Hahndorf

• Type — town • Name — Hahndorf • State — sa • Pushpin Label Position — top • Established — 1839 • Postcode — 5245 • Dist1 — 28 • Location1 — Adelaide's CBD • Dist2 — 7 • Location2 — Mount Barker • Lga — District Council of Mount Barker • Lga2 — Adelaide Hills Council • Stategov — Heysen • Fedgov — Mayo • Near Nw — Bridgewater • Near N — Verdun • Near Ne — Balhannah • Near W — Mylor • Near E — Totness • Near Sw — Biggs Flat • Near S — Echunga • Near Se — Paechtown Hahndorf is a small town in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. Currently an important tourism spot, it has previously been a centre for farming and services.

The town was settled "on the traditional land of the Peramangk people" by Lutheran migrants largely from and around a small village then named Kay in Prussia and now known as Kije, Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. The traditional name of the site on which Hahndorf is situated is Bukartilla, in "reference to the local water holes". Many of the settlers arrived aboard on 28 December 1838. The town is named after Dirk Meinerts Hahn, the captain of Zebra. It is Australia's oldest surviving German settlement.

During the British colonisation of South Australia, the settlers were mostly British, but some German "Old Lutherans" also emigrated in the early years. The first large group of Germans arrived in 1838, with the financial assistance of the Emigration Fund. By 1842 most had moved out of Adelaide to the Barossa Valley and settlements in the Adelaide Hills, such as Hahndorf, living in socially closed communities without participating in government until 15 years later.

• Hahndorf population by year • 2006 — 1,806 • 2016 — 2,670 At the census 2006 the population was 1,806. In 2016 the population was 2,670.

Located in the federal division of Mayo, the state electoral district of Heysen, and the local government areas of the District Council of Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills Council.

• Illustration — St Paul's Lutheran Church There are two prominent churches in Hahndorf. St Michael's is the oldest Lutheran church in Australia to still have a worshipping congregation on its original church site. It was founded in 1839. St Michael's is a member of the Lutheran Church of Australia. St Paul's was founded in 1846, as a result of a schism between Pastor Kavel and Pastor Fritzsche. This schism is closely linked to the formation of two original Lutheran synods in Australia which coexisted until their merger in 1966.

C3 Adelaide Hills is a church of the C3 Church Global movement. Previously located in Nairne, it moved to Hahndorf around 2007.

Hahndorf is accessible from Adelaide, the South Australian capital, via the South Eastern Freeway.

Hahndorf has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate abbreviated Csb on the Köppen climate classification scale.

Hahndorf's sporting clubs including basketball, bowls, netball, cricket, football (Australian rules and Association Football), tennis and softball. The football (both codes), netball and softball clubs are nicknamed the Magpies. The Hahndorf Bowling Club was established in 1976 and has a full size (nine rink) green, which is a woven carpet surface enabling all weather competition, and a large clubhouse. The football (soccer) club was formed in the early 1980s and plays home games at Pine Avenue. The senior men compete in the South Australian Amateur Soccer League. They won the 1996 Newsfront Cup and the 2004 Amateur League Division Two title. However, a gradual decline in player numbers from 2013 has seen the side drop to one team, competing in Division Seven, by 2019. Hahndorf was the start point of the 2024 Women's Tour Down Under.

• Watercolour artist Hans Heysen established "The Cedars" close to the town in 1912. He lived and painted there until his death in 1968. "The Cedars" remains in his family, and is open for guided tours. • Matthew Jaensch was an AFL footballer who played for the Adelaide Crows. He retired in 2016 after six years and 74 games with the Crows.