Aboriginal Ministry in South Australia

Aboriginal Ministry South Australia

Aboriginal Ministry South Australia s the committee charged with the responsibility of managing Aboriginal Mission in South Australia. It is involved with Aboriginal people in both rural and urban communities.

The mission statement we would like you to share, and as we work ‘Hand in Hand’ is:

"To promote and expand ministry among Aboriginal people that they may know of, and grow in the love of Jesus"

Our history

The Lutheran Church was involved in Aboriginal Ministry from the very earliest days of the colony. Missionaries Schurmann and Teichelmann from the Dresden Mission Society commenced work in 1838, just two years after the establishment of the colony in 1836. They worked among the Kaurna people of the Adelaide area on the banks of the River Torrens. They established the first school for Aboriginal children using the Kaurna language. Later in 1840 Missionaries Meyer and Klose expanded work to Encounter Bay and Port Lincoln. In the early 1900s Lutheran Mission work expanded still further to the far west coast of South Australia.

During the early 1950s different groups of Aboriginal people in the far north west of South Australia were dispossessed of their traditional lands to allow the British Government to establish a nuclear weapons testing site at Maralinga. The people were moved south of the eat-west railway line and the Lutheran Church was requested by the government of the day to establish a mission closer to the sea. This settlement became known as Yalata. The Lutheran Church of Australia relinquished control of Yalata in 1975 but has maintained a presence to communicate the Gospel.

In the mid 1980s some family groups moved back to their traditional homelands and a settlement was established 130 kms north-west of Maralinga. This settlement became know as Oak Valley.

Port Augusta is situated at the top of Spencer Gulf and has a population well over 2000 Aboriginal people. Many Aboriginal people from isolated settlements from the north and west also come to Port Augusta for medical treatment and stay with relatives. So service to Aboriginal people is a large part of the ministry of the Lutheran Church in Port Augusta.

This work provides the foundation for AbMinSA’s continuing ministry in Yalata, Oak Valley, Ceduna, Koonibba, Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Port Augusta and Adelaide today.

A wave of missionary activity begun in 1867 to areas in northern South Australia and Central Australia resulted in the establishment of a number of mission stations. These regions in Central Australia are now managed by the Finke River Mission.

Our Achievements - Our Challenges

From our earliest history to the present God has blessed us by providing faithful and committed workers in each field.

On the Far West Coast Pastor Russell Bryant serves Yalata and Oak Valley with local assistance and half time lay worker support. The rest of the lay worker's time is devoted to ministry to the Aboriginal people in Ceduna, Koonibba and the homelands with the support of Pastor Russell and retired Pastor Keith Peters.

At Port Lincoln a lay worker ministers to the Aboriginal community through prison and hospital visiting, youth and church groups, confirmation classes and chaplaincy in the Lutheran school. He also teaches and mentors an Aboriginal lay person undertaking theological studies.

At Whyalla, the resident pastor serves the Aboriginal community on a needs basis.

At Port Augusta AbMinSA strives to maintain contact with and minister to Aboriginal people in the community, aged care facility, hospital and town camp.

In Adelaide Ferryden Park congregation continues to minister to Aboriginal people. In addition, to cater for the changing demography of urban Aboriginals and their diverse cultural backgrounds, Aboriginal Ministry SA has placed Pastor Edmund Bilney to work without boundaries across the Greater Adelaide Metropolitan Area (GAMA) to locate and re-establish contact with the people spread widely across suburban Adelaide.

Support Aboriginal Ministry South Australia

If you would like to contribute financially to the extension of this ministry please mail your donation to:

AbMinSA,
137 Archer St,
North Adelaide SA 5006

or use the e-banking facility via the LLL.

Click on LCA, LCA SA & NT District, Donations to SA/NT District. In comments box - specify AbMinSA as being the project.

Map of AbMinSA Activity