Manny Klink: the boy from the village who gave advice to the German President!

Manfred Klink arrived in Australia in 1980, after his wife thought it would be a good place to live.  He came alone to set up a home in Brisbane before his family came to join him.  Within days he found somewhere to live, but securing a job was a little more difficult for our over-qualified friend.  After some persuasive / persistent interactions, he managed to convince someone to give him a trade certificate, even though his actual qualification was better.  Once he had this certificate finding a job was easy.  The family stayed in Brisbane for a while and Manfred learned the significance of the Melbourne Cup and taught others the importance of being on time.  They then moved to North Queensland, where Manny had a successful business, but as you would imagine, he also had strong community involvement. He was a strong participant in the German community, so much so that if anyone had a problem the response was "Go and see Manfred, he will help you."  It also lead to him meeting the German President on a visit to Australia. 

 

After some time in Cairns, Manfred moved to Caloundra.  He gave the club this sage advice : "Never, ever, EVER, follow your children", but after meeting someone who knew something he ended up at Continental Motors.  At the time, this was Cedric's business, and at the time, Cedric might not have been selling it, but after meeting "this fast talking German boy" he couldn't refuse Manfred's offer to buy it.  Since establishing himself in Caloundra,  our accordian player has become an icon in the region.

 

 

 More recently Manfred was very ill but by following medical instruction, doing as his wife told him, and hearing some positive words (he met Patrick, Win and Sandy in a shopping centre and they told him if anyone could get through this it would be Manfred) he recovered.  He has since received an Order of Australia Medal and is immortalised in the National Library of Australia.