West Macdonnells Camping trip - Hermannsburg

We had a fascinating visit to the Hermannsburg historic centre this morning, and loved wandering around the precinct. By 1880 this lovely Lutheran Mission church building was built with the assistance of Aboriginal builders. 

A significant and vitally important event took place when Aboriginal children were being rounded up by the federal government, starting in 1905. 
Wikipedia .....talking about the 'Stolen Generation'
In its submission to the Bringing Them Home report, the Victorian government stated that "despite the apparent recognition in government reports that the interests of Indigenous children were best served by keeping them in their own communities, the number of Aboriginal children forcibly removed continued to increase, rising from 220 in 1973 to 350 in 1976."
The local Hermannsburg Pastor absolutely refused to allow these federal officials to remove any of the local children, saying that they were best served by staying with their own families, and going to school in Hermannsburg. Those children were very lucky indeed. What a hero!


We visited the current Lutheran church, loving the service, with the prayers & hymns all sung in the local Arrernte aboriginal language.

There's unrest in the wider community at present, with some local aboriginal children trashing a house further down the road from where we were camping - hence the locked campsite gate.