barossa history
Early Entrepreneurs Leditschkes of Point Pass
words by
luke rothe
Point Pass is a small town 11km North of Eudunda and like most country towns, it once had a thriving General Store.
Around 1876 a store was established at Point Pass by Georg Jansen. In 1878 Georg married Emilie Leditschke, but after a short illness Georg died in 1884, leaving Emily to run the store while caring for their four young boys, all under six years old.
Emilie’s father invited his cousin to manage the business, and by June 1885 Carl Friedrich Leditschke had arrived at Point Pass from Germany aged 24.
The business partnership turned into marriage within a year.
Both the marriage and store prospered and by 1901 they ran the shop, operated a butter and cheese factory, and purchased wheat.
Around 1906, a larger store was built opposite the old shop, trading as ‘C.F. Leditschke, General Storekeeper, Merchant & Importer’.
Importing quality goods became a meaningful part of the business and Carl took several trips back to Germany to secure stock.
A 1911 Lutheran Almanac advertisement, printed in German, translates to:
‘The greatest portion of wares are imported regularly direct from the most efficient manufacturers in Europe and are therefore extremely inexpensive……silk, wool, linen, bridal veils ,sewing machines, bicycles, noodle cutters, bean slicers, toys, musical clocks & porcelain with inscriptions for Silver Weddings.’
Christmas trees of all sizes were also advertised.
The German artificial trees were made using feathers, which were split from their quills, dyed green and twisted onto wire to form branches. A 1913 Leditschke receipt shows the purchase of a Christmas tree music box and ornaments by the Sporn family of Light Pass.
The music box held a Christmas tree and played interchangeable discs as the tree rotated.
Customer orders were often delivered using a horse drawn hawker’s van, packed with groceries and useful household goods.
Postcards were sent to regular clients indicating a date the van would visit next, either to deliver orders or to browse the ‘fine assortment of new goods’.
A postcard sent to Mr Semmler states Mr G Gehling (van driver) was going to visit on April 2, 1908 at Springton. (Springton is 80kms from Point Pass, but they also travelled North to Booleroo Centre which is 170km away).
Carl and Emilie retired to Kingswood in 1921, two years before Carl’s death. The business had been incorporated by the family in 1920, and continued to prosper.
Diversifying again, Leditschkes installed an engine and saw bench to cut firewood for delivery to Adelaide during the 1930’s Depression years, when mallee wood and stumps were extra sources of income for struggling farmers.
By the 1940s, the business had grown to six stores operating at Point Pass, Eudunda, Williamstown, Nailsworth, Marrabel and Robertstown, all trading as the ‘C.F.L. Stores’.
Eventually, economic conditions and changes in shopping methods made it difficult for smaller stores to compete, and the branch stores were sold in the early 1950’s. The original Point Pass store sold in 1953 but continued as a shop until 1973.
