Johannes Menge (4 January 1788 – 1852), is regarded as
South Australia's first
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
, though he had no formal qualifications. An early explorer of the new colony, he was influential in the settlement of the
Barossa Valley
The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destina ...
.
He has been called the "father of South Australian mineralogy". On the passenger list of the ship that brought him out he was called "Johannes Joseph Menge", but in his letters to newspapers he variously called himself "John"
and "Joseph". To fellow-colonists he was "Professor Menge".
History
Born in the town of
Steinau,
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, Menge had little formal education, but was a keen learner and quickly gained a broad knowledge of languages, philosophy, medicine, religion, and geology. His particular interest in geology developed after his early employment by Privy Councillor
Karl Cäsar von Leonhard
Karl Cäsar von Leonhard (12 September 1779 in Rumpenheim – 23 January 1862 in Heidelberg) was a German mineralogist and geologist. His son, Gustav von Leonhard, was also a mineralogist.
From 1797 he studied at the universities of Marburg and ...
, who collected and sold mineral specimens.
Menge later travelled widely through Europe and beyond, and was awarded an honorary degree of Professor of Mineralogy from the
University of Lübeck
The University of Lübeck is a research university in Lübeck, Northern Germany which focuses almost entirely on medicine and sciences with applications in medicine. In 2006, 2009 and 2016, the University of Lübeck was ranked No. 1 in medicine am ...
in 1821.
England
After the death of his wife in 1830 he moved to England, where he taught languages, notably
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
.
Australia
He became friends with
George Fife Angas
George Fife Angas (1 May 1789 – 15 May 1879) was an English businessman and banker who, while residing in England, played a significant part in the formation and establishment of the Province of South Australia. He established the South Aus ...
, who encouraged him to travel to the new colony of South Australia for employment with the
South Australia Company
The South Australian Company, also referred to as the South Australia Company, was formed in London on 9 October 1835, after the '' South Australia (Foundation) Act 1834'' had established the new British Province of South Australia, with the Sou ...
. Menge sailed to South Australia aboard ''
Coromandel
Coromandel may refer to:
Places India
*Coromandel Coast, India
**Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements
** Dutch Coromandel
*Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India
New Zealand
*Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula
*Coro ...
''. On 12 January 1837 the ship arrived at
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...
, where Menge was hired as the colony's Mine and Quarry Agent and Geologist. However, his eccentric ways led to his dismissal from the company on 30 June 1838.
Menge then moved to the South Australian mainland, travelling widely, exploring alone as far north as
Mount Remarkable
Mount Remarkable is a mountain in South Australia located in the Flinders Ranges about north of the centre of the capital city of Adelaide and immediately north-west of the town of Melrose, which was once named Mount Remarkable itself, and wh ...
and searching for minerals, while engaging in many other interests. He was the first to discover copper in the
Adelaide Hills. He kept in regular contact with
George Fife Angas
George Fife Angas (1 May 1789 – 15 May 1879) was an English businessman and banker who, while residing in England, played a significant part in the formation and establishment of the Province of South Australia. He established the South Aus ...
and sent him letters and reports; his activities thus encouraging the spread of settlement, and mineral exploration by others. This ultimately led to a mining boom that saved the fledgling colony. He wrote papers on several topics, particularly mineralogy, and in 1840 wrote a book entitled ''Mineral Kingdom of South Australia''.
He was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as
William Blandowski
Johann Wilhelm Theodor Ludwig von Blandowski, known as William Blandowski (21 January 1822 – 18 December 1878), was a German explorer, soldier, zoologist and mining engineer of Polish roots, he is most famous for his exploration of the Murray an ...
,
Ludwig Becker,
Hermann Beckler
Dr. Hermann Beckler (28 September 1828, in Höchstädt an der Donau – 10 December 1914, in Fischen im Allgäu) was a German doctor with an interest in botany. He went to Australia to collect specimen for Ferdinand von Mueller and served as med ...
,
Amalie Dietrich
Koncordie Amalie Dietrich (née Nelle) (26 May 1821 – 9 March 1891) was a German naturalist who was best known for her work in Australia from 1863 to 1872, collecting specimens for the Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg.
Australia
Dietrich was one ...
,
Diedrich Henne
Diedrich Henne (1834 – 21 January 1913) was a German-born botanist and plant collector. He emigrated to Australia and was employed as an assistant to the colonial botanist Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Herbarium.
Henne was one of a n ...
,
Gerard Krefft,
Johann Luehmann,
Ludwig Preiss
Johann August Ludwig Preiss (21 November 1811 – 21 May 1883) was a German-born British botanist and zoologist.
Early life
Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia.
...
,
Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker),
Moritz Richard Schomburgk
Moritz Richard Schomburgk (5 October 1811 – 24 March 1891), generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German botanist and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Family
Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Lu ...
,
Richard Wolfgang Semon,
George Ulrich,
Eugene von Guérard,
Robert von Lendenfeld,
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...
,
Georg von Neumayer
Georg Balthazar von Neumayer (21 June 1826 – 24 May 1909), was a German polar explorer and scientist who was a proponent of the idea of international cooperation for meteorology and scientific observation.
Biography
Early years
Born i ...
, and
Carl Wilhelmi Johann Freiderich Carl Wilhelmi (1829–1884) was a Dresden born seedsman who made large collections of botanical specimens in southern Australia.
Wilhelmi was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as Ludwig Becker, Herman ...
who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2).
Menge was particularly fond of the Barossa Valley (which he called "New Silesia"), and he lived there for some time in a cave on the banks of
Jacob's Creek at its junction with the North Para River. He diverted the flow of Jacob's Creek and created "Menges' Island" where he grew vegetables. He was particularly struck with the possibilities for
viticulture
Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...
. Menge wrote to Angas detailing the Barossa as "the cream, the whole cream and nothing but the cream". When the first German
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
immigrants arrived in the state, Menge assisted in their resettlement from their initial residence in the Adelaide Hills to the Barossa Valley. It is claimed that in 1849 Menge made the first discovery of opal in Australia.
Despite Menge being attributed with many early geological discoveries in South Australia, it was
Thomas Burr
Thomas Burr (1813–1866), surveyor and mine manager, was a British explorer and Deputy Surveyor General of South Australia 1839–46.
Early life in England
Born 1813 in England, probably at Kent, Thomas Burr's father was George Dominicus Burr ...
who most keenly and scientifically observed the colony's geology, his ''Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of South Australia'' being published at Adelaide in 1846, this being the colony's first official government geological report and the first geological book to be published in Australia.
Death
In 1852 Menge walked overland to the
Victorian gold diggings, where in the winter of that year he died (though news did not reach the newspapers until October) and was buried at Forest Creek (now Chewton, part of Castlemaine) near
Bendigo.
Biography
A biography of Menge was written by
W. A. Cawthorne (1825–1897), an early Adelaide schoolmaster.
Named by Menge
*Hereinien Range, (between
Stockwell and
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
) and its highest peak, Broken, for a fancied resemblance to similarly named German features (possibly
Brocken
The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and El ...
).
*
Belvidere Range
The Belvidere Range is a mountain range of the Northern Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia.
The range was named in 1840 by early geologist/explorer Johannes Menge because he thought the highest point commanded a beautiful view (Latin ''Bell ...
*
Kaiserstuhl
Notes
References
Menge at southaustralianhistory.com (Accessed 8 January 2007)
*Baker S (ed.) (1991). Explore the Barossa Valley. State Publishing South Australia.
* Barrett, L., Eckstein, L., Hurley, A.W. & Schwarz A. (2018), "Remembering German-Australian Colonial Entanglement: An Introduction", ''Postcolonial Studies'', Vol.21, No.1, (January 2018), pp.1-5.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menge, Johann
1788 births
1852 deaths
Australian geologists
Explorers of South Australia
Explorers of Australia
Australian people of German descent