Conrad Eitel


Conrad Constantine Eitel was a journalist of German extraction in South Australia.

History

Eitel was born in Hong Kong.
Eitel arrived in Australia in 1897 or 1898, His father was appointed pastor of St Stephen's Lutheran church in Adelaide in 1896, and founded the new St Stephen's in Wakefield Street, which opened in 1900. Dr Eitel retired in 1905 and died in 1908.
He met Florence May Solomon twelve days after arriving in Adelaide and within five weeks they were engaged; they married four years later on 26 December 1901. Florence was the third daughter of Judah Moss Solomon of North Adelaide.
In 1908 he was a reporter on the literary staff of the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Australasian Antarctic Expedition

In 1911 he was chosen by Douglas Mawson as secretary for his Australasian Antarctic Expedition, to head the base station in Hobart. Eitel had no hesitation in exercising his mandate, down to denying a government employee passage to Macquarie Island, as it had not first been cleared with Mawson.
Part of his duties was to compile press releases from Mawson's telegraphic reports, an important source of finance for the expedition. Eitel negotiated a lucrative agreement with the Times of London to give them preferential treatment. Eitel's racy bylined reports were popular.
The expedition, which started with high hopes turned to disaster.
The coastal expedition of Mawson, Ninnis, and Mertz collapsed when Ninnis disappeared into a crevasse with most of their supplies, and Mertz died from exhaustion, leaving Mawson to struggle alone back to base. With winter approaching, their ship Aurora had to leave, but six men were elected by Captain Davis to stay behind for another winter, not knowing whether any of the three had survived. Their radio telegraph operator Sidney Jeffryes exhibited signs of morbid paranoia, and another man had to learn Morse code post haste.
Eitel managed the news reports, and when Mawson and his companions returned in triumph, he stage-managed their arrival for maximum value to the expedition's supporters.

New Guinea Expeditionary Force

He enlisted with the Australian Army two days after declaration of war, and was sent to Rabaul on a six month contract with a machine-gun battalion led by Lieut. Bond and Captain Travers, stormed the trenches and took prisoners. His knowledge of German was useful when interrogating the prisoners, and locating the wireless station, which was away. Travers and Eitel captured the station and took prisoners. Eitel was in line for a DCM; then a message came through from New Zealand with the allegation that Eitel was a spy in the pay of the German army.

First AIF and court martial

In Melbourne, on 27 August 1915, adopting the name Lionel Lambert Eaton, he enlisted in the First AIF. He was promoted to Sergeant in the 14/5th Battalion before his true identity was discovered: he was court-martialed on 3 February 1916 for giving a false name on his attestation papers, and concealing the fact that he had previously served with the Australian Expeditionary Forces. He was imprisoned for 15 days and discharged from the army as an enemy alien. At the court-martial Captain William Ross Sara, the officer commanding his company, testified that he was the "finest soldier from an administrative and drill point of view" he had ever worked with. Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Bede Heritage said that he was instrumental in taking the Rabaul wireless station with Captain Travers and Lieut. Bond, showing considerable gallantry, and with his knowledge of the German language, indispensable in debriefing the prisoners. His loyalty was never in question.
Little has been found of his subsequent personal or business activities. After the war he became a member of the Commonwealth Reporting Department.

Family

Eitel had two sisters and a brother:
  • Winifred Veronica Eitel, elsewhere referred to as Winifred Grace Eitel was a musician and teacher of singing. Born in Canton, she returned with her parents to Esslingen when she was in her teens, and reckons she was 17 when they left for Hong Kong. When they settled in Adelaide she served as choirmaster and organist for St Stephen's church. She married Francis "Frank" Bransby Milnes in 1930. Her death notice gave her name as Winifred Grace Eitel.
  • Lionel Lambert Eitel married Florence Maud Tracey in 1913. Lionel was a printer, lived at 5 Kingston Avenue, Richmond, South Australia. Their children were Win, Steve and Lambert.
  • Muriel Mabel Olivia Eitel, most likely assistant music teacher to Winifred Eitel.