H.A.E. Meyer

Portrait of Heinrich August Eduard Meyer, Lutheran missionary and student of the customs and language of the Ngarrindjeri people.

The Evangelical-Lutheran Mission Society of Dresden, Germany, was founded in 1819. Although its main work involved sending missionaries to India, in 1838 the society sent two missionaries - Pastor Teichelmann and Pastor Schurmann - to South Australia to work with the Aboriginal people. In 1840 they were joined by Pastors Meyer and Klose. Meyer worked as a missionary to the Aboriginal people at Encounter Bay until 1848 when he was appointed to and served the Bethany community until 1862.

Australian Aboriginal languages became endangered following European contact which began in earnest with white settlement in 1788. It is estimated that at this time there were over 250 different Aboriginal Languages in use. Aboriginal people were forced to speak English in order to receive rations, to go to school, and to have some way of defending their rights.

In contrast to this, much work was done towards the study, recording and translation of Aboriginal languages and customs by these early Lutheran missionaries, including Meyer, who was a gifted language student and produced two publications about the language and customs of the Ngarrindjeri people. At the time the main aim of the missionaries in this study was to convert people to Christianity, and now such works are invaluable as a major source for the reclamation of the languages and customs of South Australian Aboriginal nations.

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