Tanunda, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Tanunda is a town situated in the Barossa Valley
Barossa Valley
The Barossa Valley is a major wine-producing region and tourist destination of South Australia, located 60 km northeast of Adelaide. It is the valley formed by the North Para River, and the Barossa Valley Way is the main road through the valley, connecting the main towns on the valley floor of...

 region of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, 70 kilometres north east of the state capital, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

. The town derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning water hole. Town population is approximately 3500.

Settlement

The last settlement in what is today referred to as Tanunda, was the village of Bethanien
Bethany, South Australia
Bethany is a small village located about 2 km south east of Tanunda in the Barossa Valley. It was originally named Bethanien, but was changed during World War I in an attempt to remove all German place names from Australia....

settled in 1842. This village was settled by Prussian immigrants who arrived with Pastor Gotthard Fritzsche
Gotthard Fritzsche
Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche[p] was one of the first founding pastors of Lutheranism to emigrate to Australia. He was born in Liebenwerda, Germany, and migrated to Australia in 1841. From 1842-1863, he was pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church...

. Langmeil was the next settlement in 1843, which was settled by Prussian immigrants who relocated from Klemzig
Klemzig, South Australia
Klemzig is a suburb of Adelaide in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield. It is the location of the first settlement of German emigrants to Australia in the 19th century and is named after a village near the city of Zuellichau in southeastern Brandenburg in the German state of Prussia, where they...

 where they had originally settled in 1838, when they had arrived with Pastor August Kavel
August Kavel
August Ludwig Christian Kavel . Pastor Kavel was a founder of Lutheranism in Australia.-Training and Early Ministry:Kavel was born in Berlin, Germany 1798...

, Tanunda village was settled sometime later.
Langmeil and Bethanien were both renamed
Australian place names changed from German names
During World War I, many German-sounding place names in Australia were changed because of Anti-German sentiment. The new names were often Anglicized , given Aboriginal names , names of famous people , or battlefields . This was done through an Act of Parliament, as well as by petition...

 during the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 to Bilyara, and Bethany respectively. Langmeil had its name reverted from Bilyara in 1975.

As development of the Tanunda area continued, the villages of Langmeil and Tanunda were joined. Today the township is simply called Tanunda.

Industry

Tanunda and the Barossa Valley
Barossa Valley
The Barossa Valley is a major wine-producing region and tourist destination of South Australia, located 60 km northeast of Adelaide. It is the valley formed by the North Para River, and the Barossa Valley Way is the main road through the valley, connecting the main towns on the valley floor of...

 comprise one of Australia's premier wine-growing areas, and the town is surrounded by vineyards.

Culture

The German heritage of Tanunda is still present today. The town has a male choir the Tanunda Liedertafel
Tanunda Liedertafel
Tanunda Liedertafel is a 52-member male choir in Tanunda, South Australia. Drawing its four-part singing material from traditional popular German culture, the group's origins may date back at least to 1861, based on a surviving music book case with the words Tanunda Liedertafel 1861 painted on its...

, the history of which is thought to date back to 1868. There is also a Kegel (bowling)
Kegel (bowling)
Also spelled Kegeln.Kegel is an Australian bowling game, in which a player rolls a wooden or plastic ball along a smooth, hard indoor lane . The object of the game is to knock down the nine kegels at the other end of the lane. Kegel is based on traditional German games and is therefore closely...

club.
The Tanunda Town Band celebrated 150 years as a band in 2007 and is the oldest brass band in the southern hemisphere.

External links

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