[1] In 1884 Niemeyer was bitten by a death adder (one of the most venomous snakes in the world) and, despite applying a tourniquet, his arm swelled with terrible pain and he believed he was dying.
Members of the congregation were encouraged to use these halls for family celebrations such as weddings and birthday, which helped make the church cohesive culturally, socially and spiritually.
By 1899 there were nine congregations of the Apostolic Church in Queensland, from Norwell to the south through to Bundaberg to the north, all in districts with a large German immigrant population.
A visit to the Hatton Vale church by the Queensland Governor Lord Lamington and his wife on Easter Monday 3 April 1899 was a significant moment in the recognition of the Apostolic Church in Queensland, at which the Governor was formally presented with a petition requesting official recognition of their denomination, which was granted on 27 April 1899.
In 1908 Niemeyer's work in maintaining German culture in Queensland was officially recognised with the award of the Kaiser's Order of the Crown.
[1] In World War I against Germany, anti-German sentiment led to policies to arrest and intern many German-born or German-descended men of military age as enemy aliens.
[4] Naturalisation as British subjects did not protect German-born men,[5] and from February 1916 Australian Government legislation classified the Australian-born German descendents as "aliens" if they had fathers or grandfathers born in Germany.
In early 1918, with the support of the Queensland Premier T.J. Ryan, Niemeyer was transferred from the camp to low-security detention in a house in Dubbo where his wife was permitted to join him.
On 29 February 1920, Niemeyer died of mitral stenosis (a heart disease) at Hatton Vale aged 66 years 2 months.