Irvine Green writing in 1970 08 DTHS Newsletter
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| Heimat (Facebook) |
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| Heimat (Centre) - 1945 Aerial Photograph - Facebook |
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| Heimat - GoogleStreetView Dec2009 |
Heimat
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| Front of Heimat house after restoration with the additions at the rear visible on the east side. The original house was built in 1889 for orchardist John Finger on his property at the north-east corner of Victoria and George Streets, East Doncaster. The house, though structurally sound, was restored by the Council of the City of Manningham during 2006 and additions made at the back for community purposes, in particular Manningham U3A. 2006 Kay Mack dp0898 |
Heimat, Doncaster, Rieschiecks Reserve, George Street, Doncaster
John Traugott Finger (1867-1942), member of the German community which pioneered fruit growing in the Doncaster district, and a son of the orchardist, Heinrich (Henry) Finger (220) was the first owner of this Victorian brick house. Known earlier as Heimat, it was built after John’s marriage in June 1889 to Christine Hartwich, and became the family home over a long period”!
Source: Extract from Doncaster & Templestowe Heritage Study Additional Historical Research. p36
District rate records confirm that by 1892 John Finger, gardener, was the owner of a brick house on 60 acres of land on the corner of Waldau Lane (also known as German or Germantown Road and now George Street) and Bismark (now Victoria) Street.(222)
The Finger family, it is said, often built their homes of bricks made from the local clay(223)
A contemporary map showed three Doncaster allotments held by the Finger family in the 1890s near the Waldau settlement.(224)
The 1894-95 Shire of Doncaster rate records listed John Finger as the owner of a 60-acre orchard and house in Waldau Lane and another 12 acres in Bismark(Victoria) Street.(225)
John and Christine had a family of four daughters. Over the years, John “effected substantial improvements” to his George Street property, making dams and putting in an extensive drainage system. The family continued to live at Heimat, except for five years in Hamilton.(226)
John Finger is thought to have been responsible for planting many of the pines (from seeds collected in Germany) which still stand in Rieschiecks Reserve. Such rows of pine trees, which were used by the German community as windbreaks, contribute to the district’s distinctive landscape character.(227)
When John and Christine went to Hamilton, their eldest daughter, Bertha Caroline, and her husband, Fritz Rieschieck, moved into Heimat. This time John and Christine did not return to their Doncaster home. Fritz eventually worked the orchard property. Bertha, who was born at Heimat in 1891, died at Vermont in 1965 (where they lived at the last) and Fritz in 1968.
Today, Heimat stands on Rieschiecks Reserve, the Council having purchased the property for a reserve and sporting ground but retaining the old home.(228)
Of local historical significance for its associations with John Finger, member of the Doncaster German community of pioneer orchardists.
220 Irvine Green, The Orchards of Doncaster and Templestowe, pp.8,15.
221 Eric Uebergang, Aumann Family History, pp.200-201.(Photos of Heimat and John Finger’s orchard in George Street).
222 Shire of Doncaster RB 1892 No.80 (NAV 195 pounds).
223 Graham Keogh, History ofDoncaster and T emplestowe, 1975, p. 12.
224 Parish 0fBulIeen, Directory Maps of the County of Bourke, 1892.
225 Shire ofDoncaster RB 1894-95 Nos.93,93 and a half (NAV 120 pounds,30 pounds).
226 Eric Uebergang, pp.200-201
227 Irvine Green, The Orchards of Doncaster and Templestowe, p.27.
Source: Extract from Doncaster & Templestowe Heritage Study Additional Historical Research. p36
"Heimat", the lovely old homestead in George St near the Reischiecks Sporting Reserve, is recognised by the council as a valuable heritage property, and will be retained. Its future is problematical, but it will possibly be leased to a tenant and thus kept permanently as a City of Manningham property.
Source: 1997 03 DTHS Newsletter
Heimat Centre
Heimat Centre Entrance June2023
Heimat Centre foyer contains a gallery of historic photos relating to the house that forms the centre of the complex.
Heimat: 125 George Street DONCASTER (Manningham City)
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| HEIMAT 125 George Street DONCASTER. Externally intact farm house from 1890s. Historical significance for its associations with John Finger. VHD-22395 |
Heritage Overlay Numbers: HO69
Of local significance as an externally intact example of a farm house dating from the 1890s, and of historical significance for its associations with John Finger.
Hermes Number 22395
Manningham - Manningham Heritage Study Review, Context Pty Ltd, 2006;
Manningham - Doncaster & Templestowe Heritage Study Additional Historical
Research, Carlotta Kellaway, 1994;
Historical Australian Themes
5.01 -Squatters, Selectors and Small Farms
Physical Description: Heimat is is a simple late Victorian house which was built in red brick by John Finger in 1890. It is symmetrical in form, with paired front windows with cream facings and a slate roof. The hip-roofed verandah has timber posts, with a fine fretwork valance and curved brackets with turned pendants. The lattice screen is a recent edition to the verandah.
Associations: John Finger
This place/object may be included in the Victorian Heritage Register pursuant to the Heritage Act 2017. Check the Victorian Heritage Database, selecting 'Heritage Victoria' as the place source.
For further details about Heritage Overlay places, contact the relevant local council or go to Planning Schemes
Online http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/
Heimat Homestead - Signage 2021
Heimat was the orchard homestead of Johann (John) Traugott Finger, the seventh child of Carl (Henry) Heinrich Finger who had settled in the German Lutheran village of Waldau, Doncaster in 1870. After leaving school at an early age, John Finger worked on his father’s 60-acre orchard on the corner of Waldau Lane (now George St) and Bismark Street (now Victoria St) and was to become one of the district’s most successful lemon growers.
This late-Victorian house was built in 1889 of solid brick by George Fankhauser for John and his new wife Christina Hartwich. Largely intact today, it comprised a wide central hall, 5 rooms, kitchen, storeroom, veranda on 3 sides, 6 fireplaces and a cellar.
John and Christina Finger spent most of their married lives at Heimat (German for ‘home’ or ‘homeland’), where they raised their four girls – Bertha, Esther, Gertrude and Sylvia.
Over the years, John made substantial improvements to the orchard property, including a large dam to the north-east of the house, an irrigation system and several pine windbreaks that are still in evidence today.
When John and Christina moved to Hamilton, their daughter Bertha (born at Heimat in 1891) moved into the house with her husband Freidrich (Fritz) Rieschieck. Here they raised their 3 sons and 4 daughters and Fritz worked the orchard.
In 1967, Heimat and 10 hectares of remaining orchard were purchased from the Rieschieck family by Council to create Rieschiecks Reserve.
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