His father was a shoemaker, and destined Hans for the same trade.

The boy preferred to be a fiddler but his father taught him his trade thoroughly with the end of a strap.
In his eighteenth year Hans suddenly ended the dispute by running away from home with his beloved fiddle.

He made his way to the coast, and got passage on a cargo tramp to England.

There he heard of the wonderful land called Australia, where gold was to be had for the picking up.

The fever took him, and he worked his passage out to Melbourne on a sailing ship.