Frieda Strehlow with all the Aboriginal girls at Hermannsburg

Freida Strehlow

Carl and Frieda Strehlow

Carl Strehlow

Carl Friedrich Theodor Strehlow (1871-1922) is perhaps the most well-known of the missionaries. Under his guidance the dilapidated Finke River Mission rose from the ashes. After arriving at the mission as a young man recently ordained in 1894, he stayed there for almost three decades - the remainder of this life. He was a missionary, linguistic scholar and a humanitarian who left behind an immensely valuable legacy in his linguistic and ethnographic work.

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Pastor Carl Strelow and his wife Frieda

Hermannsburg under Pastor Carl Strehlow

Carl Strehlow is perhaps the best known of the missionaries to have worked at Hermannsburg. Appointed by the Immanuel Synod as their first missionary to Hermannsburg, he left a lasting legacy. He was not the only missionary there and many of the achievements in that time were a team effort between him and his wife Frieda Strehlow, co-missionary Pastor Bogner and the lay workers such as builders Mr. Hart and Mr. Haemmerling. Between them they rebuilt the neglected and dilapidated mission.

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A young Frieda Strehlow and Child

Frieda Strehlow: wife, mother, pioneer

Frieda’s story is amazing! Born Friederike Johanna Henriette Keysser on 31 August 1875 in Bavaria, she fell in love with Carl Strehlow, within 36 hours of meeting him. Her love drove her to travel to what must have seemed like the end of the earth to join him on his mission.

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Ted Strehlow. First journey to Barrow Cree

Theodor Georg Heinrich Strehlow (1908-1978)

Ted or Theodor Georg Heinrich (T.G.H.) Strehlow’s story is fascinating. The son of the missionary Carl and Frieda, he spent his formative years growing up on Hermannsburg Mission, leaving only on the tragic journey on which his father died. He returned to Central Australia many years later as the local patrol officer and anthropologist and picked up where his father left off recording the culture of the Arrarnta people and their neighbours.

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