On Saturday the 17th of September 1853, the 258 ton barque Steinwarder arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia. On board were 130 passengers mostly from the twin mining towns of Clausthal and Zellerfeldt, in the Harz Mountains in Hanover, now central northern Germany.

One of the miners on board was 18 year old, ore sorter, Ernst Carl August Zeitz (later anglicised to Ernest Charles August Zeitz). He was accompanied on the voyage by many other young men from the area bringing their mining skills to copper mines in the new colony of South Australia.