Memories of the very first parade

With the theme of the 2023 Barossa Vintage Festival, ‘Old Roots, New Ways,’
The Leader has spoken with Mr Colin Lienert, 96, who vividly remembers the first year the parade was held. He spoke with Verity Kew.

Mr Colin Lienert, at the age of 96, still has a sparkle in his eyes as he recalls the very first Vintage Festival parade held in 1948.

“I was asked to help prepare the four white Percheron horses, Duke, Prince, Count and Farmer, belonging to my Uncle Harry (Schulz). They were used to pull the wagon at grape picking, but now I was in charge of washing and grooming them ready for the parade. We also made red and blue rosettes to decorate their manes and tails,” Colin said.

Nuriootpa’s entrant in the Vintage Festival Queen competition that year, Joy Longbottom, was proudly transported aboard the wagon, brightly decorated in traditional German colours, red and blue, and filled with yellow balloons, to represent grapes. 

The floats gathered at Nuriootpa, and then we went in procession to Tanunda oval. I was dressed in a sombrero hat, and I must say, we looked pretty good! Arthur  Saegenschnitter walked on one side of the horses, I was on the other, and Ron Schulz was the driver.”

Farmer, the youngest and handsomest horse of the quad, and also Colin’s favourite, needed an additional harness and careful handling on the long walk to Tanunda. 

“I managed to keep him fairly well under control, talking to him most of the way to calm him down. The crowd was pretty vocal,” Colin recalls.

“I stayed with Farmer for two hours at Tanunda oval, where we had to assemble, and all the entries were judged in the different sections. It was a cold night, too!”

Patience and careful preparation paid off for Colin and the Schulz family, however, as they secured first prize in their section. 

Basking in the warmth of his win, Uncle Harry, who took the reins on the way home, wasn’t to know that 20 year old Colin had been making a practice of feeding the horses some extra oats ‘to make them showy.’ 

That night, Harry simply couldn’t hold the horses back. The combination of the extra oats and the hours of standing around at Tanunda Oval had made them flighty and they cantered home with the wagon!

Colin, bedded down in the back under the balloons, recalls a rough ride.

Perhaps the most vivid memory this nonagenarian cherishes from the 1948 parade is the magnificent crowds that rolled up in their droves to witness the spectacle. 

“You’ve got no idea… the roadway from Nuriootpa to Tanunda was packed with people. The ladies were in

their best dresses, and in those days they all wore hats. All the children were lined up at
the front in their best clothes, too.”

Records show about 16,000 people attended that year, and were thrilled and amazed with the entries on parade. 

Colin reports, “The radio broadcasters kept talking about the ‘four magnificent white horses’ for days afterwards.