The Church of St Luke (Anglican) – Trafalgar by Fr Edward Doncaster
Trafalgar townsite was gazetted in 1899 and is mentioned in the Boulder service register in 1902 and evening services were commenced in May 1903 by lay reader Mr A E Nadebaum. A building committee of messrs Ginbey and Monkhouse formed in early 1904, and a tender from messrs Wills and Co was accepted. The timber and iron church on Block 47 cost about £170 to erect. It was dedicated by Bishop Riley as the Church of St Luke, Lake View (former name) on the 27th May 1904. A chancel was added in 1906. In 1908 there were 380 houses in Trafalgar, the last of which was destroyed by vandals in 1978. The area has now disappeared and is now part of the Super Pit.
The Stipendiary lay reader gave ‘Religious Instruction’ twice a week in the Lake View school and once a week at Lakeside, instructing an average of 78. It appears that the last service held in the church was on the 5th Dec 1926 when four people attended an 8am service.
It was reported that the building was destroyed in the cyclone od 10 Feb 1928, yet the hall at Wamenusking near Quairading, is reputed to have come from Trafalgar and bears a striking resemblance to the former church.
Clergy Responsible for ministry at Trafalgar:- (all were assistant curates at Boulder)
1903-1904 – W T Strahan
1904 – 1905 – E W Watts
1905 Lay preacher M A Richards
1905 – 1908 G R Holland
1908 – 1909 E A Jones
1909 H Vine
1909 – 1914 A G Kelsey
Church records held at Battye Library, Perth
Baptismal registers – 1905 to 1924
Marriage registers – 1907 to 1914
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The Church of St Luke is of interest to me since lay preacher A.E. Nadebaum (August Ernst) (22 April 1872 – 20 August 1956) was my great uncle. August was also the Head Teacher at Albany at one stage. I met him several times in the late 1940s/early 1950s when he used to sail to Adelaide on the Kanimbla to visit his sister (my grandmother) and other relatives who remained in South Australia. His sister Elisabeth Hulda (Bessie) BROCKMAN (later DRAKE BROCKMAN) nee NADEBAUM and brother Friedrich Adolph (Fred) NADEBAUM also moved from SA to WA around the early 1900s. August married Ethel May MEADOWCROFT on 27 August 1904 at St John the Baptist Church in Perth. August was the 7th of 13 children born to Wilhelm Johann Friedrich Ludwig NADEBAUM and Auguste Louise OERTEL. He was born at Lobethal in South Australia.
Hi Joan my name is Patricia Lorraine Nadebaum Daughter to Joseph William & Iris Lorraine Nadebaum. Joseph was the first son of Ludwig William Nadebaum & Gladis Toulcher from adelaide S,A could we be related.