Angaston, named after George Fife Angas, was first known as German Pass. Angas had heavily invested in the
young colony of South Australia. The area, which is within his seven Special Surveys claimed for him by Charles Flaxman in 1839, was surveyed by Anthony Forster and James Smith in 1841. A year later it had one house and a number of dugouts. A hundred years later it had
well over 3,500 residents and nearly seven hundred houses.
Angas encouraged German and British migrants to settle on his land by either leasing or selling it to them. By 1846 there were enough people living in the little town to have a weekly mail delivery. Some of the first settlers were William Hurn, Edwin Davey, Henry Holmes, Joseph Keynes, William Salter, Samuel Smith and James Trescowthick.
However it was Angas' nineteen year old son
John Howard Angas, arriving in South Australia in 1843, who looked after his father's investments in South Australia and particularly those in the Barossa Valley. Angas himself came out in 1851, laid out the town and registered it as
Angaston on 21 August 1857. By then it was already a proclaimed District Council with Horace Dean as Chairman. The first councillors were; William Salter, George Fife Angas, Captain Richard Rodda and William Coulthard.
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The first church to be completed, in 1844 with money donated by Angas, was The Union Chapel at Penrice, to be used by all the different religions. The foundation stone was laid on 3 November 1843 by Mrs Evans, daughter of G.F. Angas. After the ceremony about thirty people had tea on the grass and had a very pleasant evening. When the
population had increased to such an extent that this chapel became too small it was decided in 1854 by the Methodists to build their own. In 1855 the Union Congregation built a new and larger church in
Angaston. When completed, the Reverend
John Hannay, son-in-law of George Fife Angas, led its congregation for the next ten years. After the split of 1861 in the Lutheran Church, it became a Baptist Church until 1928. It is now known as the Zion Lutheran Church.
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After the completion of the first church it only took two years for the first hotel to be constructed. This was the
Angaston Hotel in 1846. A year later Doctor Horace Dean came to town and built
Franklin House in 1847. The doctor was also a Stipendiary Magistrate and later a local Councillor. When the
Angaston District Council was formed it held its first meeting at his house.
By 1849 a second hotel was built and licensed in 1851. This was the New Inn and built by William Doddridge. William arrived in South Australia in 1840 and first settled on
Kangaroo Island. The hotel was later known as the
Commercial Hotel and finally Barossa Hotel. Doddridge also built a blackmith's
shop on land he had bought from J.G. Schilling in 1849. A second storey to the hotel was added in 1884 and it is now known as the Brauhaus Hotel.
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All
Angaston needed now was a
police station. It was Angas, who had in 1836 already pushed for the establishment of a South Australian
Police Force, who donated the land and materials and in 1856 the Barossa Valley's first
police station was completed. But there were also many other improvements in the town. A library was founded in 1856 and within ten years both the number of books and customers had increased to such an extent that a much larger building was needed. In 1867 it was decided to cater for several interests of the town's residents and built an Institute, large enough to have room for a library, reading room, meeting room especially for the Masons, and a large meeting room for public gatherings. The building, on land donated by Angas, was opened in 1870 by Howard Angas.
In 1866 the town got its first banking facilities with the opening of the National Bank. The Bank of
Adelaide opened its doors in January 1894.
During these years there were many births, marriages and deaths recorded in
Angaston. On 10 May 1860, the wife of T.J. Hodges had a son, on 14 June the wife of George French Angas had a daughter at Collingrove and on 25 September Mrs J.H. Field had a daughter. On 5 February 1861, Mrs Robert Carter had a son, Mrs William Cameron also had a son on 29 May 1862 and Mrs E.P. Nesbit had a daughter on 5 December of that year. The Player family had an addition almost every year during most of the 1860s. On 23 August 1864 Mrs W. Clarke had a son and Mrs D.B. Adamson a son on 31 October.
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The photo's above of the old house and the info I have provided is correct, it is where me old man was born. not at a hospital. I think that house is
heritage listed now.
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From the 1870s onward
Angaston expanded and some people even looked beyond the town for investment or living. On 24 September 1874, James Angas Johnson invested in three suburban sections at the newly opened town of
Wirrabara. Industries had become firmly established and most of the town buildings, particularly those in the main street made use of marble, quarried from the 1870s onwards at the
Angaston Marble Quarries, by William and James Sibley. In 1885 the Eureka flourmill was completed by Edwin Davey with money he had made on the Victorian goldfields.
By the turn of the century it were the settled families of Angas, Evans, Sage, Salter and Smith who enhanced the Valley's reputation for agriculture and wine. The railway arrived in 1911, once again with the help of the Angas Family who had tried for more than forty years to have the line from
Gawler extended to
Angaston, and a start was made with a proper Town Hall. By 1916 C.H. Angas of Lindsay Park used his Rolls Royce car to inspect the family's investments and show visitors around the town and valley.
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