Andrew

ANDREW ('Andy") THOMAS HEIN: b. OB Flat (Mt Gambier) 10 July 1911, d: Waikerie 22 July 2005 (94), m. on 22 Dec 1934 - Myrtle Violet KREUSLER, b: 13 Nov 1910 d: 9 Aug 1971 (60). Married at St Pauls Lutheran Church Waikerie – 3 children

On the 10th of July 1911 Annie Hein was feeling very tired. She was thirty-eight years old and had just given birth to her seventh child. She knew her husband of almost sixteen years would be pleased at the arrival of a second son. They named this boy Andrew Thomas.

Their oldest daughter, Gertrude, was a week away from her fifteenth birthday and was an enormous help to her mother looking after the youngest children – Albert 4, Mabel 7 and Grace 8. Ida was thirteen and helped Gertrude with the household chores.

Having the larger house in OB Flat, and their own three acres, had been a significant improvement on their small cottage near Casterton where they had lived until late in 1903. Having her sister-in-law, Martha, living next door offered comfort and support. When Andrew was born, Martha had six children of her own and her youngest at that time, Ralph, was not yet one year old.

During the first world war OB Flat became known as the “German Paddock” and, despite many local boys already enlisted and fighting in Europe, there was some anti-German sentiment throughout the Mt Gambier settlement.

In 1921 Andrew’s father, now 56, had somehow been introduced to Grant Kerr who was living in Adelaide and intent on establishing an orchard in Waikerie. August visited the property and was impressed by the climate and the potential of the region; he helped establish the orchard and the buildings and in 1922 he sent for his family to join him.

Andrew was 10 when the family relocated and he enjoyed the farming life of the South Australian Riverland with his brother Albert and his sister Grace. They made firm friends with the son (Sonny, same age and best friend of Albert) and three daughters (Dora, Lydia, who was to marry Albert, and Elda) of their neighbours, the Wuttkes. After Andrew finished school he joined his father and brother working on Kerr’s orchard.

Andrew was a member of the Waikerie Rifle Club and a very good marksman: he won many prizes in shooting competitions. He was also a good singer and keen member of the Luther League where he and brother Albert, and neighbour Sonny, conducted many sketches on amateur theatre night. Despite his willingness to perform, Andrew was a shy young man off the stage.

One Saturday night, after the going to ‘the pictures’ in Waikerie, Andrew joined a large group of friends and met a girl called Myrtle Kruesler and that evening he walked her home.

When his parents returned to Mt Gambier, late 1932 or early 1933, Andrew stayed on in Waikerie, as did his brother Albert. Albert had married Lydia Wuttke in October 1929 and their first child was born in February 1932. 21-year-old Andrew also lived in the house. August and Annie bought a house at 35 Wehl Street North in January 1933.

Annie died in Mt Gambier (from breast cancer) in 1934; her illness is another possible motivation for their return. Mabel was possibly working at St Neots private maternity hospital in Mt Gambier by the time of their return. Marie (Gertrude’s daughter) remembers visiting her very ill grandmother (Annie) in 1934 and seeing her being tended by her daughter Mabel.

Andrew married Myrtle Kruesler in Waikerie in 1934; he was age 23. Myrtle was born in Exeter (near Port Adelaide) in 1910. Their three daughters - Anne (1936), Joan (1937) and Noeline (1939) - were born in Waikerie.

Myrtle suffered from post-natal depression which worsened with each child. Ignorance of the condition resulted in her being institutionalised at Parkside Hospital (at the time called a ‘Mental Asylum’) when her third child, Noeline, was young. Andrew’s mother had been dead for six years and his father died around the same time that his wife’s conditioned worsened. He looked to his siblings for support.

When their mother was institutionalised the three children went to live with other family members. Anne stayed with her Aunt Martha in Jane Street, Mt Gambier, Joan stayed with her Aunt Grace in Wehl Street, Mt Gambier, and Noelene (the baby) stayed in Waikerie with one of her mother’s family who she recalls as “Aunt Bessie”.

Around this time, Andrew moved back to Mt Gambier and is found on the electoral rolls there from 1943 (three years after his father’s death).

Myrtle was released (at an unknown time) from Parkside and returned to live with Andrew in Mount Gambier until her death in 1971; Andrew had 33 years as a widower and spent his final years at Donovan's Landing, on the Glenelg River near the Victorian border with South Australia.

Andrew ‘Andy’ Thomas HEIN, b. 1911, OB Flat, SA, m. 1934 Myrtle Violet KREUSLER (1910-1971 (60)), St Pauls Lutheran Church, Waikerie, d. 2005 (94).

• • (Ethel) Anne HEIN b. 1936 m. 1960 Derek Kenneth CRAWFORD.

    • • Grant Kenneth CRAWFORD, b. 1962, lives in Tasmania.

      • Scott Andrew CRAWFORD, b.1963, lives in Littlehampton.

      • Glen James CRAWFORD, b. 1966, lives in Casterton.

      • Melissa Ann CRAWFORD, b. 1967, lives in Christies Beach.

      • Rebecca CRAWFORD, lives in Maslins, father Eddie Benjamin.

  • (Gwenneth) Joan HEIN, b. 1937, m. 1958 Stanley Charles (Charlie) BARRY (1934-2015 (80)), d. 2014 (76).

    • • Joanne Marguerite BARRY, b. 1960.

      • Denys Charles BARRY, b. 1962.

      • Michael Shane BARRY, b. 1963.

      • Jonathan Mark BARRY, b. 1966

  • Noeline Fay HEIN, b. 1939, m. 1961 Robert Francis WHITE (Cousin, see children under Gertrude), three children, Vivienne Carol, b. 1963, Yvonne Fay, b. 1965, Christine June, b. 1966.

Betty and Andrew (then aged 90) in 2001.