Albert

ALBERT - sixth child of August Hein and Annie Graf

Great celebrations were, no doubt, afoot on the 7th of December 1905 - on that day Annie gave birth to their sixth child – a boy! Albert, the first son of August and Annie, born into a home with five sisters. As a farmer, I am sure there was immense pride and joy at the birth of a ‘son and heir’ to work on the farm in future years.

Their daughters were now 10, 8, 5, 4 and 2. August had moved his wife and their five daughters from the small cottage at ‘The Ridge’, near Casterton, into a larger home in OB Flat, at the bottom of Day’s Hill adjacent to his sister Martha. The new home was built in 1903, after August bought 3 acres of land from Samuel Hill in 1902. According to Geoffrey Manning’s book “Place Names of South Australia”, OB Flat was named after a herd of cattle branded “OB” (owned by Mr O. Beswick) that roamed in the area.

A seventh child, another son, Andrew, was born into the OB Flat home in 1910 and all the children attended the OB Flat Primary School with their ‘Manser’ cousins who lived next door. August had seven children born between 1895 and 1910; his sister, Martha, and her husband William (Manser) had eight children - Baden born in 1900, Eric in 1902, Ida 1904, Beryl 1905, Jack 1908, Ralph 1909, Elsa 1912 and Arthur in 1915 - so the fifteen children, living in adjacent farms, and going to school together, were a close band of cousins.

The Hein family later moved to a home in Wehl Street South, left to August by his father Julius (JAL HEIN) in 1917.

Albert moved to Waikerie with his mother and father, sister Grace, and brother Andrew in 1922, aged 16; by 1925 he was working for the owner of the house - Grant Kerr. That same year his sister, Grace, married Richard Manning. By 1928 Richard, Grace, their 2 babies Geoff and Wanda, and Betty (7) had moved to Adelaide.

Albert married a local girl, Lydia Wuttke (b. 1907 Mannum, family moved to Swan Reach where she started school but had moved to Waikerie where she finished high school before Hein family arrived) in 1929 at St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Waikerie; in late 1932 or early 1933 his parents moved back to Mt Gambier and Albert and his wife, Lydia, took over the house on the Kerr orchard.

Their first child, Kevin, was born in 1932; daughter Pam arrived in 1938. Albert continued to work for Grant Kerr for 22 years and in late 1947 he purchased some land from his wife’s father (John Wuttke – born as Wilhelm Johann Robert Wuttke, near Mannum in 1879) and established his own fruit orchard and built his own home.

Albert died in 1997 aged 92 and his wife, Lydia, died five years later in 2002 aged 95.

The original Hein family home on the Kerr orchard in Waikerie is still standing, despite it being surrounded by housing trust homes and its original broad frontage on Strangman Road is now a tiny back yard.

Part of the original Kerr property is now part of the Waikerie Cemetery and Albert and his wife Lydia are buried there in view of the home where Albert lived from 1922 to 1949, where he brought his young wife in 1929 and welcomed his two children in 1932 and 1938. The house, photographed in 1922 and grave, are in the gallery below.

Albert ‘Bertie’ or ‘Ulla’ George HEIN, b: OB Flat, SA, 7 Dec 1905, d: Waikerie 1997 (92), m. 7 Oct 1929 - Lydia ‘Girlie’ Magdalena WUTTKE, 1907-2002 (95) – 2 children - Lived at Waikerie, SA. Married St Pauls Lutheran Church Waikerie

• • Kevin G HEIN OAM, b. 1932, m. 1967 Miraca Una Murdoch (b. Scotland), St Paul's Lutheran Church, Waikerie, SA, div. - living in Mount Gambier, released a book, "Beyond Borders", pub. Openbook Howden, written by Stuart Hill, on his life, in March 2017. OAM Queen's Birthday 2019 for services to the performing arts and the community of Mount Gambier.

  • Pamela Jean HEIN, b. 1938, m.(1) Edgar ‘Johnny’ Nöth, div., m.(2) 1985 John Bell.

    • • Kerry Jean Nöth-Birkett (nee Nöth), b. 1962, m. 1985 Deane Birkett, 2 children.

      • Christopher Randal Nöth, b. 1965, spoke at 2010 reunion.

      • Gerald Antony Nöth, b. 1966

Albert and Lydia are shown below at their 1929 wedding.

The house at Waikerie photographed in 1922.

Annie, Betty and Albert in 1923.

Albert at the OB Flat reunion in 1969.

The grave of Albert and Lydia in Waikerie Cemetery.