Everything about Hahndorf totally explained
Hahndorf is a small town about 30 minutes drive out of
Adelaide,
South Australia along the
Princes Highway. The town was settled by
Lutheran migrants largely from in and around a small village then named "Kay" in
Prussia. The town is named after
Danish Captain Dirk Meinhertz Hahn.
History
The Journey
On
12 August 1838, the ship
Zebra, captained by Dirk Hahn, departed from
Altona, Hamburg for its voyage to
Port Misery, South Australia, arriving on
28 December 1838.
The
Zebra was a three-masted ship, built in 1818 and weighing 350 tonnes. On board was a crew of 16 and 188 passengers, including their belongings. In addition was 100 barrels of pork, 100 barrels of flour, 65 barrels of fresh water, 17
hogsheads of beer and vinegar, 14 barrels of herrings, two boxes of boots and 40,924 bricks.
Two passengers died before the journey began while some of the passengers were on board several weeks prior to departure, with a further two perishing before reaching open sea. For the time, a relatively low number of 12 passengers died during the journey at sea. This brought the number of passengers down from 199 leaving
Germany to 188 arriving in
Adelaide, with the last corpse being buried at sea while approaching
Kangaroo Island. Due to a low tide, the passengers were stuck onboard until
2 January 1839.
Finding and Naming the Land
The
Zebra was the third ship after the
Bengalee and
Prince George that brought Prussian Lutheran migrants to South Australia. The founders of Hahndorf came from these three ships, many from the
Zebra. On arrival and inspection, the migrants were very pleased and impressed with their newly-acquired land and, despite many offers of employment whilst shipboard, stayed together and sought farming land.
Hahndorf was named after Captain Hahn in honour of his efforts in securing good land, his superb interpersonal skills which settled many arguments on ship and his care of his passengers. Today, some German tourists are somewhat bemused by the name, to the confusion of local residents. This is apparently due to the most literal translation of the town's name being "rooster-village".
Working the Land
The settlers thrived on their land, with in time, most leaving to work on neighbouring lands, establishing a good reputation for themselves.
German Influence
German influence is very apparent in Hahndorf and is seen physically in the traditional
fachwerk architecture of the original surviving buildings. There are also many restaurants in the town serving German cuisine.
Due to the
First World War in Europe, in 1917 the Federal Government
changed many German place names. The name Hahndorf was changed to
Ambleside, and this remained until
1935, when it reverted to
Hahndorf. There are still references to the name
Ambleside in and around the town today.
Government
Hahndorf is in the
District Council of Mount Barker, the state
electoral district of Kavel (right by the boundary with
Heysen), and the federal
Division of Mayo.
Churches
- St Michael's Lutheran Church
St Michael's is the oldest Lutheran church in Australia to still have a worshipping congregation on its original church site. Founded in 1839. St Michael's is a member of the
Lutheran Church of Australia.
St Paul's Lutheran Church
St Paul's was founded in 1946, as a result of a schism between the Pastor Kavel, and Pastor Fritzsche. This schism is closely linked to the formation of two original Lutheran synods in Australia which coexisted until their merger in 1966.
St Paul's Anglican Church
Sports
Hahndorf has a number of sporting clubs including Bowls, Netball, Cricket, Australian rules football and Soccer. The Football, Netball and Soccer clubs are nicknamed The Magpies.
The Soccer Club were formed in 1996 and play home games at Pine Avenue. The Senior Men compete in the South Australian Amateur League and have won the 1996 Newsfront Cup as well as the 2004 Saturday Amateur League Division Two title.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hahndorf'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://hahndorf__south_australia.totallyexplained.com">Hahndorf, South Australia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
