Rudiger Schmidt Collection. — [1970-1980]. — 15 photographs. — 1 sound recordings.
Back to Finding Aids
Dr. Lloyd Austin ran a religious commune on his homestead on the NE6-71-5-W6, southeast of the City of Grande Prairie. This land was homesteaded by Dr. Lloyd Austin ca. 1930 and turned over to Billy Blair after the Austins left the area.
William “Billy” Blair was born in 1886. He worked as a camp cook for Henry Selby, who surveyed land east of the fifth meridian, in 1905.
William Blair died in 1995 and is buried in the Grande Prairie Cemetery.
Custodial History
This material was created by Rudiger Schmidt and donated in 2015.
Scope and Content
The material in this collection contains records related to Dr. Lloyd Austin’s religious commune.
The record consists of 15 photographs of the dilapidated buildings of a religious commune located on the NE 6-71-5-W6, on the banks of Bear Creek south-east of the City and one 40-minute oral history.
Notes
The information regarding Billy Blair was gathered from the South Peace Regional Archives – Jim Somerville Fonds, and the Grande Prairie Cemetery records.