THE STORY OF OLD HOFFNUNGSTHAL IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA
(As told by G.R. Juers in 'Kirchen-Blatt')
Published in the Australian Lutheran Almanac, 1939.
It was between the years 1840 and 1850 that many people from Germany
came to the Colony of South Australia. Among then were the parents and
grandparents of the narrator. Among the many settlements established by
these immigrants we might mention ROSENTHAL NEU-MECKLENBURG, and
HOFFNUNGSTHAL. The people who came from Germany were for the greater
part Lutherans, pious, God-fearing people, who had left Germany for
reasons of religious liberty. Thus they left their native land for
conscience' sake. In Germany they had heard from Pastor Kavel that in
Australia good land could be obtained at cheap rates, and, what was the
main thing, everyone was free to practice his religion according to his
conscience. And so they said. Let us go there. Let us build our
churches and schools there to the praise of God and make a new home for
ourselves and our children. Arrived at Port Adelaide, they did not
scatter seeking employment, but remained together in groups so they
could establish congregations and erect churches. The most of them had
families for whom they had to provide. They came in the ships 'GELLERT'
'VON DER TANN' 'KOENIGIN LUISE' and 'WANDRAM' and from the first to
arrive, those coming later learned that lend was available at a place
called Lyndoch Valley. This had been discovered by some who went out on
a reconnoitring expedition. Near the western slopes of the Barossa
Ranges they had found, about a mile east from the Lyndoch Valley, some
lovely low-lying country. The soil looked very fertile. Of course it
was still covered by virgin forest, giant gum trees towering above the
dense scrub. It was not unlike a European moor. At a depth of three
feet beautiful spring water was obtainable in summer and in winter.
That was the place on which a group of them fixed. The whole of this
country at that time belonged to the South Australian Company which
held it on a twenty year lease. The Company was glad to get tenants for
the land at an annual rental. The Lutherans soon came to terms with the
Company.
There were about twenty families, besides single men, who settled here,
some making their homes in the gullies of the Barossa Ranges. Their
holdings ranged from twenty to eighty acres. An old gum tree near the
present town of Lyndoch still marks the spot where each man's area was
allotted to him.
When these Lutherans settled here they decided to build s village such
as they had known than in Germany and they called their village
'HOFFNUNGSTHAL' (Valley of Hope) because they were all full of hope
that here they would grow into a flourishing community. In the wild
bush where the aborigines built their miamis, they erected their humble
cottages. Today, the main road from Old Hoffnungsthal runs north-east
by south-east. Along this road most of their houses stood. At the
south-west end of the village, on a slight eminence, they built their
church and a residence for the teacher. To the back of the church they
attached two rooms for the Pastor to live in. The Church was built of
planks they had sewn on their own holdings. The walls were plastered
with clay and the roof thatched with rushes. Most of the cottages were
constructed of stone with clay for mortar and the roof of rushes. Their
fields lay to the west of the road. Each cottage had its flower and
vegetable garden, generally on its eastern side. At the end of the
road, on somewhat higher ground, lies the old God's-sore where they
laid their departed dear ones to rest. This cemetery was about halt a
mile from the church. The village was beautifully situated. The Barossa
Ranges rise on the eastern side of the road and even in summer it was
eight or nine o'clock before the sun rose over the hills.
It was a great day for the little community when it was able to
dedicate its newly-built church. Pastors Kavel and Fritzsche officiated
on the occasion. The building was put to good use.
Every day the children assembled in it for their schooling. Not only on
Sundays but also on all the old holy-days of the year, there was
worship. On two evenings of the week prayer meetings were held. Every
year they celebrated the anniversary of their emigration from Germany,
thanking God who had brought them into a beautiful land of liberty.
They were determined that the right teaching of God's Word should abide
with them and they stood firmly on the confessional writings of the
Lutheran Church. Their first minister was Pastor Meier, the second
Pastor Ph. Oster. The latter had come to Australia as a student and had
studied his theology under Pastor Fritzsche at Lobethal. On the
completion of his studies he was ordained and installed at
Hoffnungsthal. His parsonage consisted of the two rooms at the back of
the church. The teachers who taught in the school were NOSKE,
SEELAENDER, MOLKENTIN, and SCHWARTZKOPFF.
They were happy people, those dwellers in old Hoffnungsthal. To them
this new country looked like the Land of Canaan, for it flowed with
milk and honey. In the great old gums the bees had their hives and in
very warm weather, the combs overflowed and the honey dropped to the
ground. And if anyone was lucky enough to possess a cow or two, he also
had milk. So abundant was the feed for the cows, that often, too, these
could not retain their milk, and like the honey, it flowed to the
ground. There were no fences in those days, the country was open in all
directions and the cows were free to wander and seek for themselves the
most succulent grasses. In the gullies of the Barossa Ranges, the
pasture was sweet and the water in the creeks as clear as crystal.
There were some clever tradesmen among those Lutherans at
Hoffnungsthal, Carpenters, Masons, Cabinetmakers, Shoemakers, Tailors,
and even an organ-builder CARL KRUGER, who built the organ which is
still in use today. In later years he built an organ for the HOCHKIRCH
Church in Victoria, which was in use until a few yearn ago.
How, you may ask, what did these people live on? They grew wheat,
barley, rye, oats, peas. beans, lentils, and potatoes. The cultivation
of millet and buckwheat they also tried, but were not successful, an
the climate was not suitable. But the ether cereals grew most
luxuriantly and there was always the danger of their lodging before
they ripened. Harvesting operations were carried out by means of the
sickle and the scythe. The threshing was done by flail and roller. The
common threshing floor was located at the southern end of the village
beneath a huge spreading red gum tree. This tree is still in
flourishing condition. The threshing floor was circular, about forty
feet in diameter and laid out on hard ground. Alongside of this tree
you may still see the half-rotted log on which the men sat when they
took their rest in the shade of the tree. There they had their lunch
and drank their rye, coffee or honey-beer. After a pipe of tobacco and
a yarn they again assiduously applied themselves to their work with
flail and roller. The threshing had to be done in hot weather. The
grain was noon dislodged from the husks and then separated from the
chaff by means of a wooden winnowing machine of their own construction.
This had t0 he dome on a windy day, for the wind had to help to blow
away the chaff. The roller remained on the old threshing floor for many
days after the village was deserted. It was twenty feet long and
conical in shape. At the one end it had a diameter of four and a half
feet, at the thin end it was only s foot in diameter. A ring oil the
thin end fixed it to stout peg in the centre of the threshing floor. At
the thick end a hook was fixed on a swivel. To this end by means of the
hook, a couple of oxen were yoked and they drew the roller round end
round. The roller was fluted with six-inch grooves, and was constructed
from a single tree trunk.
The grain was taken by bullock dray to the old windmill which stood
about a mile to the north of Lyndoch end was known as BOTHE'S mill. In
later years there wan a water-driven mill at Gawler which was finally
supplanted by a steam mill. By that time the old windmill had had its
days. Rain and wind have since left their mark an it, in fact, only a
heap of stones remains where it once stood.
As has been stated, each dwelling had its flower and vegetable garden.
The seed had been brought along from the Fatherland. The natives often
sat on the side of the hills all day watching these mew-comers down in
the valley as with axe and fire they demolished their former hunting
grounds. They told the white men that sometimes after big rain- much
water would flow together where they had made their fields. The
new-comers took little notice of that. They did not as yet know enough
about Australia's erratic climatic conditions. unsuspiciously they
pursued the even tenor of their labour.
How did they live? They hid not only themselves but
also their Pastor and their teacher to provide for. All had brought a
good supply of clothing with them from the old country. The good black
cloth suits of the men, which they wore only when they went to church on Sundays, or, in some cases, only when
they attended at the Lords Table, would last then for many years.
Working clothes they bought in Adelaide. The old white moleskin
trousers could be bought for 12/6 and vests they made themselves out of
calf or goat skin. Their food was the plainest. Peas, beans, lentils,
potatoes, bacon, ham, sausages, home made cheese and sauerkraut were
the staple articles on the menu. Tea they hardly knew. They drank
"coffee' made of rye and milk. The gardens produced all kinds of
vegetables and the bush supplied wild honey. The latter was also used
in the brewing of beer of which horehound, which grew in
abundance, was also an ingredient. Their guns secured what today the
butcher supplies. Of game there was abundance in the bush, also wild
ducks, soft black as well as white cockatoos were so plentiful that as
many an half a dozen might be bagged in one shot - then for dinner
there would be one whole fried bird for each member of the family.
Kangaroo was generally served roasted with bacon and garlic. The
aborigines were much impressed by the firearms of the settlers, which
would spit fire with a thundering roar, giving the animal such a fright
that it dropped dead.
Let us take a peep into one of these humble little homes. The floor
consists of mother earth. The table is made of rough-hewn slabs. The
family is seated on a couple of benches made of rough bush timber which
stand on either aide of the table. For breakfast there would be eggs,
bacon, honey, lard, butter, and cheese. The mid-day meal might consist
of curds, boiled peas, meat (if available) and sauerkraut or beans. For
the evening meal there would be gruel or bread and milk. Never would
they sit down to their meal without having first asked a blessing. In
some families the grace would be sung by all, especially on Sundays.
Children had to say their prayers aloud on going to bed and on rising
in the morning. They were great singers, those people, and when they
raised their voices to praise the Lord on Sundays and festival days,
there was no mistaking that their hearts were in it.
Did they ever have picnics in those old days ? Yes, annually, in the
month of October, the whole village would go for a hike into the
ranges. The people were entranced by nature's beauties in the
Australian bush. They admired the gigantic gum trees and the profusion
of wild flowers. How different everything was from the country they had
left. From the summit of the ranges they had a view over the
surrounding country, which extended to the sea. And as they song the
songs of Germany, their thoughts went back to their native soil and to
the many dear relatives and friends they had left behind. Aid a feeling
skin to homesickness come into their hearts as they said, there lies
the great expense of water across which we came here. But others
rejoined that God had brought them into a new fatherland here and had
blessed them abundantly. And tears were wiped away and with glad hearts
they returned to their humble homes.
On the top of one mountain peak the settlers had made a place of
worship. Stones had been plied up to form a pulpit around which were
ranged seats of stone. This place they called the Kaiserstuhi, and
often Pastor Meier had to come along and preach them a Sermon on the
Mount on this eminence. The old pulpit and the atone pews are still to
be seen on the top of this peak, but the name, owing to war hysteria,
has been changed into Mt. Kitchener.
For some ten years this happy life continued. Large tracts of bush
country had been cleared and the good people were beginning to reel
settled and comfortable. But the happiest conditions of lire may come
to an end very suddenly. It was about the year 1853 in the month of
October when the disaster came. It rained heavily and continuously. For
a day and a night the rain came down like a deluge. One faintly had to
leave its house during the night and seek refuge beneath a huge boulder
on the side of the hill. In the morning a scene of desolation met the
gaze of the people as they emerged from their cottages. All the farms
and gardens were submerged. The water was already entering the homes
and was rising rapidly. In great haste they had to open pens and yards
for pigs and cattle to escape. Then was there much weeping among
mothers and children and many were asking why the hand of the Lord had
thus descended upon them. Had they done anything to offend God? With a
little reflection they had to admit that they themselves were to blame
for the disaster that had overwhelmed them. The old blacks had warned
them that sometimes much water would flow together there where they had
built their village, although possibly they had not understood the
warning. They had not had much experience of the vagaries of the
Australian climate. It was hardly to be expected that Clod would alter
the laws of nature on their account. Their work of clearing the land of
timber and brush had made the progress of the flood waters all the more
rapid. Before the creeks and gullies had finished emptying out their
waters Old Hoffnungsthal was submerged beneath some eight feet of water.
What was to be done? The South Australian Company was, of course, very
sorry for the people who were now in so sad a plight. Surveyors were
sent up to determine whether this lake could be drained, but that was
out of the question. The village lay eighteen feet too low. A tunnel
through a hill might have carried the water off, but that was too
expensive an undertaking, as the tunnel would need to be at least a
mile long. Government aid was not available. And there was nothing left
but for these people to seek for themselves new homes somewhere else.
That meant that they scattered in all directions. That was the end of
that once flourishing congregation. Many trekked across to Victoria
where they established the HOCHKIRCH congregation, to which Pastor
Schurmann, who up to that time had been a missionary at Port Lincoln,
was called. Some even migrated to America. Others founded a new
settlement nearby which they called NEUHOFFNUNGSTHAL. Pastor Oster
moved to the adjacent ROSENTHAL and from there ministered to the few
families settled at Neuhoffnungsthal.
What has become of Old Hoffnungsthal? Today only a few ruins mark the
place where it once stood. The church remained for many years, then
crumbled and the material of which it was built was carted away. Today,
only its foundations are left. The same has to be said of the teacher's
residence. Heaps of stone mark the places where once the dwellings
resounded with the merry laughter of little children.