On 21 August 1838, two hundred 'Old Lutheran' religious refugees from the province of Brandenburg set sail for South Australia aboard the barque Zebra. They had waited six weeks in Hamburg for a ship to bring them to the young colony, following the departure of the first group of refugees led by Pastor August Kavel a month earlier. These eventually settled at Klemzig.

The master of the Zebra was Captain Dirk Meinerts Hahn. Hahn was not keen on the idea of taking a group of emigrants all the way to Australia, but the owner of the ship believed that the venture might be lucrative and the contract was taken. The group caused quite a ripple even before leaving harbour, with their daily religious observations, including hymn singing:

There was an address as well as prayers and hymns every morning and evening. The sound of their beautiful singing could be heard across the harbour. Everyone who heard them testified to their rare gift of song. (Emigrants to Hahndorf, edited by Martin Buchhorn, 1989, p. 27)

The group arrived in Adelaide on the 2 January 1839, after a gruelling voyage, with eleven deaths at sea, as well as unfortunate quarrels between members of the party. Seeing it would be difficult to also settle at Klemzig as the land there was already taken, they looked elsewhere. They were greatly assisted by Captain Hahn in acquiring land in the Adelaide Hills from the pastoralist William Hampden Dutton. In recognition of the captain's kindness, the new town was named after him, Hahndorf.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.