ARNOLD CAUST - ‘THE LEDGE’
On Saturday afternoon January 6 1906 Charles Arnold Caust (27 years of age) ventured to Henley Beach in South Australia with his little child, to review notes of a sermon he was preparing to preach next morning. Soon after his arrival at the Henley jetty, he saw a yacht overturned in the water; the father and several boys, who were unknown to him, were holding onto the side to save themselves. There appeared no means available to affect a rescue. Several were pointing to a boat in the vicinity tied to a buoy. Arnold, seeing the danger was the first to make an attempt. Kissing his little daughter and passing her to a friend to hold he said “God will take care of you and help me”...... calling out “Come on lads, volunteer with me and render help”.
A gentleman known to Arnold tried to stop him, and said ‘it was not wise to venture out in such a rough sea’, but he replied. “I feel it will be all right if I can reach the boat over there”. ‘Twice he got within a yard or two of the boat but the strong seas forced him back again; he was then seen to throw up his hands and perish in sight of thousands witnessing his heroic effort. The young family was eventually rescued some half an hour later by a group of young men.
FRANCIS SYMONDS — ‘THE AMADEUS’
Francis Symonds came to South Australia in 1848 on the Ship ‘Navarino’ at Plymouth and took up land at Chain of Ponds. All 13 of the family arrived on November 10th 1848, after 99 days at sea. The first Bible Christian Methodist services in the district were held in his old farm house, and continued until the church was built at Chain of Ponds, of which he laid the foundation stone.
Francis Symonds was a local preacher, Justice of the Peace and Chairman of the Para Wirra District council for over 30 years. Few men in the district were better known. Like many others in the early days of the colony, he used to make wine, and had it at table meals. Reverand R Lang, one of the ministers wrote “He was, taken all round, one of the finest men I have known: a gentlemen of striking appearance. If a stranger were to meet him walking down Rundle Street he would pause to look at him, walk on and turn around again to see him”. In his youthful days, being a man of great physical strength and endurance, he amused himself by engaging in wrestling matches, at which he excelled. He lived until he was ninety years of age.
AMELIA SYMONDS (NEE CAUST)
James and Ann Caust took up residence in South Australia at Chain of Ponds from Cornwell in 1839. They had 7 children, and sadly lost one on the 110 day sea journey from suspected whooping cough. James was the local blacksmith and became a well known wheelwright, famous for his wagons and other wheeled vehicles which were eagerly sought after across the state.
After his wife’s death in 1882, James aged 67, took the surprising decision to revisit his relatives in Cornwall. On his journey he wrote a beautiful letter to his youngest daughter Amelia who was born at Chain of Ponds on 10 March 1854 and married prominent local, John Symonds (son of Francis Symonds ‘The Amadeus’) in 1883. The letter’s gentle humour and delightful Cornish phonetic spelling, depict a special relationship and bond between father and daughter. Amelia died in 1942 and was laid to rest at the Chain of Ponds cemetery.
THE MORNING STAR HOTEL
The Morning Star Hotel was originally established by Oliver Philp in 1847 at Timnath, 2km from Chain of Ponds. The road through the area was however diverted in 1852 and Oliver Philp then relocated the hotel to the new Chain of Ponds site around 1851, where the road passed.
A local correspondent for the Adelaide Register paper wrote on 7 April 1919. “In recent years great changes have taken place in this vicinity, but when the hand of the destroyer trampled the Old Morning Star hotel to the ground it removed one of the oldest landmarks outside the metropolitan area. This hotel was erected in the early days and has been to many weary travellers a real haven of rest. Later on the building was enlarged, and stone, brick, and a considerable amount of clay were used in its reconstruction. The Morning Star was...one of the busiest places of call between Adelaide and the River Murray”.
Sadly the Hotel was eventually demolished for the last time in 1976. We will do our best to ensure the memories will live on.
MARY ANN NEWMAN - ‘THE FIRST LADY ’
Mary Anne Newman (nee Bailes) was one of the first children born in Adelaide at Gawler of European descent, just after the State was colonised in 1836. She was striking in appearance and an extremely smart business woman, being the first to seize the opportunity to sell vegetables on the banks of the River Torrens.
Mary Anne married Charles Frederick Newman and together they raised 20 children.
One of the children (George Lionel Vincent Newman) was the first Newman to move and settle in the hamlet of Chain of Ponds in the Adelaide Hills in the mid 1800’s.
George learnt much from his mother and cleared his land to plant orchards and vegetables in the highly fertile area around Chain of Ponds.
George’s descendants became one of the longest standing families of the township and area right up until the day their family home was demolished in the early 1970’s.