Doncaster (Waldau) Lutheran Congregation (Eric Collyer. Extract from "A German church in the garden of God")

Doncaster (Waldau) Congregation - Eric Collyer

In 1853, several German families settled in the Doncaster area when land that had been subdivided from large estates became available for purchase.  They first called the area in which they settled Breslau, as they had, for the most part, emigrated from the Gorlitz district of the Province of Silesia and from neighbouring Saxony.(1)

Some of these settlers were, at the time, members of Trinity Lutheran Church, East Melbourne. An early edition of "Der Pilger in Victoria" published by Pastor Goethe in September 1853 made the following reference to this settlement:
The German settlement of Breslau.(2) Several German families recently purchased 750 acres of land in the vicinity of Templestowe on the Yarra, about ten miles from Melbourne. There they intend to establish a German village to be called Breslau. Some weeks ago a meeting was held at that very place and it was decided to make the following announcement:

We, the undersigned landowners in the Colony of Victoria, have decided that Section 9 a b and Section 10 situated near Templestowe in the County of Bulleen should be known henceforth as Breslau.

Straube, Helbrig, Walther, Rienitz, Gruenert, Kaiser, Simon, Schultz, Gottlieb Thiele, Gottfried Thiele, Christian Finger sen., Christian Finger jun., Wilhelm Finger, Heinrich Finger and Pastor Goethe(3)
Extract from Der Pilger in Victoria September 1853


Within two years, others had arrived including the Aumann, Tucheband, Fuhrmann, Wittig, Lenkerstorf(f), Hanke, Zander, Gunther, Berger, Meyer, Stecher, Leber, Pump, Uebergang and Schuhkraft families.(4)

These stout-hearted and god-fearing people worked hard to establish their modest homes of wattle and daub and clear sufficient land to plant the first crops of wheat, vegetables and berry fruits. Vines and fruit trees were also planted in small numbers as early as 1854. The sale of this produce, together with eggs and butter, at the Melbourne market provided the first meagre income. This was supplemented by the sale of timber for firewood as the land was progressively cleared.

The area was well suited to fruit growing and in time Doncaster and Templestowe became the leading fruit growing district in Victoria. Lutheran families were prominent among orchardists and some of these made notable contributions to the development of the fruit growing industry.

Orchards at Waldau, c. 1870. In the centre is ’Friedensruh', the property of Gottlieb Thiele. The present Trinity Lutheran Church is located where the two buildings on the hill can be seen at the top left (E. Collyer).

Although the early years were times of hardship and frugality for many of those pioneers, strength came from their devout faith and trust in a loving and provident God.

It would appear from early records that a congregation was in existence by 1856. For a few years families met for worship in private homes, usually the home of Carl Aumann sen. or Friedrich Straube. In the absence of a pastor, Gottlieb Thiele and Friedrich Straube acted as lay readers. From time to time, Pastor Goethe visited the Lutheran settlers at Waldau(5) as the settlement had by that time become known, to conduct evening services and administer the sacraments. In the summer months, he thought nothing of walking the distance from Melbourne, arriving in the late afternoon, but in the colder months of winter, members of the Melbourne congregation would bring him by carriage as far as the metalled road went. There he was met by a Waldau member, usually Mr W. Hanke, who would bring him the rest of the way.(6) In all probability, Pastor Goethe would have stayed overnight with his sister Maria Anna who in 1856, married Gottfried Thiele and lived at Waldau.

The first church is built

At a meeting held in the home of ‘Father’ Aumann in April 1858, the congregation decided to proceed with the building of a house of worship and elected a building committee to make the necessary preparations. Friedrich Straube donated one acre of his land for the church property. Plans were approved for the erection of a chapel forty feet long, twenty feet wide and twelve feet high, of timber and plaster construction with a shingle roof. August Lenkerstorf(f), local carpenter, and Gottfried- Walther offered to build the church with help from other men of the congregation.(7)

The following estimate was submitted to the congregation by the trustees and building committee:

In each of the two long walls:
  • 3 windows @ £l = £6
In the east gable wall:
  • 2 half windows @ 10s = £1
  • 1 double door = £2
  • 1,500 palings @ 20s per hundred = £15
  • 500 feet of laths @ 20s per hundred = £4
  • 3000 shingles = £4 10s
  • nails, tie clips, etc = £3
  • labour for erection = £13
  • Total:  = £48 10s
The church, the first to be built in Doncaster, was dedicated by Pastor Goethe on 26 December 1858 in the presence of a large gathering of members and visitors. In November 1859, a tea meeting was held at the church to raise funds for the purchase of a church bell and the completion of some unfinished details to the interior of the church.(9)

The following resolutions were adopted at a meeting of the congregation held at the close of 1859:

1. That only those persons who receive Holy Communion in the church he regarded as members of the congregation,
2. That members of the congregation pay 15s for the grave of an adult and 12s for the grave of a child under ten years of age.
3. That the charge for a reserved grave be £2.
4. That in the case of people who are not members of the congregation, the charge for the grave of an adult be £1 and of a child under the age of ten years 15s.
5. That the charge for a reserved family section be in keeping with the number of graves.
6. That for the digging of a grave and the setting of a border around the grave, the gravedigger be paid 10s in the case of adults and 8s in the case of children.
7. That plans for the layout of a cemetery be prepared.
8. That children and adults be buried in separate sections.
9. That a man be appointed as sexton and gravedigger and that he be permitted to erect a home for himself on a part of the cemetery allocated to him.
10. That before the commencement of the main church services, the church bell be rung for ten minutes and that this also be done before the commencement of all official acts in the congregation.
11. That after the death of a member of the congregation, the bell be rang for fifteen minutes at 10.00 a.m. and also prior to the arrival of the casket at the grave.
12. That every day the bell be rung three times, at the rising and setting of the sun and at 12 o’clock noon.
13. That in addition to a quarterly collection, the sexton receive an annual salary of £4.(10)

Waldau cemetery: The headstones of Carl Samuel Aumann and Henry Finger in the old Waldau Cemetery at Doncaster. 1920's. Waldau Cemetery, graves of Henry finger and Carl Aumann, c. 1930 (Doncaster and Templestowe Historical Society). DP0561 

The church, a landmark on Waldau Hill for many years, was the focal point of the Lutheran community. Services were conducted each Sunday at 10.00 a.m. and on church festival days. Evening services were held whenever a pastor was available to officiate. On Sunday afternoons, the congregation of Holy Trinity Church of England used the church for worship services until such time as they built their own church in 1868-69.(11)

View of Waldau Hill with first church, 1859. The caption on this pen drawing by Eugene von Guerard reads (translated): German Lutheran Church at Waldau, Victoria, 2 March 1859 (Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales).



Friedrich Straube's home at Waldau which stood near the church (Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales).


Following a resolution adopted by the congregation in 1859, plans were prepared for the layout of a cemetery in front of the church. Three burials had already taken place on the site while it was still private property as there was no other cemetery in the area at the time.
Trees and shrubs from the Botanical Gardens were planted in the church grounds in 1862.12
Following road, excavations that had taken place in Bismarck Street (now Victoria Street) in 1888, there was evidence of seepage from the cemetery into nearby Ruffey Creek, which at the time still supplied water for domestic requirements. Because of the risk this posed to public health, the cemetery was closed by order of the Board of Health in October 1888, after forty-five adults and eighty children had been laid to rest there.

In later years, many monuments suffered extensive damage through acts of vandalism. The cemetery is now part of the Schramm’s Cottage museum complex.

Christmas at Waldau in 1860

Christmas was an important festival in the life of the church community and this nostalgic description of a celebration held on Christmas Eve 1860 is reprinted from early records of the congregation:

At 5.00 p.m. the tea meeting for which many German and English people had assembled was opened with a hymn and prayer in the shade of a few trees. Later as darkness set in, the church lights and candles on the Christmas tree were lit and the gathering, among whom were about fifty children, was invited by the ringing of the bell to enter the church. After a number of addresses given by Pastor Goethe and others, Christmas gifts were distributed among the children and everything taken off the tree. At about 10.00 p.m. the celebration was closed with a hymn and prayer.(13)

A school is established

An early attempt to establish a day school in 1856 did not eventuate and the responsibility for the education of their children remained with parents themselves. However, in 1860 the congregation resolved that a school be established and, at the suggestion of Gottlieb Thiele, invited Max von Schramm to become teacher.(14) He accepted the offer of appointment and, after being found proficient for the position by Pastor Goethe, was inducted on Ascension day 17 May 1860. School was held in the church and in addition to the teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic, special emphasis was given to the Christian education of children. Instruction was given in the German language. The school day began with the singing of a hymn, short devotion and prayer, and the memorising of hymns, scripture verses and psalms was an important part of the curriculum. A school committee was elected by the congregation with responsibility of inspecting the school each month.(15) Members of this committee were Gottlieb Thiele, Carl Aumann sen. and F. Meyer.

The church became too small as enrolments increased and, in 1863, application was made to the Board of Education(16) for a building grant to erect a larger school. However, as parents were unable to match the grant, the application lapsed and Max Schramm decided to build a new school on his own land at his own expense. It was a brick building, roofed in shingles, with two classrooms; in the garret there were two bedrooms. Instruction started in the new school in 1865 when Mrs Pickering (Schramms mother-in-law) was also appointed as sewing teacher. Attendance was sometimes irregular as children were needed at home to help with the fruit harvest on the family orchard.


Schramm's home and school, built 1864; photo taken 1869. (Doncaster and Templestowe Historical Society). c1869. Max Schramm working in the rear of Doncaster Common School garden; Kate on the back verandah of the school house. 3 year old Rachel near the path. Dr Buchanan lived in the substantial out-building at the rear of the school on the right hand side of the photograph. The garden is in an early state of development. DP0075. Compare with DP0076.


When the Education Act 1872 was proclaimed, it decreed that state education was to be free, compulsory and secular. As the school was at that time already operating as a Common School, responsible to the Board of Education, Max Schramm felt obliged for conscience sake to resign as teacher and offered to sell the school to the Government for £600. In a letter to the newly established Education Department of Victoria he wrote:

I have the honour to acknowledge your letter .... dated 1 December 1873, stating that the sum of £350 is deemed sufficient by the Department for these school buildings and one acre of land,.Although I do not wish ultimately to refuse this offer, you will allow me to say, that £600 is not a fictitious value placed on the property by me, for I have expended upon it considerably more than £500, without reckoning a good deal of labour and cartage done gratis by the people in the neighbourhood, nor calculating any interest on the capital invested . . . This school was erected, not with the intention of selling it at a profit, but because the building formerly used was unsuitable — having a stone floor etc. and is not in a central position. The inhabitants, ten years ago, were nearly all struggling beginners, who told me they could not afford to put up a building, wherefore I paid for it. But I think it somewhat hard to suffer so great a deduction, after the public has shared with me, for more than nine years the benefits of the commodious, cheerful and substantial building. Hoping for a favourable reconsideration of my request, I am willing to abide by your next decision ...(17)
DP0906 Oil painting portrait of Max Schramm (1828-1908) hangs in the dining room of Schramm's Cottage, Doncaster.  c1900 (Doncaster and Templestowe Historical Society).  Likely to be one of many copies created by Peter Hansen around 1900.


Oil painting portrait of Max Schramm (1828-1908) hangs in Doncaster Lutheran Church, Doncaster.  Likely to be one of many copies created by Peter Hansen around 1900.  On back  in pencil is labelled "Pastor Schramm. 5. P. Hansen. Flinders Buildings Melbourne" Photo:Glenys Wollermann 


A price was subsequently agreed and the school became State School No. 197.

In 1875, Max Schramm built his own house alongside the school and in 1876 again established a Lutheran school in his home. The school opened with an enrolment of thirty-two pupils on 2 November 1876, three days before Max Schramm was installed as pastor of the congregation, and continued until its closure in 1884. The school committee recorded that event as follows:

Today; the 8th day of August 1884, we held school for the last time; from now on we must send our children to the State School.(18)

However, Pastor Schramm continued to give instruction in his home on Saturday mornings in the German language, bible history and Luther's Small Catechism.

Following Pastor Goethe’s departure for California in 1867, Pastor Hermann Herlitz ministered to the congregation. However, by 1876 the demands placed on him as pastor of the Melbourne parish, editor of "Der Australische Christenhote" and president of the ELSV were proving an increasing burden and he sought someone who could assist him as a vicar, or alternatively as pastor, of a new parish to be established by dividing off part of the existing Melbourne parish.

Accordingly, members of Trinity congregation at Doncaster invited their teacher to become their pastor. Although he had no formal theological qualifications, Max Schramm was an educated person, well versed in the Latin and Greek languages, and often tutored students from Melbourne University in the classics.(19) After a commission of pastors and laymen examined him and declared him to be eligible for a call to the ministry, he was ordained by Pastor Herlitz at a service in Trinity Church East Melbourne on 5 November 1876 and installed as pastor of the Doncaster congregation later the same day. Pastor Schramm also ministered to the Harkaway (Berwick) congregation for many years until shortly before his retirement, and from 1884 conducted services at Scoresby several times a year. He was co-founder of the Immigrant and City Mission and its missioner from 1887 to 1908.(20) The new brick Gothic church further south in Bismarck Street (now Victoria Street) was built during his pastorate.

Max Schramm was born in Silesia, Germany in 1828 and after attending the Gymnasium (grammar school) at Neisse. served for a time m the Mercantile Marine. He came to Australia in 1851 and subsequently embraced the Lutheran faith. After coming to Melbourne, he purchased a lighter and traded in Port Phillip Bay transporting cargo from the shore to outlying ships before taking charge of the newly established Lutheran school at Waldau in 1860. In 1864, he married Kate Pickering whose family were members of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Doncaster. Schramm always took an interest in his wife’s church and in addition to his duties as pastor of the Lutheran congregation, was secretary of Holy Trinity Anglican Church for a number of years.(21)

Pastor Schramm had a long association of forty-seven years with Trinity congregation, first as schoolteacher from 1860 and then as pastor from 1876 until his retirement in 1907. He died on 25 October 1908.

A new church is built

By 1891, the cost of keeping the old wattle-and-daub church in good repair had become so great that the congregation decided to build a larger and more substantial house of worship. Opinion among members was divided as to whether the church should be erected on the old site or in another location. Through the efforts of John Winter and William Zander, the congregation was persuaded to purchase a site from the estate of Carl Aumann in whose home some of the first worship services had been held.(22)
Architect John A. B. Koch, who, in 1890, had designed the present manse for Trinity congregation, East Melbourne, was commissioned to prepare plans for a new church. After these were approved by the congregation, a contract was let to Mr G. W. Freeman for the sum of £1,039. With furnishings, the total cost amounted to £1303.
Designed in Early English Gothic style,(23) the church was built in brick with a slate roof and features rendered dressings and mouldings to the main entrance. Windows, buttresses and gables. The roof is framed with exposed timber trusses and purlins. Other notable features are the timber fleche and belfry also roofed in slate, rose window and cast iron spiral staircase to the gallery.

Trinity Lutheran Church, hall and manse after 1932 (after Simpfertdorfer, 1933)


The newly completed church was dedicated on 21 April 1892 by Pastor Herlitz, President of the Victorian Synod. The following report of the event is reprinted from the Lutheran Herald of 10 May 1952 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of the church opening:

After the half acre site where the present church stands had been purchased for £100, preparations for building began. Hedges were removed, trees grubbed out, wells filled in and the land levelled off. On 20th January 1892 the foundation stone was laid by President H. Herlitz in the presence of a large gathering.  Mr. H. [Henry] Thiele, a prominent layman and one of the driving forces behind the building project, placed a sealed bottle containing (as far as eyewitnesses can remember) a copy of the Melbourne Age newspaper, 1 x gold sovereigns and a copy of the history of the first Lutheran settlers in this district into a cavity. Among those present at the ceremony were Mr G. W. Freeman, the contractor, and Mr J. A. B. Koch the architect, both of Melbourne.
Almost three months later, the building measuring sixty-one feet by thirty feet with two vestries and a gallery was completed and fully furnished waiting to be dedicated.
On the morning of 1st of April 1892, the congregation, once more and for the last time, assembled in the little old church up on the hill, where a brief service was conducted before it moved in orderly procession down the road to the site of the new church. Four pastors headed the group: Pastor Max von Schramm, local resident minister, President Herlitz, Pastor G. Heyer from Grovedale and the Rev. A. J. Pickering of the Church of England, Heidelberg, brother-in-law to Pastor von Schramm.
Next in the procession came the elders, with Mr Ernst, A. Aumann carrying the altar bible and then three young ladies dressed in white bearing a red velvet cushion with the new church key. Rachel von Schramm, the pastor’s daughter, carried the cushion. Emma Zerbe and Annie Hanke, on either side of her were elders’ daughters. Among the official visitors for the day were guests from Melbourne, Scoresby and Harkaway, altogether numbering several hundred, too many for all to be accommodated in the new church, since seating arrangements provided for only 150 worshippers.
The procession first walked round the new church, and when all had taken up their positions at the front of the building, Mr Freeman stepped forward, took the key from the red cushion and handed it to President Herlitz who thereupon unlocked the church doors. The congregation filed in and the service continued. President Herlitz preached the festive sermon. A choir under the direction of Mr Harry Thiele, church organist, sang. A brass band consisting of young men of the congregation which had played hymns during the procession from the old church to the new, now accompanied the congregational singing at the dedication service.
The midday meal was eaten in Grandfather Aumann's barn next door. The barley hay had been removed and the ham threshing floor made an ideal place for setting up table. Food was in plentiful supply. Those who couldn’t all get into the barn ate their lunch outside under the shelter of trees. At 3 p.m. an English service was held.
The congregation has shown a marvellous capacity of sacrifice for their church so that it was practically paid for on the day it was opened. It would be fine to meet more frequently with such a spirit today(25).

The original organ, which, with the bell, had been brought from the old church, was replaced in 1917 with a larger three manual reed organ at a cost of £175. Extensive renovations and modifications were made to the church interior in 1956—57. The pulpit was moved from its original position above the altar to its present location, the organ was moved to the choir gallery, and a large crucifix, carved from Canadian cedar by Alfred Schubert, was placed on the wall behind the altar. Of imposing proportions, it is today the dominant feature of the sanctuary.(26)  The church is listed on the Register of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).

Trinity Lutheran Church interior, after 1956-57 modifications (after Pech, 1958).

Following the retirement of Pastor .Schramm, some difficulty was experienced by the congregation in securing the services of another pastor. Finally a call was sent to the Basel Mission Society requesting a candidate to fill the vacancy. Richard Held was sent. Born at Fischhausen near Konigsberg, East Prussia in 1884, he later completed his studies at Basel and was ordained at Nagold, Wuerttemberg on 10 May 1908. Soon after his arrival in Melbourne, he was installed as pastor of Trinity Church, Doncaster on 12 July 1909. During his short ministry, bible study classed were organised and a choir was established. The congregation was faced with the need to provide a home for its pastor. Mrs Mary Fromhold donated half an acre of land beside the church for this purpose and architect J. A. B. Koch was again approached, this time to draw plans for a manse. The house was built at a cost of £750 and dedicated on Pentecost Monday, 31 May 1909 by President Herlitz.
After a short ministry of three years, Pastor Held accepted a call to Tanunda, South Australia.(27) He was succeeded by Johann Gottlieb Hegelau, also, a Basel graduate, who was ordained in Heidenheim, Wuerttemberg in 1890. Following his pastorate at St Stephens, Wakefield Street, Adelaide from 1892-96, he was appointed as itinerant pastor in Victoria and New South Wales and travelled as far as Temora, New South Wales and Toowoomba, Queensland. Hegelau was no stranger to the Doncaster congregation as he had previously preached there in his capacity as itinerant pastor on a number of occasions. His brief ministry of three years came to an end in 1915 when he felt called upon to tender his resignation.



Pastor and Mrs Held, 1916 (G. Frank).


Following this, a call was accepted by Pastor Albrecht Fehlherg. On coming to Doncaster, he reorganised the Sunday school, arranged regular meetings for the youth (Lutheran Endeavour Society) and re-established the church choir. During his pastorate, English services were introduced alongside the German, a move which created tensions within the congregation. Older members were accustomed to German services while the younger generation wanted services in English. Intermarriage between German and English .families in the community had led to a number of members leaving the congregation while worship services were conducted in German only. From 1915, minutes of meetings were recorded in English, and Sunday school and confirmation losses were also conducted in English.
In 1920 an exchange of pastorates was arranged between the Doncaster and Eudunda, South Australia congregations. Pastor Fehlberg transferred to Eudunda and Pastor John Simpfendorfer came to Doncaster. Born at Walla Walla, New South Wales, in 1891 he was the son of Pastor Gottlob Simpfendorfer. Prior to entering the Basel Mission Seminary in 1909, he attended me Korntal High School near Stuttgart in Germany for two years. He was ordained by Pastor Herlitz in Trinity Church East Melbourne in July 1913, and then served as home mission and itinerant worker in South Australia in 1913-14 before accenting a call to Eudunda in 1914. John Simpfendorfer was installed in Trinity congregation, Doncaster on 31st October 1920 by Pastor K. Gutekunst. He was secretary of the Victorian District of the UELCA 1920-24 and also served as general treasurer of the UELCA from 1928 until his death in 1947.  Although the Trinity East Melbourne and Thomastown Lutheran congregation had joined the German Protestant Church (DEK) in 1934. Trinity Doncaster had remained with the UELGA. With the help of his wife, he organised a Ladies Guild and was also engaged in Home Mission work in the Melbourne area. During the Second World War, he conducted Sunday afternoon services at Trinity Church, East Melbourne in the English language and, |n 1942, established a congregation at Sunshine. He also conducted services at Tinamba in Gippsland. In 1947, he accepted a call to Dimboola, Victoria.(28)

Church hall

For some years the need had been expressed for a building that would provide more suitable accommodation for Sunday school classes as well as a meeting place for other groups that had been established in the congregation. In 1932, Mr P. J. W. Murfitt was asked to submit plans for a hall. These were approved and a building contract let to Mr S. F. Hunt. Completed at a cost of £645, the hall was dedicated on 2 October 1932 by Pastor A. Jericho, President of the Victorian District of the UELCA.(29)
Following Pastor Simpfendorfer’s move to Dimboola, a call to the Doncaster parish was accepted by Pastor Philipp Scherer. He was installed on 11 April 1948, having previously served the Finke River Mission in Central Australia. He continued services at Tinamba and also preached at Trafalgar and Croydon. He returned to the Finke River Mission in 1955. (30)

Pastor Scherer was succeeded by Pastor Hermann Pech who served for a period of eleven years. He continued to conduct services in the Gippsland area and at Croydon and Montrose where he worked among migrant families. He resigned his pastorate in 1965 for family reasons, but returned on two occasions in 1981-82 and in 1986-87 as locum tenens during extended pastoral vacancies in the congregation.

The 1960s marked the beginning of significant changes in the life of the Trinity congregation. As old established orchards in the district were progressively sold for development into housing estates, so, too, the population of the area lost its rural identity and became substantially urban in nature. This change was also felt within the congregation. As members of long standing left the district to re-establish themselves on orchards further afield, new members came into the fellowship of the congregation.

In 1965 orchard land surrounding the church was subdivided and an opportunity arose for the congregation to acquire some additional land at the rear of its property. This later enabled the congregation to build a larger hall and kindergarten complex in 1976.

Changes to parish alignments

Pastors of Trinity congregation, Doncaster served the Gippsland area from 1943 until 1956 when Pastor E. B. Helbig took charge of that field. At various times during those years, services had been conducted at Tinamba, Heyfield, Sale, Warragul and Trafalgar. In response to a request from the Home Mission Committee of the UELCA, Doncaster pastors continued to conduct services at Trafalgar until the end of 1966.
Pastor Paul Zweck took charge of the Doncaster congregation in 1970 and also ministered to a small group of Lutherans at Briar Hill and subsequently at Montmorency. This became Calvary congregation when a church was built at Greensborough where services were conducted by Pastor Edwin Koch of Doncaster until 1982. Shortly after, Calvary congregation became an independent congregation with its own pastor.
Trinity, Doncaster then formed a parish association with St Pauls congregation at Nunawading until 1987 when Pastor John Thiel accepted a call to Nunawading.
In 1987, Trinity congregation, Doncaster formed a parish association with Holy Trinity congregation, Ivanhoe.

A Chinese-speaking ministry is established

During the 1980s. large numbers of Chinese-speaking people, mainly from Hong Kong, came to live in Australia. Soon after, the Lutheran Church, Hong Kong Synod, in agreement with the Lutheran Church of Australia, decided to establish a Chinese-speaking congregation based at Trinity, Doncaster.
Pastor Mark Lai Hon Yan was installed as pastor of this new congregation on 28 April 1991; the following Sunday, the first Chinese service was attended by forty-three people. Since that time weekly services have been held.
Pastor Lai returned to Hong Kong at the end of 1997 and was succeeded fey Pastor Paul Kam in January 1998

Pastors of Trinity congregation since 1965

Maurice E. Schild, Dr theol. 1965-69
Paul A. Zweck 1970-75
Edwin W. Koch 1975-82
Hermann Pech 1981-82
Noel J. Uebergang 1983-86
Hermann. Pech 1986-87
John Juers  1987-93
Lloyd O. Boughen 1993-99
Peter D. Holmes 1999-2001
David M. Kleidon. 2002- 


Source: Mees, Herbert D.  2004,  A German church in the garden of God : Melbourne's Trinity Lutheran Church 1853-2003 / Herbert D. Mees  Trinity Lutheran Church East Melbourne. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3261518.  Published by. (Arbeitskreis fiir Kirchengeschichte — Trinity Church Historical Society) for Trinity German Lutheran Church, 22 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3002.   Editor: Mees, Herbert D. (1936-)  ISBN 0 646 42948 5.   Copyright © 2004 Trinity German Lutheran Church © Individual authors. Copyright in each chapter or essay within this book remains with the individual authors). The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual authors.   Jan2022 Eric Collyer gave permission to publish Chapter on Doncaster (Waldau).   Extract: Doncaster (Waldau Congregation) Original Scan


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