Morgan Scotts Creek property originally owned by VON RIEBEN

Hermann was born to a baronial family of the manor of Kosa-Broma in Mecklenburg. In that part of Germany there was political unrest at that time. Some of the people had heard of the Englishman Wakefield who had established a colony for free men in the great southern land of Australia. The illustrious geologist, Leopold von Buch paid a farewell visit to his young German friends who were about to leave their father land and immigrate to Adelaide. Knowing that their means were limited, he left behind him a draft for 300 Thalers on the table. A kind note soon arrived requesting their acceptance of the present, the donor pleasantly remarking that, in case he visited Australia, he would want the shelter of a roof and therefore wished to contribute towards providing one.

In 1849 Hermann {1809 – 1879} and his young wife Louisa {1825 - 1883} joined Richard and Otto Schomhurgk, Carl Muecke, Carl Linger and about 150 other educated and liberal minded Germans in chartering the ship Princess Louise 256 ton. On March 26th they sailed from Hamburg via Rio de Janeiro arriving at Adelaide on August 7th 1849.

Passengers : F. Mucke, Dr. C. Mucke, 3 children and mother-in-law, O. Schomburg and wife, R. Schomburg and wife, Lisman, wife, 5 children, and 2 servants, Von Reiben, wife, and 2 children, Erzelbade and wife, YomegerKley, wife, and four children, Gorz, wife 2 children and servant, Shudemon, wife, sister and 2 children, Tadt, Gunther, wife, 1 child, Wnering, Linger, wife, brother, and 1 child, Holzerland, wife, brother-in-law, 3 children, Klez, Schneider, Reimer, Berends, Birknes, G. Buhring, Buhring, wife, and 3 children, Toschor,  Hansheller, Bayer and wife, Tied, wife, and 1 child, Rothener and wife, Schild and wife, Meyer  and wife, Goy, wife and 4 children, Salan, Piper, wife, sister, and 1 child, Mosel,  Eisele, Joaney and wife, Bagge, Ezeberger, Schneider, Laurensi and wife, Harders,  wife, and son, Velfer, Karg, Kattelein, Israel, Heinrichs, Malxk, Schroder and wife, Kettle and wife, Toth and sister, Stauve, Rohr, Lindnum, Passke, Kohrf, wife and sister, Stehan, Glagow,  Sahr, Hecht, Wachsmulk, wife and 1 child, Tahrmann, Cinow, Toralawsky, Maggraf, wife and 1 child, Gebeler, Talkenhagen, Miss Heilandand sister, Weidemann, and 3 children, H. and A. Staelher, Schluter, mother-in-law, and child, Nieaber, wife and 2 children, Wuckming, Zimmerman, and Perwitz.  

The von Riebens brought with them two children, Augusta and Hermann and the most impractical effects including a mountain of china some of which still remains with one of the descendants.

On arrival the von Riebens joined the Buchsfelde settlement initiated by Richard Schomburgk on the Gawler River where Hermann hoped to set up as a gentleman-farmer, sub letting to Yeoman Wilhelm Zoelner. Apart from river frontage, their next holding could not have been in greater contrast to the closely settled Bushsfelde.

He heard people speak of a beautiful deep lagoon of permanent water five miles south of the big bend.  Baron Hermann von Reiben and his wife Louisa resettled by Scott’s big lagoon in 1854. It was deep containing permanent flowing water, lying half a mile west of the river. <34 degrees south latitude 139 degrees 40 east longitude > It was part of a small ana branch of the River Murray, running in just south of where the town of Morgan would later be built and where the proposed marina is to be situated. It was permanently fed through Scott’s creek. In time of high water it spilled out through a second lagoon to the south. From whence the name Scott is not recorded but at the time the policeman in charge of the Riverland was Scott.

They built a large homestead of river stone and red gum slabs. It was thatched with river reeds.  The highest part of the building was the kitchen and dining room which had a cellar under it to keep food cool. The remains of this part are still standing in 2003.The rest of the house seems to have been terraced towards the lagoon, at the edge of which, a deep hole was dug to provide constant water for use in the house. The bathroom and toilet area must have had water pumped up to it as it drained away down the rise away from the lagoon. Very modern for those days. 

Because the dwelling was so far from any where most travelers stopped there. Hermann was quick to realize the potential. He applied for a hotel license and was granted one in 1855. Because of all the horehound now in the area one wonders if he brewed his own beer. In 1859 the home was also registered as the county Eyre post office with Hermann as postmaster.

Before building the house the natives on the flats were consulted as to the heights of the floods in the past. The oldest of them indicated the usual level the river rises to at flood times. Well above that mark the house and stables were built. In 1870 a flood came down that drowned the house right up to a foot within the ceiling. The family had to store all the furniture in the loft and live in tents on the side of the hill for eleven months. The von Rieben boys, Hermann and Otto rowed a boat to the loft to procure any needed article. The natives were wrong in their estimation of the river heights, because several times the house was flooded. In 1956 it was washed away completely except for the stone kitchen and cellar.

Rounsevell’s mail-coaches travelled from Adelaide through to Wentworth, Victoria, arriving at von Rieben’s hotel at 6pm on Tuesday. On the return trip they left for Adelaide at 7am on Sunday. Their advertisement claimed that the von Rieben hotel had comfortable accommodation. The hostess was attentive and obliging. The tariff was cheap.

Another description runs as follows. ‘The only house between Murpka[Murbko} and North West Bend is situated in a lonely part of the bush, on the banks of a great lagoon, about five miles south of the north west bend of the river. Hermann von Rieben’s hotel is a point of essential importance to the tourist in the district. After leaving it, no human habitation appears until within a few miles from Burra Burra (Burra) and then that’s only a shepherd’s hut. At von Rieben’s one will meet every accommodation and every comfort and more than one could expect. The hostess is most attentive and obliging and charges are moderate. We ate drank and slept well and our horses fared well too. The night was sultry and distant thunders boomed around us. The air was filled with the cries of birds of every description, the croaking of innumerable frogs and the howl of a dingo. The Inn contains fine stuffed specimens of all the great lagoon and river birds of the district and will well repay inspection. If you wish for living specimens of smaller fry, you have only to keep your door open and you will be accommodated’.

The lagoon abounded in fish and was a breeding place for immense flocks of aquatic birds.

It became known as the North West Bend Hotel, in the hundred of Eba in the county of Eyre. It was self sufficient though we are not sure just what live stock Hermann did keep. Being from Germany, and horses being the mode of transport at the time, he must surely have had and even bred some horses. Although he leased five 80 acre sections on Jan 1st 1856 within a fortnight that lease was transferred to Richard Hicks. The district was becoming a pastoral area, with Blanchtown growing 23 miles to the south on the river, and Kapunda, with the discovery of copper, developing 45 miles to the west by direct road. The state sale yard for horses, owned by Sidney Kidman and run by Coles Brothers was at Kapunda. It became the biggest horse sale in Australia and probably the world. There is a road named after Hermann on the way to Kapunda from Morgan so it could be presumed that he drove horses there for sale. Louisa was sometimes left alone with the children but was never afraid. They were on good terms with the natives. The children played and swam with them. There was probably a garden to grow vegetables and flowers. It is known that they had a shepherd to care for the sheep they ran. As drovers were constantly passing with cattle from N.S.W. it is reasonable to assume that they kept some cattle at least for their own needs.

It seems that Hermann, like so many others at the time, ‘squatted’ beside the lake. It was not in their name until Louisa, just after Hermann’s death, purchased Section 227 in 1880. She immediately gave it to their son Hermann. He later sold it to John Field who had it subdivided. A portion of about half an acre was transferred to Hermann von Rieben junior on 26/5/1888. This land is still in his name. There is mention of a white picket fence which may have surrounded this area and was eventually taken down and given to the Morgan hospital. The graves of his parents and their three children, who died of fever in 1860, and the remains of the hotel are still to be seen. A five foot high wall, one foot thick, of rough concrete cast, surrounds a small burial ground. 

The gate is also covered with concrete cast and this can still be opened. This is not far from the ruins. The children’s names were Rolly, Amelia, and Malchin.

Hermann and Louisa had eight children in total.  Their surviving family was:  Augusta, born 1844 in Germany and married to Max Inglehardt1871; Hermann junior, born 1845 in Germany and married to Priscilla Barker;  Anna, born 1858 in Australia and married to George Johnson 1884; Matilda, born in 1860 in Australia and married to George Bartlett.; Otto born 1863 in Australia and married to Jane Carew.

Otto Georg Ludwig Von Rieben was to become a key figure in South Australian society of the day - civil servant then business owner with interests in mining, newspapers and finance.  Purchasing the famed Attunga in 1907, he would later bequeath the property and gardens to Burnside Memorial Hospital.  His legacy is alive with both his generosity and the love of his gardens.  The Hospital OTTO cafe is named in his honour.