Hahndorf Branch, National Trust of SA - Annual General Meeting
The Shady Pool, The Cedars, Heysen Road, Hahndorf - Saturday 29 November 2008 at 6.00pm
After a delicious and convivial picnic tea, Anni called the meeting to order.
Welcome and apologies:
Present: Margaret and Tony Finnis; Ian Stephenson; Margaret and John Brook; Tom and Donna Johnson; Lyn Stokes; Bryon Finch; Lyndell Davidge; Anni Fox; Annette Oien; Allan Campbell.
Apologies: Reg Butler; Kylie Storey; Don Goldney.
Confirmation of minutes of Previous AGM
Held on Friday 17 August, 2007. Moved Lyndell, seconded Bryon that minutes be accepted as read: carried.
Reports:
Anni Fox, Chairperson: an overview of research, advocacy and activities; attached.
Annette Oien, Secretary: lessons learned regarding maintenance of heritage on a recent trip to Petra and Jersey; report on seminar on youth volunteering; attached.
Lyndell Davidge, Treasurer: Report on developments at the Hahndorf Academy, including a projected $250,000 to relocate the Information Centre at the Academy.
Tony Finnis, Web Designer: Reg Butler’s database is located at the Stables Restaurant; also he has generously allowed his Hahndorf Land Titles Database to be posted on our website; there is now some information on the Hahnwiki website; Justin Lang has some photos for the datebase; there is no Mount Barker District Council involvement; there have been an average of 150+ visits to the website per day, and up to 500 – 80% Australian, 20% worldwide; there is lots of information there but it needs additional input.
Confirmation of reports: moved Bryon, seconded Margaret Finnis that the reports be accepted: carried.
Financial Report
Tabled by Lyndell: Moved Lyndell seconded Annette that report be accepted: carried.
Election of Officers:
All positions being declared vacant, Ian Stephenson took the chair for the election of officers.
The following were declared elected:
Chairperson: Anni Fox; moved Bryon, seconded Lyndell; carried.
Secretary: Annette Oien; moved Anni, seconded Tony; carried.
Treasurer: Lyndell Davidge; moved Tony, seconded Bryon; carried.
Committee: Bryon Finch; Margaret Finnis; Tony Finnis; Margaret Brook, John Brook.
Other Business:
Ian Stephenson, National Trust of SA CEO, congratulated the Hahndorf Branch on its efforts to maintain standards. He said that independent groups have higher standards, and it is imperative that they keep an eye on developers and other parties to make sure that they conform to requirements. A higher standard plan is needed – the bar needs to be set higher. For example, blocks of 300 square metres are going to be allowed. This bill should be deferred to subject it to criticism.
Thanks:
To the Heysen Family and Curator Allan Campbell for allowing our AGM to take place at this site of national artistic and historical significance.
Closure:
There being no further business, the meeting closed 8.30pm.
Addendum:
The attendees adjourned to the house for coffee, and at this time Lyndell presented some ideas for talks on a variety of subjects at the Academy, and also ideas for other activities.
Attachments:
Chairperson's Report to AGM, Saturday 29.11.2008 held at The Shady Pool, The Cedars, Heysen Road, Hahndorf.
Chairperson, Anni Luur Fox
ON THE SOAPBOX AGAIN: The need to jog cultural memory.
I’m afraid that recent planning events have prompted me to retrieve the old soapbox from the barn and make a public plea for maintenance of cultural memory. Without it, there is lack of respect for the visual cultural markers of Hahndorf’s heroic past which have their roots in the Indo-European tribes circa 3000 BC. The survivors of the town’s 19th Century streetscape have proved to be a valuable component of South Australia’s tourism industry which is worth $4.3 billion annually according to the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. Like all buildings and their placement on the Earth, they are markers of values and beliefs held by communities, against which we can measure current values in our search for meaning or solutions to problems. I note that like Hahndorf’s early settlers we are again watering gardens by bucket and there is healthy interest in growing vegetables and old varieties of produce in our very own backyards again.
If we are to believe researchers in the field of environmental psychology, people have deep-seated needs for significant historic places because they provide a sense of stability and continuity, particularly in times of trouble. The housing industry backed a winner with its mock Federation- style plans following on from mock Victorian a few years earlier. Even Singapore’s rampant ‘out with the old and in with the new’ brigade of the 1980’s soon realized the value of the old precincts and began replacement programs when tourists began complaining. Why is Hahndorf Main Street overflowing with cars and people even on Mondays? Could just walking past its ninety 19th Century buildings supply comfort food for the soul?
IF LOCAL PEOPLE DON’T CARE, WHO DOES?
So who will defend the visual cultural markers that give Hahndorf its unique status as Australia’s oldest permanent German settlement based on farm village forms dating to pre-Christian times in Old Prussia and the Germanic states of medieval Europe? Who can actually ‘read’ the streetscapes and point to the elements that must be retained for Hahndorf to retain its historical identity? At last Saturday’s National Trust AGM at Carclew a member from another Branch observed that Hahndorf had lost its history. Her response to evidence of our remarkable stock of 19th Century buildings and ancient flora was “Well, it’s lost its soul!!!!!”
Her comment may well be true. Last year’s eight month marathon was about St Michael’s Church redevelopment plans requiring that the oldest Christian cemetery in the Adelaide Hills be covered with a car-park. It added to my observations that the Lutheran Church which stood at the heart of Hahndorf’s establishment in 1839, has lost its cultural memory. There were few members willing to publicly oppose such disrespect to the pioneers buried in what remains of the original graveyard. No-one knew of the religious symbolism of the trees planted on the graves or the ancient folk culture that was the source of beliefs that governed how the village character was developed and is still visible through its 19th Century buildings, plants, cemetery and layout. Why care about such things?
How do we as a society know who we are if we don’t know where we came from? There is loss of identity when people and places lose their cultural framework that provides meaning to their lives. Such losses have been cited by researchers as the cause of continuing troubles in communities over-run and marginalized by people with more ‘firepower’ and little respect for existing local knowledge and culture. Refugees can suffer a similar fate. In contrast, Arthur Koestler’s mighty tome ‘The Act of Creation’ cites disparate culture climates as a source of innovation when they meet, mix and integrate. World history is full of migration stories of displaced communities. On reaching safety they sometimes transform an alien environment to suit their existing cultural values. A mix of tragedy and creative enterprise results.
* Hahndorf is such an example of cultural transfer. Its visual cultural markers were identified by the Hahndorf Survey led from 1979-81 by Gordon Young from the School of Architecture, now part of the University of South Australia. The Hahndorf Branch was instrumental in convincing the Federal Government to fund this two year study. We contributed research data and photographs. The two volume report provided evidence for Hahndorf’s listing by the National Estate (1883) and State Heritage Area (1988) and formulation of the town’s first Supplementary Development Plan (1980-83). This has formed the well-documented basis of all future development plans favouring conservation which have resulted in retention of most of Hahndorf’s stock of 19th Century buildings measured and recorded by the Survey team.
The Hahndorf Survey identified a pattern of light industrial buildings next to cottages which were places of industry in their own right. There were gardens in front or at the side of the cottages and vegetables and orchards at the rear which also accommodated the cows, pigs, goats and poultry in various shelters. Since the advent of the S.E. Freeway in 1972, most of these 19th Century buildings have become retail outlets but they retain their form. The most serious cultural losses have been the gaps between the buildings which provided a charming rhythm to the streetscape unlike rows of buildings along Unley Road for example.
Research continues, adding some knowledge of Peramangk culture to our understanding of what happened in this place they called Bukartilla so long ago. Without documentation to underpin Branch representations to planning authorities and the Environment, Resources and Development Court, we could not argue successfully for retention of the cultural markers that have saved Hahndorf from being entirely overwhelmed by the ‘one size fits all’ developments seen throughout the towns and suburbs of Australia. Even though the Trust tends to be looked on as a ‘defacto planning authority’ by some planners, we provide an intelligent service for an important cultural cause.
OVERVIEW OF BRANCH ACTIVITY 17. 8. 2007- 29. 11. 2008.
1. St Michael’s Lutheran Church Cemetery and new development. Our Branch was asked to intervene by parishioners whose objections to the plan would not be heard by the church planning committee. Because of the size of the development and the fact that it would block out the church building of 1857/58, we knew that adequate parking would be a major problem even if the cemetery was covered by a carpark as planned. I sent a full report of procedures undertaken by the Branch to members in December 2007 after the Church withdrew its application to Council on 14 November. There were further problems and my detailed record of events add to our stock of appalling planning stories dating from 1976. Without trudging off to the ERD Court yet again, we managed to save the cemetery but could not prevent the building of an inappropriate development on what could be termed a Lutheran ‘sacred site’ in a State Heritage Area. In May 2008 I wrote an application for the Church to send to Heritage SA for funds to restore the headstones. The Heritage Advisor kindly wrote a supporting letter. Time devoted to this whole matter was truly exorbitant.
2. St Paul’s Lutheran Aged Homes Palm Trees. In November 2007 some parishioners of St Paul’s Lutheran Church had appeared at my back door, wishing to remain anonymous but asking our Branch to prevent the palm trees planted on the allotment next door to the church from being removed. The Heritage Advisor assured me that the trees would remain part of the new aged unit development. A few days ago the parishioners reappeared, asking me to attend the Aged Homes AGM on Sunday to speak against removal of the palm trees. * I propose to tell them that while palms were popular additions to 19th Century gardens, the presence of an old palm next to St Michael’s Lutheran Church signifies more than addiction to the fashion of the day. My view is that the palm was a religious symbol or visual reminder of the birthplace of Christianity for its parishioners who had come from Prussia where certain trees and other natural forms were part of the folk culture which they brought with them. It is possible that the other palms in Hahndorf have a similar religious significance and are vital cultural markers in a village founded by religious refugees.
3. South Verdun Working Group. I was appointed to this group by the Minister for Planning who had saved our Branch and a group of South Verdun residents from having to argue against polluting industries in the ERD Court by buying the petrol station and Boral sites for $1.5 million in 2006. I duly attended a meeting on 9 November 2007. Present were Mr Newbery ( COAG Open Space Advisory Committee), Anthony Rowe (Maunsell), Sue Sutter (Recreation consultant), Debbie Saegenschnitter (Landscape Architect), Matt Lang (Planning SA), Marc Salver (Adelaide Hills Council), Jo Larkin (S. Verdun Residents), and myself. Maunsell is a company of hydrologists who had discovered no tadpoles due to poor water quality but their survey of flora and fauna had found the site to be habitat for the Southern Brown Bandicoot. We agreed the preferred outcome for the site would be a low key park with interpretive trail of indigenous vegetation and a rehabilitated water-system. The Branch contributed an overview of the history of the site and list of indigenous plants including food sources.
4. Supermarket and other developments. While the local community may welcome this facility, its architecture is an insensitive addition to the historic streetscape. No respect was paid to the site’s long engineering history. Bill Wiese’s former wheelwright shop has lost its meaning as a cultural marker of industrial Hahndorf through inappropriate fenestration and aluminium doors. An attempt has been made to vary the roofline and to indent the front elevation of the development but the ugly cantilever verandahs are not in sympathy with the built forms of the precinct as required by the development plan. Its carpark has been allowed by Council to cover the creek which drains this section of the floodplain emptying into the Onkaparinga River which forms part of our water-supply.
5. Bremer’s former wheelwright shop opposite the Hahndorf Inn has fared better in terms of some respect paid to its industrial past by use of galvanized iron cladding but it is very sad to note that the car repair business at the rear has been lost to the Hahndorf community.
6. The Manna development has retained the three buildings on the Martin’s wheelwright site we fought for in our first foray to the Planning Appeal Court in 1977-79 but the site is on a floodplain now jammed with buildings.
7. Grumpy’s Brewhouse. This has been another saga of the South Verdun floodplain. Despite photographic and documented evidence of severe flooding of the site, the Adelaide Hills Council Development Assessment Panel spent two hours in deliberation after South Verdun residents and our Branch had presented objections to expansion. Given that this was a ‘change of use’ from ‘a shop and 25 seat café, approval to allow a 75 seat restaurant on the site granted by the casting vote of the Chairperson, was against the principles of the development plan. There were a number of anomalies in this matter including the Environmental Protection Authority’s approval on the false assumption that it was an ‘existing use’. It would have required us to go to the ERD Court yet again to argue the point. We didn’t.
8. Hahndorf Pioneer Women’s Trail Footbridge over the Onkaparinga River. We received a very positive reply from the CEO of Transport SA, Andrew Milazzo who quoted a cost of $50,000 for a clip-on bridge attached to the road-bridge. Since then the engineers have found that it is not a possibility and have designed a separate footbridge over the Onkaparinga and Hahndorf Creek costing $400,000. I have been in touch with the Walkers Federation who agree with the concept of a footbridge rather than a ford and consider it a test case for walkers in Australia if we can convince the government to pay attention to their needs. People who rely on catching or alighting from a bus at Glen Vimy Orchards are in danger and have caused near accidents when they try to cross the road-bridge to and from their homes on the opposite side of the river. Because of this safety problem the Trail was marked from Silver Road at Verdun, not from its original home in Hahndorf.
9. Hahndorf Land Titles Database. This has been a ‘Tour de Force’ of research by Reg Butler who had the passion and stamina to first launch this remarkable tool in 1992 when he was Education Officer for Hahndorf. This year Reg set up the extended and enhanced database at the Stable Restaurant for free use by the community and kindly allowed Tony Finnis to post it on our Branch Hahnwiki site for the world to access.
10. Tours. On occasion the Branch runs tours of Hahndorf for groups such as the Pioneers Association, schools and people coming to the Heysen Festival.
11. Peramangk Rock Art Photographs. Having received permission from Peramangk custodian Isobelle Campbell and Robin Coles we retrieved some photographs from our collection housed at the Hahndorf Academy for display at the Macclesfield Primary School Centenary last year.
12. Native Foods of Hahndorf. Knowing that the Peramangk had shown Hahndorf’s early settlers which native plants were edible, I have been documenting their current existence and checking earlier documentary sources. It formed part of my exhibition at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in October and may provide a source of funds for the Branch in future. The Shady Pool area has an array of plant foods now lost within the town.
13. Adelaide Hills Council Flood Management Amendment. We sent in our objections to the proposed enshrining of increased development on floodplains in the Development Plan.
14. Art Gallery of SA ‘Century in Focus’ Our Branch supplied information re Edmund Diederich’s photograph used in this exhibition.
15. University of the Third Age. I gave a two hour talk with maps and diagrams on Hahndorf development.
16. The Branch has been represented at the following meetings: National Trust of SA AGM; Hahndorf Business and Tourism AGM and Master Plan sessions; Community Association AGM and some general meetings; Mt Barker District Council Cultural Policy formulation; Adelaide Hills Heritage Group; Mt Barker Branch. I was invited to be a ‘Living Book’ during the Adelaide Festival of Arts at the Mortlock Chamber, State Library of SA and have agreed to give a talk regarding Hahndorf Heritage at their Volunteers Christmas Party on 9 December.
I wish to thank Allan Campbell, Curator of the Cedars for allowing us to have our AGM in this gorgeous place. Our Branch has been fortunate that its members, while not numerous have highly developed skills and passion for cultural knowledge that is vital for significant historical places such as Hahndorf. I thank them sincerely for supporting the National Trust with their membership fees and volunteer work in the community. Next year we hope to liase more often with the Mt Barker Branch.
May I introduce our Secretary Annette Oien recently returned from Petra, Jersey and a day’s workshop on Volunteering; Treasurer Lyndell Davidge who is on the Board of the Hahndorf Academy and who was manager of community consultations for the Pioneer Women’s Trail; and Website Manager Tony Finnis. They will provide a broader picture of Branch works that extend our knowledge and hopefully, influence the community to retain Hahndorf’s cultural markers and memory.
