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Our earliest connection with Bethany.

Philip Mann Posted on by
Daniel Schlinke was the uncle of my great grandmother Mann (Johanne Louise Bradtke). I noticed this article in the Bethany Heritage  SA Facebook feed supplied by Anna Schrapel. Daniel Schlinke met my great grandmother’s family when they arrived on the “Heerjeebhoy Rustomjee Patel” in September 1845. My great grandparents Johanne Louise Bradtke and Johann Christian Mann were married on 27 November 1847 in Bethany Lutheran Church by Pastor GD Fritzsche.
An enterprising Bethany icon/ business disappeared after seven years: Schlinke’s Mill.
In September 1938, Johann Daniel Schlinke, born in Schichopgara, Posen, left Hamburg at the age of 31, aboard the “Catharina” sailing to South Australia.
He was a Baker and Confectioner on Grenfell Street, Adelaide, & came to the Barossa seeking a place to build a mill to supply his bakery.
Schlinke’s first wife Bertha, was the daughter of Johann Friederich August Fiedler, who planted vines at Turkeys Flat, Bethany in 1847.
Daniel Schlinke was the first man after G.F. Angas to purchase a Land Grant, at the eastern end of Bethany. He secured Sections 1936 and 1937 in the Wilshire Special Survey, purchasing 135 acres, for 135 pounds.
The Schlinke family with two young sons, moved to Bethany. Four crude homes were built along the creek to the Mill: Schlinke, Rosina Bradtke nee Schlinke, Mann, & Schrapel families.
By the winter of 1843, Schlinke had produced 10 acres of wheat.
In 1843 the builder, Mr T.Y. Wakeham of Grenfell Street, Adelaide constructed from local stone a two-storey high building with several windows and doors. The roof consisted of shingles. A wooden channel/aqueduct conveyed water from the waterfall to the waterwheel which was mounted on high trestles built of native timber. The wheel is said to have measured 15 feet in diameter.
Allen’s Almanac 1844 mentions J.D. Schlinke as “Schlinke of Bethany Mill.” 18 months after the arrival of the pioneers of Bethany they had 495 acres under cultivation, 381 ½ acres of these were wheat.
“Schlinke of Bethany Mill” had local farmers from all over the Valley bring wheat for him to grind. Drays pulled by bullock teams carted the local wheat along the rugged creek path to the mill.
The South Australian Parliamentary Papers show records of 1844 – 1871. The Tanunda area grew with crop and livestock numbers. “By 1854, there were 2,946 acres under wheat, 432 under barley, 50 acres of oats, 51 acres of potatoes, 36 acres of vineyards, 56 acres of gardens and 291 acres of hay.”
Passing through the “German Pass’, which is a break in the Barossa Range, we are introduced into what is truly a noble park, and most magnificently timbered……….an enterprising German has erected a substantial stone mill, which is driven by water wheel. The building reflects great credit on the builders, who have shown great skill in the erection. The mill is romantically situated up the gorge, and the water is seen breaking out in different rifts of the broken range.
By 1847 the mill was grinding 200lbs of flour. Heavy drays hauled by bullock teams along the sloping banks of the creek caused huge ruts.
Between 1848 and 1850, water supply went from inadequate to destructive, and a flood destroyed the aquaduct.
The first two storeyed water powered mill in South Australia, at Schlinke’s Gully only survived 7 years.
In July 1855, the Austrian artist Eugene von Guerard travelled throughout South Australia. He is known as one of the most famous 19th Century landscape artists showing drawings of Australia. He found a massive, two-storeyed stone water mill in a narrow gully dominated by red river gums, peppermint gums, sheoaks, and native bulrushes and ferns. His collection includes two pen and ink pictures of Schlinke’s Gully.
SOURCE:
  1. Province of South Australia. Land Grant. Country Section. 4 May 1842.
  2. Carroll, Allsion – Eugene von Guerards South Australia Drawings, Paintings and Lithographs from Journeys in SA in 1855 and 1857.
  3. The Barossa – A Vision Realised. The 19th Century Story. Don Ross.
  4. A Dwelling Place at Bethany, H.F.W. Proeve.
  5. The South Australian Register. Oct. 18, 1848.
PHOTO: SLSA. Schlinke’s Mill, Tanunda. B 39224.
Publication detail: c. 1909.

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