In 1955 I married Rev. Dr. Hubert Temme
who had just graduated from Concordia Seminary
in Adelaide, South Australia.
We were to be the first Missionaries
at a new Aboriginal mission called
Yalata in the desert of South Australia.
The Government had given the Lutheran Church
one and a half million acres and 30,000 sheep
for the 500 primitive natives to roam
as they were nomads.
When we arrived we lived with the station manager
and his wife until they built us
a small house on the mission compound.
There was a nurse for the natives
and an assistant for my husband.
We had never seen an aboriginal before
and now they were our parishioners.
As there was no electricity and no phone,
I felt like a pioneer woman in the 1800's.
But, it was the 1950's.
I learned to cook on a wood stove
and use kerosene lamps in the evenings.
Keeping fresh fruit and vegetables was almost
impossible because of the extreme heat.
Sometimes as high as 120 degrees.
I went with my husband 20 to 30 miles
through the scrub from the mission
where he conducted devotions to the Aborigines.
We hung a screen on a tree and ran a projector
from the car battery to show them
Bible stories which they loved.
After the stories I handed out Government rations
to each family consisting of flour and sugar
to make damper (bread) in the hot ashes on the ground.
They also loved the potatoes, onions and tea.
I distributed clothing to them on a regular basis.
The Lutheran Women of Australia sent them to us,
and I sorted and stored them until needed.
Dressed for a Corroboree (Native Dance)
The mission was a mile from the
Eyres highway (a dirt road in our day)
which ran from Adelaide, South Australia
to Perth, Western Australia-
approximately 1,700 miles.
We were quite isolated as our nearest neighbor
on one side was the Station Manager and his wife.
The doctor 130 miles away was a
Lutheran Minister's daughter
and was part of the Flying Dr. service
to serve the outlining stations
and attend to the sick locally.
In an emergency,
the pilot flew her to the mission.
My first child, a daughter,
was born in a bush hospital 80 miles
from the mission where two mid wife sisters
ran the hospital by themselves.
Dr. Merna Mueller flew there for the birth.
It was quite an experience.
Mission life was quite a challenge,
but prepared me for future parishes
in three continents.
June (Noske) Temme was born in Tarrington, Victoria, Australia
just a few years before the start of World War II.
“Led by God, the Blessed Journey of a Minister’s Wife,”
is the account of her extraordinary life growing up on a farm in wartime
and later traveling and working with her late husband, Hubert Temme.
Their work began as missionaries to the Australian Aborigines
in the desert of South Australia.
From there, they continued their work, not only in Australia but in America,
Hong Kong, China, the Bahamas, Grand Cayman
and places all around the globe before
finally settling down in Florida for their golden years.
lives in Ashburn, Virginia.
We thank her for sharing such an
interesting time in her ministry.
Her book- Led By God is available on Amazon.
