Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society: John Finger's House "Heimat" 125 George St, Doncaster East

At the Victoria Street end of George Street there are two old brick houses, that for the past hundred years have been part of the Waldau landscape. In 1870, Carl Henry Finger built the eastern house from bricks that he baked on the site. About twenty years later his son John Finger built the other house, the one that is now on part of the Rieschieck Reserve.

Irvine Green writing in 1970 08 DTHS Newsletter

Heimat (Facebook)

Heimat (Centre) - 1945 Aerial Photograph - Facebook

Heimat - GoogleStreetView Dec2009

HEIMAT 125 George Street DONCASTER. Externally intact farm house from 1890s. Historical significance for its associations with John Finger. VHD-22395

Heimat

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”!

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