Christian Gottlieb Teichelmann arrived in South Australia in October 1838 in response to a call from Pastor Kavel and George Fife Angas for missionaries to the Aboriginal people. With Teichelmann was Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann, and together they established a school for the Aboriginal people on the banks of the River Torrens opposite the Adelaide Gaol. While engaged in this work they gathered together the words to compile Outlines of a Grammar: Vocabulary and Phraseology of the Aboriginal Language of South Australia, Spoken by the Natives in and for Some Distance Around Adelaide published in Adelaide in 1840. Teichelmann was outspoken on the condition of the Aboriginal people and his opinion was respected by Governor Gawler who admired the work of both men. With the arrival that year of a further two missionaries, Teichelmann became Government interpreter.

Teichelmann married Margaret Nicholson in 1843, and farmed at several locations in addition to continuing his pastoral work with communities at Salem, Monarto and Callington. In 1872 he purchased land at Oyster Bay (Stansbury), opened a store and in 1876 became the first postmaster. With his sons he farmed at Hayward Park, several kilometres south of Stansbury, and also opened the first Sunday School there in 1873.

However he was no longer an active pastor in the Lutheran Church: apart from attending the dedication of the Yorketown Lutheran Church in 1873, Teichelmann worshipped as part of the congregation at the Christian Church in Stansbury established by James Cornish, and later was a trustee for the Methodist Church, built in 1877.

When he died in 1888 his funeral was attended by a large number of people who held in great respect this 'quiet unostentatious character'.