German Missionaries in Australia

Carl Friedrich Theodore Strehlow was born in a little village in Northern Germany, as the seventh child of the village school teacher. The village pastor Carl Seidel recognised the outstanding potential of the child and sparked his interest in myth and song. With great dedication, Seidel prepared his protégée for entry into a seminary and was able to place him in the Neuendettelsau Mission Seminary in Southern Germany.¹

The selection process at Neuendettelsau was rigorous in the late 19^th century. The criteria for successful applicants included a high level of secondary education, as well as a strong personality and excellent health. The intense course lasted three years with a very demanding and dense curriculum. The expectations and the pressure were immense, both imposed by the seminary as well as by the students themselves. Nervous breakdowns were not unusual.

Neuendettelsau was less conservative and pietistic than other mission training institutions such as Hermannsburg in Germany or the Basler Mission in Switzerland, for example. The classical orientation of its curriculum gave their students a solid basis to recognise structures of foreign languages, which facilitated the writing of grammars and dictionaries – essential for the translation of the Holy Scripture from its Greek source, and mission preaching and schooling. Language studies were expected from the graduates once they proceeded to their postings. In addition to classical languages, correct German style, orthography and essay and speech writing were taught along with English. Other subjects that were prominent were music, in the tradition of Luther’s own deep engagement, and under the director Johannes Deinzer, ethics that would sharpen the missionaries’ intellects and direct them to human engagement with others. Finally, even physical education was integral to an individual’s training.²

In 1892, not long after graduating with high distinction, Carl Strehlow was sent to Australia. His first posting was the Bethesda Mission at Lake Eyre in South Australia. The moment he arrived at the mission, he showed interest in the language of the local people. Within six months he spoke Diyari and by the end of 1894, with Rev. J.G. Reuther, he had translated the New Testament into Diyari. It was called Testamenta marra, published in 1897.³

Carl and Frieda Strehlow in their garden Source: P26-15 0534, LAA

In October 1894 he was transferred from Bethesda to Hermannsburg in remote central Australia. He arrived at the mission station that had been abandoned for three years with two fellow missionaries, J.G. Reuther and Br. Linke. He stayed for nearly three decades at this place and ran it as a mission and a cattle and sheep station, providing pastoral care for more than 100 Aboriginal people – not all became Christians during his ministry -, as well as a large number of their relatives who lived on the fringes of the mission. At the same time he was keeping aggressive pastoralists at bay and dealing with a range of social issues that had been caused by the forcing together of different Aranda and Loritja groups who had been enemies for a long time.⁴

Despite the desolate condition of the mission, Carl started rebuilding it with great enthusiasm, not least motivated by the prospect that his young fiancée Friedericke Johanna Henriette Keysser would be arriving within the year. Travelling from Germany, Frieda, 19 years of age, joined Carl in 1895. Despite the inconveniences, Frieda embraced her role as a missionary’s wife. She started to learn Aranda, teach the women household skills intended to improve health and elevate living standards, and had six children at the Hermannsburg Mission. Her first child Friedrich was born in 1897, her only daughter Martha in 1899, Rudolf in 1900, Karl in 1902, Heinrich in 1905 and her youngest son Theodore, who would later become one of the most controversial figures in Australian anthropology, in 1908. Together Carl and Frieda made Hermannsburg a refuge for the local people and fought for their physical and mental survival.

In 1901 Baron Moritz von Leonhardi, a wealthy German aristocratic intellectual and armchair anthropologist, wrote to Carl Strehlow asking him for some information about the people of the Hermannsburg Mission. A real friendship developed between these men that resulted in a fruitful intellectual exchange between 1901 and 1910 and produced a masterpiece. Von Leonhardi became Carl Strehlow’s editor and organized the publication of Strehlow’s magnum opus Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien (1907–1920) through the Ethnological Museum of Frankfurt.⁵

Before the Great War, Strehlow’s work was very well received in Europe. N.W. Thomas remarked that his work was ‘masterly’, Andrew Lang wrote that ‘No one should henceforth write on Mr. Strehlow’s tribes who has not mastered his valuable volumes’ and Marcel Mauss called it a form of an ‘Aranda Rig Veda’. In the later part of the second half of the 20^th century the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and Native Title Act 1993, led to extensive research into relationships to land for the preparation of land claims. In this process Carl Strehlow’s as well as his son’s, TGH Strehlow’s, work have proven invaluable. Their materials have provided unmistakable evidence that shows the physical connection of named Aboriginal individuals to their traditional lands and demonstrates their cultural continuity.

Just after Strehlow had completed his ethnographic work, he departed with his family for Germany mid 1910. The trip was intended as a well-deserved break for Carl and Frieda, and to secure an education for his children who had, by all accounts, adopted the ways of the bush. After an extended stay in Germany and placing his five eldest children with relatives and friends, he returned in 1912 to central Australia, with his wife Frieda and only with their youngest son Theodore, who would later become one of the most controversial figures in Australian anthropology.

Not long after his return to the Hermannsburg mission he began the translation of the New Testament into Aranda with Moses Tjalkabota, Nathaniel Rauwirarka and Jacobus in 1913 and completed it in 1919. Parts of it were published after his death as Ewangelia Lukaka (1925) and Ewangelia Taramatara (1928), without mentioning his role as translator.

When World War I broke out Strehlow suffered greatly for leaving his children in Europe. With war’s end and word that his children had survived, he decided to leave for Germany to see them. However, thirty years of mission effort had taken their toll on him. As he waited for his replacement he fell sick mid 1922. All attempts to treat him locally failed and on the agonising journey south to find medical assistance, he died on the 20 October 1922 at Horseshoe Bend.⁶

List of main publications and manuscripts

Strehlow, C., 'Ein Bericht über die Mission in Neu-Hermannsburg, Australien, in einem Brief von H. Missionar Stehlow vom 8. Januar 1901', Kirchliche Mitteilungen, 15 May 1901.

Strehlow, C., Galtjindintjamea-Pepa Aranda Wolambarinjaka [Aranda Service Book including 100 German hymns translated into Aranda], Tanunda, G. Auricht, 1904.

Strehlow, C., 'Einige Sagen des Arandastammes in Zentral-Australien' Sonder-Abdruck aus dem Globus Vol. XCII Nr. 8, 29 August 1907: 123–126.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. I Mythen, Sagen und Märchen des Aranda-Stammes in Zentral-Australien, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1907.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. II Mythen, Sagen und Märchen des Loritja-Stammes; die Totemistischen Vorstellungen und die Tjurunga der Aranda und Loritja, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1908.

Strehlow, C., 'Unsere Australische Mission, in einem Brief von H. Missionar Stehlow vom 30. Juni 1908', Kirchlichen Mitteilungen, 22 July 1908.

Strehlow, C., 'Einige Bemerkungen über die von Dr. Planert auf Grund der Forschungen des Missionars Wettengel veröffentlichte Aranda-Grammatik', Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 5, 1908: 698–703.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. III (i), Mythen, Sagen und Märchen des Aranda-Stammes; die Totemistischen Kulte der Aranda-und Loritja- Stämme, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1910.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. III (ii), Mythen, Sagen und Märchen des Aranda-Stammes; die Totemistischen Kulte der Aranda-und Loritja- Stämme, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1911.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. IV (i), Das Soziale Leben der Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1913.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. IV (ii), Das Soziale Leben der Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1915.

Strehlow, C., Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien Vol. V, Die Materielle Kultur der Aranda- und Loritja, Frankfurt, Joseph Baer & Co., 1920.

Strehlow, C., Ewangelia Lukaka, Gospel of St Luke in Aranda, London, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1925.

Strehlow, C., Ewangelia Taramatara, The Four Gospels in Aranda, London, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1928.

Strehlow, C., Pepa Aragulinja: Aranda Katjirberaka, Aranda school primer, Tanunda, Auricht’s Printing Office, 1928.

Strehlow, C., 'Sagen', Unpublished Manuscript, c. 1905–1908.

Strehlow, C., 'Cultus', Unpublished Manuscript, c. 190?–1909.

Strehlow, C., 'Leben', Unpublished Manuscript, c. 190?–1909.

Strehlow, C., 'Dictionary Aranda, German, Loritja, Unpublished Manuscript, c. 1900–1909.