Sources page Marianne's genogram

Naturalization Certificates

From The [Adelaide] Observer, January 9th, 1924
“In 1849 there entered the state a woman of truly remarkable force of character and keen observation, Mrs. Marianne von Kreusler*, who was born in Arolsen, Waldeck, in 1811.
In 1849 she came to South Australia with her three children - one son and two daughters.
Although delicately nurtured, the widow settled down to the hard rough life of the oldtime farmer with that wonderful fortitude so characteristic of our pioneers. She took up land at Buchfelde, near Gawler, and had for neighbours the late Dr. Schomburgk, who cultivated one of the first vineyards and orchards planted in this state, and also Dr. Hubbe, who had opened a school. They were intimate friends. Dr. Muecke was a pastor in Tanunda, and his sons often went to Buchfelde. The late Mr. James Martin had a small blacksmith shop in Gawler, and between these the most friendly intercourse subsisted.
Mrs von Kreusler devoted her leisure to natural history, and by her own researches and exchange with investigators in different parts of the world acquired quite an extensive collection of birds, reptiles, insects, and native animals and minerals. One collection she sold to the Adelaide Museum for 200 pounds, and she also presented specimens to the Gawler Institute.
Her special line was entomology, particularly beetles. Many a day in the height of summer, in the quivering meridian heat, she has spent in the scrub in unremitting search after her beloved coleoptera. These, with the assistance of a favourite granddaughter, she skilfully mounted and treated with a secret preservative. The late Baron von Mueller was indebted to this indefatigable worker for many a collection of rare and almost unknown insects; and Professor French of Melbourne, and the curator of the Sydney Museum were also supplied from her store. No less than three species of the "horny-winged", entirely new to the scientific world, notable services to science, as also did one of the rarest of South Australian shells.
But her correspondents were not confined to Australia. The famous Austrian naturalist, Dr. Franz Anton Nickerl, of Prague, was a particular friend. The writer has before him an "In Memoriam" card she received from his brother on the occasion of the death of the great scientist. In fact, she acquired the position of an authority on Australian entomology, and was elected an honorary member of the Linnaean Society. Through all this success she retained utmost kindness and refinement.
The writer made her acquaintance some eight years before her death in 1892. Not only were her faculties well-preserved, she was the life and soul of a friendly party, and entered into the amusements and aspirations of the young with a relish and appreciation as rare as it is inspiring. To within a few days of her death she read often through the night without glasses, and relinquished her enthusiastic pursuit of natural history only one year before the final scene.”

From George E. Loyau, The Gawler Handbook: A record of the Rise and Progress of that important Town (1880)
“In returning to Gawler we visited the museum and collection of curiosities owned by Mrs. Kreusler, which is well worth seeing. In a patch of about three acres, planted with vines and fruit trees of various descriptions, on the left hand side of the road, stands the somewhat unpretentious cottage of the owner, and in two rooms of this are curious and rare objects, such as one would never expect to meet out of the busy centres of civilization. The proprietress, though of German parentage, is conversable, and explains very clearly all that is interesting in the excellent collection exhibited to the visitor. My stay was too brief to examine minutely everything; sufficient was seen to convince me that the museum was a valuable one, and which, if it were possible to add it to the one now extant at the Gawler Institute, would considerably enhance its treasures. It would take too long to particularise every object, but the most prominent were birds and animals of various kinds, butterflies, beetles, shells, coral, reptiles, snakes, eggs, specimens of copper ore, agates and other stones; some of the agates were really splendid, and having been polished their various excellencies were exhibited in the highest degree. Mrs. Kreusler stated she intended parting with the collection, and that some gentlemen from the neighbouring colonies were in treaty for it. Being rather reticent as to its origin I did not learn particulars as to the reason such a number of curiosities had been hid away as it were for years from the eyes of the world. It would indeed be better to dispose of them rather than permit what is of so much value to longer remain in an obscure place.”

From Herbert M. Hale, Records of the South Australian Museum Vol. XII
The first hundred years of the Museum - 1856-1956
“An outstanding entomological collection was purchased from Mrs Kreusler of Nuriootpa for two hundred and ten pounds, quite a large sum in those days.”

From Chris Brice, ‘Pride of the Princess’, The [Adelaide] Advertiser (December 2nd, 1989.)
“She was a ship of destiny. Her passengers would leave an indelible imprint on our State, its culture and its heritage. Yet, when the Princess Louise sailed from Hamburg, in the spring of 1849, bound for South Australia, her cabins crammed with 162 men, women and children, few could guess at the extraordinary impact the passengers would have on the new colony. ...
The story of the Princess Louise began in Berlin in the late 1840s, during a period of revolution. At that time, Europe, spurred by the earlier French Revolution, was facing a period of change, revolt, and uprising.
In Berlin, in 1848, Richard Schomburgk, a gardener who had established a reputation as a botanist, and his physician brother, Otto, saw that there was little hope of their dream of democracy being achieved and, by 1849, a period of repression began. ...
The brothers formed a migration group, calling it the South Australian Colonisation Society, and made plans to leave the Fatherland for a new start in Australia. ...
So, in March 1849, the South Australian Colonisation Society chartered the Princess Louise and set sail for Adelaide with a new wave of refugees.
Once in Adelaide, the Schomburgk brothers established Buchfelde and were joined by a number of other Princess Louise passengers, including the Von Rieben, Piper, Diinow, Kreusler (there are varied spellings), Harders, Kley and Gunter families....
Richard Schomburgk moved from Buchfelde to Adelaide in 1865, to take up the directorship of the Botanic Gardens and began research into plants for horticultural, pastoral, and agricultural use.
Marianne Kreusler was a widow when she arrived on the Princess Louise. She farmed at Buchfelde and devoted her leisure time to studying natural history. She specialised in entomology and some of her collections were sold to the South Australian Museum.”

From Pauline Payne, The Diplomatic Gardener – Richard Schomburgk: Explorer and Botanic Garden Director (2007)
“There were two keen naturalists among the Schomburgk’s neighbours at Buchsfelde. … The other was Mariane Kreusler. She had led a fairly protected life in Europe and was widowed just before she left Germany with her three teenage children. She is thought to have been befriended by the Schomburgk family and to have travelled on the Princess Louise. Strong and determined, she succeeded in farming on her own at Buchfelde. An avid collector with a special interest in entomology, she developed a small private museum in two rooms of her house, with specimens of birds, animals, butterflies, beetles, shells, coral, reptiles, and mineral specimens.”

From Wikipedia: “The Princess Louise left Hamburg March 26th of 1849, in the spring, bound for South Australia via Rio de Janeiro. The voyage took 135 days which was considered slow but nevertheless the Princess Louise berthed at Port Adelaide on August 7th 1849 with 161 emigres, including Johann Friedrich Mosel. Johann, born in 1827 in Berlin in the duchy of Brandenburg had taken three weeks to travel from his home to the departure point of the 350 tonne vessel at Hamburg. This voyage had been well planned by two of the founding passengers, brothers Richard and Otto Schomburgk who had been implicated in the revolution. Otto had been jailed in 1847 for his activities as a student revolutionary. The brothers along with others including Frau von Kreussler and D. Meucke formed a migration group, the South Australian Colonisation Society, one of many similar groups forming throughout Germany at the time. Sponsored by the scientist geologist Leopold von Buch, the society chartered the Princess Louise to sail to South Australia. The passengers were mainly middle-class professionals, academics, musicians, artists, architects, engineers, artisans and apprentices, and were among the core of liberal radicals, disillusioned with events in Germany.”

Shown below, Marianne’s farm [Section 33] is across the main road from those of Schomburgk, Peiper, Kley, Deinow and Harders, who arrived with her on the Princess Louise. [Reproduced from Pauline Payne, The Diplomatic Gardener – Richard Schomburgk: Explorer and Botanic Garden Director (2007)]

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