The Pines
In 2019 it became necessary to remove many of the pine trees at our museum complex. The Manningham City Council arborist found many infected with a virus and in an unstable condition resulting in the removal of 53 trees. A replanting program is being planned by Council and DTHS. Eric Collyer’s article below tells the history of the trees.
The original trees in the Waldau cemetery were in all probability indigenous species such as eucalypts and acacia. At a Christmas gathering of the Lutheran congregation soon after the church was opened in 1858 the church minister made reference to a “tea meeting” (gathering) held in the grounds in the shade of a few trees, after which those present went into the church as the bell rang for a Christmas service as darkness began to fall.
Early church ministers also recorded that in 1862 trees and shrubs from the Botanic Gardens (Melbourne) were planted in the cemetery. Many of these were cypresses (commonly called “pencil pines” despite the fact that they are not pines but cypresses) which can be clearly seen in early photographs of the cemetery and most likely were a gift of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller who was director of the Gardens at the time. A number of these trees still survive in the cemetery today.
The cemetery was in use from 1860 until 1888 when it was closed by Government decree for health reasons. The original small church was in use until 1892 when it was replaced by the present church further south in Victoria Street then known as Bismarck Street.
Many years later, the cemetery was cared for by John Finger who lived close by, owned the surrounding land, was a greatly respected orchardist and a member of the congregation. After he had retired from orchard work, he had time to maintain the cemetery in good order.
Around the end of the Second World War John was heartbroken one day to discover that some of the tombstones had been smashed by acts of vandalism. Soon after, John was no longer able to care for the cemetery because of his age, and declining health.
At that time, John Simpfendorfer was pastor of the congregation. His son Ken who worked in the State Forestry Department, sought permission from the congregation who still owned the site, to plant radiata pine with the intention of harvesting these trees for timber sale on maturity. The plantation was established but the trees were never harvested as the Sirex Wood Wasp had made its way into the district and rendered the timber unsuitable for sale.
Orchardists in the area planted radiata pine as wind break rows to prevent high winds stripping fruit from trees or causing “limb rub” which marked the fruit.
The useful life of a pine tree is about 80 years and orchardists replanted windbreaks when trees began to deteriorate.
By 2019, many of the pines planted within the Schramm’s Cottage complex in the 1940s were either dead or dying or in a state of decline. Some were unstable and a threat to public safety. Manningham Council which now owns the site removed 53 of these trees. Since then a further 4 pine trees have been removed.
Council plans to replace those removed with species similar in nature to those that were indigenous to the site such as eucalypts and acacia along with cypresses similar to those used in the original planting.
Source: 2021-09 DTHS Newsletter
Representatives of Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society will work with Council officers to develop a planting scheme for the site.
John Finger is credited with introducing radiata pines into the district by bringing seed back from a trip to Europe (early 1900s) and raising seedlings to plant as windbreaks on his orchard. In time many orchardists followed this practice.
In the 1940s the Collyer family rented a house that John Finger had built on his property just north of Schramm’s Cottage in Victoria Street, and ??? still remembers a row of old pine trees in front of this home being felled by contractors, dressed and loaded on trucks for milling. He believes these were part of a regional planting.
Schramm’s School:
From 1860 until 1864 Max Schramm used the small wattle and daub church building on “Waldon Hill” as a school established by Trinity Lutheran congregation, presumably rearranging the furniture after Sunday service for the school week and back again for Sunday worship services. This must have been inconvenient and also too small for a growing school enrolment so in 1865 after failing to secure a Government grant to build a larger school building on his land along Main Road (now Doncaster Road) at his own expense, he continued to operate the school there for the congregation. He employed a “sewing mistress” to teach the infant grades and conducted the school until it was closed by the congregation in 1873 or thereabouts. This later became a Common School and when the State Education Act came into being in 1874 Max resigned as teacher as he could not accept the requirement that education must be free, compulsory and SECULAR for all. He sold his school building and built a cottage alongside in 1875? The school was purchased by the Education Department and became a State School with AAOE Thiele as Head Teacher. In later years the old building was adapted to become the E S & A Bank in Doncaster for many years.
Source: Handwritten sheets dated 23 April, 2021. Author unknown.
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