| Bethel South Australia | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bethel Lutheran Church in 2015 | |||||||||||||||
  Bethel | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°19′40″S 138°50′15″E / 34.327840°S 138.837630°E | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 52 (SAL 2021)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5373 | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 9 km (6 mi) W of Kapunda | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Light Regional Council | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Stuart | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Barker | ||||||||||||||
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Bethel is a locality and former settlement in South Australia, west of Kapunda. Its name means Place of God.
Bethel was settled by German-speaking people in around 1854 seeking to establish a Moravian Brethren community. From 1856 there was also a group of people of Wendish origin. They also spoke German.[2] Some of these settlers initially worshipped with the Moravians, however a new church was built named Steinthal and many worshipped there instead. The Bethel congregation severed its links with the Moravians and called a Lutheran pastor in the 1890s. The Steinthal church closed and combined in 1906.[3] The school was closed by the state government in 1917 along with many others that taught in German.[4]
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Bethel (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ "First Missions-Bethel, South Australia". Telling The Truth. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ P.H.Colliver (1983). Freedom Found, A History of the Altus Family in Australia. LPH. Adelaide. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0-9592754-0-1.
- ^ "CLOSING GERMAN SCHOOLS". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. LIV, no. 16, 152. South Australia. 12 June 1917. p. 3 (SPECIAL WAR EDITION). Retrieved 22 July 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
