Hermann Kempe

[2][3] Kempe was born in Deuben, Germany and, after completing his schooling, worked first at a coal mine before becoming apprenticed as a joiner.

In this role he travelled significantly and converted to Christianity which led to him beginning study at the Hermannsburg Mission Seminary in December 1870; he was ordained on 6 May 1875.

To get there they travelled over 1,760 kilometres (1,090 mi) with 37 horses, 20 cattle, nearly 2000 sheep, 5 dogs and chickens that were to be used to establish the mission and make it as self-sufficient as possible.

[4][5][6] On 10 April 1878 Kempe was joined by his fiancée, Marie Henriette Dorothea Queckenstedt (primarily recorded as Dorothee), who he married on her journey there at Dalhousie Springs around 1 March 1878.

[7] Dorothee had travelled there alongside Johanne Wilhelmine Schulze who married Schwarz and they became the first European women to settle in Central Australia.

[5][8][9] While at Hermannsburg Kempe became a plant collector (including mosses and algae) and a contributor to the Natural History Museum, via Ferdinand von Mueller.

[16] This was later used by Carl Strehlow, who joined the mission after Kempe had departed, in his Arrernte service book Galtjindinjamea-pepa: Aranda-Wolambarinjaka' (1904).

[3] Kempe published an autobiography in the German language which was later translated into English by PA Sherer: 'From joiner's bench to pulpit' (1973).