Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
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My Corner of the World
March 2015 - Barossa Valley Australia
The Herbig Family Tree is a large, hollow red gum tree at Springton. It is estimated to be 300 to 500 years old with a diameter of seven metres at its base and a height of 24 metres. A small stream runs nearby.
The tree was the first Australian home of 27 year old Friedrich Herbig who arrived in South Australia in 1855. In 1858 he married 18 year old Caroline Rattey and took her to live in the tree home. The first two of their 16 children were born there. In 1860 he built a two roomed pine and pug hut nearby, and as his family increased, built a stone cottage adjacent to the hut.
Today the Herbig Family Tree represents a graphic link to early European settlement of the area. Herbig family reunions are held at the tree, usually every five years.
 .  .  They named their first seven sons Johann and called each of them by their second name. Using the second name was usual practice in Germany at that time. These seven sons' father (Friedrich) and grandfather both had been given Johann as first name. .  In October 1886, while delivering a load of chaff to Friedrich Kuchel, Friedrich Herbig fell off his wagon when crossing a creek and received concussion. He later died on Monday 18th October. His eldest child August was 27 and his youngest, Clara, was 15 months old. On 19th March 1927 Caroline died, leaving behind 4 of her sons, 5 of her daughters, 44 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren. |
What a tree and what a family! Don't know if you are still going to make a weekly post, but haven't been able to get to everyone in time with my response to All Seasons (because of the haphazard power outages) for the past two weeks. I apologize. I value your comments dearly, but those power outages really threw me off of my schedule (maybe I'm getting old!). Am glad you have more light in your condo than before. Light is so important for us to feel comfortable. Yeah, I could see you as a chic bag lady:):) And I can see your hubby being famous for his socks!
ReplyDelete...I guess that with 16 children, you would outgrow a tree house! Thanks Jackie for sharing this interesting bit of history.
ReplyDeleteWhat an impressive tree. I hope the next generation will get to enjoy it as well.
ReplyDeleteWorth a Thousand Words
I remember seeing the tree during a tour of the Barossa Valley.
ReplyDeleteQuite a story and quite a survivor.
ReplyDelete