Tarrington, VIC - St Michael's Lutheran

Year Built: 1927

Denomination: Lutheran

Saint: Michael

Address: 7901 Hamilton Highway, Tarrington, Victoria, 3301

Architect: Unknown

Architectural Style: Gothic Revival

Traditional Owners: Inc Gunditjmara people

Last Updated: 11/07/2024

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History and Architecture:

The first, built about 1854, was a pug and timber framed church with a thatched roof, the second was a bluestone church, built in 1858 and the third, also bluestone, built in 1863, which was burnt down in 1944.

The present church was erected in 1927. It is built of pressed red bricks with unpainted render details in a late but conservative version of the Gothic revival style. Its complicated plan and forms include a nave under the main roof separated by columns and arches from the side aisles, which are roofed by three gables on each side. There is a square chancel and additional rooms used as vestries and porches, again with separate roofs. The chancel roof is hipped but includes a gablet with a circular window. The gablet and the main gable terminate with crosses.

The tower and spire over the main entrance dominate the exterior and act as a landmark. The reddish brick hall is also in a simple Gothic revival style with buttresses and lancet windows but is now much altered.

Clergy:

This list may not contain every serving cleric, past or present, for this church.
Further submissions welcomed.

Years Name Annotation D.o.B D.o.D
1853 - 1893 Pastor Clamor Wilhelm Schuermann BL to 55 1815 1893
1893 - 1909 Pastor Emil Carl Christian Darsow ELSA 1856 1934
1909 - 1910 Pastor Walter Herbert Paech ELSA 1894 1984
1910 - 1916 Pastor Emil Paul Kriewaldt ELSA 1870 1916
1917 - 1923 Pastor Theodor August Friedrich Nickel ELSA 1865 1953
1923 - 1948 Pastor Walter Herbert Paech ELSA 1894 1984
1935 - 1936 Pastor Georg August Doecke ELSA 1910 1984
1949 - 1964 Pastor Hogo Franz Quast ELSA 1910 1989
1964 - 1967 Pastor David Theodor Strelan ELSA
1968 - 1976 Pastor Clement David Traeger LCA
1977 - 1982 Pastor Graham Norman Zweck LCA
1983 - 1988 Pastor Michael Claude Heinrich LCA
1989 - 1993 Pastor Mark Llewellyn Whitfield LCA
1994 - 1999 Pastor Martin Neville Kriewaldt LCA
2000 - 2007 Pastor Lester David Priebbenow LCA
2008 - 2009 Pastor Mark A. Henderson LCA
2010 - 2014 Pastor Paul T. Kerber LCA
2017 - 2019 Pastor Ryan J. Norris LCA
2021 - Pastor Neil McBride Guthrig LCA

Organ:

The original organ from St Michael's is now housed at the Museum o f German Heritage, Tanunda in South Australia. The present organ is by George Fincham & Sons and dates from 1927. It was rebuilt in 1958 by Hill, Norman & Beard. The organ was again conserved in 2003 by Ken Falconer.

Source:

1. Lutheran Archives with permission.
2. South Grampians Heritage Study.
3. Victorian Heritage Database.