Community
28 October, 2023
Vale ‘Mr Oktoberfest’
COMMUNITY beacon, promoter of German culture, advocate for immigrants and passionate salesman Werner Siegmann has died aged 88, leaving behind an astonishing legacy of kindness, community, and love for the Far North Queensland region.
Known affectionately as “Mr Oktoberfest” for his invaluable contribution to growing the Oktoberfest celebration and his role as president of the Cairns German Club, Mr Siegmann was a loving family man, an overachiever with an impeccable work ethic and a person the community could turn to for support, advice or one of his memorable stories.
He will be missed dearly by his wife Gloria, his son Ryan and daughter Romy and his grandkids, Dylan, Hannah, Piper, and Patrick.
“He was always so kind and always a gentleman,” said Mrs Siegmann.
“He was a great listener and a good advice giver, he loved music and dancing and playing chess, he even taught his grandson Dylan how to play chess.
“But most of all he loved Cairns and the Far North, he loved the mountains and the rainforest. He would get in the car and take himself for a drive up to the Tablelands just to capture it all. He used to say, ‘I love the breezes around my kneeses’, he was so funny.”
Born in Germany in 1935, Mr Siegmann decided to pack up his life and move to Australia in 1963 looking for warmer climates, arriving in 1964 after a boat trip through Panama and Tahiti. Known as a newspaper man, he started as a compositor, and after many years of travels through Sydney, South Africa, Darwin, and Germany, he settled at the Townsville Bulletin in 1978 but it would be in the 1980s that he would find his true passion as a salesman eventually retiring at age 69 and moving to Cairns to support his son’s business.
During his time in Cairns, Mr Siegmann became president of the German Club in 2003 and remained in the position until his retirement in 2014 due to health problems. Since his arrival in Australia, Mr Siegmann became the guardian of immigrants who had just arrived to the region helping them contact their families, find jobs, open a bank account, and provide them with a multicultural home at the German club.
The club will be hosting an event to celebrate Mr Siegmann’s life from 4pm today (Friday, October 27). The wider community is invited to join and pay their respects.
