ST JOHNS PELLA , ST JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH PELLA , GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, PELLA , PELLA LUTHERAN CHURCH , PELLA ST JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH , PELLA CHURCH
Location
220 PELLA CHURCH ROAD RAINBOW, HINDMARSH SHIRE
Level
Registered
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Pella St John's School
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Southern elevation of church
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Southeast elevation of church
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Northern elevation of church
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Western elevation of the
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Pulpit with cloth
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Altar with baptismal font in
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Baptismal font
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Organ located at the southern
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April 2023, Interior view from
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March 2023, Lectern
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April 2023, Eastern elevation
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April 2023, School building
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April 2023, Western elevation
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April 2023, North verandah
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Aerial extent labelled
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image027
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1910, St Johns Pella under
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14 May 1911, Procession at the
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14 May 1911, Chancel at Pella
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c.1917, Pella Church and
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c.1917, Chancel at Pella
Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Pella St Johns Lutheran Church Complex being the school building (1903) and original school desk, the manse (1909) and church (1911) built of limestone by the congregation, and the following objects integral:
Timber pulpit
Hymn board, letters, numbers and wooden box
Timber baptismal font and glass bowl
Timber altar and candleholders
Timber lectern
27 church pews
The Fuller organ (1885), bench, organ case and all mechanical and decorative elements
Original school desk.
How is it significant?
The Pella St Johns Lutheran Church Complex is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:
Criterion A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. Criterion D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.
Why is it significant?
The Pella St Johns Lutheran Church Complex is historically significant for its demonstration of German migration to northwest Victoria. From the 1870s, successive waves of German migrants from western Victoria and South Australia established a strong farming presence in the Wimmera, and from the 1880s and 90s settlements extended into the southern Mallee. Closeknit multigenerational communities developed in which German language and culture was proudly maintained. The Pella Church Complex, once the centre of a thriving rural German settlement with a resident pastor from 1912, speaks to the commitment of migrants to build and sustain a strong community around the Lutheran faith, values and identity in the Wimmera-Mallee region.
(Criterion A)
The Pella St Johns Church Complex is architecturally significant as a fine complex of Lutheran church buildings which demonstrate a simple Gothic revival style and the use of natural materials (principally limestone and timber), key elements in the Lutheran design tradition. Constructed in a rustic style by men from the congregation using vernacular building techniques, the school, manse and church all demonstrate high levels of intactness. A visually cohesive complex, the place retains its setting in a flat expansive area of Wimmera-Mallee farmland, and original church furnishings are still located at the place, including the timber baptismal font and altar, which were handmade by a community member, and a Fuller organ (1886) which is a fine example of the work the prominent Melbourne organ builder Alfred Fuller.
