Tawny port label recognises Keipert Crown Foundry

The citizenship allowed Henry, originally from Germany, to purchase the Forsyth business in 1885, according to great grandson John Keipert, Neatherby, who spoke at the Laura Fair last month.

When Henry arrived in Port Adelaide in 1877 he worked as a foundryman at the firm of James Martin and Company in Gawler.

John said it was there he met his wife Esther and then moved to Laura in 1878 to manage the Laura machine and foundry business Forsaith and Daniels.

He became an Australian citizen on the 13th of August 1884, after which he was able the business a year later.

"In 1890, he moved the business to the northwest corner of South Terrace and Herbert Street after re-establishing it as the Keipert's Crown foundry," John said.

"At the same time, he built the family home which he called Booyoolie View adjacent to the business at number two South Terrace.

"The business thrived and Henry's inventiveness bore fruit with the development of malleable steel plowshares, which for the uninitiated is a removable pointed end of a plow blade, and scarifiers and these products gained notoriety in the farming community and with the mainstay of the business.

"So the Keipert Foundry was the first in the colony to produce high durable malleable metal castings."

He said it was producing 300 dozen ploughshares weekly by 1982.

"It also produced cast iron railings for grave head plates and verandah lacework, piano components, bicycle components, and steel wheels of all sizes from 30 grams to 250 kilograms," he said.

"They supplied stirrups, snaffles and spurs for the imperial horse contingent for the Boer War in Africa in 1900.

"They supplied 8000 castings of the Victorian telegraph department in 1906 and they were awarded gold medals for metal castings at Ballarat industrial exhibition in 1895, and four medals at the Kalgoorlie International Exhibition in Western Australia in 1899."

John said the Keipert Foundry regularly received many prizes at Royal Adelaide Show and country shows for artistic metal castings.

"They registered several patents in Adelaide for designs and various farm implements and they were reported to have employed up to 50 people," he said.

"Due to failing health, related to a lung condition common to many foundrymen, Henry retired to Fullerton in Adelaide in the early 1900s, leaving the foundry business to be run by his two eldest sons.

"Competition from other foundries in the Mid North and Adelaide took its toll on the business together with bad seasons for agriculture and the speed with which railway transport was able to deliver castings from elsewhere.

"The depression of the late 1920s and early 30s resulted in the business ceasing operation in 1936, ending nearly 50 years of production."

John said there was still evidence of the Keipert Foundry castings in Laura.

"The small cast iron bus of Victor Hugo, Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, the Duke of Wellington and General Charles Gordon are on the front wall of the family home at number two South Terrace," John said.

"The war memorial post and chain fence at the entrance to the fair, the front cast iron fence panels of the Lutheran church which was formerly the Methodist Church, attended by Henry and his family, grave railings and a couple of cast on head plates at the Laura cemetery and I believe there are some at Kapunda as well.

"And you'll also find some other artifacts in the front yard of number one, Herbert Street."

Henry passed away in 1925 and was buried with his wife and two of their children in the Mitcham cemetery in Adelaide.

"By chance my wife and I live within a kilometer of that cemetery and I often think of Henry as I drive past it, and the contribution he made to the community here in Laura, and to industrial development in SA," John said.

"I'd like to acknowledge some people here in Laura in relation to preserving the Keipert family history, The Laura Fair committee for commemorating the Keipert Foundry with the labeling of the tawny port, to Rhonda Pech who has helped us on a number of occasions over the years with facts about the Laura family.

John also recognised Rocky River History and Art Society chair Greg Slattery who assisted the family with a community project grant application.

The grant is to assist with costs associated with a Keipert Foundry memorial due to be placed in August to commemorate 140 years of Henry's Australian citizenship.

John said he wanted to acknowledge the owners of the Keipert family home, Ken and Kath Shillinglaw who had "kindly allowed members of the family to inspect it".

"And most importantly Ian McKenzie, who lives in the house occupying the odd foundry site," John said.

"Ian and his late brother Neil have met with many members of our family over the years and enlightened us about Henry's industrial expertise.

"Ian's interest and research into the Keiperts was sparked in 1974 when metal moldings were found when footings for the house on the foundry site were dug.

"He also found more when planting vegetables and has accumulated quite a collection of metal castings over the years and probably knows more about the Keipert family than we do.

"He has willingly shared his knowledge with us and has kindly contributed some of Henry's industrial products that will form part of the monument which will be placed in front of the old foundry site."