Trinity Lutheran Church
In 1892 a new brick church was built in Doncaster by the Lutheran congregation. The church of red brick stands on the side of the hill in Victoria Street. The origins of the church go back to the 1850's, when a German settlement was formed in Doncaster. After the land had been cleared and farms established, the settlers began to think of spiritual matters. A congregation was formed and services were held in private homes. In 1858, meetings were held to plan the building of a church. Those who attended were Thiele, Straube, Walther, Simon, Whittig, Fromhold, Steicher, Aumann, Hanke, Lenkerstoff, Gunther, Fuhrmann and Zander.
The church they built was 40 feet long by 20 feet wide and 12 feet high. The walls were constructed of poles with laths plastered with mud. The roof was covered with shingles and the floor was paved with stone.
The cost was:
- 3 windows in the side walls £ 6/0/0
- 2 half windows in east wall £1/0/0
- 1 double door £2/0/0
- 1500 shingles £15/0/0
- 500 feet of laths £4/0/0
- 3000 splices £4/10/0
- nails, tie clips, etc. £3/0/0
- labour for erection £13/0/0
After thirty years the building began to deteriorate. When mud started to fall off the walls they were covered with timber, and the leaking roof replaced. Soon the cost of repairs became too high so it was agreed to build a new church.
To avoid the climb up the steep hill a new site was chosen. A piece of land was purchased from the estate of Mr. Carl Aumann Senior. Significantly, this site was alongside the house where many of the first services were held. One of Melbourne's leading architects, John Kock, was commissioned to design the church which was built by Mr. Freeman. The cost was £1,303/4/4 and such was the enthusiasm that the building was opened free of debt.
The new church was dedicated by Pastor Herlity on 21st April, 1892. Visitors came from Melbourne, Scoresby, Harkaway and other places. A brass band forms by members of the church led the procession from the old church to the new. After the service a sumptuous lunch was served by the women of the church and then another service was held in English as so many English visitors had attended.
Trinity Lutheran Church is built of red brick with white painted cement facings. Above the slate roof is a bell tower of white painted timber topped by a steep pitched hexagonal slate roof. The interior with the sun shining through the stained glass windows has a bright fresh atmosphere. The furniture arrangement is typical of Lutheran ideas. The altar is close to the congregation. The choir and organ are at the rear in a choir gallery, to avoid any idea of a concert performance. Originally the pulpit was above the altar with steps leading up from the side. This high pulpit was often facetiously referred to as the "Crow's Nest".
During 1956 renovations were carried out to the interior and the pulpit was moved to the left side of the church. A large crucifix, carved from Canadian Cedar, was placed in the arch under the altar. At the rear, a large rose window fills the gothic arch and a delicate cast iron spiral staircase leads up to the choir gallery. The organ is a Spencer University type three manual.
When Pastor Schramm died in 1907 and Pastor Held came to Doncaster, a manse was required. John Kock was again called on. He designed a house to fit in with the architecture of the church. In 1932 a hall was built directly behind the church. With the present-day settler in the district the activities of the church have grown. In 1976 a new well-appointed hall was opened.
 |
| Trinity Lutheran Church, Victoria Street, Doncaster. Hall at rear. Manse (minister's residence) at right. Church built in 1892. Manse built in 1910. DTHS-dp0455 |
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1977 08 DTHS Newsletter
WALDAU CHURCH 1858-1892
When the new Trinity Lutheran Church was built a colourful procession led the congregation from the Waldau Church.
The old building was sold and moved to a nearby orchard where it was used as a barn.
The site remained empty till the Lutheran Church donated the land to the City of Doncaster and Templestowe for Schramm's Cottage.
The Cottage now stands on the position of the old Church.
Source: 1977 08 DTHS Newsletter
Original wattle and daub Lutheran Church at Waldau Hill, Doncaster drawn by the painter, Eugene Von Guerard. The original sketch is in the Dixson Library, Sydney, and has an inscription in German "German Church at Waldau, May 5, 1859". Schramm's Cottage now occupies the site of the church. DP0090 (NOTE: Bismark St (now George St) had already been cut into the hill creating a steep embankment)
Anniversary at Doncaster
Trinity Lutheran church, Doncaster will celebrate its 95th anniversary tomorrow when, visitors from various parts of victoria and inter-State will be present. Rev. P. Schere will preach at 11a.m. At 3 p.m. there will be a mission festival when the speaker will be Rev. E. Helbig, a missionary educationist from New Guinea. The original members of this church were among the first fruitgrowers in the Doncaster area when it was still known as Waldau, and today the congregation still consists predominantly of orchardists. The pioneer church of what was then largely a German settlement, It served most members of the com-munity in those days. Five years later the Church of England was established and afterwards the Method-ist and Church of Christ.Source: 1953 'Anniversary at Doncaster', The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 2 May, p. 16. , viewed 22 May 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206440062
Trinity Lutheran
The first church in Doncaster was built by the small Lutheran congregation at Waldau on the present day site of Schramm’s Cottage in Victoria Street.In 1858, after the congregation had previously conducted worship services in the homes of members, it was decided at a special meeting of the congregation to build a church on land offered by Mr. J. F. Straube. They planned a church 40 feet long, 20 feet wide and 12 feet high. The walls were to be constructed of poles and laths plastered with mud. The roof was to be covered with shingles and the floor paved with stone.
August Lenkerstorf, carpenter and member of the congregation, was asked to carry out the building construction with the help of congregational members.
 |
| The original lutheran church on Waldau Hill built in 1858 |
The church, built at a cost of £48, was dedicated by Pastor M. Goethe on 26th December 1858. Services were conducted in the German language. On Sunday afternoons, Holy Trinity Church of England used the church for their worship services. The church bell was an important part of the life of the Waldau community. It was rung daily at sunrise, midday and sunset to mark the time of day for workers on the hillsides and the valleys of surrounding orchards. It was also rung for ten minutes before every worship service and to announce the death of a member of the congregation.
A small burial ground was laid out around the church. Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, Director of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, donated shrubs and cypress trees for the garden. In all, 125 people – 80 children and 45 adults were buried in the cemetery before it was closed in 1888.
By 1890 the church building had begun to deteriorate. When mud started to fall off the walls, they were lined with timber, and the leaking roof had to be replaced. The increasing cost of maintenance was questioned, and a meeting of the congregation was called to consider the building of a new and more substantial church.
A site was purchased from the estate of Mr. Carl Aumann senior, and prominent architect J.A.B. Koch was asked to draw plans for a new church. Built by G. W. Freeman at a cost of £1,303 ($2,606) the church was opened on 21st April 1892. A brass band formed by members of the congregation led a procession from the old church to the new.
Max Schramm was the first resident pastor of the congregation, but lived in his own home. After his death in 1907, a manse was built for the new minister, Pastor S. Held.
In 1932, the congregation built a small hall at the rear and in 1976 a new hall incorporating a community kindergarten was erected.
Source: Doncaster A Short History 2013 - Eric Collyer, 2013, DTHS
 |
| Google Street View Dec2014 |
Trinity Lutheran Church
51-53 Victoria Street - Of State significance as rare church design by the great domestic, commercial and public building architect J. A. B. Koch. One of the few nineteenth century public buildings in Doncaster and particularly intact. The palms add to the significance of the setting. |
| 1990 VHD-22408 |
 |
| 1990 VHD-22408 |
Source: http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/22408
Trinity Lutheran Church
Foundation Stone Laid: 00-00-1892: "ERBAUT - 1892". Plaque by "National Trust of Australia - Victoria - Trinity - Lutheran Church - Doncaster - Built 1892 - Architect J A B Kock - Classified". Now also used by Chinese Lutheran Church of Victoria.
Source: http://www.churchesaustralia.org/list-of-churches/denominations/lutheran/directory/104-trinity-lutheran-church
Trinity Lutheran Church - 51-53 Victoria Street, Doncaster
HISTORY This church was constructed in 1892, thirty-nine years after the church was founded in 1853-54. This is a rare church designed by the architect John A.B. Koch (he did alterations to the German Lutheran Church, Parliament Place, East Melbourne and designed its manse in 1890). Koch was asked to submit plans for the manse, and it is said to have been built to his design,[136] it is quite different in style to that at East Melbourne. The palms were planted c1916 to replace two trees (given by von Mueller) that failed to thrive. These palms are of great religious significance as palm fronds were carried by the crowd when they went to meet Jesus (John 12:13). Comparable to Doncaster Holy Trinity and Doncaster Church of Christ. The belfrys at Holy Trinity and the Lutheran are comparable. Also the Shire Hall. The German Lutheran church and manse, Parliament Place. Both the Church and the Manse appear substantially intact and in excellent condition.DESCRIPTION
The church is a red brick building, with rendered dressings and mouldings and a slate roof. There are three bays on the 'west' front, with lancets and a wheel window above. It is five bays deep. The bays are separated by buttresses between lancets. There is a whimsical belfry in timber. It has scale slates on the lower section and a cast-iron finial. The roof is a candle-snuffer. There are cast-rion wall-vents at mid-wall and skirting height in every bay. There is a brick wall respectfully behind the main axis, and two palms complete to complete the symmetrical composition. The pair of mature palms are Canary Island Palms (Phoenix canariensis), with Box hedge surrounds.
Condition: Excellent, Integrity: Intact
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Of State significance as rare church design by the great domestic, commercial and public building architect J. A. B. Koch. One of the few nineteenth century public buildings in Doncaster and particularly intact. The palms add to the significance of the setting.
Source: Heritage Register Listings Place No. 168
Manningham Heritage Study Context Pty. Ltd. page 91 Extra Research Conservation Management
BIBLIOGRAPHY [136] Delma Haack, Trinity Lutheran Church, pers. comm.
http://images.heritage.vic.gov.au/attachment/3358
Trinity Lutheran Church(1)
53 Victoria St. Doncaster (193.17a)This church was constructed in 1892, thirty-nine years after the church was founded in 1853-54. This is a rare church designed by the architect John A. B. Koch. (he did alterations to the German Lutheran Church, Parliament Place, East Melbourne, and designed its manse in 1890). Koch was asked to submit plans for the manse, and it is said to have been built to his design(2); it is quite different in style to that at East Melbourne.
The church is a red brick building, with ren-dered dressings and mouldings and a slate roof. There are three bays on the "west" front, with lancets and a wheel window above. It is five bays deep. The bays are separated by buttresses between lancets. There is a whimsical belfry in timber. It has scale slates on the lower section and a cast-iron finial. The roof is a candle-snuffer. There are cast-iron wall-vents at mid-wall and skirting height in every bay. There is a brick hall respectfully behind on the main axis, and two palms to complete the symmetrical composition.
The pair of mature palms are Canary Island Palms (Phoenix canariensis), with Box hedge surrounds. The palms were planted c1916 to replace two trees (given by von Mueller) that failed to thrive. These palms are of great reli-gious significance as palm fronds were carried by the crowd when they went to meet Jesus (John 12:13).
Comparable to Doncaster Holy Trinity and Doncaster Church of Christ. The belfrys at Holy Trinity and the Lutheran are comparable. Also the Shire Hall. The German Lutheran church and manse, Parliament Place. Both the Church and Manse appear substan-tially intact and in excellent condition.
Of State significance as rare church design by the great domestic, commercial and public building architect J A B Koch. One of the few nineteenth century public buildings in Doncaster and particularly intact. The palms add to the significance of the setting.
1. National Trust of Australia (Victoria) file No 5956; Trinity Lutheran Church: Past Waldau and into the future, undated booklet produced by the church.
2. Delma Haack. Trinity Lutheran church, pers. comm.
Source: City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study 1991 Richard Peterson. p96
http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/file/26126/download
Trinity Lutheran Church
53 Victoria St., Doncaster.On 21 April 1892, the Trinity Lutheran Church at Doncaster, designed by the important Victorian architect, JAB Koch, was dedicated. This was the second Lutheran Church built for the Waldau German Lutheran farming community at Doncaster. It replaced an earlier 1858 timber church(400) The first church( on the site of the present musuem complex) was designed by Friedrich Straube, donor of the land. The former church was sold to Carl Aumann for use as a barn(401)
The Waldau settlement at Doncaster was one of a number of German communities established in Victoria in the 1850s.0ther major settlements were at Westgarthtown (now Thomastown), Germantown (Grovedale near Geelong), Hawthorn, Harkaway near Berwick, and in the Western District. An important task of such communities was the building of a Lutheran church, school and cemetery(402)
The opening service of the 1892 Doncaster Church was attended by members ofother German communities at Melbourne, Harkaway and Scoresby. The new brick building was constructed at a cost of 1300 pounds on a half acre allotment in Victoria Street(then Bismark Street). The land had been purchased from the Aumann estate40)
Lutheran Church and other records confirm that the chosen architect was the distinguished German Lutheran, JAB Koch. The builder was GW Freeman(404). The building has the distinction of being the only church designed by this notable architect. John AB Koch(1845-1928) was born in Hamburn, the son ofJohann Christian Koch, a joiner. The Koch family migrated tto Melbourne in 1855. Koch designed over 60 buildings in Richmond, where he was appointed city architect in 1887, and at Hawthorn, where he lived from 1896. Earlier, in I873,Koch was appointed architect to the City of Melbourne. During that time, he was responsible for the design of the German Club(1885) in Alfred Place and work on the Women's and Melbourne Hospitals.
Koch used the Gothic style jn his church work. He only designed the Lutheran Church and Manse at Doncaster but also the Parsonage( 1890) next door to the East Melbourne Lutheran Church of which he was a member. An important member of Melbourne's German community, Koch was mayor of Richmond and President of the Royal Victorian Institute ofArchitects in 1903-1904. He ceased practice in 1913 to concentrate on his hobbies of carpentry, cabinetmaking and inventing. Koch died at Hawthorn and is buried in the Boroondara Cemetery(405)
A hall was built behind the church in 1932 for use as a Sunday School and meeting place for church groups. It was designed by the architect,PW Murfett. In 1956, extensive alterations were made to the sanctuary of the church comprising relocation of the organ to the choir gallery, and modification and relocation of the pulpit against the south wall. Most of the original furniture was repolished. Following these renovations, the church was rededicated on 26 May 1957(406)
A new larger hall and kindergarten was completed in 1976 designed by the architect, V. Ziersch, and built with a high proportion of voluntary labour under the supervision of the builder, G. Orgell.(407)
Of State historical Significance as a rare church design by the great domestic, commercial and public building architect,JAB Koch. One of the few remaining 19th century buildings in Doncaster and of importance for its associations with the local German farming community. It is one of three historic places (church, manse and cemetery) associated with that community.
400 Haacke and Postlethwaite,p.13
401 Haacke and Postlethwaite,p.13.
402 Robert Wuchatsch, Westgarthtown, The German Settlement at Thomastown,pp.46,52,53,54.
403 Haacke and Postlethwaite,p.18.
404 Haacke and Potlethwaite;BEM1, 19 Dec.1891 ;ABCN,9 Jan.1892; Victorian Churches,ed.Miles Lewis,p.68;National Trust File No.5956.
405 Australian Dictionary of Biography,vol.9,pp.632-633.
406 Haacke and Postlethwaite,pp.33-34.
407 Haacke and Postlethwaite,pp 33-34.
Source: Doncaster & Templestowe Heritage Study 1994 Carlotta Kellaway Additional Research p64
http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/file/26136/download
 |
| Pulpit of Trinity Lutheran Church, Victoria Street, Doncaster. Originally a high pulpit over the altar. DTHS-dp0088. Photo: Irvine Green |
 |
| Stand for prayer book. Donated to Trinity Lutheran Church in 1957 by Mrs Seline Finger, in memory of her late husband Ferdinand Finger. DTHS-dp0456 Photo: Irvine Green, 1992 |
Trinity Lutheran Anniversary
One hundred years ago, in April 1892, the congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church marched out of the old wattle and daub church, that stood on the site of Schramm's Cottage. Led by the Lutheran brass band, they went in procession up Bismark Street to their new brick church.
Trinity Lutheran Band 1890s - Aumann, Charles|Fromhold, Henry|Finger, Ferdinand|Zerbe, Fred|Winter, Frederick|Schuhkraft, Frederick|Aumann, Carl|Zerbe, August|Aumann, August|Hanke, Ernest|Thiele, Henry|Aumann, Bill DP0329
Celebrations marking the centenary of Trinity Lutheran Church at Doncaster in 1958. People entering the church. Eric Thiele holds the cross and Harold Aumann holds the flag. Ted Aumann is under the flag, and Linda Aumann is in the arms of her mother Gwen Aumann. Doncaster Lohe, Dr|Stolz, Pastor|Bogle, Dave|Thiele, Eric|Pech, Herman (Pastor)|Aumann, Harold|Aumann, Ted|Aumann, Gwen|Aumann, Linda|Trinity Lutheran Church|Scanned images | Drakeford, Fred Photo: Fred Drakeford DP0969
Celebrations marking the centenary of Trinity Lutheran Church at Doncaster in 1958. Coming up the path. Eric Thiele, holding the cross, leads the people into the church. Harold Aumann carries the flag but is obscured by Dave Bogle. | Soderlund, Ralph|Pech, Herman (Pastor)|Thiele, Eric|Stolz, Pastor|Bogle, Dave|Aumann, Harold|Lohe, Dr.|Scanned images | Drakeford, Fred | Photo: Fred Drakeford DP0970
Under the shade of a hundred year old oak tree, the book, "The Fruitful Years" was launched. To celebrate the centenary of the brick Trinity Lutheran Church, this publication was prepared by two members of our society, Delma Haack and Glenys Postlethwaite.
Twenty-one years ago when the historical society was looking for a site to relocate Schramm's Cottage, the Lutheran Church donated their old church site and cemetery as a new home for Schramm's Cottage. As the land contained a cemetery it could not be sold privately so the land had remained idle for nearly eighty years. Easter Day that year, Pastor Paul Zweck held a dawn service in the cemetery. Since then the Easter Dawn service has become a regular event on the north lawn at Schramm's Cottage. This year the service was held at 6.30 on Easter Sunday, but a new feature was a later service held by the newly-formed Chinese Lutheran Church. After the service the Chinese stayed for lunch in the grounds and the children enjoyed an Easter egg hunt.
Source: 1992 06 DTHS Newsletter
Doncaster, VIC - Lutheran (20612)
Year Built: 1892. Denomination: Lutheran. Address: 51 Victoria Street, Doncaster, Victoria, 3108
Last Updated: 10/01/2021
History and Architecture:
The first church was built in 1858.
The new church was built in 1892. The Architect was J.A. Koch. Built of red brick the building has rendered dressings and mouldings with a slate roof. The church has belfry made of timber with scale slates on the lower section and a cast iron wall vents at mid-wall.
Clergy:
This list may not contain every serving cleric, past or present, for this church.
Years Name Annotation D.o.B D.o.D
1876 - 1908 Pastor M.V. Schramm
1908 - 1912 Pastor R. Held
1912 - 1915 Pastor G. Hegelau
1915 - 1920 Pastor A. Fehlberg
1920 - 1947 Pastor J. Simpfendorfer
1948 - 1954 Pastor P. Scherer
Organ:
In 1917 the old organ was replaced by a Spencer University type three manual and pedal type.
Extracts:
Centenary Trinity Lutheran Congregation Doncaster 1858 - 1958. LTP 284.19451 C33D
Source: Australian Christian Church Histories viewed Dec2021
No comments:
Post a Comment