Kavel's Groups

The villages of Tschicherzig, Klemzig and Kay (where Pastor Kavel's emigrants came from) were small villages in Prussia

(Prussia doesn’t exist any more, but it was an independent German state in the northeast of Europe).

All of those villages are now part of Poland, because of national border changes at the end of World War II.

The immigrants who came to South Australia were mainly farming people and tradespeople.

Why they came

However, they were also very moral and religious people and strictly maintained the traditional practices of the Lutheran church, and didn't wish to give them up for the Prussian king. King Friedrich Wilhelm III was a pious Christian and member of the Reformed (Calvinist) church (his wife Luise was a Lutheran). The big majority of his subjects in the Prussian territories were in Lutheran congregations. Like other kings and aristocrats of that time, Friedrich Wilhelm was also no friend of democracy, and wanted to emphasise the strong authority of the monarchy, even in religious affairs. He decided that all Protestants in the Prussian territories should belong to the same state church. Friedrich Wilhelm wanted to unite the two main Protestant churches (the Lutheran church and the [smaller] Reformed church) in a united Prussian state church. Under Friedrich Wilhelms supervision a new order for church services (Agende) was produced, which all Protestants in Prussia had to use.

Some people refused to give in to this and gave passive and "spiritual" resistance. The king made this new Lutheranism more or less a state religion and the church pastors were in effect public servants, working for the government. Under the law, pastors who continued to run church services using the "Old Lutheran" prayer book and style of worship could be dismissed from their positions (and even be put in prison), and have their property confiscated. The minority of people wanting to hold their church services in the old Lutheran way had to do this in secret. These people were known as Old-Lutherans. For a while, a few pastors had to move around the country carefully, hiding from the police, and had to hold prayer meetings for people at night in forests. Therefore these people were keen to go to a country where they could have freedom of worship.

Religion was not their only reason for wanting to emigrate. Some of them were motivated by economic reasons also. The population of Germany was growing rapidly, meaning there were more people than the amount of work available, and two very bad harvests there in 1844 and 1846 made life for poor people very tough. The German states at that time were still pretty much a farming economy.

How they came to South Australia

Pastor Kavel made enquiries through the port city of Hamburg about the possibility of emigrating to Russia, to join the large number of Germans living there in the region of the Volga river, or to the United States of America, where many Germans had also gone. Nothing came of this. Kavel went to London and met George Fife Angas, a wealthy Scottish businessman and chairman of the South Australian Company. He was genuinely keen to help people as well as develop the Colony of South Australia, and was impressed by reports about these Germans who wanted to settle in another country. They were said to be religious, self-sufficient, hard working farming people of high moral standards. Angas was a very religious man himself. He offered Kavel and his people a good land deal in South Australia and did everything he could to help arrange the emigration.

The Old-Lutherans applied to the Prussian government for permission to emigrate, but the government delayed for two years. The emigrants again and again put in new applications and tried to explain as humbly as possible why they wanted to leave. George Angas sent his secretary Charles Flaxman to Prussia to try to persuade the authorities to issue emigration permits. It is not clear whether the Prussian Government's reluctance to issue visas was due to real concern about the fate of the emigrants in travelling to a far-away, pretty unknown continent (this is what the Government officials often emphasised), or due to the Government's irritation at the stubbornness of the Old-Lutherans, whose emigration might make the world think that Prussia was oppressing people's religious beliefs.

Eventually permission was given. The emigrants had to travel to the port of Hamburg from their inland villages by barge along rivers, as railways had not yet been built. These barges were commonly called Oder barges. The journey along four different rivers (Oder, Spree, Havel and Elbe) and on the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Canal that connected the Oder and the Spree rivers, was about 600 km long and took three weeks. The following map shows the route they took:

From Brandenburg to Hamburg harbour
(from: David Schubert, "Kavel's People", 1997, with the author's permission)

While they waited in Hamburg to be able to board their ship for Australia, many of the Hamburg locals were curious about them and what they were doing, leaving Germany for the other side of the world because of their beliefs. A Hamburg Senator, Hudtwalcker, was impressed by them and wrote a description of Kavel's people in a newspaper.

The Lutheran church is a "Protestant" church which developed out of the ideas of Martin Luther. He protested in the 1520s about the way in which the Catholic church operated in Germany at that time. He was also the first person to translate the Bible into German, so that people could read it without having to be able to read Latin.

The Reformed church is also based on the ideas of Martin Luther, but doesn't put as much importance on church services run according to strict worship rituals and on majestic church buildings. The organisation of their church is not so hierarchical as with the Lutherans.

Agende = worship book, an official book prescribed for use in church, containing all the worship orders, Bible readings and prayers. In 1830 King Friedrich Wilhelm's new worship book was introduced into and made compulsory for all Protestant churches in Prussia

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Reasons for Emigration

The first Lutherans to settle in Australia left their European homeland in an effort to be free to worship God according to their Lutheran beliefs and practices.

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The First Settlers Arrive

Pastor August Ludwig Christian Kavel was one of the main figures regarding early Lutheran settlement in SA. In 1826 he became pastor in the village of Klemzig near Zullichau where he greatly influenced the spiritual life of the inhabitants. AS the persecution continued, he thought of emigrating with his flock and went to London to seek help from George Fife Angas. He heard that Angas had considerable interest in the new colony of SA for which he was anxious to procure settlers. With financial help from Angas, 250 people boarded the “Prince George” and “Bengalee” ships on 8 July, 1838. After arriving in SA on 20 November, 1838, they settled first at Port Adelaide and then on 144 acres of Angas land on the banks of the Torrens. They named their village “Klemzig”.

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Captain Hahn and the “Zebra”

On 28 December, 1838, the Danish ship “Zebra” arrived at Holdfast Bay with 188 people on board. Captain Hahn had been so impressed with the behaviour of his passengers that he went out of his way to see them settled in their new country. Pastor Kavel invited them to join him at Klemzig, but Hahn thought the area unsuitable and found more fertile land near Mt. Barker. The owners, Captain John Finnis, William Hampden Dutton and Duncan MacFarlane, offered the Lutherans 100 acres rent free for a year as well as provisions until harvest; seed, fowls, cattle pigs and six “milk” cows on credit. They also promised to assist financially with the support of a clergyman and schoolmaster. With great rejoicing, a contract granting 150 acres was signed on 18 January, 1839 and the village was named “Hahndorf” in honour of the good captain.

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The Trek to Hahndorf

Being poor, the Lutherans had to walk from Port Adelaide to Hahndorf, arriving in early March, 1839, a journey of over a month because they had to carry their belongings. Legend has it that upon arrival, they fell on their knees without waiting to unload, and gave thanks to God for bringing them safely to this free land. The spot was marked by a large hollow gum tree on the banks of a native swimming hole in the Hahndorf Creek. Church services were held under this tree, or in an old hut in wet weather until the church was built. The village was laid our in a ‘U’ shape, with the church in the centre, as it was the focus of the lives of the 52 families who settled there.

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St. Michael’s Lutheran Congregation

The congregation was established on Sunday 3 March, 1839 with a service held under the old gum tree. In the second year, the pioneers built their first church on the same site now occupied by the present St. Michael’s Church. It was a plain building of pug construction decked with wooden shingles, which served the congregation until 1858. On 28 October, 1841 another group of Lutherans arrived on the “Skiold” led by Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche. For a short time, he lived at Klemzig but later moved to Hahndorf where he shared the ministry with Pastor Kavel.

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The Present Church Building

By 1857 the congregation had grown considerably due to more emigration and the old mud-walled church had become so dilapidated that it was decided to build a new one. It was to be erected of hard stone with brick corners, around the existing church, which would be demolished when the new structure was neared completion. The new church was erected at a cost of £1,181.18.4 and was dedicated on 3 July, 1859.

Few changes took place in the building until 1908 when the vestry was rebuilt, giving more space. The pulpit was removed from above the altar in 1928. The porch was completed in 1931 and the bell-tower in 1938. As a centenary gift, four members purchased a new church bell from St. Louis, USA. The old tradition of tolling the bell at noon, for each year of a recently deceased person’s life on this earth, continues to the present day. The old bell was transferred to the school yard over the road. It is one of many cast in bronze from guns and war weapons in Germany at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) by order of Prince Otto von Bismark, who presented them to the Lutheran Church in Europe.

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St. Michael’s Cemetery

In the early days members of the congregation who died were buried in the church cemetery in the church grounds. This arrangement continued until 1885 when the cemetery was permanently closed due to an outbreak of typhoid fever. A new cemetery was opened just out of the town. In the 1950’s the congregation levelled most of the area which forms the present car park and placed the names of those known to be buried in the church cemetery on bronze plaques which were fixed to the new memorial arch in 1959. A few graves in relatively good condition were preserved, the earliest date on a tombstone being 1796.

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Conclusion

History has shown that the founding members of St. Michael’s weathered many trials because of their staunch Lutheran beliefs, even venturing across the world be an unknown continent to remain true to their faith. While they have left us a beautiful church building in a picturesque valley, now famous throughout Australia, their most important, lasting gift is in God’s Word. Hopefully, this gift will be cherished for years to come.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

For more information on the history of the Lutheran Church, please visit the