German Moravian Missionaries in the British Colony of Victoria, Australia, 1848–1908 Studies in Christian Mission General Editors Marc R. Spindler, Leiden University Heleen L. Murre-van den Berg, Leiden University Editorial Board Peggy Brock, Edith Cowan University James Grayson, University of Sheffi eld David Maxwell, Keele University VOLUME 38 German Moravian Missionaries in the British Colony of Victoria, Australia, 1848–1908 Infl uential Strangers By Felicity Jensz LEIDEN • BOSTON 2010 On the cover: Friedrich Hagenauer preaching at Ramahyuck, 1868. With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Morgensegen, Foto (F.S.Mission U1.05) Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jensz, Felicity. German Moravian missionaries in the British colony of Victoria, Australia, 1848-1908 : infl uential strangers / by Felicity Jensz. p. cm. -- (Studies in Christian mission, ISSN 0924-9389 ; v. 38) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17921-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Moravian Church--Missions--Australia--Victoria--History--19th century. 2. Missions, German--Australia--Victoria--History--19th century. 3. Germans-- Australia--Victoria--History--19th century. 4. Aboriginal Australians--Missions-- Australia--Victoria--History--19th century. 5. Victoria--Church history--19th century. I. Title. BV3660.V5J46 2010 266’.0234309409034--dc22 2009046088 ISSN: 0924-9389 ISBN: 978 9004 17921 9 Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Brill has made all reasonable eff orts to trace all right holders to any copyrighted material used in this work. In cases where these eff orts have not been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowl- edgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill pro- vided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS List of Illustrations ................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ............................................................................... ix Glossary and Abbreviations ................................................................. xi Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 Chapter One God’s Lot: Moravians and Missions ......................... 15 Chapter Two “Th e most Wretched and Bleakest”: Moravian Desire to Work Amongst the Australian Aborigines.................................................................... 41 Chapter Th ree „ein fauler Fleck“: Lake Boga, a Putrid Stain .......... 71 Chapter Four “I is done: no more”: the First Converts................... 113 Chapter Five „alles geht seinen schleppenden Gang“ – Expansion, Movement and Sluggish Progress ........ 153 Chapter Six “Every Triumphant Death” – Closure in a British Colony .............................................................. 185 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 227 Appendices ............................................................................................. 233 Bibliography ........................................................................................... 247 Index ....................................................................................................... 263 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Map of Moravian Missions in Australia, 1869 .................xvii With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Missions der Brüder-Unität in Australien, Karte des Südteils von Aus- tralien mit Angabe der Reiserouten der Missionare, kolori- erte Lithographie von L.T. Reichel, 1869 (TS Bd.21.097.a) Figure 2 Map of Victoria and South Eastern Australia, circa 1860 ......................................................................................xviii With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Landkarte von Victoria Süd Ost Australia, (Bd. 21.096.a) Figure 3 View of Ebenezer mission station, circa 1862 ..................111 With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Ansicht von Ebenezer in Australien, Federzeichnung um 1862 (TS Bd.21.097.b) Figure 4 View of Ramahyuck mission station, circa 1863 .............112 With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Ansicht von Ramahyuck in Australien (TS Bd.30.20.a+) Figure 5 Lithograph of a Corroboree, 1859 .....................................124 With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: “Tanz der Papus” Ansicht von Cooroborree [sic] der Eingeborenen in Aus- tralien, Lithographie um 1859 [Abbildung im Missions blatt der Bruedergemeine, 1859, 109] (TS Bd.21.99a) Figure 6 A portrait of Kühn, Meißel, Walder and Kramer- the four missionaries sent to the interior of Australia. Taken before they left Germany for Australia, 1864 ...............................161 With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Die Missionare Kühn, Meißel, Walder und Kramer vor ihrer Ausreise. Bernhard Sparmeyer, Herrnhut 1864, (FS- Mission 7. o. Sign) Figure 7 Friedrich Hagenauer preaching at Ramahyuck ...............183 With permission from the Unitätsarchiv: Das Innere der Kirche auf der Missionstation Ramahyuck während des tägli chen Morgensegens mit Friedrich August Hagenauer…. (FS-Mission, Australien, U1, o. Nr.) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Th is book was born as a doctoral thesis in the School of History at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and has grown into its current shape—in somewhat of a reverse of many of the subjects of this book— whilst I have been living in Germany and working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Exzellenzcluster: Religion und Politik at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany. I owe a great deal of thanks to those people who were there as the thesis was being conceived, written, and passed. My primary supervi- sor, Professor Patricia Grimshaw, never failed to amaze me with her generosity of time and blue pen, and Professor Kate Darian-Smith, as my secondary supervisor, was a wonderful source of sound advice. My colleagues in the School of History are also to be thanked for provided a supporting and challenging environment. Th e research would never have been as rich had it not have been for the generous funding I received from a number of sources. For my extensive overseas research I was fortunate to receive multiple scholar- ships, which allowed me to travel to archives in the United States of America, Britain, and Germany. Th is was made possible by the gener- ous funds from the Alma Hansen Scholarship fund, the Lizette Bentwitch Scholarship fund, and awards from the University of Melbourne Scholar ships Offi ce, including a TRIPS award and a PORES award. My extended research in Germany was made possible through a substantial grant from the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst (DAAD), for which I will be forever grateful. Finally, I am thankful to the Ian Robertson Travel Fund Scholarship, 2007, which allowed me to travel to Canberra to undertake research on Hagenauer’s Letter-books. Th roughout these journeys to diff erent lands and various archives I have received the support from archivists, librarians and fellow researchers. My thanks is particularly extended, in chronological order, to: Vernon Nelson and June Lacke of the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Lorraine Parson, Archivist at the Moravian Church Archives and Library in Moravian Church House, London; the staff of the Unitätsarchiv in Herrnhut, in particular Paul Peucker who moved from the Unitätsarchiv, Herrnhut, to the Moravian Archives, Pennsylvania during my research; Rüdiger Kröger from the x acknowledgements Unitätsarchiv, Herrnhut, and Lanie Graf of the Moravian Archives, Pennsylvania. My most sincere thanks goes to: Ann Jensz, Jen Makin, Jane Sampson, Anja Schwarz, Christine Winter. I also thank the many scholars with whom I have had interesting, and illuminating conversations, as well as all those at Brill. Any shortcomings of the text, although not inten- tional, remain however mine alone. Th ere are, of course, many other people who have helped and sup- ported me through this venture, including my loving family and friends. I am humbled by all that you have given. Th e person who deserves gratitude of an unequalled magnitude is Mark. Th ank you. GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS Note: Th e form of the nineteenth-century German is kept as close to original as possible. For example, some possessive apostrophes have been kept in names that now do not use them, such as in Cooper’s Creek. Symbols such as “=” have also been kept, for example in “Eben=Ezer”, when citing the original. In order that the quotations are not littered with sic, they have been left out unless omission would render the text incomprehensible. Term, Place or Description Abbreviation AAV Aboriginal Aff airs Victoria (Australia) Akoluth, Akoluthie Bruder or Schwester who is accepted to a special position as Helper within the congregation