Lutheran Archives

Speakers: Pastor Paul Albrecht and Garry Stoll

Sunday 22 August at 2.30 pm

Bethlehem House, Sudholz Pl, Adelaide

Pastor Paul Albrecht was in charge of Finke River Mission at the time the Federal Government was granting Aborigines in Central Australia freehold titles to their traditional lands. Leaders of five clans around Hermannsburg each wanted their family group to have a separate title, and strongly objected to the Federal Government’s idea that there should be one collective land title for all five clans or family groups. The government eventually agreed to five separate land titles, and that required changes to the legislation so it could be done. As a result the original Hermannsburg Mission Lease of almost 3,800 square kilometres was divided up into five distinct areas, and the boundaries between the five clans thoroughly researched and mapped. This took several years to accomplish. The land titles were handed over to the Trustees in June 1982 in five separate ceremonies by the then Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr Ian Wilson MP, who emphasized that the titles were their evidence and proof that the land was theirs forever; that the land is now--under Aboriginal law and under Australian law--their country.

Pastor Paul Albrecht, Superintendent Garry Stoll and Research Officer Rex Ziersch were three key players. Hear the story through Rex’s records, and from Pastor Paul and Garry Stoll.

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Speaker: Rosemary Winderlich

Monday 20 September at 7.30pm

Bethlehem House, Sudholz Pl, Adelaide

This talk is about the 9 years Rosemary spent in Siassi, Papua New Guinea, as the wife of missionary Robert. It is based on her Siassi book which contains her journals, letters and poems collected for the benefit of her family and anyone who is interested. As well as sharing the stories of all the blessings God has given her, the book is a response to requests from the New Guineans who wanted more stories from the Siassi expatriates.

Rosemary was a teacher who met Robert when she was teaching at St Johns Unley, where she also did some studies at the seminary. They were the first couple married in the newly built St. John's Church, Malvern, on 1.1.1960. Robert's grandfather, Professor Winkler, and hers, Professor Koch, both trained as missionaries in Missouri, so Robert & Rosemary grew up with a mission interest.

SA Germans and the German Empire, 1871

Speaker: Lois Zweck

Monday 18 October at 7.30pm *** 7pm AGM ***

Bethlehem House, Sudholz Pl, Adelaide

Were rural Germans in SA interested in the politics of the lands they had left behind decades ago? Did they keenly follow newspaper reports of the battles in the Franco-Prussian War during 1870? How did they feel when their country – Mecklenburg, Saxony, Baden, Bavaria or any of the 30-odd  other German states, together with their ruling king or duke or prince – became part of the new German Empire, united under the Prussian King as Kaiser Wilhelm I with Bismarck as his Chancellor? How can we know? But Lutherans did indeed sing hymns in celebration, and were thanked by His Majesty for their donations for the widows and orphans of the fallen soldiers.