The next day after our epic trip to Glen Helen and Mount Sonder Dot and I purchased seats on an expedition to Hermannsburg and Palm Valley, two more stunning locations in Central Australia.
The most famous resident was the Aboriginal artist, Namatjira. But remember too the harsh regime that saw him imprisoned for supplying alcohol to Aborigines leading to his early death. He deserved much better.
You can learn to count in Arrernte, the local language.
Hermannsburg had an interesting gestation which can be read up on the internet. Basically it was a Christian mission set up amidst traditional Aboriginal peoples by the Lutheran church. Perhaps the name is a give-away and perhaps the arrival of German settlers and their religion in Central Australia is not so outlandish when we recall that many German settlers reached South Australia and founded such settlements as Hahndorf in the Barrossa Valley north of Adelaide. German settlers bid for pastoral rights in the Northern Territory which was then controlled from Adelaide.
The construction of the Lutheran mission was a fraught process, hampered by poor weather, remoteness, dreadful communications and so on. Building materials, equipment and so on had to be dragged vast distances. Today, the historic compound is now a museum to life in the last half of the 19th century in remote location - and surrounded by a relatively modern Aboriginal township, though there doesn't seem much for the locals to do on their land.
Have a look at the historic bit, and remember how unbelievably remote this location is.
The most famous resident was the Aboriginal artist, Namatjira. But remember too the harsh regime that saw him imprisoned for supplying alcohol to Aborigines leading to his early death. He deserved much better.
You can learn to count in Arrernte, the local language.
Much of the historic settlement appears quaint and in need of some maintenance.
AS
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