Henry John Lindeman - Settler
Caewarra - Map 3
Dr. Henry John Lindeman married Eliza Harriet Bramhall on 11 February 1840 at Southampton, England. They left England shortly afterwards on the barque Theresa arriving in Sydney on 18th August 1840. On arrival in Australia the Lindemans settled at Gresford on the Allyn River where Dr. Lindeman established a medical practice.
Land Purchase
In 1842 he purchased land from George Townshend of Trevallyn who had been forced to sell due to the drought and depression. The estate was named Caewarra.Aboriginal People of the District
There were few improvements on the land and by this time the number of Aboriginal people in the district had declined.Many years later a Correspondent to the Maitland Mercury described one of the remaining aborigines of the area known as King George of Caewarra.
Life as a Settler
A slab cottage was built for the growing Lindeman family and a vineyard on the north western side of the Paterson River was established.In 1850 Henry John Lindeman gave the following report to the Hunter River Vineyard Association -
Caewarra Wines - The red wine is made from the Cyras grape, of the vintage 1849, fermented in open vats then casked; it has been racked four times, and the sample has been take from a cask for the present occasion. The soil of the vineyard is a mixture of river sand and vegetable mould, subject to be occasionally flooded; the pruning is the spur method as adopted in France the age of the vines three and four years. The white wine is from the Rousette grape, grown in exactly the same soil, and subjected to the same treatment, as the red wine, with the exception that no skins were fermented with the must, H.J. Lindeman.[3]
On 13 September 1851 a fire destroyed his stores and cellars, equipment and 4000 gallons (18,184 litres) of wine, however he went to the Victorian goldfields, worked as a doctor and miner, and soon accumulated funds. He returned to Caewarra and rebuilt the winery, but for some years he had no wine sufficiently mature for sale. [2]
Death
Henry John Lindeman died 26 May 1881 -Dr. Lindeman, of Caewarra, Gresford, died on the 26th May, in his seventieth year. The memory of the deceased will be cherished by many friends on personal grounds ; but it has also a special claim on public respect. Dr. Lindeman was one of the pioneers of our wine-making enterprise, and took a chief part in winning for the vintages of the Hunter valley a reputation extending beyond the boundaries of the colony, and indeed of Australia itself. As far back as 1867 his wines gained an award of merit from the judges at the Paris Exposition, an authority beyond dispute. But long before that he had, as a leading member of the Hunter River Vineyard Association, been one of a knot of enthusiastic vignerons whose determination it was to aim at the highest standard of purity and excellence rather than to seek immediate profit by pandering to corrupted tastes, and whose intercourse and emulation un- questionably led to good results. Of these, Mr. King, of Irrawang, Mr. Windeyer, of Kinross, Dr. Carmichael, of Porphyry, passed away some years ago. [1]
Notes and Links
1). Henry Lindeman's daughter Matilda married James Kelman, grandson of William Kelman of Kirkton.2). Map of Paterson/Gresford.....
3) Enid Lindeman - Granddaughter of Henry Lindeman. Daughter of Charles Lindeman
References
[1]. Sydney Morning Herald 3 June 1881[2]. Henry John Lindeman - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
[3]. Maitland Mercury 9 November 1850
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