Bethel, South Australia
Bethel is a locality and former settlement in South Australia, west of Kapunda. Its name is derived from the German word for Place of God.
Bethel was settled by German-speaking people in around 1854 seeking to establish a Moravian Brethren community. From 1856 there was also a group of people of Wendish origin. They also spoke German. Some of these settlers initially worshipped with the Moravians, however a new church was built named Steinthal and many worshipped there instead. The Bethel congregation severed its links with the Moravians and called a Lutheran pastor in the 1890s. The Steinthal church closed and combined in 1906. The school was closed by the state government in 1917 along with many others that taught in German.
