There is a revival of sorts slowly taking place in the Barossa Valley of South Australia.
It is a revival with roots that go back to the Second World War.
Rhiannon Elston has the story.
At two years of age, a young girl named Lottie is still mastering the English language.
But she is already learning her second language, as her mother, Amy Krozska, explains.
"In the morning, we wake up and say, 'Guten Morgen!' And she has a rabbit toy, and she says, 'Das Kaninchen.' So she's learning very quickly. And my husband, who's never spoken German before, is learning at the same time, so that's very special for us."
Lottie has recently joined a new German language class for preschoolers in South Australia's verdant Barossa Valley.
Her parents hope it will give her, and her baby brother Hans, a way of connecting with the country their ancestors migrated from long before they were born.
The Krozska family is among dozens of people now taking German lessons in the region.
But Donald Ross is a resident who needs no lessons.
He was born in the Barossa town of Tanunda shortly before the Second World War.
He says the language was widely spoken there in the early 20th century, including by his own family.
"So, up until the First World War, in Tanunda, it would have been possible to live here without being able to speak English, because you had German storekeepers, you had a German doctor, you had a German chemist, German hotel keeper, and there was a German newspaper."
When war broke out, Donald Ross says, suspicion was cast on German speakers.
His mother was among those discouraged from speaking it after German schools were closed and she was forced to attend a public one.
"The first new teacher that they had was very anti-German in his attitude, and so he absolutely forbid the use of the German language on the school grounds."
University of Adelaide linguistics researcher Peter Mickan was working with a group of older German speakers in the Barossa years ago when he found something surprising:
Some were still hesitant to speak the language in public.
He says many had become used to keeping their language skills to themselves.
"They said, 'This is wonderful to speak German again. We feel really relieved.' And one of the really clear messages that comes from the very elderly speakers is that they haven't spoken (it) since the Second World War. So they've been silent in German for 70 years."
That discovery sparked a call to former speakers to find their voices again.
Now there are maintenance lessons for older speakers and classes for preschoolers.
And in an echo of the newspaper that could once easily be found, a newsletter written in German has recently started circulation.
For residents like Donald Ross, it is a tiny piece of history that no longer remains in the past.
"It's part of our heritage, and, if we lose the German language, well then, we've lost one aspect of our heritage."
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