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Salem Press

Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy

Charles Rasp

by Jack Ewing

German mining magnate

A German of Portuguese heritage, Rasp immigrated to Australia, where in the Outback he discovered a massive ore-bearing lode that enriched him personally and boosted the economy of his adopted country.

Source of wealth: Mining

Bequeathal of wealth: Spouse

Early Life

Charles Rasp’s grandfather was a Portuguese aristocrat and politician who was exiled in disgrace. Rasp’s father, the private secretary to a German noble, accompanied his employer to Germany, married a German woman, and died in debt to the Rothschild banking firm. Charles was orphaned at age twelve and grew up with relatives in Paris. He was well educated in languages and science, and as a young man he worked in a Hamburg chemical plant. During the Franco-Prussian War, he served with the Royal Saxon Army but deserted, finding it expedient to adopt the surname of a friend killed in action.

First Ventures

Rasp arrived in Australia in the early 1870’s. For a decade, he worked at a succession of jobs, including grape picking, mining, and sheep ranching. By 1883, he was employed as a boundary rider in the Outback. It was there that he noticed a strange formation called Broken Hill. Thinking it might be rich in minerals, he staked out a mining claim. Rasp and fellow employees formed the Syndicate of Seven to pool their money and purchase a sizable tract of land for exploration. In 1885, rich silver ore was discovered, leading Rasp and his partners to establish the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP), giving the company control of a major source of minerals.

Broken Hill proved to hold a mountain of valuable ores. Its vein was more than four miles long and more than 750 feet wide—the planet’s greatest single source of silver, lead, and zinc. In its first year, BHP produced nearly £43,000 in ore, and the mine issued stock. In short order, BHP became Australia’s largest company, stimulated tremendous economic growth throughout the country, and made Rasp a rich man.

Mature Wealth

In 1886, Rasp married German immigrant Agnes Klevesahl, who worked in an Adelaide restaurant. They bought a mansion in Adelaide called Willyama, the aboriginal name for his lucky strike, and the couple began enjoying the finer things of life. Within three years, Rasp had become a multimillionaire, and the dividends kept rolling in.

Besides part ownership in BHP, he held shares in and sat on the boards of several other companies. Charles added twelve rooms, including a French- and German-language library, to the luxurious residence where he and Agnes entertained often and opulently. They traveled far and wide. In 1897, the couple toured Japan, China, India, Africa, and Europe. Throughout 1900-1902, they saw the sights and hobnobbed with the cream of industry and aristocracy in England and on the European continent.

In Australia, Charles kept his hand in mining and commerce for the remainder of his life. He died of a heart attack before his sixtieth birthday, without ever telling anyone the truth about his mysterious past. Most of the money in his estate was left in his wife’s name.

His widow Agnes returned to Europe with a large sum of money that she used to buy her way into high society. In 1913, an elderly German baron proposed to her, but he died before the wedding. The following year, Agnes married Count von Zedtwitz, but he was killed in World War I. Because Agnes stayed in Germany during the war, she was considered an enemy alien in Australia, and her Australian property was confiscated. When the war ended, Agnes moved to London before returning to Adelaide in 1921, eventually regaining her possessions. She died in 1936, leaving a sizable estate.

Legacy

Charles Rasp’s discovery continued to produce minerals for more than a century, though mining operations eventually slowed. By 2009, Broken Hill had produced about two hundred million tons of ore, worth about $300 billion; an estimated one hundred million tons of ore remain to be exploited. In the twenty-first century, the boomtown of Broken Hill was a popular tourist destination. The former Rasp mansion, situated on acres of botanical gardens, was sold in 2006 for $6.4 million, the most expensive residential property ever sold in South Australia.

Further Reading

1 

Blainey, Geoffrey. Black Kettle and Full Moon: Daily Life in a Vanished Australia. Camberwell, Vic.: Viking Australia, 2003.

2 

Solomon, R. J. The Richest Lode: Broken Hill, 1883-1988. Alexandria, N.S.W.: Hale & Iremonger, 1988.

3 

Tampke, Jürgen. The Germans in Australia. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Ewing, Jack. "Charles Rasp." Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy, edited by Howard Bromberg, Salem Press, 2010. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLIW_1325369001325.
APA 7th
Ewing, J. (2010). Charles Rasp. In H. Bromberg (Ed.), Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Ewing, Jack. "Charles Rasp." Edited by Howard Bromberg. Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2010. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.