Additional Information

• During the prolonged drought in Central Australia in the 1920s many Aboriginal people died of beri-beri and scurvy.  Pastor Albrecht wanted to pipe good water from Kaporilya Springs 7 km away from the mission.  He received no support from church or government.  In 1932 Melbourne artist Jessie Traill visited Hermannsburg with her friend Una Teague.  Una's sister Violet, hearing of the water problem, hired a Studebaker taxi to drive from Melbourne to Hermannsburg where she painted prolifically and sold her paintings back in Melbourne, along with donated works from the members of the Victorian Artists Society.  She also arranged newspaper appeals.  Enough money was raised to pay for the pipe line.  Aboriginal men dug the trench by hand 7 km long and one metre deep.  Fresh water was piped into Hermannsburg on 1 October 1935.

Link - Albrecht, Friedrich Wilhelm (1894–1984)

Australian Dictionary of Biography

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Link - Teague, Una Sybella (AA 322)

South Australian Museum

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Image - Una Sybella Teague

Title: Una Sybella Teague [picture]. Date: [ca. 1929 - ca. 1950] Description: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver ; 9 x 4 cm., on page 24.2 x 37.4 cm. Copyright status: This work is out of copyright Identifier(s): Accession no: H2009.45/647

State Library Victoria; This work is out of copyright