Theodor Scherk: from Lobethal schoolmaster to South Australian MP backing free education, school of industries

Theodor Scherk (inset) with the Lobethal district school that he headed in the 1860s before later becoming an MP with a keen interest in education.
School image (1860) by H. G. Mengersen, courtesy State Library of South Australia

Theodor Johannes Scherk, the son of Dr Heinrich Ferdinand Scherk, professor of astronomy and mathematics and later chancellor of the University of Kiel, migrated to South Australia in 1861.

He worked on Freidrich Krichauff’s farm in the Bugle Ranges before becoming a licensed schoolmaster, with schools at Lobethal and, later, Tanunda.

In 1870, Scherk moved to Adelaide and was a bookkeeper and company manager before opening an estate and general agency at Port Adelaide and Pirie Street in the city; he acted as a labour agent for the German and Foreign Immigrants' Reception Committee.

Keeping his interest in education, Scherk was a member (from 1881) of the Adelaide School Board of Advice and the Destitute Board. He sat on the board of inquiry into technical education that recommended the South Australian School of Mines and Industries (opened in 1889). Scherk was on the school’s council for 26 years and chairman of the finance committee.

In 1886, he won the House of Assembly seat of East Adelaide with its many German constituents. He was endorsed by the Trades and Labor Council.

A protectionist, he advocated free education and constantly urged increased tax on the unimproved value of land. Unlike many increasingly conservative Germans, Scherk remained a liberal and supported Charles Kingston’s government. He was a council member of the South Australian Federation League.

Scherk was president of the German Club and the Fortschritts Verein (Union and Progress Club), active in cricketing associations, a council-member of the South Australian Zoological and Acclimatization Society, and a governor of the Botanic Garden. He chaired the Grand United Friendly Societies' Demonstration and, as a freemason, was also the first honorary member of the United Daughters of Australia.