Index |
|
The Mount Barker District
The histories of the creation of townships and the settlement and occupation of the Mt Barker District are closely connected with the first footprints of South Australia’s progress as a colony. … This Heaven-favoured and beauteous district helped cradle the colony and rock it on to its first success. - EH HALLACK.
Macclesfield
The road leading from Strathalbyn to Macclesfield is well known to old travellers by coach. Following its line, the residence of the Hon JL Stirling is seen to the left, its surrounding … land … justly termed very rich … Further on, most of the country adjacent to the road is held by our popular southern MLC, and is used principally for grazing purposes. In the hollow to the right, washaways exist, and they cut the land through a considerable depth of goodly soil. These always occur in places adjacent to where big timber has been cleared.
The road uphill from here is bordered by gumtrees, sheaoaks, and grass, with stinkwort galore on the flats previously cultivated. Most or nearly all the fences are constructed of stone, and are therefore repellant or obstructive to bushfires …
Leading uphillwards from whence a beautiful view of the lake is obtainable, the land of the wattle was again reached. Many of the young trees had been killed by the frost, owing to their natural canopy or protectors - the gumtrees - having been too freely rung or dispensed with. …
Approaching Macclesfield, old willows and older gums skirt the banks of the creek, which runs onwards to assist the Angas in the flowing business, and the locality, which formerly owned the pretty native name of Kangooarilnilla, may yet be well remembered as a favourite camping-place by many who drove their bullock and horse teams from Strathalbyn to Adelaide in the early forties.
Of the township of Macclesfield, it can only be said that it presented an exceedingly lazy appearance. Several stores, steadings, and the old brewery are closed … Of old inhabitants there is one, a centenarian - Mrs Mott … Lashbrooke, built upon and planted by the late Rev’d JB Austin, will be well remembered. He purchased the estate from Mr Roger Cunliffe, a London banker.
In the township, the old store, built and still inhabited by Mr H Dancker, is a landmark connected with the district’s former flourishing history. The old fruit trees in the garden at the back of the store are still very productive … The other old store, known as Gould’s, has long since been closed … now only used for storing chaff. The well known brewery, with its wonderful accompaniment, the spring, were of course visited … The boiler connected with its former operations has long since been taken out, and the building with its capacious cellarage is now unused. …
Woodchester
To Callington was the best of Host Fallon’s horses next directed from Strathalbyn … The track diverges to Woodchester from near New Hamburg, and its road, once traversed by horses dragging golden grain formerly reaped in the locality beyond, is now principally used by the waggons of woodcarters. Flocks and herds, owned by a few, occupy the land once tickled by the plough and fed off by reaping machines. The animated mowers of today don’t take off the grassy crops in half so cleanly a fashion as did the reapers of yesterday.
To the left of the road is seen the old homestead named Burnside by its former owner and builder. Intervening is a flat dotted with dead gumtrees, which looks as though it had been formerly covered by a lake. On the banks of the washaway or watercourse now intersecting it sheep were browsing, but in the winter months, they scatter considerably to graze on the well-grassed slopes. …
From over the rise to Bletchley, a splendid view lakewards is obtainable, and the country, especially towards Langhorne Creek, forcibly reminds one of Gippsland. The post-office at the latter place is portion of a farm house. … The Church and its surrounding burial-place is afterwards met with, the land for both having been presented by the Hon JL Stirling. In the cemetery, the names on headstones read as follows: - Isaac Bellingham, Mrs Berry Smith, George Edwards, and Robert Sweet.
Returning to the main road, near the turn-off to Bletchley, the chimney-stack of the old Wheal Ellen Mine is seen. Further up the road are deserted homesteads, with land once furrowed by ploughs … but now owned and used for grazing purposes by the Messrs Stirling. Padocks covered with an enviable growth of wild oats are met with, the latter not fed off, owing presumably to the scarcity of water for stock within the boundary fences. …
The buildings in the township of Woodchester are somewhat scanty and scattered, and are situated for the most part on the banks of Rodwell’s Creek. The latter contains some fine waterholes and is permanent. The Onaunga District Council Chamber occupies a site near the bridge spanning the creek. The native name Onaunga denotes Big Waterhole, which is appropriate. Below the bridge beneath a rocky outcrop is a miniature artesian spring of the Macclesfield type. It rises about nine inches in an earthenware pipe above the ground level. Lucerne and other fodder plants grow well on the creek’s banks. From the road can be seen the site of the old euphoniously named Tinpot diggings, where gold in the early days was discovered. The old pub near by, christened after the locality, has since tumbled down. … From here on to Hartley, wattles try to grow, but grazing is now the order of the day …
Hartley
Hartley … post office, situated some fifty yards from the roadside, is difficult of approach by portly people. Sugar-gums are planted on the rise near the entrance thereto, and their juvenile growth is protected by two fences of tightly strung barbed-wire …
Below the post office runs the Bremer. … Two windmills are seen working on the flats below. Near one is an irrigated orchard and fifteen acres of lucerne, owned by Mr Henry Cross, who has occasionally obtained prizes for fruit at bothe the Strathalbyn and Mount Barker Shows ... On the uppermost river shelving outcrops of limestone predominate, and most of the homesteads adjacent are enclosed by walls of that material.
The first of the holdings on the Bremer Flats was then inspected, and on it is located the homestead of Mr T Jaensch Junr, who when we called was busily engaged with other workers in the erection of an extension to his buidings. Only a small stretch of the river flat is owned by him, but it comprises land of first-class quality. Irrigation is not necessary here at all seasons, for the river’s winter floods are all that is required. Lucerne growing here was fully two feet high, that is, the portion reserved for the garnering of seed. The small orchard, though planted too close, and a plot of vines are doing well. …
After crossing the river, I visited the sites recently built upon by blockers, situated opposite Mr Jaensch’s on the other slope of the river. The soil consists of a light clayey loam … There are five blockers in all … They were the only blocks available for occupation in the district of Onaunga, and were all taken up when surveyed about twelve months since. The present holders intend for the most part engaging in fruitgrowing.
Onwards, more lucerne paddocks upon which horses and cattle were enjoying themselves. Up the valley of the Bremer leading towards Callington farms are seen on both sides of the river, and the German village of Salem is reached. Its neatly built church is its most attractive edifice, and over the doorway is an inscription in German - ‘Christian Lutheran Church 1890’. Beneath the tower is a dummy clock with hands and numerals painted on its face. The former point to 10 o’clock, denoting the time of morning service.
Never having been previously inside a Lutheran Church, I went on this occasion … It is the prettiest building of its size I have ever seen. Its altar, with polished cedar surroundings and overhead pulpit, is surmounted with an arched inscription, ‘Friede sei mit Euch’. On its drapery of blue is worked a cross with floral surroundings in white, with the accompanying words, ‘Kommt den es ist Alles bereit’. On either side of the pulpit are blackwood tablets, on which the numbers of the hymns are chalked, and at the side of the altar is the baptismal font of solid manufacture. The seats or pews are of polished white cedar, whilst at the entrance over the doorway is a small organ-loft situated beneath the belfry.
Half the cost of this pretty little structure was paid for by an old district resident, Mr G Jaensch.
So much for Salem Chapel. Below it is an old farmhouse, constituting a provisional school, where of twenty-eight pupils, all are Teutons save one. In the cemetery of this old-established settlement were read the names of Hans Heinrich Stein, aged seventy-eight (the first district schoolmaster), Mrs Ernst Grimm, Johanne Karoline Klaebsch, Johann AW and Heinrich Louis Reimers, Christine Thiele, aged seventy-four, and Heinrich Theodor Leptien, all of whom were formerly numbered amongst those of our most useful early colonists.
The road further on spans the streams which just previous to their junction with the Bremer are named the Mount Barker and Scott’s Creeks. This neighbourhood may justly be termed the breeding land of the domesticated turkey; flocks of them are seen wandering over the slopes, and in the distance resemble either pigs or sheep, according to their colouring.
Callington
A little further on, the traveller is within the boundaries of one of our earliest copper-mining townships - Callington. … Its creation as a township was like that of Kapunda and Moonta, occasioned by the accidental discovery of copper. A dray was being driven by Mr John Kiernan over a section owned by the South Australian Company, when one of its wheels broke the cap of a copper lode, which was afterwards the site of the Bremer Mine. The lode was subsequently worked on tribute by Mr Thomas Lane. The first of the mines worked here systematically, some forty years ago, proved to be payable in the first instance to English capitalists, but afterwards it was amalgamated with the Great Worthing Mine, and this combination proved to be the secret of its subsequent ill-success. …
The development of the first mine was the occasion of the opening up of others, and this caused the creation of the township which was christened after its namesake in Cornwall. The pay-sheets of the various mines at one time totalled as much as £3,000 per month, and Callington rose from its swaddling clothes and ran alone as a prosperous place of business.
Now it is different. The pioneer mine, after having been developed to a depth of 103 fathoms, has been shut down for over sixteen years. Crumbling chimney stacks, with ruins in the shape of cemented dams, pudding-shaped powder magazines, and other accessories to the raising and smelting of copper ore, here abound, and mark the sites of many properties which formerly boomed in matters mining. …
In farewelling Callington, a visit to the railway station was paid. Firewood was then the principal item stacked for transmission to Adelaide. Mallee roots delivered there realise an average of 8s per ton to the farmers who grub them. The cost of transport to Adelaide by rail is 4s 5d per ton. Price in our metropolis is about 22s; so lives the middleman. … Lastly, if the stacking of firewood in lengths on railway trucks is not better superintended, there may some day be a smash when traversing the tunnels on the Hills Railway.
Previous to leaving for Kanmantoo, the Aclare Mine, situated three miles distant, was visited, and quite a transformation from three years previously had been effected in the matter of buildings and mine development. Though since shut down, it will assuredly be restarted, and may act as a saviour to the inhabitants of this, one of the first of our mineral districts.
Further on, the old Paringa Mine was passed, and the country between it and the Kanmantoo Mine bears evidence of having been well prospected in the early days. …
Kanmantoo
The Kanmantoo Mine was one of the first mines worked for copper in the district, and during the six years after it started in 1846, some 3,400 tons of payable ore was raised. Since then, when leased and worked privately, 2,000 tons was the yield; and still later about 3,000 tons, when it was worked on tribute. …
At the Kanmantoo Vineyard, which at our Jubilee Exhibition and in after years has been and still is celebrated for the St George claret manufactured there, it was my pleasure to meet Mr CB Young and his son. The area of the vineyard - started thirty years ago - now comprises seventy acres, ten having been planted within the two past seasons. The varieties of vines are principally those of Shiraz, Grenache, and Mataro. The young vines have done fairly well considering the dryness of last season. The average rainfall is about 20 inches, but for the last year only 14 inches is the record. The vintage this year has suffered considerably from climatic influences, it being only about half the yield of that of the previous season. Cellarage accommodation admits of the storage of 50,000 gallons, and all the vats and casks used are made in Adelaide. The greater portion of the wine is sent to Mr Young’s establishment in town and sold there.
Near the cellars, a dam is constructed, but its holding capabilities have not so far proved satisfactory. Above it, near the residence, is a newly planted orchard containing apple-trees, which have done well in spite of the dry season. Other fruit-trees at the upper portion of the vineyard stand in evidence of this locality favouring their growth.
Nearing the township of Kanmantoo is a plantation of sugar gums and pines, and below it is the racecourse. Washaways of considerable width traverse the road on both sides of the township, exposing a fairly good deposit of red loam. Sheep with lambs scatter over the rocky slopes in search of a meagre meal, and the appearance of the ewes indicated that their progeny would cease to exist without the aid of a butcher’s knife. The buildings of the township presented a ‘tired of unoccupation’ appearance in many instances, although the district cannot claim so many of those of the deserted order as the neighbouring township of Callington.
Native Valley
Onwards, the slopes leading down to Native Valley are more than ‘fair to look upon’. The property of the late Mr P Mullins, who was well-known in Adelaide racing circles in the early days, is here situated. It is now occupied by his widow and sons, and is used principally for grazing purposes, although its soil is well suited for something better.
At Mr John Kain’s, the flats and slopes consist of even better material, both agriculturally and horticulturally. On this property is to be seen the walls of the stable in which the celebrated sire and steeplechaser, Swordfish, was burnt to death. The remains of fences, which consist chiefly of the trunks of old gum-trees, are here to be seen, and they no doubt proved excellent educators in the jumping business for foals sired by horses of the Swordfish type. The land in Native Valley is the best to be seen this side of the Lower Bremer and Langhorne Creek.
Dawesley
Dawesley - named after the late Mr WB Dawes - was the next settlement passed through. Its early occupation was occasioned by the old Scott Creek Smelting Works having been erected here. The cause of the selection of this site for that purpose was that the timber for the furnaces had been cleared for many miles round about the Callington and Kanmantoo Mines, whilst here it was plentiful. Started in conjunction with those two mines, the quantity of ore treated must have been considerable, as the slag dumps cover a large area. The smelting premises, which were at one time owned by the late Mr Alfred Hallett, are now in ruins, but the chimney-stacks and slag mark the locality of this once-thriving industry.
At Dawesley, the bacon factory established fifteen years ago by Mr Elias Davies was visited, and its output of bacon has since then proved it to be a profitable enterprise, although the last season had been unfavourable for curing purposes. Pigs are bought locally, and also in Adelaide, the animals being trucked from the metropolis by rail to Nairne. Of the quantity of bacon cured, about one ton per week is the average for the year, representing a killing of twenty-five pigs per week. There is a ready demand for the brand known as Davies’s in the Adelaide market … The chaps are also preserved, whilst the backs are sold locally at 1d per 1lb, and the cuttings and trimmings are either made into sausages or lard. …
Nairne
On 24 January 1839, a special survey was applied for by M Smillie Esquire, price £4,000. the district being denoted as to the northward of Mt Barker. Such is the early history of the occupation of the localities which include Nairne, Hay Valley etc. The original owner, Mr Matthew Smillie, a relative of a former Advocate-General for the province, resided on a portion oof his property known as The Vallies. In matters agricultural, the country included in this Special Survey afterwards made a name for itself in the pages of South Australian history, and at Hay Valley was erected the first windmill for grinding flour in the colony.
Mr G Mills, who lives not far from its site, assisted Mr John Dunn Senr to build it, and to the late Mrs Mills, ‘assisted by another matron’, belongs the honour of carting thereto the first wheat for grist ‘in a wheelbarrow’. ‘Sometimes, we had to wait a month for the flour,’ said Mr Mills, ‘according as the wind blew,’ or rather did not blow. ‘Our friends the Germans also patronised the mill,’ he added, and ‘their wives used to bring their wheat there in handtrucks’. The exercise involved speaks volumes for their vigour, for the old mill was situated on the saddle of a steep hill. …
Shutters up and shops doors shut denote a great deal too much of the … overcultivation of the soil for the one milling product. The slopes on the northern side of the creek, upon which, when I was there, mangolds were growing to perfection, were pleasant to look upon, notably those owned by Messrs Clezy and Sloggett. Other plots on the township’s side were equally refreshing to the eye. Of the two mills, it may be said that they have been played with a soft pedal, … Of these, the first was worked by the late Mr WB Dawes, and the second by Messrs Hughes, Reed, and Davey, and afterwards by Messrs John Dunn & Co. Both are now used for storage purposes only …
The old Assembly-room situated at the back of the Miller’s Arms Hotel is the place where Sir RR Torrens first propounded the principles of the Real Property Act in any district outside Adelaide. That energetic inhabitant, Mr JW King, pointed to the building, and referred to the fact with justifiable pride.
Of industries, the bark and tannery business owned by Mr Conrad Pflaum is about the only one. Not much was being done in either department on the occasion of my visit … From hides bought both in the district and in Adelaide leather of first-class quality is manufactured, a fact to which samples of bullock, calf and wallaby shown me amply testify. Forty-two tons of bark was purchased this season … This product is ground by horsepower. Five persons were employed formerly, but owing to slackness, the work in connection with the establishment is now performed by Mr Pflaum and his son. …
The cemetery in this old-established township records the names of several very old colonists … These are James Shakes and wife (arrived in the ship Java, 1840), Mrs JW Preiss, Alexander Hume and wife, Samuel Spence, John Disher (aged eighty-eight) and wife (ninety-one years), Robert Ward, Mrs George Mills (arrived in the Prince George 2 September 1839), Mrs JW Parsons, John Sloggett and wife, Samuel Day, David Johns, and William Steele. …
Not far from the spot is the homstead of … Mr John Clezy. … Thoroughness is the term which may be justly applied to Mr Clezy and his sons, who act as his assistants. Hay grown on land which had been intermittently under cultivation during the past fifty years was being cut for chaff, its quality … the best seen by me in the South. … Mangolds growing here and there on both rises and creek flats had been manured from the stables with an admixture of salt, which attracts moisture and encourages growth. Better specimens of root crops could not be wished for. Mr Clezy says he intends to extend the area of their cultivation, and also that of peas, as the straw of the latter is valuable for fodder …
I stir a portion of the treacle with my hand, and I go over the straw layers, splashing the entire heap. Afterwards, the bucket is refilled with water, more straw is spread, and the sprinkling process is repeated until the liquid is used. The fodder so treated is then turned over several times, and afterwards heaped in a corner, where I tread it down. Then it is ready for distribution in the cow paddock in small heaps. …
Hay Valley I visited by the track following the Nairne Creek, whose skirts contain splendid soil … Mangolds were the principal growth. Before reaching to the junction of the two roads leading to the valley, the racecourse is passed. Its space is also contracted and it might be better suited for an orchard than for the purposes to which it is now devoted.
At the turn-off leading to the location of the North Nairne Gold Mine, we stopped at the residence of Mr G Mills, another of our pioneers, who arrived in the Somersetshire on 22 August, 1839. … Mr Mills informed me that in the early days, the creek was an unknown quantity. ‘We used to plough across where it now runs permanently,’ said he. But the timber has been cleared in the neighbourhood, and this is only another of the streams fed or enlarged by springs occasioned by the killing and removal of the larger eucalyptus. In and around the home of this colonial veteran, fruit trees are planted in pots on different parts of his steading. ‘Frost, winds and opossums have hitherto been a drawback to them and their products, ‘ said Mr Mills. Maize, mangolds, and kale do well here, although the cultivation of either one of them is not to any great extent favoured. …
Turning to the left for the purpose of visiting the mine, an old schoolhouse, nicknamed in its flourishing days Do-the-boys-Hall, was passed. Thence through panels and over guttered tracks we passed, and at last reached the mine. I was present at the starting of the first machinery … Subsequently, considerable developments were made by workings underground. … The gold is there, and the shutting down of the mine, with well-timbered shafts and accompanying haulage appliances, was not the fault of the quality of the stuff it yielded … Unfortunately, the saving appliances … above ground proved faulty. …
Blakiston
Then Blakiston is approached.. … Mounting the hill from the dip leading to the Church the residence of the late Mr Gray is seen, whilst within view is the more recently erected residence of Mr TD Smeaton, with its prettily planned garden frontage. …
Occupying portion of the late Mr FSC Driffield’s property was Mr AW Howard, who rented it for four years for the purpose of testing the soil and climate with a view to engaging permanently in horticultural and floricultural pursuits in this neighbourhood. … So satisfied was the leasee that he had recently purchased fifty acres on the slope beyond Mr Smeaton’s for the purpose of permanent settlement and cultivation. …
Mangolds, maize and sorghum, the latter growing from eight to ten feet high, do well. Sunflowers for poultry feed flourish, as also do potatoes, although the frost is occasionally very severe. Exotic trees do remarkably well, the elm obtaining favour on the flat. This is the home of apples, but the birds, especially parrots, are a tremendous pest to fruit generally …
A chapter would scarce do justice to the old country Church of Blakiston … The history of this prettily situated Church may be briefly recounted, and for many details, I am indebted to the Rev’d JW Gower, the present incumbent. Named St James, its foundation-stone was laid by the late Mrs Davison on 3 October 1846. … The first incumbent of the Church after its consecration and opening in 1847 was the late Rev’d James Pollitt …
Of tablets on the Church’s walls there are three - in memory of Mrs Davison and her husband and the late Mr and Mrs JR Toll. The infant daughter of the late Captain Davison was the first child baptised in the building; the first marriage recorded was that of Emil Louis Alfred von Doussa to Dorothea Anna Schach, by the Rev’d J Pollitt, on 8 May 1847; whilst the earliest burials were those of John Doney Junr and Henry Seymour Junr, the latter having been speared by natives on his station in the South-East.
Rambling round the churchyard … tablets, tombs and interesting monuments, some old, and therefore interesting, mark the plots, and many of the latter savour of the beautiful, notably those erected by Mr C Bom, of Hahndorf.
Amongst the names are those of the late Hon JG Ramsay, Drs R Gething, John Forster, and wife, Arthur Dore (of Beilby Hall, Notts), John Wooley, Cornelius Miels, W Brown, Sarah Alleyn, FB Rumble, Benjamin and Mrs Gray, Joseph and Mrs James Lean, Mrs Simeon Moss, James Coppin, James Tunstead and wife, Thomasin and Charles Dunn, William Moseley (formerly of Crafers Inn), James Ide, Friend Cleggett and wife, Mrs J Hormer, Mrs Thomas Carling, John Lamb, Mrs John Pascoe, Mrs William Cornelius and J Waddell. Truly a goodly list of early residents in the Mount Barker district and the neighbourhood.
Littlehampton
The road from Blakiston to Littlehampton runs past the former country residence of the late Mr Justice Andrews, and on his section a township was long ago surveyed and named Andrewville, but the land is only now being built upon. …
Although its prefix is Little, Littlehampton is big in one respect, being the factory district of the South. It lays claim to the Monks of Old bacon, Watts & Co’s bricks, and LT Watts’s bacon, jam and tomato sauce factories. These, with others such as Borrow & Haycraft’s wattle extract, Coppin Brothers’ bricks, and the old brewery, now run by Messrs E & F Miels, speak for themselves in the matter of local industries. …
The first visited … was the bacon factory. It is the biggest thing of its kind to be met with in the South … Its proprietor is Mr F Buttfield … The factory presented a busy appearance on the occasion … The biggest game at cutthroat I had ever seen was being played. Some 50 pigs were then paying the penalty previous to the conversion of their carcasses into bacon etc, all being run through and cleaned within five hours of their demise. Their quality was prime … Fifty pigs is the average killing per week, weather permitting … From three to five men are constantly employed, with Mr HA Monks at their head. Besides bacon, chaps are cured, and pork sausages are also manufactured, together with lard. …
Next on the road to Mount Barker, the versatility of Mr LT Watts deserves special mention. … Born in the land of bricks, Hindmarsh Town, as it was called in 1842, he was afterwards educated in matters connected with brickmaking by his father, Mr John Watts, who with his wife, both now living at Littlehampton … The area of land held for the manufacture of bricks is fifteen acres, and the clay favours the production of bricks of all kinds, notably of the fire and clinker descriptions … The pits excavated are only on meagre depth, but their site, as also the site of the kilns, are convenient for business purposes, about 200 yards from the railway station …
On the premises adjacent to the store are the jam, bacon and tomato sauce factories, the products from each being sold locally and at the metropolitan store owned by Mr Watts. … Across the road opposite the store is a plot of seven acres, irrigated by means of trenches running from a dam on the creek, where fruit-trees, vegetables, and fodder plants grow … Besides all these, there is an apiary consisting of 100 hives …
The other brickyard situated above the brewery is that of Messrs Coppin Brothers. Its claypits include the first worked in this district. From them were excavated the material with which many of the walls of pioneer homesteads etc were built both in the Mount Barker and Littlehampton districts. …
Opposite Messrs Coppin Brothers’ is situated the branch establishment of Borrow & Haycraft’s wattle-extract factory. The parent premises are situated at Echunga, but the branch comprises the larger of the two, the child having outgrown the father. Unfortunately, its previous occupation is gone, together with that of the twenty men formerly employed there. This is owing soley to the fall in price of the article manufactured. This is to be regretted, as the sale of wattle prunings and tendrils was a source of revenue to farmers and others resident in the district …
The Littlehampton Brewery, situated on the creek above the railway station, was the next place visited. It was built by Messrs Gray & Hunt, and bears the inscription LHB, G & H, 1850. Gray’s Inn, at Mount Barker, was named after the first-mentioned proprietor. … On brewing days, the bees from neighbouring apiaries resemble commercial travellers - they come for the sugar, and as you can’t beat them off, they get it. …
Mount Barker
Following on the undulating and anything but straight road towards the old and well-known township of Mount Barker, I met that venerable and much-respected pioneer and benefactor, Mr John Dunn, looking hale and hearty. He was taking an afternoon drive, and long may he live to enjoy his outings. …
Further on, Dunn Park was seen. It, as everybody knows, was presented to the town by Mr Dunn on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, and in years to come will keep the donor’s memory geen in gratitude. The water windmill pedestal erected on its north-eastern corner near the road and railway line is anything but artistically painted … My companion took it for a huge barber’s pole, because of its ribbed colouring. …
To the left of the road leading to Mount Barker is situated the Roman Catholic Cemetery, which is worthy of visitation, as the headstones in it and in its neighbouring God’s acre, the Wesleyan, record the names of many of the district’s former inhabitants.
In the Catholic Cemetery, the most attractive emblem erected to the memory of those who have gone is a handsome metal crucifix on stone basement over the resting places of the Rev’d Fathers Thomas Dowling and James Quinlan. On other headstones etc, there are inscriptions, which read as follows: - Catherine O’Reilly, aged seventy-two, A Whelan, Patrick Mullins, of Native Valley, Michael Kelly, Joseph Earls, Mrs John McNamara, Lawrence Poole and wife, Adam Coleman, John and Mary Connor, Emanuel D Simms, Mrs William Ritson, nee Stewart, John Wilson, Catherine Flood, three members of the Burley family, drowned at Langhorne Creek, 27 April 1878; Thomas O’Neil, Peter Kavanagh, Arthur O’Neill, James Victory, Michael Critchley and wife, Mrs S Hogan, James Fitzpatrick, Edward Kavanagh, and T Murphy.
Further on in the general cemetery, which comprises a considerably smaller area, are W Barker, aged seventy-three, Mrs Richard Andrews, Mary Good, the children of RD Hawkins, James Love, Hannah Ring, aged eighty-four, Ann Brooks, Mr and Mrs Jacob Hooper, aged eighty-three and seventy-five, Captain R Cornelius, aged seventy-one, and members of his family, Henry Watson, aged seventy-eight, Mrs W Tonkin, aged seventy, W Walkom, Roderick McKenzie, T Paltridge and wife, both aged eighty-four, Moses Wraight and widow, Mrs JB Shepherdson, John Hall and wife, aged eighty-four and eighty, T Hll and wife, Mrs George Paterson, Mrs William Linthwaite Mrs AW Richardson, Mr and Mrs C Potter, aged seventy-three and seventy-two, Peter Y Bell, Mr and Mrs T Prosser, and many others. …
Mount Barker Mount, named after Captain Barker, who was murdered by natives at the Murray-mouth, was long before the survey of the present township invariably described by early explorers when recounting their trips from Adelaide to the Lake, also by the overlanders, who used it as a landmark and camping place when travelling here with stock from Sydney and Port Phillip in the early days …
Of sections of land contained in the original survey of this district, those owned by Messrs W Hampden Dutton, who paid £4,000 for his special survey, J Finnis, and Duncan McFarlane, were among the first, and in the subsequent survey of the township, the streets etc were named after them and others of our early colonists. …
Within its boundaries was grown wheat that whipped the world at the first London Exhibition of 1851 and afterwards … Of the township, it may be said that its main street would not disgrace Adelaide so far as the buildings and asphalted footpaths are concerned, whilst many of the private residences, Churches, and its only two hotels would do credit to any Australian city.
Of old buildings, the flourmill, bearing the modest inscription, JD 1844, is worthy of notice, as is also the first public house built by Mr John Gloag, which stands close by. Its low brick walls and slab-sided outbuildings, with roofings of palings and thatch, are typical of the architecture of the early days.
A little to the west is what used to be called Dead men’s row, where some of the first settlers were buried. Its situation is right in the heart of the present township, and as the allotments there became valuable, this, the first cemetery, was soon closed. Only some twenty odd were buried there. The mounds above them have long since been obliterated, and the old graves are now either covered with cowyards and fowlhouses or with fruit trees etc. Another old graveyard also closed is situated at the top of the main (Gawler) Street, where the remains of those buried have been more respected, the triangular corner containing them having been fenced and planted with pinus insignis.
In the matter of industries, the township can be commended. The busiest now is that of Mr T Paltridge’s tannery. It is about the third largest of that ilk in the colony, and employs twenty hands, and in the bark season four extra. Established forty years ago by Mr Paltridge, it was then the beginning of small things, as he worked it solus. Now it thrives. The bulk of hides treated here are purchased in Adelaide, others as far off as Broken Hill … The average of those purchased is 200 per week, besides calf, wallaby and kangaroo. For the sale of leather, Adelaide is the principal market …
Next in importance is Messrs Ramsay and Co’s factory, established in 1853 by the late Honourable JG Ramsay. Since then, the establishement has supplied machinery of all kinds for many thousand miles of furrows, not only in this colony, but in Victoria and New South Wales … The manufactures are various, including in their number ploughs for wheat and vine cultivation, scarifiers, earthscoops and ploughs for the excavation of dams, waggons, roadrollers etc. …
Not far from here is another hive of industry viz, that of Mr CE Dutch, whose speciality is the manufacture of water windmills, hand and other cream separators … Among many other ingenious contrivances manufactured by Mr Dutch is a simple, yet effective one … termed a sparrow persuader, consisting only of a piece of flat zinc, cut into the shape of a cat … and when suspended on or over fruit trees or vines by means of a string, it is always on the move. …
So much for the present industries of Mount Barker. As for the past, a visit to the residence of Mr Allan Bell, Dalmaney Park, brings the visitor into acquaintance with a splendid record in gold, silver and bronze. … On the land to be seen from the verandah of his homestead was grown the wheat which gained for South Australia the handsome medal, or rather trophy, now to be seen in our metropolitan Art Gallery … In its obtainment, he helped to push not only Mount Barker but South Australia onwards to fame in the eyes of the older world …
The road skirting the Mount Barker Creek leading from the township to Echunga was next traversed. … Here is situated that newly-built residence for Dr G Bollen, one of Port Adelaide’s medicos, and the view obtainable there from overlooking the township is one of the best … The building seen from a distance resembles a Chinaman’s hat or miniature pagoda. Never-the-less, it is constructed on the latest hygienic principles, and is, therefore, christened The Sanitorium. …
A rustic ford spans the creek, which on its course above is framed with trees planted by the late Mr Joseph May … Of trees bordering the upper windings of the creek, oaks, elms, and poplars indicate their variety, backed by the graceful weeping and stringlet branches of the willow, hidden by saplings from the main road. … Uphillwards, at the corner of the orchard, is one of the first oaks planted on South Australian soil, and now growing luxuriantly … from an acorn, only one of many brought to this colony by Mr May from the dear old mother country. …
There are several other places in Mount Barker … worthy of special mention. Private residences assert their claim in this connection, and those of Mr John Dunn, Mr R Barr Smith and Dr Bickle are situated within the township’s boundaries, and all savour of the palatial. … The gardens surrounding all the homesteads in and around Mount Barker with the autumnal tints on deciduous trees and leafy climbers were simply lovely, as a lady from Adelaide remarked when I was there. .. As to the frost collected on fencing-rails and on the slopes to the eastward of the railway station on the morning of the Queen’s Birthday, it simply gave them the appearance as if ‘silver had been on the drop’ overnight.
The main (Gawler) street of Mount Barker at all times presents a busy appearance, but especially so on Saturdays, when sales of land, agricultural and live stock etc are held alternately by Mr John Paltridte and Messrs FT Cornelius & Co, on the premises connected with Messrs Ritson and Wiedemann’s Hotels. …
Mount Barker Springs
The drives which can be taken from the township are various and beautiful … The drive to Mount Barker Springs and thence on to Wistow was one of the first taken and is full of attractiveness.
After passing Cro’Nest, built by the late Mr J Hill, of Dunn & Co, the two cemeteries are on your left. Then the rifle range, well-known and patronised … stretches from the hillside across the creek along an old district road enclosed by a fencing of gorse.
Close by is Mr Allan Bell’s old homestead, the land surrounding which has recently been purchased by Mr Justice Boucaut. Opposite are the splendid flats contiguous to the Mount Barker Creek. On these are situated the old homestead of the late Mr Friend Cleggett, with its accompanying orchard, and adjacent are the old stockyards erected by Mr J Boase.
Then the place where some of the world-famed wheat was grown on Bald Hills by Mr Bell is seen, and above it is a healthy-looking wattle plantation belonging to Mr TH Stephenson, on whose property near the creek several well-bred horses and ponies were enjoying themselves; and further on the marble-flux quarries, leased and worked by Mr LT Watts, were visited. Several of his trollies were met with on the road conveying that material to the railway station.
On the road opposite, a pool supplied by one of the springs is used as a watering place for travellers’ horses, and on towards the Mount near one of the creek crossing is seen the old homestead of another of the district’s former Wheat Kings, Mr J Frame, … and what may be called the emblems of the prosperity of the past in the shape of two old ruined Chapels, wherer the yeomanry of years beyond recall most did congregate.
Upwards on the slopes of the Mount is the property of Mr Lang, then to the right and left that of Mr Miles Cavenagh, both principally used for grazing purposes.
Higher still is Judge Boucaut’s, situated on the south-east fall of the Mount, containing splendid soil, with small plantations of fruit and forest trees, vines etc.
Of the Mount, it may be said that it from here looks insignificant, an idea dispelled, however, by either climbing to its summit, or in viewing it from the shores on either side of the distant lakes.
Wistow
Off the back road is one that cross-cuts to Wistow past Eden Park, the beautifully situated residence of the late Hon JG Ramsay …
At Mr Walter Paterson’s, named by the natives Yunkunga, after one of the springs, I called, and the residence of this old pioneer has its little history. Sheaoak Hill … faces it. Curios manifold are still to be seen at the homestead of Mr Paterson, who was of a mechanical turn in his more youthful days. …
Eden Park it was my pleasure next to visit, and in praise of the residence and its surroundings too much can scarcely be recorded. … The residence was built by the Hon JG Ramsay, and he was his own architect. From stone raised near by is an excavation which now constitutes a good holding dam in rocky wallage for rain water, pumped to the house by means of a water-mill. From the tower of the residence, a grand view is obtainable of the distant lakes and intervening country, whilst the park-like surroundings still are favourite picnicking spots for children and others from the township …
Host Yates was of course called upon, and his hostelry at Wistow I found considerably enlarged and improved since last I was there. He now combines stockbuying … with the hotel. The old oak tree nosing the junction of the roads to Macclesfield and Strathalbyn still thrives and does remarkably well considering its elevated and consequently exposed position. Fruit-trees, potatoes, and other vegetables are here grown on the slopes by Mr Yates. …
On the home track from Wistow, … the Church, with store and post-office, are close by. Then to the right, on the roadside below Eden Park, is another marble flux quarry. … Old thatched whitewalled cottages hereabouts are in many instances surrounded by fruit trees …
Parkindula, owned now by Mr Peterson, the well-known Manager of Campbell House Station, Lake Albert, … includes some favoured slopes, which on their lower edges are most suitable for the cultivation of tuber crops for man, cattle and pigs. … Plots of pines, fenced in, and planted by the former proprietor, Mr Stone, look well …
Next is noted the grave of Mrs Walter Paterson. It is worthy of a monument by way of perpetuating the memory of one who came here and helped to found a nation. … It is to be hoped that the little earthen spot where she lies will be held sacred by those who now and hereafter plough the field wherein she rests.
Hahndorf
Hahndorf, the old 'German Town', was settled by Prussian emigrants, who from religious causes were compelled to abandon their native country and seek refuge on the shores of South Australia.
Of Hahndorf and its history, it is gathered that the good ship Zebra sailed from the port of Hamburg on 31 July 1838, with 191 emigrants, arriving here in December 1838. This little band of pilgrims bought three sections of land from Messrs Dutton, Finnis, and McFarlane, the price being 7 pounds per acre, bearing interest at 10%, until their completion of their purchase.
These three sections now comprise the township of Hahndorf, which was loyally named by the emigrants after their ship's captain, DM Hahn. By means of their thrift, the inhabitants were soon enabled to pay for their land and call the place their own. ...
Viewed from Windmill Hill, the valley in which Hahndorf is nestled is really beautiful, particularly so in autumn, when the tints of exotics are wonderful in their 'infinite variety'. Windmill Hill, with its razor-backed saddle, is a place which once visited is not likely to be forgotten, on account of its lovely surroundings ... A splendid view is here obtainable of both Mt Barker and Mt Lofty ... The old-fashioned sugar-loafed shaped tower of the flourmill ... stands as a landmark on the top. Of the wheel, there is only now one wooden spoke left ...
Traversing the steep road which leads to the village, its southern skirtment encloses grazing land and wattles owned by Mr C Paech; to the left is the best farmed land in the neighbourhood, and it has been under cultivation for over 50 years. Mr P Braendler, its present occupier, 'goes for the land and the land returns the compliment'. Farming, gardening, dairying and fruitgrowing are all engaged in with profitable results.
Stinkwort, during my visit, was being cut for bedding by a horse-mower, and of the stack of this commodity near his piggery, cowyard, and stables, Mr Braendler said, 'It is the best I have ever tried for bedding and afterwards manure, but it must be mowed before the plants are coming into seed'.
A hand separator is in use here, and peas, mangolds, sorghum, and maize are cultivated to perfection for fodder purposes. In the orchard there are three acres planted with apples, growing well, besides an old vineyard, where the vines would do better if more attention were paid them. Of vegetables, potatoes are the champions in regard to prolificacy, but all do well simply because the soil is assisted by artificial means.
Further on is seen Mrs Gething's residence, and its selection does credit to the memory of the well-known and much respected former medico of Pt Adelaide.
Below Mrs Gething's on the right is seen the old Lutheran Church, built of brick, in which the venerable father of the exiled flock, Pastor Kavel, ofttimes ministered ... It is now supplanted by a handsome building, on the outer white cut stone walls of which is to be seen an inscription in German - "St Paul's Church; erected in commemoration of the foundation of the Lutheran Church in Hahndorf by Pastor Kavel, year 1840."
Inside, ... the unique little floral tables near the organ-loft hanging on the wall silently speak of the momory of the dead. A picture of Luther and Pastor Kavel are fixed on the wall above the altar. The ground, fittings, baptismal font, and communion jug and cup (the last made of solid silver) were all presented by Mr FW Wittwer, the much-respected miller here.
In the township's main street, now bordered with elms, chestnuts, and other beautiful trees, are rustic homesteads, which with their verdant framing are indeed pictures ...
In traversing the main street the surroundings of homesteads command attention. Fruit-trees, mangolds and cultivation of some kind are noticeable, whilst the houses and their construction commend themselves as useful object lessons to builders on clayey or Biscay cracking soils ... Thatch for roofing, with brick walls intersected with gum-framing, V-shaped, horizontal and other shaped walled lacings, they score anything but cracks, the wooden lacements or bracings preventing the possibility of such. These 'German ideas' in building are well worthy of imitation and adaptation in many other localities...
'The village smithy stands'; not beneath a spreading chestnut, but a better spreading vine which, measuring 2' at its butt, expands its branches all around the busy premises. Its size is large and its age 19 years. Near here is Host Ide's establishment, and being of an energetic habit, he does not solely confine himself to the duties connected with his hostelry, but is also a cultivator, and when I first met him he was superintending the loading of a trolley with apples and other fruit for transport to the Adelaide market ...
Nearly opposite is ... Mr C Bom's monumental marble works ... The material mostly treated and sold by Mr Bom is imported from Italy, although some cut from yellow sandstone obtained from near Murray Bridge ...
In company with Mr Bom, I visited St Michael's Lutheran Church, built in 1858, and its surrounding oldest cemetery, which was allocated in the original survey of the township. In the burial ground rest numbers of those who helped to found this pretty little hamlet. The headings ... are indicated on wooden slabs of gum, cut and rough-hewn in a somewhat rustic though respectful fashion. The painted inscriptions once to be found thereon have long since been washed off or obliterated by the old scythe-bearer ...
Of schools, the College first commends itself for favourable mention. It is of goodly proportions and with its gymnasium and other accessories ... it ranks first among those outside the precincts of Adelaide...
Of industries, ... the mill to me is the first worthy of notice. It is owned and worked by Mr FW Wittwer, who arrived here in the Zebra, 1838. I am happy to say that it was humming whilst I was there; but its works are not confined to flour. My interview with Mr Wittwer was interesting, and from him I gathered that the mill was built for and supplied with grist formerly grown here. Little or nothing of that kind is now numbered among the products of the district, the growth from seed planted in later years being cut for hay, and the wheat ground is supplied from the Dimboola district over the border, where many of this district's former residents are now located ...
The supply from over the border sent direct to this mill last season by the farmers there numbered 2,000 bags, for which 7d per bushel for transport was paid by Mr Wittwer for delivery at the railway station at Ambleside ...
Wattle bark is also milled on the premises under notice, some 70 tons being then on hand ...
Mr Sonnemann's jam factory was visited. Business there in that connection was dull, as the following returns will show. The season before last, 1,500 cases, or some 75 tons, was the output, whilst for last year it numbered 900 cases, or about 40 tons. At the back of the factory is an orchard covering 7 acres; some of the trees were planted 40 years ago and they still bear well, especially the apples, pears and plums. Indeed, some of the pears grown there this season weighed over 7lb each. Frost is too severe for the vines; they used to do well some 10 years ago, but sunshine after frost cripples the growth ...
About 2 miles north of Hahndorf is Mr A Schroeder's homestead, named Rebensberg. On the road thither was passed the premises of Mr C Nitschke, who encourages the growth of the wattle, and nearing Mr Schroeder's are to be found some of the best specimens of native birds I have seen for many years, the red-breasted robin, diamond sparrow, white cockatoo, and parrots of all sorts being included in their number. The visitor admires them, but the planters of vines and fruit-trees do not, for ... almost all of them are very destructive to the products of the soil.
A beautiful spot is Rebensberg ... Passing the vineyard which slopes to the left of the road, the homestead is reached. The buildings and wine cellars surrounding it are of all sorts, sizes and ages ... The acreage under vines numbers seven and a half, of which two and a half were planted last season, all of the Madeira variety. The vintage lately has been poor, owing to oidium and sparrows and other winged pests; also frosts. Nevertheless, the wine made here is very good. 1,800 gallons were made last season and about 1,200 this. Certificates as to its quality are not wanting, as prizes taken at the Jubilee Exhibition and all the local Shows amply testify, and those of the port and hock varieties should hold their own anywhere.
On the rich flats below the vineyard potatoes, mangolds, and other tubers are grown to perfection, and of the former 14 tons had already been sold in Adelaide this season, whilst a second crop, well manured, bids fair to yield a still larger quantity. The majority of the latter will be retained for planting next year. Everything on this property is well cultivated; good crops of all descriptions are ensured by returning to the land that which it always requires - manure - which is here largely conserved. Further up this beautiful valley is the property of Mr Minge, whose orchard and wattle plantation are both looking well.
Visitors to Hahndorf should not leave its neighbourhood without paying a visit to Friedrichstadt. It is indeed a lovely spot, and the old residences there occupied by the Paech family are worthy of attention by rising young artists ... The district spreads considerably and covers the 13 eighty-acre sections purchased from what was formerly called the SA Cattle Company, on which flocks were herded in the early days after having been brought over from the mother colony of NSW ...
Nothing prettier and more foreign to our Adelaide and suburban 'square' style of architecture could possibly be imagined. Surrounding them are old orchards and willows planted forty years ago. 'Neath the latter trickles a tiny and ever-running stream. From it, through iron piping, water is conveyed to a rustic gum hewn trough placed on the roadside by the Messrs Paech for the public and those of their cattle travelling this way. Any one of the three buildings with its gumwood bracings, stock shelterings and dovecotes, is worthy of committal to canvas, especially so when their surrounding trees are in bloom or are tinted with autumnal shades. All the brothers resident here were passengers by the Zebra, and are most worthy specimens of the pioneer type.
From Hahndorf to Echunga, the drive is a pleasant one. Trees planted on the roadside leading up to the new cemetery are mostly of the pinus insignus description ... To the right is an old vineyard, planted by Mr Hunt, and now owned by Mr Wittwer. Further on is the recreation ground with its rifle range.
Next are seen shafts sunk in former days for silver-lead ore. A consignment from these was bagged years ago and sent away to Germany, ... but the bags broke which contained it - and so afterwards did the Company ... A portable sawyer's frame substituting excavated pits for sawing purposes, which were used in the early days, is next seen. The trunks, raised by lifts or levers, are retained for sawing purposes by means of iron pins inserted in auger holes bored through the wooden framework.
The recently constituted reserve, fenced and cleared for the new Hahndorf Cemetery, is situated a little further on ... Leading to the cemetery from the main road is a semi-arched roadway, with a frontage planted within the reserve by the Council and the residents of Hahndorf. Within the square-shaped God's acre are marbled urns ... backed by a woodland of gums, which helps to set them off by way of sombre-hued background. At the portals of the fenced enclosure are inscriptions on notice-boards, both in English and German, indicating the prices of ground, reserves, graves etc. ...
On the road, another portion of Friedrichstadt was hurriedly visited and the farms and homesteads of Messrs FW & PG Paech and Collins were seen. They are all beautifully situated on the old Cattle Company's station, where on good farming land fruit, vegetable and wattle growing are the order of the day. On the main road further on wattles are growing everywhere, and there is a considerable area of land on either side eminently fitted for the cultivation of all kinds of fruit and other produce.
Mr Wilhelm Liebelt has already proved this, and the growth of mangolds, fruit-trees etc on his clearance is abundantly gratifying ...
By such early pioneers as those referred to, the township of Hahndorf was cleared of its timber and built upon ... It as a township constitutes a worthy memorial of ... the Prussian emigrants ... Right nobly have they fulfilled their compact ...
