was the right place for Adolf, now Alfred.

Except…..

The Household Book of 1910 situates Adolf Wilhelm Bergman at home with his mother and two siblings, in Gothenburg Sweden. It might have been a family reunion visit… except Adolf was listed as working as a warehouse assistant.

Did Adolf feel out of place in his old home? Had he met the love of his life in Australia, but lacked the confidence to show his love? How did he end up back in Australia a year later?

1912, and the start of a new life

On the 4th May, 1912, Alfred Berg married Edith Atkinson in Sydney, NSW. Edith had celebrated her nineteenth birthday in March, and Alfred turned thirty-five one month before the wedding. Together they had ten children, and raised nine to adulthood. The descendants of Adolf Wilhelm Bergman (Alfred Berg) are scattered far and wide across Australia; I am one of them – his granddaughter.

Alfred Berg, born Adolf Wilhelm Bergman in Sweden in 1877, died on the 14th November 1959, in Australia.

It seems Adolf found his right place, but surely must have missed the place of his birth on the other side of the world, and the family he left behind.