Adelaide Miethke

Adelaide Laetitia "Addie" Miethke, (8 June 1881 – 4 February 1962), was a South Australian educator and teacher who was pivotal in the formation of the School of the Air using the existing Royal Flying Doctor Service radio network.

Parents Rudolph Carl Alexander Miethke (14 November 1832 – 21 October 1931), sometimes written Carl R. A. Miethke, born in Stargard, Prussia, now in Poland, migrated with his parents (Carl) Gustav Adolph Miethke and his wife Louisa, née Gaster, to South Australia on the San Francisco from Hamburg, arriving in June 1850, and settled at Blumberg (now Birdwood). He had two siblings on the boat: Augusta Mathilde Amalie Miethke, and Carl Emil Miethke. He spent a few years on the Victorian goldfields, followed by extensive overseas travel, during which he served from 1861 to 1864 with Abraham Lincoln's 2nd California Infantry Regiment. On his return to Adelaide he joined the South Australian teaching service. In November 1869 he married Emma Caroline "Louisa" Schultze, second daughter of Kapunda naturalist Frederick Schultze, and sister of Alfred Schultze, both members of Goyder's 1868–1870 expedition to the Northern Territory.

She was elected president of the National Council of Women in 1935, and as such president of the executive committee of the Women's Centenary Council. She had a very high profile during the 1936 Centenary year, speaking on the radio virtually every week and appearing as organiser or guest of honour at a host of rallies, conferences and a dramatic Pageant of Empire which she herself choreographed and organised. This featured 13,600 schoolchildren whom she personally directed, through a megaphone, at the Adelaide Oval. The two performances, on 27 and 28 November 1936, each attracted 40,000 spectators. More lasting memorials were the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden and the Aerial Medical Base at Alice Springs for the Australian Aerial Medical Services (South Australian section), the "Flying Doctor Service".

In November 1937 the Women's Centenary Council was dissolved, leaving an executive committee of Miethke, Phebe Watson, Mrs. D. P. McGuire, Mrs. C. E. Dolling, and Gisela Siebert (with Mrs. E. R. Lawrie as proxy during Miss Siebert's absence) to oversee realisation of these commitments.

During the Second World War she was once again to the fore in raising money for the benefit of Australia's soldiers. From 1940 to 1946 she directed the Schools' Patriotic Fund, with at one point Dorothy May Marshall as an assistant. Maithke also served on the Women's War Service Council. She had retired from the Education Department in 1941. SPF funds not spent during the War went into the purchase of a hostel, named Adelaide Miethke House and run by the Y.W.C.A., for use by country girls attending schools in the city.

Other interests She was a friend of John Flynn and editor of the RFDS magazine Air Doctor Having retired as Inspector of Girls' Schools in June 1941, from July 1941 to 1946 she edited the Education Department's monthly magazine for SA schoolchildren, The Children's Hour. She was founding president in 1942 of the Woodville District Child Welfare Association which established four preschools; the Adelaide Miethke Kindergarten (opened 1953) still flourishes.

The Adelaide Miethke Kindergarten in Woodville was named in her honour.

In 1986 a plaque in recognition of her contribution to South Australia was included in the Jubilee 150 Walkway.

Family Rudolph Carl Alexander Miethke (14 November 1832 – 21 October 1931) married Emma Schultze ( – c. 8 August 1892) on 6 November 1869. Their family included: Gustav Joseph "Gus" Miethke (25 Jan 1871 – 6 November 1949), mentioned in dispatches during WWI Emilia Louisa (Emilie Louise?) Miethke (14 February 1873 – 1952) Mathilde Emma Miethke (8 January 1875 – 1958), infant mistress at Le Fevre Peninsula school Ada Ella "E. A." Miethke (24 January 1877 – 1961) Hermann Hubert Miethke (22 Feb 1879–1974) married Margaret Matilda Caroline Henderson ( – 1950) on 27 December 1905. He was Chief of Staff, G.P.O., Adelaide Meta Margaret Miethke (15 April 1907 – ) married Walter Gill in 1943 Major Geoffrey Ronald Miethke MC (27 Jun 1916 ) married Lucy "Pat" Patten on 3 July 1944 Adelaide Letitia Miethke (8 June 1881 – 1962) subject of this article Edith Esther Miethke (c. 1883 – 16 March 1909) Minna Octavia Miethke (28 May 1886 – 1962) was also a teacher Hilda H. Miethke (c. 1889 – 13 June 1913) Sylvia D. Miethke (c. 1892 – 3 September 1914) All unmarried members of the family (A.L., E.A., E.E., G.J., M.E., and M.O. Miethke) lived in the family home at 24 Park Street, Woodville.