Hahndorf

Hahndorf was settled in 1839 by Lutherans from Prussia who had fled religious persecution, arriving on the ship Zebra whose captain, Hahn, gave the village its name. It is the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia, and the main street keeps its Fachwerk cottages, the old smithy and elm and plane trees planted by the settlers. During the First World War it was renamed Ambleside in a wave of anti-German feeling and only recovered its name in 1935. The street now runs to German-style pubs, bakeries selling pretzels and streuselkuchen, leather and craft shops, and the Hahndorf Academy showing work by Hans Heysen, who painted the surrounding hills.

History

Lutheran migrants, most of them from the village of Kay in Prussia, now Kije in Poland, settled here on the land of the Peramangk, at a place called Bukartilla for its water holes, many of them having arrived on the Zebra on 28 December 1838, and they named the town after the ship's captain, Dirk Meinerts Hahn; it is the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia. In 1917, during the First World War, the state government renamed it Ambleside, after the nearby railway station, and the name Hahndorf was restored by the Nomenclature Act of 12 December 1935 (Wikipedia, Hahndorf, South Australia).

Highlights

• The Fachwerk cottages - surviving half-timbered settler buildings on the main street.
• The German food - bakeries, smallgoods and beer halls along the street.
• The Hahndorf Academy - Heysen's landscapes and settler history.
• The Hills setting - orchards and pasture around the village.

When to go

March to May and September to November for mild weather and colour; the Christmas and Easter periods fill the street. Winter is cold and wet but atmospheric. Weekends are extremely busy with Adelaide day trippers.

Practical notes

The village is small, essentially one street, and thoroughly commercialised, which divides opinion. Weekend parking is very difficult. Much of the German character is presented for visitors rather than lived.

Nearby

Mount Lofty and the Adelaide Hills wineries lie close; Adelaide is half an hour west.

Key facts