Pioneer Gardens - Hahndorf - South Australia

Pioneer Memorial Gardens and the Founding Families of Hahndorf

The Pioneer Memorial Gardens located at 71 Main Street were opened in January, 1939 to celebrate the centenary of Hahndorf. The Gardens commemorate the persons involved in the settlement of Hahndorf and the Founding Families of the Village

Some of these settlers died during the first year, others later moved on to other parts of South Australia or the Commonwealth, where descendants are still living. One or two families seem to have died out. Hahndorf's population is currently about 1850, a substantial number of which can trace their antecedents back to the original settling families.

Founding Families

A list of the first founding families names can be found over the gateway in the Pioneer Memorial Gardens on the corner of Main Street and Johns Lane together with a bust of Captain Hahn, and a plaque which reads:

To the memory of
CAPTAIN D.M. HANN
of the 'ZEBRA'
whose untiring efforts
and whose agreement with
Messrs DUTTON, FINNIS,
& METCALFE on
Jan. 25th 1839
led to the founding of
HAHNDORF ¹

There are 54 families which formed the first settlement; 35 families from the "Zebra", 15 from the "Prince George" (18 November 1838) and 2 from the "Bengalee" (16 November 1838), and subsequently another 2 from the "Catharina" (January 1839).
The names of 52 of these first families are inscribed on the Memorial Gates of the Pioneer Gardens and are as follows (first names have been added as stated in 'Hahndorf And Its Academy', by Dr F.J.H. Blaess'):

Pioneers of 1839

Main Street
SCHUBERT Christian, LIEBELT Johann Christoph,
THIELE Johann Friedrich, THIELE Samuel,
WITTWER Friedrich Wilhelm, JAENSCH Erdmann,
RILBRICHT Gottfried, ZILM Christian,
JAENSCH Christian, LUBASCH Gottfried,
NEUMANN Gottfried, SCHULZ Johann Christoph,
STEIKE Samuel, BOEHM Johann Georg,
KUCHEL Samuel, LIEBELT Johann Gottfried,
JANETZKI Johann Georg, NITSCHKE Gottfried,
LINKE Gottlob, JAESCHKE Georg,
THIELE Christian, BARTSCH Samuel,
ZILM Gottlob, PAECH Friedrich,
BARTEL Christian, SCHIRMER Johann Christian.

North Lane
WUNDKE Johann Gottfried, BARTEL Gottlob,
BERNDT (BEHREND) Gottfried, NITSCHKE Friedrich Wilhelm,
PFEIFFER Johann Georg, NITSCHKE Johann Gottlob,
DOHNT Gottfried, HOFFMANN Johann Gottfried,
SCHUMANN Christian, LIEBELT Johann Christian,
PAECH Johann Georg, HARTMANN Johann Georg,
SUESS Johann Friedrich.
South Lane
SCHMIDT Gottlob, KUCHEL Gottlieb,
KUCHEL Johann Friedrich, DOHNKE Gottfried,
BRETTIG (BRAETTIG) Samuel, FLIEGERT (PFLUEGERT) Gottlob,
PFEIFFER Johann Christian, KLUGE Johann Christian,
PAECH Johann Christian, ZIMMERMANN Johann Friedrich,
PHILIP Andreas, KALLESKE Johann G.,
HELWIG Friedrich.

Full details of all 54 families are shown in Hahndorf Founding Families Place of Residence.

On 9 April 1840, the above families resolved to purchase the 150 acres from Messrs Dutton, Finnis and MacFarlane, borrowing money at 10% interest to pay for that land plus additional land to be purchased from the Government at a later date.

In a letter dated 17 November 1841, Mr Hermann Koch stated:
...... In addition, the Germans, besides the sections already named, have two other sections in the vicinity, bought from the Government at the original price, and several acres purchased from individuals. Thus they have six sections upon which 62 families reside.

Foot Notes

1It is believed that the name METCALFE on the above plaque is incorrect and should in fact be MacFARLANE who was the actual third member of 'The First Special Survey' partnership with DUTTON and FINNIS. Statements made by my late uncle, Harold J Finnis (grandson of Capt John Finnis) who attended the opening of the Pioneer Memorial Gardens in 1939, indicated that the above error was known at the time but it was too late to correct prior to the opening. Apparently it was intended to be corrected at a later date but this was never done - (Tony Finnis)

Further Information

Further information regarding early Hahndorf is available from the following Sub-Pages:

Founding Families Place of Residence

Hahndorf Founding Families Place of Residence.

Biographical Information

Biographical information regarding certain persons mentioned in the text is available from the following external links:

Ships Passenger Lists:

Pioneer Memorial Gardens

The Pioneer Memorial Gardens Gateway

The Old Cottage which stood on the site of the Pioneer Memorial Gardens

The official opening of the Pioneer Memorial Gardens by Mr H. Homberg in January 1939 to mark the Centenary of Hahndorf

Early Ownership of Site

Information from The Hahndorf Allotments Database.

Old Lot No.	New Lot No.	Street No.	Street Name
SH 10		71	MAIN STREET

Sub-Lot Number	Year Sold	New Owner	Occupation	Owner's Home	Personal

1a	1849	Joseph Remfrey	mining captain	Kanmantoo	Land grant.
	1853	Christian Jaensch	farmer	Hahndorf	GRO title. LTO title 1859.
	1877	James Gates	farmer	Callington	Brother-in-law of C Jaensch.
	1893	Gottlob Jaensch	farmer & butcher	Salem-on-Bremer	Brother-in-law of J Gates. Died 1898.
	1898	Wilhelm Jaensch & Gottfried Neumann	farmer teacher	Murray Bridge Murray Bridge	Executor. Son of G Jaensch. Executor. Son-in-law of G Jaensch.
	1899	Wilhelm Jaensch	farmer	Murray Bridge	Died 1936.
	1937	George Jaensch	farmer	Tailem Bend	Son of W Jaensch.
	1937	Mt Barker District Council

Notes:

1850 - J Remfrey divided SH 10 into three sub-lots: Sub-lot 1: Pioneer Gardens; 71 Main St; Haebichs Lane; Hunt Road; Johns Lane. Sub-lot 2: 73-75 Main Street; Haebichs Lane; Hunt Road; Johns Lane. Sub-lot 3: Haebichs Lane; Hunt Road; Johns Lane.
Further heavy sub-division of the original three sub-lots: Sub-lot 1, Sub-lot 2, Sub-lot 3 categorised as Sub-lot 1a etc, Sub-lot 2a etc, Sub-lot 3a etc.
Sub-lot 1a - 521/119 current title. Site of the Pioneer Gardens.
Sub-lot 1b - 2405/625 Metric title. On the same title with No 73 Main St.