Louis and Theodore Harms, Lutheran Pastors, established the Hermannsburg Mission in the mid 1850s, and named it after the village in Prussia where they lived. Their object was to establish Christian Missions throughout the world and they had sent missionaries to Africa, India and other locations. After discussions with the Lutheran population in South Australia, in 1875 they sent two men, both ordained pastors - Hermann Kempe, who had been a blacksmith and Wilhelm Friedrich Schwarz, who had trained as a baker - to establish a Hermannsburg Mission on the Finke River in the Northern Territory (at the time it was still part of South Australia) to work with the Aranda, also known as the Arrernte people and to bring Christianity to them. The two men were specifically selected for the role, due to their previous occupations, which both required them to cope with and endure heat. (1)
Pastor Kempe and Pastor Schwartz stayed in the Barossa Valley after their arrival in South Australia where there were many German Lutheran settlers. Before they set off in October 1875 from Bethany, near Tanunda, on their 900 kilometre journey to the Finke Valley, they were both authorised as officiating ministers to perform marriage services. It took them one year and seven months to reach their destination and as they aimed to be self-sufficient they took horses, cattle and 2000 sheep with them. By August 1877 their first house at the new settlement was ready for occupation. (2)
This passage from Mary Webster's 1930 history of the Mission, as published in The Argus, gives an idea of conditions they faced trying to bring European farming practices into a harsh, dry environment -In the spring of 1878 some land was ploughed, and barley, oats, wheat and maize were sown. The results were not satisfactory. Seeds of fruit trees, peas, melons, and other vegetables were planted. Baron von Muller [sic] sent them seeds from Melbourne. There was a good fall of rain in 1879, and everything shot up quickly. But after October everything withered with the heat. During the winter they were generally able to have a good supply of vegetables, but during the summer everything shrivelled up, and the water supply near at hand turned brackish. The permanent springs of sweet water were more than a mile from the mission. Very slowly the mission work went on. (3)
Of interest to us, as this is a blog about Palm Trees, are these references to Date Palms (Phoenix dactylifera) at the Hermannsburg Mission on the Finke River.
From 1893 - Twelve fig-trees ripened a fair number of figs, and two date palms bore for the first time dates, while many other date-palms promise well. The date palms were raised from seed presented by Baron von Muller. Unfortunately I have not been informed of the quality of the dates. (4)
Frieda Strehlow, wife of Pastor Carl Strehlow, standing in the Date Palm plantation at
Hermannsburg Mission, c. 1895
State Library of South Australia image B 42428
From a 1901 report on a trip to Hermannsburg Mission by L. Kaibel, Head of the Lutheran Mission -
Beautiful date palms, some already bearing, raise their stately crowns, and the pepper trees grown to big trees give shade. (5)
Date Palm at Hermannsburg, c. 1910
State Library of South Australia image B 42458
In 1924, Vilhjalmur Stefanssen, visited the Mission and wrote -
On its nine hundred square miles the Mission, now has some 3,000 cattle and 1,200 horses, besides an excellent irrigated vegetable garden and 40 date palms, with single trees giving as much as 2cwt. of dates per year. (6)
A 1931 report by a visitor, Archer Russell, noted that -
We went up through a shady grove of date palms to the principal's house, and paid our respect to the missionaries. They spoke delightedly of our coming, and bade us welcome, and we felt we were welcome. The palms, they told us, were planted in the early days of settlement, and had for years fruited prolifically. (7)
Gathering dates in the mission garden at Hermannsburg.
The Australasian, December 18, 1937 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141812814
In 1941 Dr George Stewart, Turnbull Trust Preacher at Scots' Church, Melbourne from Connecticut, U.S.A visited the centre of Australia and Hermannsburg and noted that the 'Dead Centre' of Australia was not so 'dead' after all that it could not produce the finest bunch of dates he ever tasted, from the palm groves of Hermannsburg. (8)
Date palms at Hermannsburg, Northern Territory, c. 1946
National Library of Australia image 4803008
From a 1947 report on a visit to Hermannsburg Mission -
There are date palms growing at the mission. They bear well enough, but the crows, which are numerous and troublesome, steal them before they are ripe. (9)
What we can establish is that it is likely that the Date Palm seeds were given by Baron von Mueller as early as 1878. Baron von Mueller (1825-1896) was Victorian Government Botanist and, from 1857, the director of the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. (10) We can also establish that the environment at the Hermannsburg Mission was very suitable for growing date palms as they require - Date palms need a long, hot growing season. Low humidity and the absence of summer rain help in the production of high quality fruit. (11)
What became of the Date Palms at Hermannsburg? An Australian Heritage Database paper on the Hermannsburg Mission from 2005 noted the garden site contained remnant date palms. (12) Given that the life span of a Date Palm seems to be from 100 to 150 years it is unlikely that any of the palms grown from the seed supplied by Baron von Mueller would still be alive, but later plantings may be part of the remnant date plants as just mentioned.
Date palms at Hermannsburg, 1955. Photographer: Ellen S. Kettle
The Mission closed in 1982 and there is an informative website Hermannsburg Historic Precinct https://hermannsburg.com.au/ which looks at all aspects of the Hermannsburg Mission - the history, living on the Mission and Arranta culture and creativity, including the watercolour school of Hermannsburg, of which Albert Namatjira (1902–1959), who was born on the Mission Station, is perhaps the best known of these artists. As a matter of interest is the fact that Pastor Kempe was the author of the Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines of the MacDonnell Ranges, the first time the Arrernte language was recorded in written form. (13) Pastor Friedrich Adolph Hermann Kempe died in 1928, aged 83 and Pastor Wilhelm Friedrich Schwarz in 1920, aged 78. (14)
Footnotes
(1) Webster, Mary The Hermannsburg Mission: a Brave Pioneer Effort in The Argus, December 6, 1930 see here; Hermannsburg entry in The Australian Encyclopaedia, v. IV (Grolier Society of Sydney, 1963), p. 489.
(2) Webster, op. cit; Adelaide Evening Journal, October 22, 1875, see here; Hermannsburg Historic Precinct https://hermannsburg.com.au/stories/establishing-the-mission
(3) Webster, Mary The Hermannsburg Mission: a Brave Pioneer Effort in The Argus, December 6, 1930 see here
(4) South Australia Register, January 23, 1893, see here.
(5) Adelaide Register, August 6, 1901, see here.
(6) West Australian, July 30, 1924, see here.
(7) Sydney Morning Herald, March 28, 1931, see here.
(8) The Herald, February 25, 1941, see here.
(9) Weekly Times, December 10, 1947, see here.
(10) Baron von Mueller - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir-ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266
(11) Northern Territory Government Agnote on the Date Palm - https://daf.nt.gov.au/publications/publications-search/publications-database/primary-industry/fruit/686.pdf
(12) Australian Heritage Database - Hermannsburg Historic Precinct, 2005 https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/hermannsburg.pdf
(13) Webster, op. cit.
(14) Genealogy SA website https://www.genealogysa.org.au/
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