The Sud Australische Zeitung was founded in 1859 by Charles Hastings Barton. Like the Adelaider Deutsche Zeitung, the newspaper aimed to provide summaries of news from German newspapers for German immigrants living in Australia. The printer Georg Eimer obtained a share in the firm in 1862 and soon afterwards took over completely from Barton and Friedrich Basedow as sole owner. Until 1862 the circulation of the Sud Australische Zeitung was a tiny 400 issues. Within just three months of Eimer taking over full ownership circulation soared to 1,500 (Sud Australische Zeitung, 13 March 1863, p. 1). The South Australian German population was too small to support two newspapers and Eimer soon joined with Wilhelm Eggers of the Adelaider Deutsche Zeitung to publish a joint newspaper. Dr Carl Muecke, the radical theologian and agricultural expert, was the editor. Reportedly, by May 1863, the new newspaper was being distributed in 25 South Australian towns, as well as nine Victorian towns, four in New South Wales, and five in Queensland. In 1863 Eimer's two former partners, Barton and Basedow, formed a new newspaper, the Tanunda Deutsche Zeitung. There was intense competition between the Sud Australische Zeitung, published in Adelaide, and the Tanunda Deutsche Zeitung, published in the Barossa Valley. In 1866 when the latter newspaper expanded to eight pages, Eimer and Eggers increased the Sud Australische Zeitung to twelve pages - without increasing the subscription price. Their newspaper contained better quality printing, and generally had more liberal views than the opposition. The Sud Australische Zeitung also published two magazine-style supplements - Adelaider Blatter fur Ernst und Scherz and Australisches Unterhaltungsblatt. Eventually the two rivals merged to become the Australische Zeitung.

Trove : Sud Australische Zeitung in digital format