Carl Muecke (editor)
Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke (16 July 1815 – 4 January 1898), occasionally written Mücke, was a German-born clergyman, plant pathologist and German-language newspaper editor in the colony of South Australia. History. Muecke was born in Möckern, near Magdeberg, and was originally destined for a career in mining, which he studied at Frieberg, but after experiencing an accident in the mines, his father sent him to the University of Bonn, where he took his degrees. He served for a time as an observer on the Luxembourg border during the 1831 war between Belgium and Holland. He began  teaching chemistry, and became an activist for the cause of compulsory education in State schools. He was an excellent speaker, and much in demand at the , a workers' education society in Berlin. One of Muecke's brothers established a "Liedertafel" in association with the "Verein", which after his death erected a monument to his memory. During the repressive Eichhorn ministry Muecke published some anti-authoritarian pamphlets, for which two of his fellows were punished. He moved to Berlin, where he had a hand in editing educational year-books. Following the Revolutions of 1848, Muecke left Germany for South Australia aboard  Princess Louise, arriving in August 1849. Also on board were two of the Schomburgk brothers: Otto Alfred Carl Schomburgk and his wife Maria Charlotte Schomburgk (née Von Selchow) and Richard Moritz Schomburgk, and Pauline Henriette Schomburgk (née Kneib), who were married at sea. He was naturalized as a British subject in September 1849, one of the few times his name was written as Mücke. He first settled as a farmer near Gawler, but agriculture had no great attraction for him, and in 1859 he accepted an invitation to serve as pastor of the Lutheran Church at Tanunda, and shortly afterwards  settled in that town. Over the next twenty years he also served several other Lutheran congregations: Lyndoch, Concordia (5 km ENE of Gawler), Schoenfeld (near Freeling) and King's Belt (near Sheaoak Log). At each of these pastorates he was closely associated with the church school and intellectual life of these towns. He was at the forefront of agitation for equal voting rights for naturalized Germans, and gave popular and stimulating lectures on scientific subjects. He was of great assistance to Sir Robert Torrens in promoting the Real Property Act which, thanks to Dr. Ulrich Hübbe, was largely based on  the system used in the Hanse towns, and helped organise a festival at Tanunda in honour of Sir Robert after the Act was passed. For years he took a very practical interest in "takeall" and "red rust", significant diseases of wheat, studying the soil and roots under a microscope, and discovered parasites that could have been responsible. His MA. degree was conferred by the University of Adelaide. Journalism. In late 1849 Muecke, together with Otto Schomburgk and Gustav Dröge founded the "Suedaustralische Zeitung", a German-language weekly newspaper, using Roman type (and replacing umlauted letters with their two-letter equivalent ), perhaps as a rejection of tradition, or that being the only typeface available. The following year it was printed in traditional black letter type as "Südaustralische Zeitung". Throughout the history of the paper Muecke had a considerable attachment in its various phases: Later years. For many years he resided at Semaphore, then around 1890, thinking the mountain air would be more beneficial to his health, he retired to Hahndorf. On his eightieth birthday a great celebration was held at the German Club in his honour. Family. Muecke married Emilie Friedericka née Meyerhoff in Germany. He married again, to Caroline Schomburgk , sister of Moritz Richard Schomburgk. He married one more time, to Marie Gehrke in 1887.