Pioneers remembered: New Mount Barker plaque lists 75 women pioneers

March 03rd, 2016

Last Saturday the Mount Barker Branch of the National Trust unveiled a new plaque in the memory of the pioneer women who helped build the town as we know it today.

The memorial plaque, which is located in the park area between Dumas Street and Adelaide Road, is inscribed with the names of 75 of Mount Barker's pioneer women who joined the Hahndorf Settlers on the market trail to Adelaide and helped to establish the town.

Secretary of the National Trust Mount Barker branch Triss Wales was honoured to be a part of the plaques' unveiling.

“It went very well, we had about 92 people which was good for a Saturday morning,” Triss said.

“The Mayor Ann Ferguson gave a nice snappy address. The unveiling was performed by dear old Esther Mills, who is in her 80s and who just became the eighth generation of her family to live on the same farm in Callington.”

Relatives from some of Mount Barker's oldest and most prestigious families attended the unveiling, including the Von Dussas, Chapman and Gilbert families. Some relatives of the women named on the plaque travelled from interstate to attend the event, including Richard Mould who is currently living in Canberra.

It was Richard who first enquired into the lack of a memorial plaque, as his great great grandmother had been one of the pioneer women.

Chairman of the National Trust Don Goldney headed up the research team that worked on the project and who responded to Richard's enquiry.

“Richard was at the ceremony on Saturday and was pleased that something came of his general enquiry,” Don said.

“It is good to know that we now have a permanent way of remembering these great pioneer women.”

Don said that there were many well known families whose ancestors were recorded on the plaque, and even more families that were interconnected.

“We had to do a lot of work to find all of the women's Christian names because they were mainly listed under their husband's names,” Don said.

“It was a bit difficult but we found them in the end. Some of the names have no current connections because those people have either left the district or have had daughters, meaning the name would not have been carried on.”

“A lot of the families are closely linked. The pioneers couldn't get away from each other because Mount Barker was very isolated, and with some of the families being quite large there was a lot of inter-marriage.”

There are many fascinating stories linked to the names listed on the plaque.

For example, Louise MacFarlane nee Lubasch, who was born in 1824, was the daughter of Mount Barker's postman and would often take his place delivering post around the district until she met her husband Lachlan MacFarlane. It was he who built and established the Oakfield Hotel, which was later sold to Robert Barr Smith and renamed Auchendarroch House.

Joanna Barr Smith, wife of Robert Barr Smith, is also listed on the plaque as a pioneer women. She had stayed in Auchendarroch House each summer for over 40 years and herself and her husbands were generous supporters of various institutions in Mount Barker.

There is also a link to the Paltridge family, who established the old Tannery which used to stand in the centre of town, as Mary Paltridge was a sister of John Dunn Senior.

“There are a lot of old farming families whose names are now street names, such as the Cameron family,” Don said.

“An ancestor of the Stephenson family is listed on the plaque – they were Quakers. There were only two meeting houses for Quakers in Adelaide – one in North Adelaide and one in Mount Barker, so it along with Echunga had a pretty strong Quaker population.”

“The new plaque with the names will mean that people have somewhere to come to remember their families, and that people can tell their children that there is a plaque in Mount Barker with their ancestors names on it. “

Triss Wales is also happy to see so many of the people who established the town being remembered in such a way, and hopes that the project might inspire more research into such topics.

“I think people are getting more and more interested in where they come from thanks to television ancestry shows,” Triss said.

“They seem to have inspired a lot of people. Besides, if people don't look into these things now they won't find anything because nobody writes anything down any more.”

To find out more about the plaque or the Pioneer Women call 8389 9281 or visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.au


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