Lutheran missionaries Hermann Kemp and Wilhelm F Schwarz established the Hermannsburg Mission in 1877 in the traditional lands of the Western Aranda people.
The Traditional Lands where the Hermannsburg mission was established is know as Ntaria, Ntaria is a sacred site west southwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory Australia.
In the early days of the Hermannsburg mission it became a refuge for the Aranda people from the encroachment of graziers on their lands, and the police who protected them.
The Western Arrernte People are an indigenous tribe of Central Australia. Anthropologists believe that they are the descendants of the first people to have arrived in Australia more than 40 thousand years ago, the western arrernte language was documented by linguist and anthropologist Carl Strehlow.
Their tribal lands lie in the Western MacDonnell Ranges, an area characterized by red desert, stunted trees, spinifex, rugged mountains, deep gorges, and arid plains. Hermannsburg lies on the Finke River within the rolling hills of the MacDonnell Ranges, It is some of the most spectacular and harshest country in Australia.
The Arrernte people prospered in the hardy conditions by living as an organized community, one in which each member played an important role. Men would carve weapons and utilize their remarkable tracking abilities to hunt. Women would collect honey ants, prepare food and care for the children. Tribal elders used medicine to heal the sick and would perform sacred ceremonies to replenish the natural world.
The Lutheran missionaries had nearly no contact with Aboriginal people in the first few months after first arriving, a group of 15 Arrernte men visited the mission camping near the settlement. Realizing that communication was difficult, the missionaries quickly learnt the local Arrernte language, developing a 54-page dictionary of 1750 words which was published in 1890.
As more missionaries arrived late 1877 accompanying three additional lay workers, five buildings were complete by December 1878. By 1880 a church was constructed with the assistance of Aboriginal labor and the first church service took place on 12 November followed by school on 14 November.
Hostilities escalated in 1883 during a drought which saw local Aboriginal people hunt wandering stock. Severe droughts during 1897-8 and again in 1903 meant poor food production and an influx of Aboriginal people.
The mission was struck by drought again in 1927 causing ill health and scurvy, this caused another influx of Aboriginal people and 85 per cent of Aboriginal children died during this time.
Missionary and pastor Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht who was also superintendent at Hermannsburg mission was integral to the development of the Kuprilya Springs Pipeline which piped water from a permanent water hole six kilometres to the mission. It was funded in part by Melbourne artist Violet Teague and her sister Una and completed on 1 October 1935 to the screeches of “Kwatja! Kwatja!” (meaning water).
Albrecht also developed various other enterprises such as a large vegetable garden and orchard, beef cattle ranching and a tannery. He also supported the development of the Hermannsburg Art School Movement, first in the decoration of arts and crafts for tourists and then the watercolour landscape artists, which became one of the special heritages of the Hermannsburg area.
Hermannsburg Art School movement in the 1930’s made famous by Renowned Aboriginal Artist Albert Namatjira. The movement is characterised by artworks using watercolours of western-style landscapes that depict the often-striking colours of the Australian outback.
Albert Namatjira began his distinctive style after seeing an exhibition by travelling artists to the mission, the exhibition of his artworks was arranged by Pastor Albrecht and featured landscape watercolour artworks by Rex Battarbee and John Gardner, who had set off on a painting trip to Central Australia.
The two artists travelled in a Model T Ford adapted as a caravan. The pair reached Hermannsburg mission and painted in the surrounding country, met with the missionaries and many local Aboriginal people. Over the two-day exhibition more than 300 Arrernte people attended, they stood enchanted and amazed at the sight of their tribal lands portrayed in a new artistic form.
The exhibition fired Albert’s imagination and interest to learn the new craft. It would bring him fame, freedom but also despair as he became thrust into a challenging new world.
In 1936 Battarbee returned unaccompanied to the mission and gave Albert his first lessons in watercolour painting. In about 1940 Battarbee moved to Central Australia. This put him closer to Albert and his burgeoning artistic career. It also enabled him to help other emerging Aboriginal artists who were becoming inspired by what Albert was achieving with his art.
In the 1940s and 50s Battarbee acted as member and chairman for the Aranda Arts Council. After this time, he continued to promote and support the Hermannsburg artists and also opened up a gallery from his home in Alice Springs called Tmara-Mara where played an instrumental role in promoting Aboriginal artworks and culture to a worldwide audience.
Other artists from the Hermannsburg school include Wenten Rubuntja, Walter Ebatarinja, Henoch and Herbert Raberaba brothers, Otto Pareroultja, and his brothers Ruben and Edwin, not to mention Albert’s sons, Enos, Oscar, Ewald, Maurice and Keith and his grandson Gabriel.
The Hermannsburg painters’ work is characterized by soft hues, usually water colours, of their Western Arrernte landscape, which European settlers named the Western MacDonnell Ranges. Previously, Western Arrernte people had only used art in a ceremonial sense, as topographical interpretations of their country and their particular Dreaming’s, painted using symbols.
Early works by Albert also conveyed this spiritual connection with the land. They shared an intimate knowledge of the land on which they had lived for thousands of years. The Ghost Gum features prominently in the artworks, a sacred and important part of Western Arrernte mythology.
Albert Namatjira’s first student was Walter Ebatarinja, an owner of the country around Ntaria (Hermannsburg) and husband of Namatjira’s niece, this kinship to country and family meant he would be taught first.
Soon after, Namatjira’s sons Enos, Oscar, Ewald, Keith and Maurice, and son-in-law Benjamin Landara, would join him on painting trips. By 1950, community members including Otto, Edwin and Reuben Pareroultja; Henoch and Herbert Raberaba; Claude Pannka; Gustav Malbunka; Adolf Inkamala; and Richard Moketarinja joined the movement. Cordula Ebatarinja.
Namatjira’s niece and wife of Walter Ebatarinja, also joined in 1950, becoming one of the first Aboriginal women artists recognized by the art world.
When Albert moved from the mission to Alice Springs, many of his family and painting mates followed, looking for greater access to economic markets and essential services, outside of the control of the mission. Unable to access accommodation and other basic services, they lived at Morris Soak, a fringe camp outside of the town, which still exists.
The unique styles developed by many of these first-generation artists have been retained as a family style by their descendants. Following years of exploitation, the artists formed Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands Art Centre), a place for the children and grandchildren of Namatjira and his contemporaries to continue this important Aboriginal and Australian art tradition.
The Arrernte artists see the landscape according to their own cultural beliefs and paint their subjects with this in mind. By embracing the Western technique, the Arrernte artists were able to satisfy their own cultural desires whilst sharing the beauty of their land to a wider audience. Their success paved the way for the foundation of other schools of indigenous artwork across Australia.
The land was handed over to traditional ownership in 1982 under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, and the area is now heritage-listed.