A Year to Remember at Barossa German Language Association (BGLA)
This past year has been a busy and fulfilling one for the Barossa German community. We welcomed wonderful speakers at our Kaffee und Kuchen afternoons, sharing stories of our connections between Germany and Australia. A big thank you to all speakers who presented at Kaffee und Kuchen in Tanunda this year, herzlichen Dank!
2024 speakers:
- February 2024: Anna Fontaine from Simply Flammekueche presented Flammkuchen from the Alsass region with a Leckerbissen to try.
- March 2024: Dr. Heidi Kneebone talked about learning and teaching German and the German Connections in SA and the unique linguistic legacy of the Lutheran Missionaries
- April 2024: Erich Holzknecht – growing up in colonial and post-colonial New Guinea. Erich comes from a German missionary family that served the Lutheran Church in New Guinea from 1908 to 1988.
- May 2024: Dr. Pam Zweck was guest speaker at Kaffee und Kuchen in May. Her topic was the relationship between the work of Dr Martin Luther and Lucas Cranach the Elder.
- June 2024: Dr. Wolf Blass AM BVK was our guest speaker on June 24th. The wine industry legend shared his inspiring migrant experience and life in the Australian wine industry.
- July 2024: Christine Winter, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities at Flinders University. In her presentation, Christine explored the impact of the German training cruiser Köln’s visit to Adelaide in 1933 on the German-Australian Lutheran community.
- August 2024: Young historian Samuel Doering asked “Deutsches in Südaustralien: What’s German in South Australia?” and came up with a unique list of 10 objects.
- September 2024: Udo Boettger told us the story of his father Rudolf and how they came from the German town of Jena to South Australia in the 1950s.
- October 2024: Patrick Wille, Honorary Consul of Switzerland for South Australia, was our guest in October. We learned a lot about the various connections between South Australia and Switzerland, some of them surprising!
- November 2024: Our last Kaffee und Kuchen of the year was a Weinachtsfeier with Singkreis group singing German Christmas carols and guest Ute Schwarz performing on the accordion.
Outside of Kaffee und Kuchen, our calendar has been full of memorable moments, from History Day to Laternenlauf and the Adelaide German Week Concert. The children, too, had their share of fun with Kinder Klub and Spielgruppe. Thank you to all the volunteers and sponsors who made this possible.
On behalf of the committee — Steffi, Peter, Gerlinde, John, Anne, Chris L, and Chris M — thank you for being part of our community. We wish you a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year. Frohe Weihnachten!
See you in 2025!
