The first German Lutherans settled in the district around Grovedale (Germantown) in the early 1850s establishing vineyards and market gardens. By the late 1850s, they had spread to establish the Freshwater Creek settlement.
Initially, church services were held in the homes of members until the first church, a wattle and daub structure, was built in 1859. It was known as the Waldkirch – “the church in the forest”. The first burial took place in 1860 when Louisa the 18-year-old daughter of the Seiffert family died of pneumonia.
The present bluestone church, designed by architect Robert Tuffs, was commenced in 1866 by church members with stone believed to have been quarried from the Seiffert property along Thompson’s Creek. Many of the families contributed financially to the building of the church. The church and cemetery were part of the social and cultural life of the congregation as well as their place of worship and burial place.
The Cemetery was the final resting-place of most of the pioneer families of Freshwater Creek. They include Johann Seiffert, Johann Schmidt, Johann Einsporn, Johann Leibhardt and Karl Rau.
St David’s Lutheran Church and Cemetery is a historic church which is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register along with the cemetery and classified by the National Trust of Australia.
Find out more:
Search Cemetery Database
Surnames of those buried at Freshwater Creek
Alexander
Baensch
Baum
Beecroft
Cornell
Darsow
Egan
Erskine
Evans
Forster
Fox
Frederick
Gladman
Glin
Grossman
Hanby
Hintenberg
Hornak
Hubeil
Huebner
Imer
Jorgensen
Klein
Kubiel
Kurzman
Leach
Leibhardt
Liebhard
Lugg
Menzel
Meyer
Nicol
Noble
Nuske
Paulke
Perrett
Plier
Pohl
Popp
Rau
Ressel
Rhoda
Schmidt
Schulze
Seiffert
Simmons
Smith
Thomas
Wells
Willowite
Wilson
Yole.
Grave locations
LOT | ROW 1 | ROW 2 | ROW 3 | ROW 4 | ROW 5 | ROW 6 |
a | SCHMIDT - Margaret & Adolph Gustav | DARSOW, Dorothea Louise Elisabeth | ||||
b | KURZMANN 4 | |||||
c | SMITH, F | KURZMAN 2 | KURZMANN 2 | |||
d | SMITH - Violet & John August | PLIER - Susan & Julie Marie | KURZMAN 3 | KURZMANN 1 | ||
e | NICOL - Alexander John | HORNAK, Shirley Eileen | GROSSMAN 4 | |||
f | LEIBHARDT 6 | GOSSMAN, Mark Anthony | GROSSMAN, Albert Frederick, Louisa | |||
g | LEIBHARDT 7 | RAU 5 | no headstone | |||
h | BAENSCH 8 | RAU 6 | KUBIEL, 8 | |||
i | SCHMIDT - Johan Gotleeb & Johanna Louise & JORGENSEN, Mary | LEIBHARDT 10 | GROSSMAN, Alma Pauline Augusta | KUBIEL, 9 | ||
j | LEIBHARDT 11 | GROSSMAN, Claude | HUBEIL, Maria Louise | No Headstone | ||
k | LIEBHARD, Johann Gottfried Robert | BOADLE, Emma Elizabeth | SEIFFERT, Anna Elizabeth | no headstone | No Headstone | |
l | LEIBHARDT 12 | broken | SEIFFERT, Johann Friederich | |||
m | unknown | BAENSCH, Augusta & Gottlieb | RAU, Louisa Martha | PAULKE, Anna Dorothea | No Headstone | |
n | SMITH 17 | SEIFFERT, Augusta & August | PAULKE 15 | FORSTER | ||
o | LEIBHARDT 14 | SEIFFERT, Johan Gotlieb | ALLEN, George | LUGG, Thomas Erskine | No Headstone | |
p | LEIBHARDT 15 | RAU, Hans | WELLS, Caroline Eva | LUGG, Johanna Dorothea (Annie) | BAENSCH 18 | |
q | LEIBHARDT 16 | RAU, E. W. | IMER, Roy William & Hazel | WAEMC?EN??BLN, William Robert | LUGG, Edward | |
r | SEIFFERT 16 | NOBLE, William Robert McMullen | FORSTER 15 | |||
s | WILLOWITE | IMER, Henry Benjamin (Harry) & Violet Edna | NOBLE, George C | FORSTER 16 | ||
t | LEIBHARDT 18 | SMITH, john Allan Campbell * Eva Elizabeth | SIMMONS, Charlie & Emily | IMER, Mary Elizabeth | NOBLE, Fanny A | SMITH, Gertrude May |
u | LEIBHARDT 19 | BAENSCH, William | NOBLE, Ian Macmullen | |||
v | ZANKER, David Andrew | SEIFFERT, Johann Gottfried &Pauline | IMER, Louis F | KURZMAN, Emma Louisa Valburg, & Henry | ||
w | LEACH, Mary Elizabeth | SEIFFERT, Pauline | IMER, Ruby Irene | EVANS 20 | ||
x | POPP, Karl A. F. & Herta E. | SEIFFERT, jJohann Gottfried Wilhelm (Bill) | BAENSCH, Margaret Rhoda | KURZMAN 24 | GLYN, Margaret | |
y | BEECROFT, Lee 'Rosalie' | SEIFFERT 24 | BAENSCH, Rhoda Elizabeth | MEYER, Lloyd | BAUM, Rupert | |
z | SEIFFERT, Walter John | BAENSCH, Charles Frederick | MEYER, Marcella Hilda & William Lloyd | unkown cross | ||
aa | NUSKE, Milton Arnold & Margaret Anne | SEIFFERT, Nancy | BAENSCH, John Frederick | HANBY 27 | HUEBNER, Elmore Laurence | |
ab | MENZEL, Joan Marie | RAU, Frank F. W. | SEIFFERT, Clifford Frederick | KLEIN, Martha | ||
ac | NOBLE, Christopher George | MENZEL, Emil Victor & Stell Sabina | rAU, Frank Frederick | IMER, Frederick C. H. | FOX, Lionel Kenneth | |
ad | SMITH, Colin | SEIFFERT, Annie & J. Frederick | EGAN, Phyllis | GLADMAN, Clarissa Victoria | FOX, Barbette Lorraine | |
ae | SEIFFERT, Claude Emil & Dorothy Gordon | RAU, John Edwin Alexander | WILSON, Phoebe Ruth | |||
af | RAU, Lorraine Edith | YOLE, Thomas Bramwell | ||||
ag | YOLE, Dorothea Edith | |||||
ah | SEIFFERT, Ernest F. G, & Ethel Maud | RESSEL, Eugenie | ||||
ai | SEIFFERT, Derrick William | KNIGHT, Alexander Thomas & Gladys Ivy | ||||
aj | SCHULZE, Clemens Arthur & Gloria Jean | PERRETT, Donald Max | ||||
ak | BAUM, Jean Ellen & Kenneth Wilton | |||||
al | ||||||
am | SCHULZE, Marie Martha Charlotte | |||||
an | ||||||
ao | ||||||
ap | ||||||
aq | ||||||
ar | BAUM, Douglas John |