Description

20 m high structure made out of steel with an extended tail, remnants of a large motor wheel with a diameter of 9 m. Information boards an bronze plaque.

Brief History

The windmill was errected in 1897 by the engineer and later master builder in Windhoek Gottlieb Redecker, who also errected the Christ Church and the prison in Windhoek and the post office in Keetmanshoop, designed according to a patent by Friedrich Filler from Hamburg, to generate energy for the propulsion of machinery in the workshop. The wheel propelled a virtical driveshaft to a gear system, a horizontal one was driven by a belt from there to the building and the machines: a chainsaw, a wood and a metal lathe, a plane and a drill (output: 6,000 W). It also supplied Otjimbingwe with water from a fontain. The Haelbich family were the founders of the first trading company at Otjimbingwe which had been an important place in pre-colonial and early colonial years. After the building of the railway line it lost its importance to the advantage of Karibib.