Concordia College in Highgate starts in Murtoa, 1890, via T.W. Boehm, founder of Hahndorf Academy

Concordia College in the Adelaide suburb of Highgate became a coeducational secondary college in 1927.
Image courtesy Concordia College

Concordia College, an independent and coeducational school for 1300 students in the Adelaide suburb of Highgate, had its origins from 1890 in the remote country Victorian town of Murtoa ­– with an even earlier South Australian link.

W. F. Peters, the Lutheran pastor in Murtoa, started a boys' college and training ground for pastors and teachers by buying a private school founded there in 1887 by T.W. (Traugott Wilhelm) Boehm.

Boehm, who arrived in South Australia on the Zebra with Captain Hahn in 1839, trained to be a teacher under pastors Gotthard Fritsche at Lobethal and Carl Muecke at Bethany and Tanunda. In 1857, Boehm opened a private school in his home. It was criticised by fundamentalist Lutherans for using secular textbooks, possibly influenced by Muecke, who was considered a dangerous liberal by conservatives.

Boehm’s school, called the Hahndorf Academy from 1870, was successful until the annual government grant of £70 ended in 1877, forcing him to sell the school at a loss to the Lutheran Church for £700.

Boehm stayed on as principal and in 1883 bought back “Hahndorf College” before insolvency hit and he started with another school in Murtoa.

With Lutheran leaders in South Australia recognising that Concordia College was too important to the church to remain in remote Murtoa, it was moved to Adelaide's Highgate in 1905. Pastor P. B. Zweck was pivotal to Concordia becoming a Christian coeducational secondary college in 1927, operating under the South Australian district synod of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

In 2016, Concordia College amalgamated with neighbouring St John's Lutheran Primary School to form the new early learning to Year 12 Concordia College. Among additions to the school were a multipurpose building with a TV studio, music centre and media-editing suite. The building was called Murtoa.