Killalipinna Lutheran MissionPrint Page

The monument at Etadunna Homestead commemorates the efforts of the people who ran the Lutheran Aboriginal Mission which ran from 1867 to 1915 when severe drought forced its closure.

On 9th October 1866 a small party set out from Tanunda (South Australia) to establish a Lutheran mission station in the salt-lake areas of the north-east of South Australia. After a difficult three-month journey they established their mission station at Lake Killalpaninna (about 40 kilometres south of Coopers Creek) and tried to convert the Dieri Aboriginal tribe to Christianity. Progress, baptisms and conversions were slow in coming, but the missionaries were determined and patient.

They had little success in christianising the Aboriginals and came to the conclusion that it was just as important to protect them from the European settlers. Some settlers, irritated by disturbances from the aboriginals had started killing them, and Eurpoean shearers and station hands lusted after aboriginal women. The mission station was in decline by the start of World War One and was closed by the government in 1915.

Location

Details