Lobethal

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2013}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Lobethal | state = sa | image = LobethalSA.JPG | caption = Main Street, Lobethal | coordinates = {{coord|34|54|0|S|138|52|0|E|display=inline,title}} | lga = Adelaide Hills Council | postcode = 5241 | pop =  | est = 1842 | stategov = Morialta | fedgov = Mayo | dist1 = 42 | location1= Adelaide | near-nw = Cudlee Creek | near-n = Kenton Valley | near-ne = Mount Torrens | near-e = Schoenthal Charleston | near-se = Woodside | near-s = Woodside | near-sw = Lenswood | near-w = Lenswood }}

'''Lobethal''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|oʊ|b|ə|θ|əl}} is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centre of the Adelaide Hills wool processing industry, which continued until around 1950. The mill buildings are now used by a number of cottage industry and handcraft businesses. At the 2016 census, Lobethal had a population of 2,135.<ref name=Census2016Y>{{Census 2016 AUS|id=UCL415020|name=Lobethal (Urban Centre/Locality) |accessdate=26 April 2021|quick=on}}</ref>

The town is famed during the Christmas season for its display of Christmas lights and decorations, which have attracted visitors from around the state since the 1950s.

==History== Lobethal<ref>[http://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=208#L Adelaide Hills Council – Historical Town Information] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060625165304/http://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=208 |date=25 June 2006 }} Accessed 16 June 2006.</ref> was settled in 1842 by Prussian immigrants, who migrated to South Australia with Pastor Gotthard Fritzsche aboard the sailing vessel ''Skjold'', who initially went to Hahndorf but were alerted to good land in the upper Onkaparinga. German Lutheran settlers provided compatriot, Johann Friedrich Krummnow, who had arrived in South Australia three years earlier and was a naturalised English citizen, with funds for land purchases to establish the community.<ref name="Nutting"/> Krummnow wanted it based on his own principles of shared property and fervent prayer.<ref name="Nutting">{{cite web|url=http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting/germanaustralia/e/krummnow1.htm |title=J. F. Krummnow |last=Nutting |first=D |publisher=Teachers on the Web |accessdate=31 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519022423/http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting/germanaustralia/e/krummnow1.htm |archivedate=19 May 2011 }}</ref> The Lobethal settlers rejected Krummnow's vision and legally disputed his right to the land titles.<ref name="Nutting"/>

"Lobethal" is German for "valley of praise".<ref>[http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/pno/pnores.phtml?recno=SA0018684 Place Names – Lobethal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184933/http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/pno/pnores.phtml?recno=SA0018684 |date=30 September 2007 }} Accessed 16 June 2006.</ref> On the day of the division of the land, according to Reverend I. Ey's account, 'it received the name Lobethal, taken from the II Book of Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 26 (EN) [http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/l/luther/luther-idx?type=DIV2&byte=1851041 (DE)], which, according to Luther's translation, means Lobethal or 'Valley of praise'.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/South-Australia/Lobethal/2005/02/17/1108500204363.html Travel – Lobethal], ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 8 February 2004. Accessed 16 June 2006.</ref>

The town, as with many German towns in South Australia, was built in typical Silesian '''Hufendorf''' style, with the cottages arranged in a line along the main street, and each family having a long, narrow strip of land (used for growing crops) stretching from the main street back to the village common, where all families could allow their animals to graze. The advantages of this layout were that everyone had access to both fresh water and the main road, and a relatively even distribution of fertile and infertile land.<ref>[http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnuttIng/GermanAustralia/e/bethany.htm German Australian Teaching Resources] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515014714/http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting/Germanaustralia/e/bethany.htm |date=15 May 2006 }}, David Nutting (2001). Accessed 16 June 2006</ref> While the town has developed out of recognition (the main street was Mill Road, now the western boundary of the town), elements of the Hufendorf layout remain.

Lutheranism in Lobethal has a checkered history, with two rival church buildings and at least one more church assembly:

===St John's Lutheran Church, Lobethal=== In 1842 ''zum Weinberge Christi'' ("Christ's Vineyard") was founded by Fritzsche, and St John's Lutheran Church, Lobethal, was built in 1845. Fritzsche lived in Lobethal from 1843 till his death; in later years he was assisted by Carl Heinrich Loessel (Lössel).<ref name=casket/> After Fritzsche's death his congregation demanded the sacking of Loessel, and from 1871 were led by Rev. Lebrecht Friedrich Ehregott Krause, but he was expelled from the church and the Evangelical synod in May 1876.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31968425 |title=A Curious Ecclesiastical Case |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |volume=XVIII |issue=5474 |location=South Australia |date=5 May 1876 |accessdate=11 May 2026 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In the late 20th-century St John's was recognised as the oldest Lutheran church building in Australia. A new church was built alongside.

===St Paul's Lutheran Church, Lobethal=== In 1853 St Paul's church was founded by Adelbert Fiedler, some say in reaction to Fritzsche's prohibition of dancing. The church was built in 1858.

'''Rev. Georg Ludwig Adelbert Fiedler''' (born 9 December 1820), commonly known as Adelbert (or Adalbert) Fiedler, was a German minister of religion, pastor of St Paul's Lutheran Church, Lobethal. He was associated with the Evangelical Lutheran synod.

It is likely he arrived in 1858 with his wife and two children aboard ''Ohio'' from Bremen.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49777935 |title=Shipping Intelligence |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXII |issue=3535 |location=South Australia |date=4 February 1858 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> A genealogy site has him married to Marie Antoinette Therese Fiedler (née Büttger), and father of Theodor Wilhelm Renatus Fiedler and Emilie Georgine Dominika Fiedler. He was registered by the South Australian Government as an officiating minister in May 1858,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158122170 |title=Marriage Act |newspaper=Adelaide Observer |volume=XVI |issue=868 |location=South Australia |date=22 May 1858 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and further empowered to grant marriage licences in June 1858.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49772789 |title=Marriage Act |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXII |issue=3638 |location=South Australia |date=4 June 1858 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Functions at which he officiated include: *Sermon at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Lobethal, stone laying ceremony.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158119635 |title=Advertising |newspaper=Adelaide Observer |volume=XVI |issue=899 |location=South Australia |date=25 December 1858 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *In 1871 he led an open-air assembly at Tanunda in a hymn of thanks that he composed for the occasion, and a prayer for peace, following the German victory over France.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207700034 |title=The German Peace Jubilee at Tanunda |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=VIII |issue=2,388 |location=South Australia |date=14 October 1871 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *He conducted a confirmation ceremony at the Dreifaltigkeit's Kirche on Angas St. on 4 June 1871. *He was reported as "Albert Fiedler" when he married Adolph H. F. Bartels to Anna Weidenbach. This error (if that's what it was) was promulgated through other newspapers but not seen elsewhere.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31826197 |title=Married |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |volume=VI |issue=1562 |location=South Australia |date=27 July 1863 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He purchased a property under the Real Property Act in 1874. "Georg Ludwig Adelbert Fiedler, Hahndörf—Lottheil 112 von Section 6004, Ortschaft Hahndorf, Hundert Onkaparinga, 14 März."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83775981 |title=Advertising |newspaper=Süd Australische Zeitung |volume=XXVI |issue=10 |location=South Australia |date=10 March 1874 |accessdate=17 May 2026 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He returned to Germany by the ''Orient'' in 1874, his last act being to call for his followers to rejoin Loessel.<ref name=casket/>

===A third church=== Around 1871 Loessel created a third church; he died in 1879, and Krause took over his flock at St Paul's, causing dissension among his followers. Krause and St Paul's congregation joined the Immanuel Synod in 1884. Krause died in 1885, and was succeeded at St Paul's by Carl Friedrich Braun.<ref name=casket>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148081084 |author=Peter Whitington |title=A Jewell Casket |newspaper=The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser |volume=68 |issue=3794 |location=South Australia |date=1 April 1948 |accessdate=11 May 2026 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

After amalgamation in 1921 this "Church of Christ's Manger" (''zum Kripplein Christi'') congregation united with St Paul's and sold its property to the Church of England. Pastor Braun officiated over the combined congregations at St Paul's till 1937, when he was succeeded by Pastor Petering.<ref name=casket/>

Many of the settlers' traditions remain to this day, although the town is not as overtly Germanic as Hahndorf or Tanunda.

===Other industries=== In 1850, F. W. Kleinschmidt set up a brewery. It closed after about two decades when Kleinschmidt turned his attention to hop-growing – which subsequently became a focus for Lobethal's agriculture. The brewery itself was turned into the Lobethal Tweed Factory, which became the Onkaparinga Woollen Company and operated until 1992. {{see also|George Jeffrey (wool expert)}}

A cricket bat factory utilising locally grown willow operated from 1894 to 1950.

Due to the Great War in Europe, in 1917 the South Australian state government changed many German place names. The name Lobethal was changed to ''Tweedvale'' (honouring the town's major industry). Lobethal was re-instated as the town's name with the enactment of the South Australia Nomenclature Act of 1935 on 12 December 1935.<ref>Nomenclature Act, 1935</ref>

==Geography== Lobethal is located between Gumeracha and Woodside along the north–south road, and east of Adelaide via Magill and Norton Summit.

thumb|800px|center|Vineyard on the Adelaide-Lobethal Road, just outside the township of Lobethal

===Suburbs=== *Schoenthal * Neudorf *Tabor Valley * South Lobethal * East Lobethal

===Climate=== Lobethal has a Warm-Summer Mediterranean climate abbreviated Csb on the Köppen-Scale.

{{Weather box |width=auto | location = Lobethal | metric first = yes | single line = yes | Jan high C = 25.0 | Feb high C = 26.0 | Mar high C = 23.0 | Apr high C = 19.0 | May high C = 15.0 | Jun high C = 12.0 | Jul high C = 11.0 | Aug high C = 13.0 | Sep high C = 15.0 | Oct high C = 18.0 | Nov high C = 21.0 | Dec high C = 23.0 | year high C = | Jan mean C = 19.0 | Feb mean C = 20.0 | Mar mean C = 17.5 | Apr mean C = 14.5 | May mean C = 12.0 | Jun mean C = 9.5 | Jul mean C = 8.5 | Aug mean C = 9.5 | Sep mean C = 11.0 | Oct mean C = 13.0 | Nov mean C = 15.5 | Dec mean C = 17.5 | year mean C = | Jan low C = 13.0 | Feb low C = 14.0 | Mar low C = 12.0 | Apr low C = 10.0 | May low C = 9.0 | Jun low C = 7.0 | Jul low C = 6.0 | Aug low C = 6.0 | Sep low C = 7.0 | Oct low C = 8.0 | Nov low C = 10.0 | Dec low C = 12.0 | year low C = | rain colour = green | Jan rain mm = 25.3 | Feb rain mm = 19.2 | Mar rain mm = 33.9 | Apr rain mm = 56.8 | May rain mm = 90.5 | Jun rain mm = 117.3 | Jul rain mm = 138.4 | Aug rain mm = 120.5 | Sep rain mm = 100.4 | Oct rain mm = 63.4 | Nov rain mm = 37.8 | Dec rain mm = 36.5 | year rain mm = | Jan rain days = 3 | Feb rain days = 2 | Mar rain days = 3 | Apr rain days = 6 | May rain days = 9 | Jun rain days = 12 | Jul rain days = 13 | Aug rain days = 13 | Sep rain days = 10 | Oct rain days = 7 | Nov rain days = 4 | Dec rain days = 4 | year rain days = | source = NOAA.<ref name="NOAA">{{cite web |url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov }}</ref> }}

==Facilities== Lobethal contains two hotels, two primary schools and a Country Fire Service station.

The Lutheran Church complex, and the Archives and Historical Museum, contain information about the lives of the towns German settlers, and are open to the public year-round.

Lobethal Bierhaus is a brewery located on the Main Street of the town. It makes both English and German style beers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bierhaus.com.au/ourbeer.html|title=Our Beers – Lobethal Bierhaus}}</ref>

The Lobethal Bakery provides a selection of German style breads and cakes.

There are many artisan producers based in the old woollen mill facility.

Lobethal, and the surrounding area, contains many Wineries and a growing number of cellar doors.

==Culture== The town is famous around Adelaide for its display of Christmas lights along its main streets in December each year; many residents also adorn their front gardens and verandahs with elaborate displays. The tradition began in the 1950s and is the largest Christmas display in South Australia. In 2019, however, the events were cancelled after big bush fires caused widespread damage.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://7news.com.au/news/sa/sa-bushfires-lobethal-lights-cancelled-as-fresh-blaze-rages-at-virginia-c-615902| title = SA bushfires: Lobethal lights cancelled as fresh blaze rages at Virginia {{!}} 7NEWS| date = 20 December 2019}}</ref>

The area is fast becoming known for its many producers of food and beverages. {{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

==Transport== The area is serviced by Adelaide Metro. Buses run from Lobethal to the Adelaide CBD via the South Eastern Freeway and Onkaparinga Valley Road. There are also buses from Lobethal to Verdun Junction and Mount Barker.

==Motorsport== {{Main|: Lobethal Circuit}} [[File:MG TA of Allan Tomlinson.jpg|thumb|Race winner Allan Tomlinson (MG TA) contesting the 1939 Australian Grand Prix on the Lobethal Circuit]] Lobethal was the host town for the 1939 Australian Grand Prix, Australia's premier motor race of that year. The race, which was won by Alan Tomlinson driving an MG TA, was staged on the Lobethal Circuit which comprised public roads in and around the town. The circuit was used for four race meetings from 1937 through to 1948. {{-}}

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Lobethal}} * [http://www.lightsoflobethal.com.au/ The Lights of Lobethal] – Web site of the (Christmas) Lights of Lobethal Committee * [http://www.exploringaustralia.com.au/showplace.php?s=adel&p=2399 Tourist Information on Lobethal]

Category:Towns in South Australia