July 4, 7.30pm, Burnside Uniting Church
Christine Lockwood
Missionary to the Kaurna: Christian Gottlob Teichelmann, a forthright man of compassion, conviction and endurance
Christian Gottlob Teichelmann was one of the first two missionaries to work among the Aboriginal people of South Australia. He worked among the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains from 1838 to 1846. Sent by the Dresden Mission Society to ‘share the gospel of God’s grace’, Teichelmann became an advocate for justice for Aboriginal people and sharp critic of colonial policy and practice as he sought to share the gospel while providing for Aboriginal needs. He was finally defeated by inadequate financial support, colonial opposition to his agenda, the migratory nature of Kaurna society and its destruction under colonisation.
Teichelmann’s influence can be seen in the first school for Aboriginal children in South Australia, the reservation of some Aboriginal land, and the modern-day reclamation of Kaurna language and identity based on his and his colleague’s records of the Kaurna language.
Biography
Christine Lockwood’s PhD thesis was entitled ‘The Two Kingdoms: Lutheran Missionaries and the British Civilizing Mission in Early South Australia’ (University of Adelaide 2014). She has written articles, presented papers and contributed to books in her field. Her interest in the impact of Christian missions and in cross-cultural communication, change and accommodation stems from living in Papua New Guinea for 17 years, working with foreign students in the USA where she lived for 11 years, teaching English as a foreign language, and raising children in three countries.