Anna Rentsch

Anna⁵ Rentsch (Michael⁶)⁽⁴⁹²⁾ was born in Kuppritz, Brautzen county, Saxony on January 6, 1806. Conflicting evidence states that Anna was born on January 18, 1806.⁽⁵⁰¹⁾ Anna immigrated to Australia in 1851. Anna died on December 28, 1873 in Hochkirch, Victoria, Australia at 67 years of age.⁽⁴⁹³⁾ She was buried on December 30, 1873 in the Lutheran Cemetery, South Hamilton, Victoria.⁽⁴⁹⁴⁾ Anna was buried by Pastor C. W. Schurmann.

She married Johann Hundrack in Hochkirch, Brautzen county, Saxony in 1829.⁽⁴⁹⁵⁾ Johann was born on July 25, 1803 in Baschuetz, Saxony.⁽⁴⁹⁶⁾ He⁽⁴⁹⁷⁾ was the son of Johann Hundrack and Anna Biehar. Johann died on July 31, 1887 in Hamilton, Victoria, Australia at 84 years of age.⁽⁴⁹⁸⁾ He was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery, South Hamilton, Victoria.⁽⁴⁹⁹⁾ Occupation: Farmer. (See Johann Hundrack for the children resulting from this marriage.)

The Hundrack family were amongst the first german settlers to migrate from South Australia to Portland in Victoria in 1852-53. Johann Hundrack and his wife Anna and their eight daughters had arrived in 1852 from Germany on the Helene together with the families of Burger, Rentsch and Mirtschin, these four families being a very close group. Anna Hundrack was Johann Rentsch's sister. All these families were Saxon-Wends. On April 26, 1852 nine families left Rosenthal and nearby districts in South Australia to travel to Portland, Victoria where they had been told by one of the Henty brothers that there was good land available to be taken up. The Mirtschin family travelled by boat with the goods and equipment and the other eight families travelled overland. The passengers and flour on the boat arrived safely at Portland but the furniture and equipment were lost. Travelling overland took four weeks, averaging 20 miles per day. The older children and men walked. They took with them 52 head of cattle and 11 wagons.

The group rented land at the Fitzroy River, near Heywood, about 35 km north of Portland. They had originally intended buying land there but found that all of the land had already been snapped up by the squatters or reserved for the township of Chiltern. The Huf and Petschel familes were first to make to move north to The Grange (Hamilton). They were followed by the other families during the following months. Land was purchased in the area near Chatsworth Road and the Glenelg Ballarat Highway and the Hamilton Highway area of Hamilton. Because of the high prices, properties were purchased by three of the settlers, Wilhelm Petschel, Johann Hundrack and Michael Deutscher, a total of 230 acres for which they paid a total of Pounds 1,359/17/-. The land was then divided between six settlers, one of them being Johann Hundrack.

The Hundracks built the historical homestead "Poplar Valley" in 1852, situated on the Penshurst Road, on Hamilton's outskirts. The homestead is believed to be the first built in the area. A book published to celebrate the centenary of Tarrington's St. Michaels Lutheran Church Congregation, said the settlers bought some 92 hectares which included the present lot of 10.9 hectares. The land, later named "Poplar Valley" originally also included the site of the Lutheran Cemetery in Chatsworth Road. Before leaving South Australia, Johann Hundrack had been one of the nine signatories who signed the call sent to Pastor Schurmann for him to administer their spiritual needs in the new settlement in Victoria. Towards the end of October 1853 Pastor Schurmann and his family were transported in a wagon belonging to Johann Hundrack, from Portland to Hamilton.

Johann Hundrack was a charter member of the original congregation of St. Michaels Lutheran Church, Tarrington and contributed 12.15 pounds as his donation towards the building of the first church. In 1858 a new St. Michael's Church was built and Johann Hundrack was one of the trustees. The following is an extract from the book The Linke Families in Australia 1838-1980 about the first settlers in the Tarrington area.

In 1853 some Wendish and German families trekked overland from Rosenthal, Hoffrungothal and Bethanien in South Australia, through the Mt. Gambier district to Portland, Victoria. They had heard of rich land being thrown open for settlement but arrived too late. A few families stayed around Portland for several months, then joined the move north to the Hamilton area "The Grange", and area of rich land. The Tarrington Settler first bought land in Poplar Valley, just east of Hamilton paying $4 - $8 an acre. They quickly sowed a crop but the growing time was short, so they pulled up the part grown crop by its roots, tying it with grass, then moved on to a better area, further to the east. The settlement became known locally as Germantown, to the Wends as Bukecy and to the Germans as Hahleirch. All Lusation towns in Saxony had two names, a Wendish one used locally and a German one for the official overlord. The names were changed in 1917 to Tarrington after a town in Herford in England.