Lutheran Archives

In the Barossa and beyond: George French Angas, artist and naturalist

Speaker: Philip Jones

Thursday 25 May at 7.30pm

Immanuel Lutheran Church, 139 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006

LIVESTREAM on FoLA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@friendsoflutheranarchives9644/live

Were it not for his father’s role in establishing South Australia, there would be no Australia Illustrated by George French Angas, and no images of the colony’s early German settlements.

Angas’s Barossa Valley images provide a particular insight into his project, founded on his father’s intentions to promote the colony to prospective immigrants and investors. Angas balanced those obligations with his enthusiasm for fine watercolour images, natural history collecting, and the ideals of a Romantic traveller, steeped in Dissent. This illustrated talk will shine a light on this precocious young artist and naturalist, whose legacy still informs our understanding of colonial South Australia.

Dr Philip Jones is a Senior Researcher at the South Australian Museum and author of the book, Illustrating the Antipodes: George French Angas in Australia and New Zealand, 1844-1845. The book is the culmination of his decades-long research into the life and work of the celebrated artist.

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Missionary Christian Gottlob Teichelmann: a life of patient endurance

Speaker: Christine Lockwood

Thursday 29 June at 7.30pm

Immanuel Lutheran Church, 139 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006

LIVESTREAM on FoLA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@friendsoflutheranarchives9644/live

Christian Gottlob Teichelmann (1807-1888) is mostly remembered today for co-authoring the Kaurna language grammar and vocabulary which has been the primary basis for the reclamation of Kaurna language and identity in recent times. Teichelmann was a missionary among the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains from 1838 to 1846. His missiological approach and priorities were formed by his Lutheran theological understanding. Commissioned by the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society in Dresden to testify to the heathen of the Gospel of the grace of God, Teichelmann found a people whose world was shattered by the impact of European colonisation. An insightful man, he became the foremost authority on the Kaurna language, a champion of justice for Aboriginal people and critic of colonial policy and practice. By nature a determined, exacting, forthright man, Teichelmann was to demonstrate compassion, humility and patient endurance as he sought to share the love of God while providing for the needs of Aboriginal people. He was finally forced to admit defeat by a lack of financial support and opposition from the colonial government and European settlers. His subsequent work among German Lutheran migrants called for similar patient endurance.

Dr Christine Lockwood completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide in 2014. Her thesis was entitled The Two Kingdoms: Lutheran Missionaries and the British Civilizing Mission in Early South Australia. She has contributed articles, papers and book chapters in her field. Her interest in Christian missions, cultural preservation, change and adaptation, and cross-cultural communications stems from her involvement in mission work in Papua New Guinea for 17 years (initially as a high school teacher), working with foreign students in the USA, teaching English as a foreign language, and raising her children in three countries.

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