Archives



Yirara College

Yirara College was established in Alice Springs in 1973 as a government secondary residential college. It accommodated Aboriginal students from remote areas who were studying at the College. In 1991 control of the College was taken over by the Finke River Mission of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

Lutheran Mission Block, Alice Springs

The Lutheran Mission Block was established in Alice Springs in 1938 by the Lutheran Church. In the 1950s Aboriginal children were cared for by an Aboriginal woman in a residential house on the block. In 1963 two cottages were opened. Each accommodated up to 12 children under the supervision of house mothers. Children attending school…

Papunya Native Settlement

Papunya Native Settlement was officially opened by the government in 1959. It was established to accommodate Aboriginal people moved away from the Haasts Bluff Native Settlement and others brought in by the government from desert areas. A school was built but no dormitories were established. A Lutheran missionary sent out from the Hermannsburg Mission was…

Haasts Bluff Native Settlement

Haasts Bluff Native Settlement began as a government ration depot in 1941. In 1942 missionaries from the Hermannsburg Mission, also known as the Finke River Mission, began to provide welfare services to the Aboriginal residents. Although no school or dormitories were established at Haast’s Bluff, missionaries resided there and it operated as an outpost of…

Areyonga Native Settlement

The Areyonga Native Settlement was established in the 1920s by Pitjanjatjara people from the Petermann Ranges. In 1943 the government opened a ration depot at the site. From that time Lutheran missionaries from Hermannsburg provided welfare services. In 1950 they opened a school and began to reside at the settlement. In 1990 the land at…

Hermannsburg Mission

The Hermannsburg Mission was established on the banks of the Finke River by Lutheran missionaries from the Hermannsburg Missionary Society and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia in 1877. The missionaries established a school and dormitories for children in the late 1890s. It operated under Lutheran control until 1982 when the land was returned to…

Koonibba Mission

The Koonibba Mission was established west of Ceduna by the Lutheran Church in 1901. In 1914 the Koonibba Children’s Home was opened at the Mission for Aboriginal children. The government took control of the Mission in 1963 and the Children’s Home closed. The Koonibba Mission was returned to the control of the Aboriginal Community in…

Killalpaninna Mission

The Killalpaninna Mission was opened in the far-north of South Australia by the Lutheran Church in 1867. A school was opened in 1868 and by 1879 the Mission was operating dormitories for Aboriginal girls and boys. Financial problems, drought and the outbreak of World War I all contributed to the Church’s decision to sell the…

Yalata Mission

The Yalata Mission was established in 1954 by the Lutheran Church on a government Aboriginal reserve 130 miles west of Ceduna. Aboriginal people from Maralinga and the Ooldea Mission had been brought to the area in 1952. The Mission operated a school and other facilities for the residents of the reserve. In 1974 the Yalata…

Lutheran Girls’ Hostel, College Park

The Lutheran Girls’ Hostel was opened at College Park in 1959. It was run by the Lutheran Church as a hostel for country girls who came to the city to study or work. Fall in demand brought financial problems which led to the closure of the Hostel in the early 1980s. The Lutheran Girls’ Hostel…