Hidden inside a building at Lobethal is a tiny rendered structure, with wooden shingles.
The roof looks basic, almost crude in its assembly.
The nails holding weathered planks of wood in place are contorted, like they’re trying to escape.
When you step through the low entrance, it feels as if you’re stepping back in time.
And you are.
Lobethal’s 19th Century Lutheran seminary can be found within the Lobethal Archive and Historical Museum on the town’s main street.
It is the oldest theological college in Australia and the oldest still standing in the Southern Hemisphere.
Upon entering, you are met with expert craftsmanship in the many crosses and other religious relics in the room.
There are also ancient-looking Bibles written in old German and a wooden ladder that leads to the loft – which was a sleeping quarters for students.
The college was founded by Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche, who taught a number of students over a ten-year period – all of whom emigrated from Prussia.
Museum volunteers Andrew Zilm and Dianne Schwarz are celebrating the seminary’s 180th anniversary, with a wider project aimed at bringing attention to other pioneer structures around Lobethal.
“The students, of which there were only a few to start off with, lived in here and studied in here,” Andrews says.
“Pastor Fritzsche’s parish went all the way up to the Barossa, it was kind of like a school on wheels.
“The students would follow, they’d have lessons, it might have been lessons in Greek as they were walking back and forth.”
Lobethal and the broader Adelaide Hills played a pivotal role in the early German settlement of SA.
By all accounts, the Prussian pioneers who undertook the gruelling 16-week journey from Europe were an industrious, deeply-religious and hard-working community whose toil laid the foundations of places like Lobethal, Hahndorf and the Barossa.
Today, when you enter the small heritage-listed wooden structure, you are charmed by its quaint size.
But 180 years ago, life in the ‘Valley of Praise’, was difficult and basic.
The journey to SA for the Prussian emigrants aboard the Skjold was arduous and for some, deadly.
The group set sail from Hamburg on July 11, 1841, and arrived at Pt Misery – now Pt Adelaide – on October 28 that year.
Fifty five passengers, mostly young children and the elderly, died on the voyage. “Due to old age, diet, poor health, and no fresh water unless they stopped,” Dianne says.
Andrew says that many of the newly-arrived Prussian settlers were employed by the South Australian Company, including Ferdinand Muller, who has been attributed with helping to establish Lobethal.
“He was working as a shepherd for the South Australian Company and, from Hahndorf, came to the valley with his sheep, found (Lobethal) and went back and told all of his cohort of Skjold immigrants that this looks like a great place to stay,” he says.
“You couldn’t buy land unless you were naturalised, a lot of them weren’t naturalised and one bloke bought it (the land that is now Lobethal) and tried to (sell) them the land, but then tried to hold the rights.
“There was all sorts of conflict and confrontation that was eventually resolved.”
Director of the South Australian Company, George Fife Angas, was instrumental in 19th Century emigration from Prussia and other parts of Germany to SA.
After negotiating with prominent Lutheran pastor August Kavel – who had led the first group of refugees fleeing religious persecution to SA in 1838 – Angas agreed to subsidise the Skjold passengers’ travel costs from Hamburg.
“I’m sure that Angas and the South Australian Company saw that the Prussians were very diligent, industrious workers,” Andrew says.
“They would have become the work base for the relocated gentry.
“But he didn’t count on the Germans, let’s call them Germans now, being so industrious that they were able to earn money and then become naturalised and buy their own land.”
Much of the German and Prussian story is now preserved in the Lobethal Archive and Historical Museum.
A key figure in the collation of the items housed in the museum was Lithuanian immigrant Jonas Vanagas.
Jonas settled in Lobethal after finding work in the Lobethal woollen mill in the 1950s and quickly became fascinated by the area’s local history.
“When he wasn’t working at the mill, he would go around and collect stories of the town’s history,” Andrew says.
“In 1954, he published a self-bound history book, which we’ve just had reproduced.”
Eventually, the collection became too large for its original home, Jonas’ residence on the main street.
“So he and the community were able to negotiate that he could display his collection down in a front room of the Institute Hall, which was there for a few years, but the collection outgrew that little room,” Andrew says.
“Coinciding with that, the Lutheran church was having discussions about what was going to happen to this slowly degrading (seminary) college.
“Some people apparently said it was really important and needed to be preserved and protected and apparently another group of people said, ‘bring in the bulldozer’.”
Ultimately, the seminary was kept, restored and maintained.
In the ’60s a museum was built around the original Lutheran seminary and Jonas’ collection had a place to call home.
Through the efforts of the museum’s volunteers, more items have been added and Andrew has helped audit and digitise the museum’s collection of artefacts.
It now sits in the heart of Lobethal – a reminder of the town’s unique and fascinating pioneer past.
