The present Austin E.M.M.C. Church congregation was formed in the early 1940s, when several Mennonite families from southern Manitoba and a few from Saskatchewan moved into an area just northwest of Austin. Southern Manitoba at that time was very densely populated and farms were becoming smaller and smaller till it became very difficult to make a living there during the 1930's.

Among those pioneers were people like Peter Giesbrecht, Sr, Corneilius Thiessen, Jake S. Thiessen, Abram Dyck, Abram Kehler, Jacob Braun, William Peters, Sr, and others who were dedicated to having a place of worship and fellowship. In 1945 these people agreed to construct a church building on a half-acre plot of land donated by Peter Giesbrecht on NW-35-11-12 [near 49.973222,-99.015786] in the R. M. of North Norfolk.

In 1958 the church building was moved to Austin and located on the same site that the present E.M.M.C. church is today on the corner of South Avenue and Leyton Street.

(Source: Through Fields and Dreams - A History of Norfolk and Macgregor Vol.2, pp829f [1998; Adapted])

Established in 1952.

(Source: Manitoba Genealogical Society [Adapted])

Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD05-19-11-11-W1

In the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk

As noted above, a part of the town's story and those of its inhabitants from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1998 is told in the volume "Through Fields and Dreams - A History of Norfolk and Macgregor" (a 2-volume work), especially starting in volume 2 on the cited pages. Free digital versions of these and many other Manitoba local history books can be found online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society (reference #0865), transcribed by a member or members in 1994 and updated in 2019. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or MANI). Some additional information is contained in the 1996 MGS publication "Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites" (revised edition, Special Projects Publication, 106 pages).

Additionally, the Manitoba Mennonite Society curates and makes available extensive records related to the communities established by the families of their faith who contributed to the story of Manitoba.