Historic remnants of Neudorf

(February 22nd 2014)
Report by Coralie Smith

Everyone wanted rain except us and it was forecast as we set out for a day at Neudorf. Not far away - just a pleasant 20 minutes away in the hills between Sarau and Rosedale. Settled by mostly German families with names so familiar to us now - Bensemann, Stade, Ewers, Beuke.

But we began with looking at the old hotel on the Perry farm. Perrys were English from Somerset. They bought the roadside inn set up by Franz Seiboth to service the goldminers heading for the Baton. As they wound their way from the Bronte Landing on the Waimea Estuary up the Dovedale road the hotel would have been a welcome sight. Unfortunately the gold boom didn't last long and the hotel was bought by William and Hannah Perry and used as a house.

Originally named the Plough Inn according to C B Brereton in "No Roll of Drums", it got the curious name of Wyperserfontein quite by accident. A parcel arrived one day from England addressed to Mrs Perry c/- Mendory, Wyperserfontein, Nelson. A South African word meaning wine press fountain, it so amused the Perrys they hung out a name plate and it has remained ever since.

Now a little worse for wear, the house is a photographer's dream and is easily accessed by the side of the road with cars flying by at more than a few horsepower an hour.

Moving on, we settled in our chairs at the Neudorf Dairy under a large leafy tree to listen to the Beuke siblings, Irene, Ro and Brian talk about the farm they grew up on and which Brian still farms. He milks sheep and makes sheep's cheese products, an innovative idea which has become quite widespread.

His father and grandfather grew tobacco and hops as well as running sheep on the land originally settled on by their German ancestors from the Hanover area of Germany. Ro and Irene are just back from a trip to their ancestral area which bears little similarity to Neudorf except there are few people there as well.

Ro was able to fill us in on the landmarks of Neudorf which were important in their younger days but are no longer there, or are in a different position or have been recycled into something else.

The post office at one time was just across the paddock from where we sat. Even earlier than that the post office was run from their grandparents' house. It now sits on the farm near the house being built by Clive Perry opposite Wyperserfontein.

The original school was shifted across the road about 500 metres south of Beuke's and became the Neudorf Hall. It was used for indoor bowls, meetings, concerts and so forth. It was rescued by an Englishman who extended it and turned it into his house.

Now owned and run as a B & B and Gallery by sculptor Michael MacMillan and his wife Jackie Crow, the shape of the original building can still be seen and a photo album kept by the original owners and a sign are reminders of what it once was.

The school built to replace the original one is now part of the Upper Moutere School.

The buildings can be taken away but the memories are still there and we enjoyed hearing those of the Beuke siblings. Thank you Irene Bisley, Ro Giblin and Brian Beuke.

By the way - the rain never eventuated.

At Wyperserfontein Neudorf

Former Neudorf Hall, now MacMillan's Gallery

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