Primary contact
27 Fourth Street, BowdenAdelaide, South Australia 5007
Lutheran contingents first came to Australia in 1837, 1838 and 1841 from eastern Prussia in search of religious freedom. At the same time, Lutheran missionaries arrived to work among Indigenous Australian people in Queensland and South Australia.
Many Prussian/German Lutherans followed as migrants, settling initially in the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley, South Australia, Victoria, southern New South Wales and south-east Queensland.
Missions to Indigenous Australians and others were important to Lutherans, and were established in southern and central Australia, Queensland, New Zealand and in New Guinea.
The Lutheran Archives collection is comprised of congregation records from all around Australia. It covers the records of national and district agencies and departments of the church, including New Guinea mission records and some New Zealand material. We hold significant collections of Bibles, Luther’s works and other religious books, as well as artefacts and photographs.
Parish registers are indexed for each individual entry. Photographs and books are catalogued at item level.
Basic catalogues and series descriptions exist for the mission records and post-WW II migration of displaced persons.
Indexes and catalogues are available for searching in-house, or register indexes can be sent electronically to researchers.
A Guide to records of indigenous Australians in the Lutheran Archives, Adelaide, SA / A publication of the Archives Working Group of the Cultural Ministers Council. 1999.
Reference assistance available in the reading room. Access to indexes, catalogues and finding aids. Transcription and German translation services available (the majority of records until WW I are in Suetterlin German script). Research can be conducted by archivists for external researchers.
Refer to website for fees.