German Missionaries in Australia

At Zion Hill, Gerler portrayed life at the mission in a drawing that suggests that the colonists quickly developed a deep sense of place, of presence and of accomplishment. Gerler arrived at Zion Hill in 1844, and dated this drawing as 1846. It shows Aboriginal children being taught by the white teacher and Aborigines working in the fields using European farming implements.

Franz August Rode of the Zion Hill Mission, 1860's.

Franz Joseph August Rode (or Auguste  Rodé) was a joiner and cabinetmaker when he joined the Gossner mission institute to become  a lay missionary. He was the son of a musician in Siegert (Silesia, Prussia). He married Julia Emilia Peters (b.1815) from Hatzel in Brandenburg, who accompanied him on the Minerva to Moreton Bay. By 1841 they had three children. Rode played an active part in building the Zion Hill mission as well as establishing crops to sustain its community. 

An elevated view of the Methodist Mission Station at Weipa, Cape York, North Queensland.

Image from www.pictureaustralia.org

Reverend Edwin Brown of the Weipa Mission.

Image from www.imagesaustralia.org

A plan of ten land portions, Nerang River.

The Bloomfield river.

Indigenous people of the Bloomfield (Wujal Wujal) area, January 13th 1886.

The Bloomfield Mission headquarters, 1886.

This barn is believed to have been erected during Pastor Haussman's era, it is on the site of the German Mission Station, called 'Bethesda'.