wendish news WENDISHW HERITAGE SOCIETY A USTRALIA NUMBER 57 SEPTEMBER 2016 C ONTENTS Clockwise from top: CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS ........ 2 1. Tour Group members at the Nhill Lutheran Church (see page 3). PAST EVENTS ..................... 3 2. Albacutya homestead in the Wimmera – Mallee Pioneer Museum at Jeparit. LIBRARY NEWS ................... 7 3. Headstone of Helene Hampe (1840–1907), widow of Pastor G.D. Hampe, at Lochiel Lutheran TOURS ......................... 8 Cemetery. 4. Peter Gebert in his Kumbala Native Garden, near RESEARCH ...................... 9 Jeparit. 5. Daryl Deutscher, at the entrance to his Turkey Farm FROM OTHER SOCIETEIS JOURNALS ..... .10 with Glenys Wollermann, at Dadswell’s Bridge. 6. Chemist display at the Dimboola Courthouse REUNIONS ..................... .11 Museum. DIRECTORY ..................... .12 PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY CLAY KRUGER AND BETTY HUF Calendar of upcoming events 30th Anniversary Luncheon, Labour Day Weekend Tour to Saturday 15 October 2016 Portland, 11-13 March 2017 We will celebrate a special milestone this year: the Our tour leader, Betty Huf, has graciously offered to 30th Anniversary of our Society. You are warmly lead us on a tour of historic Portland on Victoria’s invited, along with family and friends, to attend this south-west coast, on 11-13 March 2017. Please note special Anniversary Luncheon to be held at 12 noon that this is the Labour Day long weekend in Victoria on Saturday 15 October in the Community Room and accommodation will need to be booked early at St Paul’s Lutheran Church, 711 Station St, Box due to the popularity of the Port Fairy Folk Festival. Hill, Victoria. (Please note that the luncheon venue The Henty family were the first Europeans to set- has been changed from the German Club Tivoli.) tle within the Port Phillip district (now known as The Church is near the corner of Whitehorse Rd Victoria), arriving at Portland Bay in 1834. Betty’s and Station St. in Box Hill. Car parking is available proposed itinerary includes some interesting his- behind the church (20 spaces) or in nearby streets. toric sites associated with the Hentys; the Portland Parking is also available for the weekend rate of Maritime Discovery Centre; a scenic ride along the $5.00 for the day under the Taxation Office building foreshore on the Portland Cable Tram; a climb up in Whitehorse Rd (access via Bruce St). the WWII Memorial Lookout Tower for an unbeat- The Church is also easy to access by public trans- able 360 degree view of Portland; a walk around the port. It is a short walk north down Station St from town viewing the historic buildings, including those the Box Hill Railway Station. For tram travellers, associated with Mary MacKillop, and a walk along there is a tram stop in Whitehorse Rd near Station the Portland Foreshore to view the ships and to see St. the B-double trucks unloading their woodchips. The Luncheon cost is $35.00 per head for a tra- Further details will be provided in our next news- ditional German meal, including sherries/orange letter and on our website. Please make your own juice/savouries beforehand, mulled wine with the arrangements for accommodation. main course, dessert and tea/coffee. Please book by 28 Feb. with Betty Huf, PO Box 26, There will be Wendish music, costumes, memo- Tarrington, Vic. 3301; Telephone (03) 5572 4959; rabilia, slideshow, guest speaker, historical reflec- email [email protected] as bookings are desirable tions, and more, including some surprises. You are for some venues. welcome to bring memorabilia if you wish. We look forward to seeing you on this special occasion. Contact: Beryl Nagorcka (Convenor of the Anniversary Celebration Committee), 39 Kenilworth Crescent, Glen Waverley, Victoria, 3150. Telephone (03) 9802 6487 Email: [email protected] RSVP: Monday 3 October 2016. Payment ($35 per head) is required with your booking. Please include your name and the names of your guests. Make cheque or money order payable to “Wendish Heritage Society Aust. Inc.” and post to Beryl Nagorcka at the above address. Alternatively, you may make payment by EFT. (BSB 06 3184 Account. No. 10092489). Please advise Beryl An aerial view of Portland, Victoria. if payment has been made by EFT. Reproduced with permission of the Port of Portland. Also advise Beryl if you have special dietary requirements. ©2016 [email protected] 2 Past events Clockwise from top: 1. Betty Huf (left) and Janice Blackburn collecting salt crystals from Pink Lake, Lochiel. 2. Dimboola Historical Society Secretary, Evelyn King, explaining the history of salt harvesting at Pink Lake. 3. L. to R.: Geoff Matuschka, Richard Albert, Lyall Kupke, Kneller and Ken Lehmann and Glenys Wollermann at Pink Lake, Lochiel. PHOTOS: C. KRUGER & B. HUF. New Website G.D. Hampe established as a preaching place in Our new website went live on 3 March. We are 1882. Zion congregation was formed in 1887 and a very pleased to announce that the website has been church building of laths (slats) and clay was erected enthusiastically received. We are very grateful to and used until the congregation was disbanded Robyn Zwar for her work in designing this wonder- in 1937. Methodist services were also held in the ful resource for sharing Wendish culture, history and church from 1919 to 1953. The unused and dilapi- heritage. See www.wendishheritage.org.au dated building was demolished in 1957. From there the tour stopped at Pink Lake to walk March Tour to Dimboola and district, down to its edge. Unfortunately, it had rained dur- ing the previous week, resulting in the salt crystals 12–14 March 2016 that had previously been present being reabsorbed This event, led by local historian and researcher into the lake waters. Salt has been harvested from Betty Huf, was a resounding success. Up to 25 the Lake since the late 1860s. In the 1950s, at the people participated. Betty has received very good height of the harvesting industry at the lake, a 16 feedback from those involved in the tour. There tonne railway truck was loaded each day with bags were many highlights. Below is Betty’s report. that weighed between 10 and 20 kilos. Today, in conjunction with the Barengi Gadjin Land Council, Dimboola and Lochiel the traditional land owners of the Wimmera region, The tour commenced at the Dimboola Historical salt is harvested from the lake for just 2 weeks each Society Courthouse Museum. Whilst enjoying year. It is processed and available for purchase from morning tea, the Dimboola folk gave an illustrated Mount Zero Olives and various other local retailers. talk to the group about the salt harvesting that has taken place at nearby Pink Lake over the past dec- Glenlee and Woorak ades. After a delectable luncheon made from local The tour then moved on to Glenlee where a local produce by the chef at the Mason Clarke Preserving identity, Laurie Schneider, showed us the memo- Co., everyone journeyed to Lochiel to visit the site rial dedicated to Alfred Traeger, a Lutheran radio of the Lutheran church and cemetery which Pastor engineer, who was born nearby. From 1926, Alf 3 Past events… continued Top row, left to right: 1. Memorial plaque to Alfred Traeger at Glenlee. 2. Woorak Lutheran Church. 3. Interior of Woorak Lutheran Church. Bottom row, left to right: 1. Interior of Dimboola Lutheran Church 2. Sunday Worship at Jeparit Lutheran Church. 3. Tour participants relaxing in the Kumbala Native Garden log shed. PHOTOS: CLAY KRUGER & BETTY HUF worked with John Flynn, founder of the Flying tion, and provided us with a guided tour over their Doctor Service, and invented the now famous pedal church facilities. After a group photograph was taken wireless which created a communications revolution on the church steps, we moved on to view the for- by enabling those in the remote areas of Australia to mer Noske Bros Flour Mill and silo adjacent to have access to School of the Air, doctors, hospitals, the Adelaide to Melbourne railway line. The con- and any other services that they required. Traeger’s crete silo, built in 1919, was the largest of its kind affordable and easily operated pedal radios were also at the time, being 100 feet high with a capacity of used internationally in countries as diverse as Canada 120,000 bushels. The Noske Bros built a similar silo and Nigeria. at Horsham, and at various times owned flour mills The Woorak Lutheran Church was the next place at Warracknabeal, Natimuk, Nhill, Bordertown, of interest on the tour. St Paul’s congregation was Wycheproof, Murray Bridge and Charlton. In 1909 established by Pastor Hampe in 1878 and the present Noske Bros were shipping flour to places such as weatherboard church was built in the late 1880s. An Glasgow, Singapore and Durban. By the 1950s the informative chat about the history of the church was company had diversified into the stock feed indus- given by Laurie Schneider, followed by an unex- try, becoming a five million dollar company in the pected afternoon tea graciously provided for us by 1970s. They were taken over by Industrial Equity some of the ladies from St Paul’s congregation. The in 1975. visit to the nearby Woorak Cemetery was appreci- The Farmer’s Arms Hotel in Nhill was the venue ated by a number of the tour participants who were for our evening meal, after which we were enthralled able to find the graves of distant relatives due to the by the DVD presentation of Raymond ‘Whimpey’ very detailed noticeboard at the entrance gate. Reichelt OAM, a local wildlife advocate. He is Nhill renowned for his conservation efforts to protect and The tour then called at the Nhill Lutheran Church, study the rare Mallee fowl, otherwise known as the where some congregation members presented us Lowan bird.