Louis Alfred Haeusler was the sixth of eight children to Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Haeusler (known as Ferdinand) and his wife Ernestina (nee Rogasch).
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Ferdinand, then 26, had made the trip from South Australia to west Wodonga in 1866 and 17-year-old Ernestina came across a year later to marry him.
Under the Duffy's Land Act Ferdinand took up 100 acres (about 40 hectares) of crown land, about a quarter of which is now occupied by the Wodonga golf course. That land act allowed them to pay one pound an acre deposit with the balance over 20 years.
In years to come, Louis would buy more land about one mile away and farm the two properties.
Louis was a builder, a carpenter and a farmer. He could turn his hand to just about anything.
In 1919 Louis was 41 when he married Ilma aged 18. They had a courtship of one year and overcame many hurdles to become man and wife. Louis was working for some time in Leongatha and Ilma was working in Albury, George's Creek and Tallangatta. Their determination to marry is spelt out in the numerous letters they exchanged.
There was family resistance due to their age difference with pressure being put on both of them, and then just before the wedding date the local borders were closed by the influenza epidemic. This limited people's travel and involved time in quarantine if certain areas were entered. The letters detail how all of this would be circumvented.
Unfortunately, Ilma died in childbirth at age 28, leaving Louis and their six-year-old son, Alf, to mourn her loss.
The letters along with an extensive collection of glass plate photographic negatives were carefully stored by Alf and bequeathed to Wodonga and District Historical Society in his will.
Coyles bought the Haeusler property from Louis in about 1952. It was later acquired by the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation and was to be sub-divided for housing, according to Wodonga City Council plans.
Alf hoped one of the streets would be named for the Haeuslers - the only family from that convoy of 1866 and later convoys not to have some public recognition of the early days.
