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for the exploration of the country west of the Overland Telegraph Line, and Kekwick was offered, and accepted,
the position of third-in-command and collector of natural history specimens. He was not well at the time of leaving
Adelaide with the party, and in 1872, whilst they were still in the North Flinders Ranges, he developed pneumonia
and died. He was buried at Blinman in the area which first had excited his admiration when going north with Stuart
in 1859. He left a widow and four children not too well provided for—the family moved to Western Australia
where his widow survived for many years.
Patrick Auld’s representations years later ensured that Kekwick’s grave at Blinman was suitably marked by the
South Australian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society with a marble headstone which bears the inscription:
‘William Darton Kekwick, Explorer, in admiration for his pluck and loyalty to John McDouall Stuart, as second
in command from 1859 to 1863.’
I Mudie, The Heroic Journey of John McDouall Stuart, 1968; M Webster, John McDouall Stuart, 1958; Obituary, Daniel Kekwick, Observer,
7 December 1895.
V T O’BRIEN, Vol 1.KEMPE, FRIEDRICH ADOLF HERMAN (1844–1928), missionary, was born on 26 March 1844 at Deuben,
Saxony, in Germany. His father, Adolf Kempe, worked in the coalmines in Gitter-see near Dresden, until his death
in 1870, from a mine collapse. His mother died when he was twelve, in 1856.
Kempe attended school at Coschuez until 1858, when he joined his father in the mines. However, this is not
what Kempe wanted, and after only three years, he was apprenticed to a joiner. Kempe was a keen traveller and,
although his new job took him to various villages in Germany, he yearned to travel overseas.
After his father’s death, Kempe joined the mission house in Hermannsburg, Germany, and five years later
had completed his training. His first ‘assignment’ was the formation of a Lutheran mission in Central Australia,
following a grant of land, by the South Australian government, on the Finke River. Kempe and fellow trainee
W F Schwarz were advised by their seniors that they should ‘find’ a life-long companion, with only eight weeks
until their departure. With only days to go before their departure, Kempe became engaged to Dorothee Quickenstedt,
and Schwarz to Whilhelmina Schulz.
The trip to Hermannsburg Mission from Adelaide was commenced in October 1875, the hottest part of the
year. The journey was uncomfortable for all and tensions once rose to such a point that one of the party threatened
to shoot another, though nothing came of it. After twenty months on the trail, Kempe and Schwarz arrived at the
Finke River on 4 June 1877. Four days later, the first well was dug, and the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission was
established. For the next thirteen years, Kempe and Schwarz, with their new wives, were to devote their entire
existence to the mission.
Before the missionaries could communicate with the Aborigines, they had to learn the language. This was
vital before any of the Aborigines could be given work. The Aborigines of the Aranda tribe were quick to befriend
the missionaries. After their arrival, Schwarz and Kempe began instruction with some of the Aboriginal children.
However, the two missionaries did not by any means have an easy time. Although the Aborigines were very friendly,
the missionaries were constantly frustrated by their habitual walkabout. Crops most often failed, being burnt both
by the searing heat of the desert and the biting cold of winter frost. At one stage, Schwarz travelled to Adelaide and
while there, made several complaints against the surrounding landholders and police treatment of the Aborigines
on the mission, claiming they were ‘persecuting’ them. Major newspapers throughout the country carried these
claims and backlash from the very general allegations made by Schwarz threatened the entire existence of the
mission. The landholders and police made several counter allegations regarding the mission’s treatment of the
Aborigines, which resulted in an inquiry into the practices of the mission. Twenty-one witnesses were examined,
but no official outcome was made known and no charge was brought against the mission.
Ten years after the founding of the mission, Kempe and Schwarz had their first success. On 30 May 1887,
seven Aboriginal teenagers of the Aranda tribe were baptised. However, their happiness and feelings of success
were short-lived, as the mission became plagued by sickness. Although many of the Aborigines remained in good
health, virtually all the missionaries and their families became ill at some stage over the next two years. Those who
were not ill were forced to carry out the work of the sick as well as their own, which resulted in tiredness and
even more illness amongst the missionaries. The mission ‘machine’ limped along for a further two years, until,
in 1889, Pastor Schwarz and family decided to leave the mission through ill-health and moved to South Australia.
Kempe had also decided to leave the mission with his family, after his six-year-old son died from typhoid. However,
he felt it necessary to await the arrival of a replacement missionary, rather than leave the entire mission in the
hands of one man, missionary Schulze, who had also been on the mission since it was established; but his wife also
became ill and died; and after almost three years of waiting, Kempe decided to leave the mission.
The last few years at Hermannsburg Mission were less rewarding to the missionaries for another reason
also. Kempe recalled that, aside from the sickness, there was a political motive behind leaving the mission.
The Hermannsburg Mission had, in the 1880s, become answerable to the local ‘supporting church’ of the
Hermannsburg Institute in Germany. Thus the mission, and the missionaries, were not entitled to benefits under
the new mission rules that had been devised at this time. The Hermannsburg Institute was also looking to dispose
of the mission to a local synod, a fact that greatly dissatisfied the two missionaries.
Kempe’s dying wife had suggested he marry her good friend Sophie Kunz, who was at the time in Africa.
Kempe in fact did marry Sophie, after sending for her on his return to Adelaide, in 1892. For the next five years
Kempe and his new wife travelled to different parishes in the South Australian countryside, until 1896, when they
bought land in Balaklava and built their first home. The next year Kempe led a party to Denial Bay, on the West