A grainy photograph of a boy perched on top of a steam tractor at the saw mill is one of Margie Wehner’s favourites on the Jindera Heritage Walk.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The picture, circa the 1890s, shows the tractor running a circular saw with the young child seemingly oblivious to the danger of the task at hand.
“It’s a sensational photo,” laughs the president of the Jindera Pioneer Museum and Historical Society committee.
“Clearly OH&S protocols had not yet taken off in the workplace.”
Ms Wehner has been instrumental in bringing plans for a heritage walk to fruition as part of Jindera’s 150th celebrations, starting this week and culminating with a weekend of parties, pageants and plaques.
The 24 heritage markers, situated along a leisurely three-kilometre loop of the town, will be officially unveiled in the Village Green on Friday, September 26 from 6pm.
They mark historic points of interest in the town that at one time supported four hotels, a bakery, butcher’s shop, saw mill, two blacksmiths and its own flour mill.
Much of the information contained on the plaques has been collated by museum historian Lee Howard with input from local residents whose German forbears helped settle the area once known as Dights Forest.
Ms Wehner is the daughter of blacksmith and wheelwright Ern Wheeler, whose own legacy to the town was recently cemented with a grant to upgrade the workshop and stables where he honed his craft.
The blacksmith's shop dates back to the first decade of Jindera's settlement; Ern began in his dad's shop in the 1920s with the pair making wagons.
Since Mr Wehner’s death in 1994, the buildings have been open to visitors in conjunction with the Jindera Pioneer Museum across the road.
But there are so many other sites – where dwellings once stood – dotted around the town that point to the town’s rich history, according to the craftsman’s daughter.
And oh the tales they could tell.
Some of those stories have now been immortalised in the heritage plaques that line Jindera’s streets.
There’s the Dressmakers Cottage (No.5 on the walk) where Bertha and Alice Young operated a business from a little cottage on the corner.
“At the time work as milliners or dressmakers was one of the few acceptable ways for women to earn a living,” the plaque states.
Even many locals may not realise the town had its own one-bed maternity hospital (No. 5 plaque) run by Mrs Louisa Caroline Haberecht between 1895 and 1897.
As the midwife for the Jindera district, she delivered 32 babies in the modest hospital.
The last recorded birth at the hospital was Oscar Shilg on April 17, 1918.
Crime was rife enough at one stage the town warranted its own police station, records show.
On plaque No. 21 we learn the area was originally policed from Gerogery until horse stealing became so prevalent it was decided Jindera needed its own station.
In the newsprint of April 25 April 1874 it states: “There is need for a police station, if only for the purpose of checking larrikin nuisance in the area! Up to now pranks have been minor misdeeds, but are now getting worse! The stable of Mr August Krause was entered and horses disturbed and tails cut; later a headstone of a recent burial was smashed.”
And during WWI Constable Palmer was reportedly in charge and folk of German heritage were supposed to report to the police station each day.
“Palmer, knowing this was a time-wasting exercise for farmers, would saddle up his own horse and ride around the district each day,” the plaque notes.
“He would wave or speak to the farmers and they would wave back, he would then tick their name off his list.
“After the war the farmers presented Palmer with a silver ink stand for his desk to thank him for not wasting their time. This can now be seen in the Jindera Pioneer Museum.”
The police station was closed in 1942, when the patrol was transferred to Albury, and is now a private residence.
Ms Wehner notes that newspapers played a pivotal role in reporting on the comings and goings of the town with old clippings revealing much of its colourful characters and occasions.
She is particularly tickled by the rowdy reports pertaining to the opening of the Jindera School Of Arts.
With the first community meetings held in one of the many hotels, a public meeting in 1893 determined a School of Arts was warranted.
The old bakery was originally rented from PC Wagner for ten pounds per annum and later purchased by a committee for 150 pounds.
The hall was opened on November 2, 1900 with a “grand ball and guest speakers to commemorate the occasion”.
Ms Wehner loves the fact supper was served at 12.30am and dancing continued until 4.30am.
Although the facility does not see the events it once did, the hall still stands as an icon to the history of the township.
It’s a history founded on intrepid immigrants who dared to board boats to cross vast oceans in search of opportunity and a better life.
“They were all thrill seekers and I think we’ve all still got a bit of that in us,” Ms Wehner laughs.
A monument erected in the Village Green last week, which includes a map for the heritage walk, documents the history of Jindera’s settlement.
In 1836, John Dight took up a lease on 45,000 acres of land that stretched from Bungowannah to Table Top.
The area was heavily wooded and so the lands to the north of the Crossing Place (Albury) became known as Dights Forest.
Many German migrants had landed in the Adelaide area in previous years but it grew difficult for the newer arrivals to buy good agricultural land in South Australia.
Thus the first German families began arriving into the Dights Forest area in the 1860s with the Robertson Land Act, passed in 1861, opening even more opportunities on lands previously leased to squatters.
Migrants began the overland trek from South Australia and by 1868 there were already 70 German families in the area.
The Dights Forest Post Office was gazetted in 1870. The Forest Hotel and store were opened in the same year followed closely by Molkentine’s Blacksmith in 1872.
A town was born.
The heritage walk offers a fascinating glimpse into the establishments that grew in the community to become the foundation of the township that is here today.
They were all thrill seekers and I think we’ve all still got a bit of that in us.
- Margie Wehner
Peter Knight, chairman of the Jindera 150th committee, says he has become captivated by the town’s history and the story of its birth.
As a relative newcomer to the area, Mr Knight has come to admire the incredible courage of the early settlers.
“There’s not enough good history told about Australia,” he says.
“I can’t imagine anyone boarding a boat on the other side of the world and being crammed into the bottom of it all the way to Port Adelaide and then having to find cover for themselves and their families, and start from scratch.
“I’m sure many locals don’t even realise the rich history all around us when we drive up and down these streets.
“We hope with the 150th celebrations we can bring the community together to take pride in Jindera’s amazing history – and to create a lasting impact as people realise exactly what’s here.”