Hermannsburg

Recently we received visitors from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria (ELCB), Arnim Doerfer (Missione Eine Welt – Mission One World) and Martin Klein. It was to be a full weekend in terms of Indigenous ministry – three communion services in three communities, from Laramba to Ti Tree, a round trip over 650 kilometers. Though… Read more

Three years from now will mark 150 years since two German Lutheran Missionaries, Schwarz and Kempe, arrived at Finke River to bring the message of salvation to the Western Arrarnta Aboriginal people there. Joined by missionary Schulze the next year, the three missionaries struggled for the next 15 years to adapt to the harsh, isolated… Read more

The cover of this cherished book is adorned with a design painted by talented local artist Clarabelle Swift in 2016. Her work has truly captured the essence of our church, and we extend our heartfelt thanks to Clarabelle for this beautiful cover. At Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hermannsburg we take great pride in our ‘visitors’… Read more

Pastor Marcus Wheeler led the palm-weaving procession into the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Hermannsburg on Palm Sunday this year, his last full service as a pastor. Over sixteen and a half years ago, in the very same church, Pastor Mike Semmler, then President of the Lutheran Church of Australia, ordained Pastor Marcus. His ordination took place… Read more

After arriving in Alice Springs for the ordination of Malcolm Willcocks on 10 December 2023, LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith and SA–NT Bishop Andrew Brook took a trip out to Hermannsburg to meet people and have a look around.

In mid-April, Cyclone Ilsa whipped up record-breaking winds off the Western Australian coast. Heavy rain fell over WA in a line straight towards a little Lutheran community in the Gibson Desert called Kiwirrkurra. 

Almost 45 years after his death in Adelaide on 3 October 1978, TGH ‘Ted’ Strehlow has at last been laid to rest, along with his second wife Kathleen, near Hermannsburg (Ntaria).

My husband Ashley and I lived and worked at Hermannsburg in the 1970s. Ashley did maintenance work and helped build the newly established homelands (then called outstations), and I was the teacher at Kuprilya homeland. We were accepted into the Western Arrarnta family, the Rataras.

In March this year, I joined the Lutheran Mission Development (LMD) Board. This board was established to support and promote the aims, beliefs and articles of faith of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

Four young ladies confirmed their baptismal promises and confessed their faith in the Triune God at a confirmation celebration at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hermannsburg on 8 August 2021.