Johann Georg JAESCHKE b 1782 Posen, Prussia  He arrived with his family on the Catherina on 24 January 1839 and died August 1839 Hahndorf, South Australia.  His son Johann Dienegott was 14 years old on arrival was interviewed for this article below and is quote extensively on his early experiences.  Dienegott's wife was Johanne Luise ZIMMERMANN who was 11 years of age on the Zebra. They married in 1847c and had 9 children between 1849 and 1865, 16 years.  

Many of their children were born at 'Ravenswood' a story which I will explore further. 

1905 'TWO WORTHY COLONISTS.,' Evening Journal [Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1912], 25 January, p.3., viewed 21 Nov 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207995748

HOW THE PIONEERS STRUGGLED [ By a Correspondent]

Mr. and Mrs. J. D. JAESCHKE, of Greenock, are among the few survivors of that heroic band of German immigrants who, objected to intolerable persecution in the fatherland, sought beneath the shadow of the Union Jack freedom of worship God in their own way.  Mr. JAESCHKE was born at Wolstein Posen in November, 1824, during the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm 111.  He belonged to the sect of Old Lutherans who were visited with fine and imprisonment for non conformity to the established church of Prussia.  The refugees left their homes in 1838 in the four ships Bengalis, Prinz Georg, Katarina and the Zebra under Captain Hahn.  The first to arrive at our shores was the Bengali, in November 1838.  Pastor KAVEL, the first Lutheran clergyman, came in the Prinz Georg shortly after.  Capt. Hahn, who gave his name to the well known German township, commanded the Zebra, in which Mrs. JAESCHKE arrived, also in November.  Mr. JAESCHKE, in the Katarina reached South Australia on January 20, 1839.  After a short stay at the Port, the immigrants proceeded to Hahndorf, where they are once entered upon the pursuit of farming.  With characteristic German foresight, they had come well provided with clothing and food, and abundance of implements and tools necessary for their occupations.  Unfortunately the means of transport were of the crudest..  Not even bullock tracks led to their chosen homes, and with their families and implements, they had to make their way as best they could over the pathless and untrodden wilderness.  The carriage for a single dray load was 11 pound, and, as they were ill-supplied with money, many of their belonging, including the bulk of the implements, were left unguarded and exposed to the weather at the landing place.    Before they could raise enough to have these articles conveyed to the settlement a large proportion had disappeared in various ways.  This was a heavy loss, as such implements were absolutely unprocurable in the colony at this early date.  As vehicles of all kinds could not be had they set about constructing trollies, moveable on rollers, improvised from the trunks and branches of trees.  Others proceeded to turn up as much ground as possible with the spade and to plant wheat and vegetables.  Incessant hard work and the consumption of salt meat and course bread, with the privation of vegetables, brought on an outbreaks of scurvy, which almost extinguished the struggling settlement.  Gaunt and weak, from the scourge, they sought to supplement they slender means by going out to work for the wealthier colonists.  Mr. JAENSCHKE tells of his brother and himself being reduced to living on boiled maize before they found employment with Mr. Duncan MACFARLANE, at Mount Barker.  Of this gentleman he speaks in the highest terms for his rigid honesty and princely generosity.  The brothers JAENSCHKE trudge on for miles through the lonely, trackless bush before they reached the scene of their labours.  Mr. JAESCHKE acted as shepherd to Mr. MACFARLANE and grew so much in his employers esteem that he was eventually appointed a manager.  As an instance of Mr. MACFARLANE's goodwill Mr. JAESCHKE mentions that the canny but large-souled old Scot sold him a cow and a yearling calf for 15 pound although the cow alone was worth 22 pound at the rates then current.

When the energetic Mr. JAESCHKE returned to Hahndorf he set up the first flour mill in South Australia.  This was a very primitive arrangement, consisting of two large millstones worked by a treadle and a windlass; nevertheless, it was in great demand, and settlers, both men and women, came considerable distances to grind their wheat.  The charge was 2 pound a bushel, which was very moderate, considering wheat was selling at 1 pound a bushel.  Subsequently bullocks were used to turn the stones, and after some years he contemplated importing an engine; but he was anticipated by the erection of a steam mill in Adelaide, and of course, the Hahndorf Mill was soon closed.  In 1854 Mr JAESCHKE left the original settlement and took up land in Greenock where he has since carried on farming.  His wife is 79 years old.