The theme photo this week shows a large group of people gathered together on a Hop House.
I live very close to an old village called Lobethal which was settled in 1842 by 18 German migrant families who had left Germany because of religious persecution. They settled in Lobethal where they established a number of small industries including a brewery, a brandy distillery, a cricket bat factory and a tweed factory - which later became well known as the Onkaparinga Woollen Mills.
In 1851 F W Kleinschmidt opened his brewery and a couple of years later (exact date not known) August Mueller started growing hops at Neudorf - about a kilometre out of Lobethal.
The photos I have are very old and grainy, but Mueller's Oast house still stands. It was rebuilt in the early 1900s after it burnt down It is one of two or three remaining oast houses in South Australia.
The photo above shows the hop farm at Neudorf. You can see the oast house (hop kiln) in the background to the right of the middle. Below is the rebuilt oast house which still stands on the original farm
Below is the village of Lobethal meaning "Valley of Praise". During the First World War the name was changed to "Tweedvale" due to the antipathy towards anything German. It was one of many towns in South Australia to have a name change. Fortunately sanity prevailed and the name was later changed back.
Below is the Tweed Factory. This started life as Kleinschmidt's Brewery in 1851, but it was sold in 1869 and the building was demolished in 1870 and the Tweed Factory was built. This factory had a few changes of name and ownership, but eventually became the Onkaparinga Woollen Mills, making blankets and woollen fabric. Some of my Australian readers probably slept under one of these blankets as a child. The chimney on the right still stands today.
Liz Needle - linking with Sepia Saturday
...wonderful views into the past.
ReplyDeleteOast houses are so architecturally interesting, I think.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the Germans also got into making cricket bats.
A nice take on the prompt. That's what's so interesting about Sepia Saturday. There are so many ways to go with each week's prompt picture. Beer drinkers probably wouldn't be too happy about a woolen mill taking over the brewery, but change eventually comes to all things. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a good match to the prompt photograph. I always like reading about people who have ventured into the unknown to make a new life for themselves and create a new community!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post. I love the little hop kiln building. But why do hops need a kiln? (I know nothing about hops.) It's great you have these wonderful old postcards/photographs and the stories and history that goes with them.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I like beer, I don't think I'd ever recognize a hop flower. It's interesting to read how German immigrants travelled so far and brought traditional German crafts to their new home. But a cricket bat factory?
ReplyDelete