In 1848 Australia's first two Jesuits - Aloysius Kranewitter and Maximillian Klinkowstroem - arrived in South Australia aboard the 'Alfred' with 146 Silesians. Most of the party were German Catholics, who under the leadership of Franz Weikert sought religious freedom in the young colony. Fr. Kranewitter took up Bishop Murphy's suggestion of working as an itinerant priest to German Catholics who ahd settled north of Adelaide, and came to the Clare Valley. In 1849 two more Jesuits arrived in South Australia and subsequently property was purchased near Clare and named 'Sevenhill' in the hope that a new Rome was being founded, referring to the seven hills on which Rome was built. In 1856 the first section of a college was built at Sevenhill, functioning as a boys' boarding school and a seminary. Vines were planted on the property four years later and today the vineyard continues to thrive and produce award-winning wines.

Burke, A.F. The story of St. Aloysius' Church, Sevenhill, [Murray Bridge, S. Aust.: AF Burke, 1982?]