This Google Earth file (kml) illustrates the path of the journey on day 1 from Hermannsburg to Rubula via Ellery gorge. Ctl+Alt+P will play the tour but it is possible to click on the various way points to expose a link into the text when a particular location is mentioned.
The Finke is 250 million years old and is Central Australia’s main river. It was named by John McDouall Stuart in 1860 to honour his friend and financier the South Australian pastoralist William Finke. The Aboriginal name for the river is usually given as Lhira peninsula, from the Western Arrernte Lhere pirnte, which means salty river. Like other parts of Central Australia, the river is textured with Dreamtime legends. A photographic essay in 'Australian Geographic' tells the story of the hailstone ridge near Hermannsburg, a sacred site 'about 1 km long, 30 m wide and 3 m high, composed of rubble that resembles hailstones' (69). According to legend, the site cannot be disturbed without invoking the anger of the ancestors. In 1975 the NT Daepartemnt of Transport bulldozed part of this site for aggregate. The work was stopped by Arrernte elders. One month later, the worst hailstorm in living memory devastated th Hermannsburg precinct. 'It unroofed houses on stations, uprooted trees and littered the ground with dead birds' (69)
Reference: Paul Mann, ‘The Finke’ in Australian Geographic, no 21, Jan-March 1991, pp 58-83
The floods of 1918 and 1921 had a devastating impact on the Hermannsburg Mission, as evidence by Bob Buck and Otto Tschirn's photographs. Carl Strehlow and H.A Heinrich also wrote about the floods in their yearly reports which were published in the Lutheran Herald. Of the 1921 flood Strehlow wrote: ‘On the 24. February the rain started; first light rains fell; afterwards heavier showers set in and in the morning of 3 March the biggest flood since 26 years came down in the Finke. The water rose continually, till the rushing flood in the Finke River broke the dam in a few minutes, on which the Station blacks had worked for months and months. Afterwards the wild waters rushed into our Station gardens and took great parts of the surrounding brush fence away without doing much damage to the gardens themselves. But higher and higher rose the unruly waters till they took Mr. Heinrichs (sic) garden on the opposite bank of the Finke right away. Having completed this work of destruction the waters seemed to be satisfied; they fell just as quick as they had risen and in the evening the Finke was running in his old bed again. What a glorious sight it was to see a stream nearly half a mile wide, with very high waves passing the station […] About 24 natives had to work about 3 months with pick and shovel and scoop to renovate the dams dividing the Finke and Sandy Creek, that the big flood destroyed in a few minutes. In June we got heavy rains and floods again so that the whole amount of rains from July 1 1920 til June 1921 was about 30 inches and the Finke has ran now continually near the station for over one year – which has never happened since I have been in this country.’ (Strehlow, 102) Heinrich's account, meanwhile, is with reference to the aftermath of the great flood which destroyed his garden: ‘How desolate, torn and tattered appearance the dear old Finke presented after the floodwaters had subsided; banks torn away, trees uprooted and rubbish, mud and slit everywhere.’ (Heinrich,
REFERENCES: H. A. Heinrich, ‘Finke Mission’, Lutheran Herald, April 10, 1922 C. Strehlow, ‘Finke Mision’, Lutheran Herald, March 27, 1922
The passenger train to Adelaide from Oodnadatta ran once a fortnight and was part of the Great Northern Railway Line. Oodnadatta is located in the heart of the desert, 1011 kilometres north of Adelaide. The name is derived from the Arrernte word 'utnadata', which means "mulga blossom". Oodnadatta was officially proclaimed a Government Township on October 30, 1890, some thirty years after John McDouall Stuart first explored the region. It became one of the interior’s central hubs after the railway was extended to reach Oodnadatta in 1891. Given its central locality to the northern and southern stock routes, the town functioned primarily as a transportation/trucking base for the cattle trade. By the 1920s Oodnadatta had become a busy little township, with the railway staff, the Overland Telegraph, and the surrounding cattle stations contributing to an ongoing rush of activity. As Bryan Bowman, a frequent visitor to Oodnadatta during this time, remembers ‘…every week you would see long lines of trucks on the spur line waiting for cattle.’
References: Bryan Bowman, 'History of Central Australia 1930-1980',Bowman, 1989,p 5 Pamela Rajkowski, 'In the Tracks of the Camelmen', Angus & Robertson, Sydney & London, 1987, p 61
Herman Adolph Heinrich was stationed at Hermannsburg as school-teacher from 1917-32. Born in Germany in 1895, he arrived in Hermannsburg following a move by the South Australian Government to close all Lutheran-operated schools during the height of the anti-German movement that was sweeping Australia. As his daughter Illona Oppenheim writes in her brief biographical study, Heinrich taught at the Nain School near Greenock in the Barossa Valley until the school was closed in July 1917. Rather than join the public school system, Heinrich maintained his Lutheran commitments by taking up a position at Hermannsburg. He married in 1924 and when he took his wife back up to Hermannsburg, the pair were transported from Oodnadatta to Hermannsburg by a buggy driven by a young Albert Namatjira. According to Oppenheim, Heinrich was much-loved by the Arernte population. She writes that when Strehlow died, ‘the aborigines gave Mr Heinrich the name of “Aijua” meaning “old man” and when he brought his new bride to Hermannsburg in 1924, she was christened “Kunkai” meaning “young girl” and was called this all the years she was there.’ (Oppenheim, 6) Other accounts, however.....(SEE STREHLOW CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS). Teaching methods and standards were also routrinely criticised in government reports on the Mission. Heinrich wrote several accounts of his teaching strategies and activities. His 1921/22 account can be found in ‘Finke Mission’, Lutheran Herald, April 10, 1922, pp 116-19. Heinrich died in 1959 in
REFERENCES: 'Dear Mr Heinrich: Ntaria Letters 1933-35', collected by Illona Oppenheim and Ntaria School, Hermannsburg, NT, 2002
In Aranda, Lalkintinerama means ‘perforate, pierce the septum of the nose’ in Aranda; in Loritja it means ‘mulalkiri kulturapungani.' The significance of this....
Ref: C. Strehlow-TGH Strehlow Aranda-English-Loritja Dictionary’, p 99
TO BE COMPLETED John McDouall Stuart tracked the route for the OT. After a series of lengthy negotiations, the SA Government passed an Act in June 1870 authorising a 120,000 pound loan for the construction of an overland telegraph line. The Government contracted the British Australian Telegraph Company to build the line and to open communication by telegraph with Port Darwin on or before 1 January, 1872. The undertaking was tremendous. The line needed to traverse over 3000 kilometres over virtually unknown territory. Work on the line began in September 15, 1870 under the direction of the SA Postmaster-General Charles Todd. Todd divided the work into three main areas – the southern, central and northern. As Maisie McKenzie writes in her book Flynn’s Last Camp, the task was a formidable one and yet after ‘two years of adventure, illness, deaths, troubles and delays, the last of the 37,000 poles was cut and erected and the vital wire up.’ (50). On August 22, 1872, the wires were joined at Frew’s Ponds and on 21 October the colonies were connected by the wire. Todd was knighted for his achievement and now the main road and the river both bear his surname while the town, which was previously known as Stuart, was changed to its current name in homage to Todd’s wife Alice. During development of the OT, a great degree of exploration was concurrently carried out with workers such as John Ross, Alfred Giles and other surveyors adding to knowledge about the interior. References: Maise McKenzie, Flynn’s Last Camp, Boolarong Publications, -----
Dr Johannes Deinzer was born in 1842. As the assistant to J. K. W. Loehe, he was an influential figure in the missionary movement, sending a large number of missionaries to the Iowa Synod during the second half of the nineteenth century. Deinzer taught at the Institute of the Neuendettelsau mission society in Germany and also edited Wilhelm Löhe's Leben and J. K. W. Löhe, Agende, 3d ed., 1884.
Reference: See http://chi.lcms.org/history/tih0902.htm
Vestey's Meatworks was based at Bullocky Point in Darwin. The Meatworks opened in 1917 and closed in 1919 following a war over wages , a lack of stock, and corrupt dealings between government bodies, the Meatworks and Territory cattle station managers. The Northern Territory Archives holds the Vestey Bros ledger. See NTRS696 Meatworks Ledger, 1917-1925
The biblical references refers to the following passage from Matthew 9:10-13:
'While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When he heard this he replied, 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words, What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.'
Strehlow as ethnographer
Like his son Ted, Carl Strehlow also became known for his studies of the Arrernte people. During his time at Hermannsburg he acquired a large collection of artefacts and other cultural materials, much of which was donated or sold to the Frankfurt Museum. The main bulk of this collection was destroyed during the Second World War. The Museum of South Australia holds a 1914 series of lists relating to some of the collected ethnographica. The lists document cultural materials and also include questions and answers about the provenance and significance of the items. While Carl Strehlow's work has always been overshadowed by his son's, the older Strehlow's published research legacy includes the major anthropological work 'Die-Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien' ('The Aranda and Loritja Tribes in Central Australia'). The book was published between 1907 and 1920 by the Frankfurt Musuem with the assistance of editors such as Von Leonhardi. Carl Strehlow also wrote and published a number of Christian texts in local languages, including an Arrernte translation of the New Testament. Yet, despite the strength of this research output, Carl Strehlow did not achieve a great deal of public recognition for his work. The reason for this, according to the Strehlow Foundation Historical Exhibition catalogue, can be attributed to intense anti-German sentiments in both Australia and further abroad, particularly in the United KIngdom: ‘Unfortunately for C. Strehlow, his differences between Baldwin Spencer (who was foolishly backed by James Frazer – at the time the British anthropological colossus) and the war hysteria against all things German stopped C. Strehlow from getting respect and attention in the English-speaking world (and particularly in Australia) which his writings had earned for him in Europe.’ The controversy that developed between Strehlow and Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen centred largely on the ethnologists' differering opinions on the Arrernte people's knowledge of God and religion. According to Strehlow, the Arrernte already understood and possessed the concept of a single God. Spencer and Gillen, however, disputed this claim. In his correspondence with the theorist James Frazer, Spencer wrote: "I feel more than ever convinced that, judging from our Australian tribes as fair sample of savages, your theory of magic preceding religio is the true one...I do not believe that any native Australian has the slightest idea of anything like an "All-Father".' As Timothy Mason argues in his essay 'The Anthropologist's Bagmen', Spencer believed that Strehlow had reached his conclusions not because of his studied observations, but rather through his 'missionary zeal'. Theo Strehlow would later argue that it was Spencer and Gillen who had allowed their biases to over-ride their judgement, and that they lacked a full understanding of Arernte tradition and mythology. References: John Sabel, ‘Strehlow: Damned with faint praise’, Forum 69, January 1974 (copied) FOR MORE
See Museum of South Australia, Carl Strehlow AA315 – TGH Strehlow AA316. This box also contains Carl’s brown marble-covered book titled ‘Catalogue of the Rev. C. Strehlow’s Collection, 1914: Macdonald Ranges’ and 4 negatives from C. Strehlow’s book Die Stämme in Zentral Australien.
Timothy Mason, 'The Anthropologist's Bagmen', http://www.timothyjpmason.com/WebPages/Publications/Spencer_Gillen.htm, accessed 31 October, 2007
Baldwin Spencer and Frnk Gillen, 'The Arunta: A Study of Stone Age People', Two Vols, Macmillan & Co, London, 1927
In his essay ‘Geography and the Totemic Landscape in Central Australia’, TGH Strehlow writes that Loatjira was ‘the grand old man of Hermannsburg in my father’s days, who had as a young man taken part in avenging expeditions. He had not only been an important nankara (medicine man), but had possessed full knowledge of the dreaded death charms as well’ (get pg no).
Reference:
TGH Strehlow, ‘Geography and the Totemic Landscape in Central Australia: A Functional Study’, in Australian Aboriginal Anthropology, Perth, University of Western Australia, 1970
On the father:--------Georg Adam Heidenreich was born in Tiefenort in Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany on 29 September, 1828. He attended the Hermannsburg Institute Seminary between the years 1861-1866 and was ordained in 1866. He was one of the first four missionaries to come to Australia in 1866 along with fellow pastors J.F Goessling, C.G. Hellmuth and E. Homann.
ADD: (The Heidenreich story - the expulsion referred to in the text - is explored in detail in Hermannsburg: A Vision and a Mission, pp 21 -22)
For a full account of Heidenreich's role with the Finke River Mission, see
See Pastor E. W. Fischer, ‘Hermannsburg-Heidenreich: A Century in Australia, 1866-1966’, in Lutheran Almanac 1966, Lutheran Book Depot, North Adelaide, 1966, pp 23-28
Pastor Kaibel was responsible for bringing Reverend Liebler to Hermannsburg in 1910 to look after the Mission during Carl Strehlow's leave of absence. He also played a major role in -----
Get bio notes.................
This photograph is held in the Lutheran Archive.
As JTHB states, Kaibel wrote a number of articles about his travels to Hermannsburg, some of which were less than complimentary. These include:
- Kaibel, 'Mission work: Among the Aborigines', in "The Barossa News", October 1, 1910
- Kaibel, 'Travel notes', in "The Barossa News', October 29, 1910
- Kaibel, 'Travel notes' in "The Barossa News", November 5, 1910
Missionary Oskar Liebler arrived at Hermannsburg with his wife on 1 May, 1910. He left the station on 24 November, 1913 due to his wife's poor health (Albrecht 340).
See P.G.E Albrecht, "From Mission to Church 1877-2002, Finke River Mission",
Note: reference checks indicate that Mt Sonder is known as Rwetyepme to the West Arrernte people, but in his letter to Angus + Robertson, (7 Feb 1968), TGH refers to Mt Sonder as Rutjubma. CHECK
Rutjubma, or Mt Sonder, is part of a spectacular landscape comprised of chasms, gorges and quartzite ridges. In certain lights the ranges take on hues of purples, blues and reds. Mt Sonder is the second highest peak in the Northern Territory.
The Finke River is usually a broad sandy river bed comprised of a string of waterholes. In the event of extreme flooding, however, the river tuns into a raging, foamy torrent. In 1918 and 1921 the floods had a monumental impact on the Mission, evidenced by the archival letters and reports, as well as photographs taken primarily by Bob Buck and Otto Tschirn.
Ntarea
There is a reference to Ntarea in Strehlow’s 1933 fieldnotes, held at the Museum of South Australia, in which Moses maps country boundaries.
Reference See Folder I: Book I’, in (Strehlow TGH AA316, Paper’). This diary covers the Northern Trip, Western Trip, Round Trip & Western Aranda Trip, p 163. Held in the Musuem of South Australia
‘From Moses, January 7, 1933 ‘Moses tells me that the Ntarea district used to extend as far as (Japalpa in the North (else in the McDonnell Ranges (sic)) (Tnorula in the West (Irbmankara (sic) in the South East (Owen Springs “Point”(?) = Raranintjita in East N.B Palm Creek = Wattara ulbaia – But the part between the Park Creek and Tempe Downs belonged to the Loritja Matuntara, a friendly group intermingling with the Aranda. His father, who was only an ánkiélta at Ntarea came from the Owen Springs district..’
Wolambarinjai
Wolambarinjai means ‘assembly’ in Aranda. The Loritja translation is 'utulambara'. The spelling varies in the Strehlow dictionary where it appears as 'wollambarinja'.
See: ‘C.Strehlow – TGH Strehlow Aranda-English-Loritja Dictionary’, p 228.
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
The Lutheran Archives holds the standard record (78 r.p.m) of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying), as sung by the Hermannsburg Aboriginal Choir and directed by TGH Strehlow in approximately 1957. (CHECK DATE)
TGH Strehlow's positioning as an Arrerente man is one of the most controversial narratives in Journey to Horseshoe Bend...... .....
The importance TGH placed on his connections to Arrernte culture are documented in his 1935 field diary when he records a meeting with Christina and Marianne
March 10: (Marianne and Christina come to see him). ‘- they had not forgotten my mother nor had anyone else. They told me of some of the people who had died recently: the people at Hbg. Had always been well and healthy while my father was here; since his death the people were always sick, and so many had died, and often the doctors did not know what was wrong with them, and they were sad because their numbers had decreased so suddenly.’ (Strehlow, 3)
March 14: (Notes how some of the people plead with him to come and live at Hbg.) ‘Nathanael and the others pleaded with me to come back and settle at Hbg. Had I not grown up there amongst them – eaten the same meats and vegetables and food plants as they had; they all wanted me to come back’ (Strehlow, 5)
REFERENCE: See Folder III: ‘Book VII Diary Central Australia 1935’ TGH Strehlow, Field Diary, (Carl Strehlow AA315 – TGH Strehlow AA316), Museum of South Australia
Desert Oaks (Allocasuarina decaisneana) are found across Central Australia. The sapling oak is tall and thin in contrast to the mature tree which is full and bushy. The change in appearance occurs once the tree has established its tap roots and is able to access underground water sources.
Albert Namatjira was born in 1902. He was educated at Hermannsburg during the Strehlow years and lived in the boys’ dorm. He was indoctrinated into the Lutheran faith, however, he was also an initiated Aranda elder. He became a famous painter, although his foray into white society was marked by tragedy. See the Australian Dictionary of Biography online reference for a full biographical portrait.
NOTE: The Scherer collection contains a number of interesting parcels of original and unpublished Namatjira materials - photographs, correspondence, business records. Do we want to make mention of this as it has not yet been fully explored and utilised?
As TGH suggests in JTHB, Mananganagna Cave is a site of great significance in Arrerente culture. In an essay published as part of a pamphlet series for The Strehlow Research Foundation, TGH recalls his childhood memories of the cave and the way it was viewed among the Arrernte people.
'I noticed that none of my dark playmates would go west of the hill of Alkumbadora (which marked the limits of the Mananganagna sacred cae area, as I later found out). The actual site of the cave was still almost a mile further on; but even adult hunters would not go closer to Manangannga than this hill, lest their footprints should reveal that they had committed sacrilege by approaqching the sacred site too closely: only the ceremonial chief (ingkata) of Ntarea could do so, and it was he who would take other initiated men with him on such occasions. Before white missionaries had come to Ntarea, the warning given to the Aranda children had been of the grimmest nature; they had been told never to play near Alkumbadora, lest their dead bodies should be found there. Similar warnings kept women, children, and all unauthorised males from venturing close to any sacred sites.'
See TGH Strehlow ------, 'The Strehlow Foundation, Pamphlet 3', vol 1, April 1978.
(Note I found this reference in Kath Strehlow's MS 'The Oeration of Fear in Traditional Aboriginal Society in Central Australia', pub The Strehlow Foundation, n.d., p 6
ADD TO THIS The first church was built in 1880. It was a small building made up of a chapel for the missionaries and Aboriginal converts, and a classroom for the Arrernte children. This building was destroyed by heavy rain. In 1895 a new church was commissioned. It was built by a South Australian man called Haemmerling with the assistance of native labourers. The church was finished by 1896 (or 1897 – check). The text on the commemorative stone at the front of the entrance reads: ‘Enter the temple gates with the thanksgiving and go into its courts with praise’ followed by a line from the bible in Arrernte, German and English: ‘Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it’.
ADD TO THIS The Schoolhouse was built in 1896. By the turn of the 1900s the missionaries were conducting lessons in Arrernte using textbooks written in language. The children also received basic skill lessons in areas such as gardening, carpentry and needlework.
ADD The buildings at Hermannsburg were built for endurance and self-sufficiency. Extreme isolation and prohibitive transport costs meant the missionaries had to rely almost entirely on locally produced materials for building. As the Hermannsburg Precinct tourist brochure states, the early missionaries used quarried sandstone and burnt lime to construct walls and cut flagstone floors> They also used desert oak in place of heavy timbers. The first roofs were made of reed thatch which was later replaced by galvanised iron.
NOTE::::See the map of the Hermannsburg historic precinct. This could be good to scan in. (The listed buildings only relate to those constructed up until 1922)
One of the oldest leases in the area. Founded by an English family, the Parkes bros (check as Forrest says the name was Parke), Walter and Edmund in around 1870. Walter was a titled man, ‘The Honorable Walter Parkes’, and when his father died he inherited Henbury in England, which was the family estate. Walter sold Henbury to the Breadens and returned to England to run his father’s property. Joe Breaden held onto Henbury until about 1923, when he sold it to Stan Young from South Australia.
Peter Forrest wrote a series on station histories for the Centralian Advocate. The one on Henbury is undated but says that Edmund Parke and Charles Walker applied for the Finke River country lease in 1875. Parke was apparently a well-educated Englishman with some capital behind him. Little is known about Charlie Walker. The two men explored the country in 1876 and decided to establish a station. They went north with 400 cows, arriving in Ellery Creek on 30 August, 1877. They built their first homestead on Ellery Creek and by 1883 were able to claim their country (2130 square miles), fully stocked and with leases. In 1886 a new homestead was built on the present site, which is probably the log building that survives today. The two men managed to hold onto the property despite the drought and market collapses of the 1890s. But by around 1900 they went into ruin. The Breadens then acquired the property, holding onto it for many years, ‘despite a sale to Young, who became bankrupt and handed the property back after seven years.’
During the Breaden’s reign, the station was first managed by Allan Breaden, Joe’s brother. Allan was involved in exploration in the early days and had led an expedition to the Peterman ranges. Louie Bloomfield was on Henbury as a stockman. Allan eventually retired as manager but stayed living on the station. Bob Buck, a nephew of the Breadens, then took over. Buck was still the manager when the station was sold to Stan Young. He only stayed for a few more years before leaving due to managerial differences. Was replaced by Joe O’Brien in 1927. Buck and Butler went on to establish a station at Middleton Ponds. (Last line, p.19) • The 1927-30 drought hit the station hard. • The station was wholly dependent on water holes along the Finke. Due to the winding nature of the river, the Finke watered approximately 75% of Henbury country during good seasons, but in dry seasons the permanent waterholes were fouled with dead cattle and excrement.
Of the Henbury history Jose Petrick says that Walter Parke’s elder brother Edmund William came from the Henbury House estate in Dorset in 1876 and took up ‘blocks’ along the Finke Valley (including Henbury) with another Englishman, Charles Harry Walker. Walter, however, was the driving force behind the establishment of Henbury as a cattle station. Bloomfield was the head stockman. The brothers abandoned the station in the 1890s, however, and returned to England because of the drought, high freight costs, and the long mustering and steering distance for cattle (to SA) for sale. The station was sold in 1902 after Edmund’s death
References:
Peter Forrest, ‘Henbury, Centralian Advocate, 18/5/1984, p 7
A History of Central Australia 1930-1980, by Bryan Bowman, 1989, held at SRC, pamphlet, pp 1-91, p 16
The History of Alice Springs Through Landmarks and Street Names, by Jose Petrick, 4th edition, 2005, published? Self?, p 146
TGH's portrayal of his father as a respected authority
In Journey to Horseshoe Bend, TGH Strehlow posits his father as a respected authority – not only in church, government and anthropological circles, but also in the local Aboriginal communities. D.J Mulvaney's book 'Encounters in Place' also supports this view. Mulvaney writes that while Strehlow was a tough leader he was well-respected within the Aboriginal communities, particularly when compared with conditions experienced on other stations. ‘Strehlow ran a strict society,' writes Mulvaney. 'Non-Christian Aranda were barred from living at the Mission, so they camped on the fringe, excluded from material benefits such as food at the communal kitchen. He constructed separate dormitories for boys and girls, enforcing segregation at night by locking the doors, while teaching them at school by day. Despite his firmness, his determination and unstinting support gained respect. Life at Hermannsburg proved orderly and families kept together, unlike the rough conditions on stations in the Centre.’
This is also backed up by----GIVE ARRERNTE ACCOUNTS HERE
REFERENCES D.J. Mulvaney, Encounters in Place: Outsiders and Aboriginal Australians 1606-1985, University of Queensland Press, 1989, p 141-42
Strehlow as medical practitioner
ROUGH There are no known records which outline, in any detail, Carl's role as a de facto medical practitioner. In the LHC Newsletter, however, TGH Strehlow's son, John, argues that it was in fact Frieda who contributed most to improving health on the Mission. The article maintains that when the Strehlows arrived, they found a community 'riddled with disease and declining due to a high infant mortality rate. When they left, the population was healthy and growing.' John Strehlow attribuites that change in health, particularly the decline in infant mortality, to his grandmother whom, he argues, has largely been written out of missionary histories.
Reference
See Lutheran Historical Conference Newsletter, vol 43, no 2, May 2005, p 6
By 1891 the Missionaries had deserted the Mission. Their decision to leave was propelled by severe drought and the deaths of several women and children due to illness. For three years Hermannsburg was without management or supervision. In 1894 Carl Strehlow arrived and took over as manager.
nOTe:::::::· No known copy exists of Strehlow’s actual prayer book. The Lutheran Archives holds 40 different copies of Starck’s Taegliches Handbuch, some of which date back to 1880’s
Mounted Constables Willshire and Wurmbrand have long been associated with a drawn-out and controversial legacy of police brutality against Aboriginal people. As the numerous reports relating to this period of late nineteenth century outback history suggest, conditions in central Australia were incredibly difficult and vexed. These difficulties related not only to climactic conditions, but also to ongoing territorial and cultural conflicts between Aboriginal people and the pastoralists and police officers who had come to occupy their land. Both Willshire and Wurmbrand played prominent roles in the murder of Aboriginal people who were often shot for occupying pastoral lands, or following accusations of cattle-spearing. Willshre and Wurmbrand...
At Hermannsburg, the horses proved difficult for the stockmen to manage. Paschke, in particular, struggled to contain the animals. At the beginning of 1922, he lost an entire mob on the way to market. Yet if January his letter to the Hermannsburg Committee is any indication, the stockmen had difficulty containing the animals from the outset: ‘Horses are fearfull (sic?) wild, big mob about but unable to get if you manage to round them up, you are unable to hold them.’ On 3 March, Heinrich writes to Stolz arguing that it is too difficult for one man to manage the horses. On 31 March Strehlow weighs into the debate, suggesting that Paschke lacks 'the necessary oversight and firm control over the blacks.' A volley of letters continues between the four men.
References: Heinrich, 'Letter to Stolz', 3 March, 1922. See Lutheran Archives, ‘UELCA, FRM J.J. Stolz’s corres with Hermannsburg (Strehlow, Heinrich, etc) 1922’.
Paschke, 'Letter to Committee of Hermannsburg Mission', 5 January, 1922. See Lutheran Archives, ‘UELCA, FRM J.J. Stolz’s corres with Hermannsburg (Strehlow, Heinrich, etc) 1922’.
Strehlow, 'Letter to Stolz', March 1922. See Lutheran Archives, ‘UELCA, FRM J.J. Stolz’s corres with Hermannsburg (Strehlow, Heinrich, etc) 1922’.
CHECK: DOES THIS FIT WITH THE TRIP MAPPED? The second route proposed by the Hermannsburg travellers would cut the length of the journey considerably. As Bryan Bowman notes, with reference to making the trip from south to north, the Finke is a river of 'very wide bends and to follow it along to Hermannsburg would involve a journey pushing a thousand miles, but across the bends, it reduced the length of the trip to something around 200 miles' (Bowman, 14)
Reference:
Bryan Bowman, "History of Central Australia 1930-1980", by Bryan Bowman, 1989
On August 11, 1920 the first car was driven into Hermannsburg. Heinrich wrote a report of the event in an article for the "Lutheran Herald" (1922). According to the report, while the arrival of the vehicle generated enormous interest and excitement, it also 'greatly scared some of the abos, especially the switching on of the electric lights. To set lamps alight without applying matches or fire,' he wrote, 'seemed a bit supernatural to the abos' (p 117).
Reference
H.A. Heinrich, 'Finke Mission', published in "Lutheran Herald", April 10, 1922, p 117
Alitera is the Aranda name for Boggy Hole after the two ghost gum serpents and the ancestral wallaby who came to be there during the Dreaming. Alitera became the site for the Boggy Hole police station which was establihsed by Mounted Constable Willhire (Mulvaney 126).
Reference:
D.J. Mulvaney, "Encounters in Place: Outsiders and Aboriginal Australians 1606-1985", (University of Queensland Press...)
In his documented summary of Hermannsburg's history, Paul Albrecht writes that station staff often arrived at Hermannsburg to undertake a particular job and then left once the task had been completed (Albrecht 341). This meant that the station often had to make do with limited staff numbers.
See P.G.E Albrecht, "From Mission to Church 1877-2002, Finke River Mission",
The meaning of 'newchum'
New stockmen were often referred to as 'newchums'. 'The Stockman' glossary describes a ‘newchum; as a ‘Newcomer, beginner, tyro at any bush task, especially if person concerned is English.’ (269) Reference: Dame Mary Durack, Hugh Swarey, R.M. Williams, Olaf Ruhen, Ron Iddon, Keith Willey, Marie Mahood, The Stockman, Lansdowne, Sydney, 1984
Strehlow's strict regime has been interpreted variously. While TGH Strehlow suggests that his father restored much-needed order to the Station after a long period of instability, others have argued that Carl Strehlow was an overly dictatorial leader. The Finke River Mission Report, published by the Welfare Branch, NT Administration, suggests that Strehlow followed a conservative line with many of his critics accusing him of having ‘closed the Gates of Heaven’ (FRM, NT Administration, p 14).
Still, as D.J. Mulvaney writes, while it was true that ‘Strehlow ran a strict society', his method was, according to Mulvaney, respected by Aboriginal people: 'Despite his firmness, his determination and unstinting support gained respect. Life at Hermannsburg proved orderly and families kept together, unlike the rough conditions on stations in the Centre’ (Mulvaney, p 142)
F.J. Gillen, however, was less complimentary about the effects of Strehlow's rule in his letter to Baldwin Spencer in 1896. ‘If ever niggers in this world were being systematically degraded, that is hardly the word, I should say debauched, these people are, what on earth will become of them is the Mission Station is ever closed, as is more than likely if it does not become self-supporting, very few of the mission reared men could get their own living with spear and boomerang – The Missionaries feed about 100 people regularly, flour and beef ad lib, whether they work or not' (Gillen, p 119)
REFERENCES
Letter from F.J. Gillen to Baldwin Spencer, June 1896, in My Dear Spencer: The Letters of F.J. Gillen to Baldwin Spencer
D.J. Mulvaney, Encounters in Place: Outsiders and Aboriginal Australians 1606-1985, University of Queensland Press, 1989, p 141-42
A car enthusiast, Murray Aungur was famous in the Centre for being part of the first team to successfully drive across Australia, south to north. See the ADB online entry for a full biographical profile. Also see Doris Blackwell and Douglas Lockwood, Alice on the Line, Rigby Ltd, -----, pp150-160
History of Lutheran mission work in Australia
This section of JTHB points to some of the rivalries and conflicts that surrounded the establishment and development of the Hermannsburg Mission during the mid to late nineteenth century. Underpinning the narrative is the settlement of the Lutheran movement in Australia more broadly. According to Martin E. Schild and Philip J. Hughes, Lutheran settlement in Australia can be traced back to 1838. The principal settlement base was in the Adelaide Hills and the Barossa areas of South Australia, however, a small contingent of followers also settled in Moreton Bay in Queensland. As Schild and Hughes maintain throughout their book, nineteenth century Australian Lutheranism was 'largely characterised by diversity (6). Geographical and cultural isolation meant that each of the various fellowships and congregations took their own distinctive shape. As Schild and Hughes writes, 'In Europe diversity was "contained" in variants of the State church system. Now, however, the time of the so-called "Free church" had arrived. In Australia, where the state would not establish any religion, Lutheranism's lack of a "divinely given" church order or prayerbook ran the risks both of freedom and of new beginnings' (6). The Lutheran Church in Australia did not have the support of Prussian and other Union churches in Germany. This was compounded by the internal politics of the various church leaders in Australia, namely Pastors Augustus Kavel and Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche. The Mission work began soon after arrival in Australia. Missionaries and pastors were often sent to Australia from the seminaries in both Germany and America to gain experience. As Schild and Hughes suggest 'the variety of paths through which pastors were trained...accounts for much of the diversity and some of the tension in a young church in quest of its own identity' (7).The themes and conflicts with relation to the church that underpin JTHB are indicative of some of these tensions.
REFERENCES: Martin E. Schild and Philip J. Hughes, 'The Lutherans in Australia', Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1996
old religion
does this relate to the old liturgy???? or to aboriginal religion?
Anti-German sentiment during World War I
For Lutherans residing in Australia WWI produced some testing times. While the majority of Lutherans had been born in Australia and largely identified as Australians, they were victimised by the prevailing mood of anti-German sentiment. As Martin Schild and Philip Hughes report in their book 'The Lutherans in Australia', the German language was forbidden in Victoria's Lutheran day schools during the war. In South Australia 49 Lutheran schools were closed by acts of parliament (30 June 1917) (Schild and Hughes, 8). (One of these schools was the one H.A Heinrich taught at, precipitating his move to Hermannsburg). Despite their isolation, the Strehlows were also affected by the anti-German mood. As this section of JTHB outllines, Carl Strehlow came to be seen as an 'enemy alien'. In his biography on Skipper Patridge – the patrol padre in Oodnadatta - Arch Grant recalls how Partridge refused to visit the Strehlows in 1917 because of their German ancestry. According to Grant, Patridge said: ‘The Mission Station is not a popular institution out bush and considering the fact that Strehlow, the Principal has two sons fighting in Germany against us – that their sympathies are German – that nothing but German is spoken even though a stranger is present at the table with them – we thought the best thing to do was to cut them out’ (Grant, 109-110).
REFERENCES and ARCHIVAL SOURCES: Arch Grant, Camel, Train and Aeroplane: The Story of Skipper Partridge, Rigby, Adelaide, 1981
Martin E. Schild and Philip J. Hughes, 'The Lutherans in Australia', Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1996
Government response to anti-German sentiments
During the height of the anti-German movement officials and members of the government took umbrage with Strehlow's origins. In 1916 Strehlow was asked to resign from his JP duties. He was then issued with a Certificate of Registration of an Alien despite having been naturalised as an SA citizen on November 30, 1901.
For documentation relating to Strehlow's national identity see the State Library of South Australia Collection. Key holdings include: Strehlow’s Certificate of Naturalisation (30 November, 1901); Certificate for JP duties (27 August, 1906); the official letter excluding him from JP duties (3 August, 1906); his reply to the aforementioned (7 September 1916); official JP resignation letter from Strehlow (21 December, 1916)
The South Australian campaign against Hermannsburg
As TGH Strehlow suggests, Hermannsburg narrowly escaped being closed down due to the propaganda war waged against it, largely by ‘super-patriots’ living in Adelaide. Baldwin Spencer was one of the key proponents of this push. While the NT Administrator, J.A. Gilruth acknowledged that the ‘German character of the Mission’ was an issue, closing the station down, he argued, ‘could not be justified’ (Gilruth, 2) Yet, if a letter by local pastoralist Geo Bennet is any indication, the tensions were not based solely on nationalistic spirit, but also on pastoral and land pressures and rivalries. On October 12, 1917, Bennet wrote to the Minister Controlling the Northern Territory in Melbourne to complain about the Hermannsburg Mission and to protest against any extension of the government lease of land. To justify his claim, Bennet told the Minister in his letter that the ‘so-called Mission is in fact not a Mission but a cattle station and is being run by persons of German birth or extraction for commercial purposes and is not used “bona-fide for aboriginal mission purposes only”’ (Bennet, 1). Other criticisms included claims the Mission was funnelling money illegally through sale/exchange of live-stock and then using monies inappropriately, complaints over treatment and behaviour of ‘blacks’; and rumours that the children of the Mission staff were fighting for the enemy (Bennet, 2-3). Bennet’s real concern, however, was the division of land and the financial distribution of Government subsidies. Unlike other stations, Hermannsburg Mission received a government subsidy for its work with Aboriginal people. But according to Bennet, the Mission was accepting funds fraudulently because it was ‘in fact nothing more than a cattle-raising trading concern’ (Bennet 2). The Government investigated Bennet’s claims, resulting in a lengthy correspondence between Bennet, the Government and, eventually, the Mission. On October 24, 1917 a Department of External Affairs memo was tabled. While the Government took Bennet’s claims seriously, the memo also acknowledged ‘it must be borne in mind in dealing with criticisms of this Mission that statements from persons in the district are liable to be biased and this in three ways: (1) Neighbouring landowners are envious of the 1200 square miles held by the Mission which includes some of the best pastoral lands and waterholes in the MacDonnell Range region. (2) The Mission is conducted by Germans and in the eyes of many patriotic persons everything that is done by Germans must be primarily in the interests of our enemies. (3) A number of white men have a general prejudice against Missions and believe any attempts to Christianise or civilise the aborigines are only so much as humbug’ (Memo, 24 Oct, 1917, p 1) Bennet’s claims were largely disregarded, however, the complaint did raise new concerns regarding the Mission’s financial record-keeping. After reviewing Kaibel’s financial records, the Government decided to withdraw its subsidy for a second time, on the basis of previous funding allocations. Fresh concerns arose regarding the future of the lease, however, on 15 March, 1918 the Government agreed to renew the lease subject to a number of stringent conditions relating to the expenditure of monies. Bennet’s complaint was then addressed in the latter part of report: ‘In view of certain statements being made that the Mission was benefiting alien enemies and not of much service to aborigines, the Administrator was asked on the 25th of February, 1918, whether he thought a reduction of the area feasible and if so whether the land so available would be worth throwing open; also whether he would suggest a rent be charge for the permit. […] The Administrator replied on the 13th of March to the effect that the abolition of the Mission would mean considerable increase in Government expenditure on natives […] The Administrator states that the 'termination of the permit because the mission is controlled by Germans is a matter of policy. If terminated we would readily lease the land to Mr Bennett (sic) of Tempe or others, but we could not seize the cattle and must make some provision for old and indigent natives’ (23 Oct, 1918). In 1919 the issue of German sympathies were raised again in a Department of Defence memo: ‘Information has been supplied to this Department that Mr. C. Strehlow, Missionary in charge of the Mission at Hermannsburg is disloyal and had sons who fought in the German Army; and in the same letter it is stated that the Mission is subsidised of the Federal Government to the extent of £300 a year, and has other privileges. Can this Dept. be informed whether the latter statement is correct and to what extent’ (25 March, 1919). The Government did not pursue the matter and the allegations were eventually disregarded.
Commonwealth Archives Correspondence:
J.A. Gilruth....December 6, 1915 lettergram held at Lutheran Archives, original held at Commonwealth Archives, (no catalogue number) ----------
Letter from Geo Bennet to The Hon Minister Controlling the Northern Territory, 12 October, 1917, Commonwealth Archives, Department of Home and Territories, Correspondence File, NT Series: ‘Finke River Mission’, 1917-1922, CRS A3 item NT 22/2967.
Dept of External Affairs memo, October 17, 1917, Commonwealth Archives, Dept of Home and Territories, correspondence file, NT series: Finke River Mission, 1917-1922, CRS A3, item NT22/2967
Memo for the Minister, Dept of External Affairs, October 24, 1917, Commonwealth Archives, Dept of Home and Territories, Corres File, NT Series: Finke River Mission, 1917-1922, CRS A3, item NT22/2967
Home and Territories Memo, Hermannsburg Mission, 18 November, 1917, Commonwealth Archives, Dept of Home and Territories, Corresp file, NT Series: Finke River Mission, 1917-1922, CRS A3 item NT22/2967
Home and Territories Memo, October 23, 1918, Commonwealth Archives, Department of Home and Territories, Corres file, NT series, Finke River Mission, 1917-1922, CRS A3, item NT22/2967
Department of Defence memo, March 25, 1919, Commonwealth Archives, catalogue number ------
Trading with the Enemy Acts. National Archives, series number A3201, contents dates 1 Sep 1914 - 31 Jan 1921.
The National Archives holds documents showing investigations into allegations that Strehlow was a German sympathiser. The file, held under the 'TE' series (Trading with the Enemy cases) considers specific investigations arising out of suspicions relating to Trading with the Enemy Acts. See National Archives, series number A3201, contents dates 1 Sep 1914 - 31 Jan 1921.
Another interesting file is the 'Investigation case files, single number series with 'SA'. This series comprises a range of sensitive case files covering issues mainly to do with national security. From World War 1, the files were compiled by the Commonwealth Police Force, the South Australian Investigation Branch and the Commonwealth Investigation Service. The files contain, inter alia, translations and original correspondence, records of interrogation and appeal hearings, information garnished from informers and surveillance, aliens, enemy sympathisers, subversive elements, Revolutionaries, Bolshevists, Fascists, enemy espionage, European Fascist parties, Anti-Semitism, reports on internment and internees from both World Wars, cults, sects, Irish National Association activities, propaganda, information on deportations, applications for naturalisation and requests for information from the Immigration authorities. The series also contains confiscated material in the form of photographs, postcards, maps, posters etc. There was a good deal of additions to files from previous series onto this one. National Archives, series number D1915, contents dates 1 Jan 1910 - 31 Dec 1987.
Adverse reports on Hermannsburg
DELETEAdverse reports on Hermannsburg sent in during Strehlow's absence
Adverse reports on Hermannsburg during Strehlow's absence
On July 18 1911 Captain Barclay filed a report of his visit to Hermannsburg. The report, which included a sketch-map of the Mission and a package of photos, was highly critical of the Station. Barclay called for an immediate investigation, resulting in a long, drawn out correspondence between the Mission and the Government. In his book Henry Vere Barclay: Centralian Explorer B.W. Strong provides a summary of Barclay’s claims about Hermannsburg: ‘Barclay was very condemning of the unhygienic living conditions that he found at the Mission. He regarded the missionary in charge at the time, Pastor O. Liebler, as unfit for managing the station. He also considered that the mission had some of the best grassed and watered land in central Australia, much of which he thought suitable for agriculture.’ (Strong, 55). In his latter assessment of Barclay’s claims, Strong says that while there was substance to Barclay’s claims, it remained a matter of controversy as to whether the poor conditions were Liebler’s fault or a continuation of Strehlow’s mismanagement. Barclay’s report set off a change of government investigations into the Mission. Sgt Stott was the first official to follow up Barclay’s report and to give an account of general Mission practice. Stott carried out his investigation in late 1911, early 1912. His report was seven pages long and reported on the condition of the station, the quality of teaching, hygiene, the treatment of Aboriginal people, employment and food. Despite TGH Strehlow’s gloss-over, Stott was not complimentary in his findings. The general consensus was that while ‘treatment of natives attached to Mission Station' is 'in general satisfactory’, he did not consider that the Finke River Missionaries were ‘in any way improving the present conditions of the Natives’ (Stott, 6). The ventilation, he wrote, was generally appalling, the ‘natives’ are without work’, and young girls are being locked up at night for 12 hours at a time, a disciplinary approach he saw as cruel, despite the protestations from Liebler that the girls were locked up to ‘prevent them from running away. Secondly to prevent immorality’, reasons he saw as ‘rediculous’ (sic) (Stott, 3).’ The report also included a letter by a former Hermannsburg employee, G. A. Johannsen. Johannsen worked at the Mission from 1909 to 1911 but left after a disagreement with Strehlow. As Stott notes the difficulties between the two men meant the letter was possibly biased. Still JOhannsen’s recollections are tendered for the record. Of his first impressions he writes: ‘I expected to find the station a place of order and cleanliness, but what I found was dirt and disarray […] inside the dirt was so thick on the forms (?) tables and dishes, that one could think pigs had been fed there…’ (Johannsen, 1). The letter goes on to claim that the schoolroom was in a ‘disgraceful state’, and that they had ‘about 150-200 blacks loafing on the station, the only work was to get enough wood to cook the food’ (Johannsen, 2) The former station worker also complains about his relationship with Strehlow himself, particulalry his role as manager of the station: ‘I soon ask Mr Strehlow, the mission then in charge, if nothing could be done to keep the place clean and to make the blacks do some useful work; to the first the mission replyed (sic), I have been in charge of this station for 10 years and keep the place as I like it, as to working the blacks the mission replyed I do not believe in teaching the blacks to (sic) much than as soon as they something they go and work for other stations’ (Johannsen, 2). According to Johannsen things grew even worse when Strehlow was replaced by Liebler during Strehlow’s furlough. Baldwin Spencer was also asked to report on the Mission at the same time. Like Barclay and Stott, his review of the Mission was damning. (LINK TO E COPY OF REPORT AT NAA)
REFERENCES: B.W. Strong, Henry Vere Barclay: Centralian Explorer, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 1989
ARCHIVAL MATERIALS:
Commonwealth Archives:
Barclay report, ‘Department of External Affairs I, Correspondence file, NT annual single number series: ‘Finke River Lutheran Mission’, 1911-1912. CRS A3, item NT 15/402
Sott’s report on Hermannsburg, January 15, 1912, ‘Department of External Affairs, Correspondence File NT, series: ‘Finke River Lutheran Mission’, 1912, CRS A3 item NT 15/402
Letter from Johannson, included in Stott report and written January 12, 1912, Commonwealth Archives, ‘Australian Archive- ACT CRS A3)
Baldwin Spencer Report: See Commonwealth Archives, ‘Department of External Affairs I, Correspondence file, NT annual single number series: ‘Finke River Lutheran Mission’, 1911-1912. CRS A3, item NT 15/402
Meeting between Kaibel and the Minister for Home and Territories in Melbourne
This Google Earth file (kml) illustrates the path of the journey on day 1 from Hermannsburg to Rubula via Ellery gorge. Ctl+Alt+P will play the tour but it is possible to click on the various way points to expose a link into the text when a particular location is mentioned.
