Freshwater Creek Cemetery
Freshwater Creek Cemetery Gates

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.

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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

Freshwater Creek Cemetery Headstones