[4] Born in the town of Steinau, Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Menge had little formal education, but was a keen learner and quickly gained a broad knowledge of languages, philosophy, medicine, religion, and geology.
His particular interest in geology developed after his early employment by Privy Councillor Karl Cäsar von Leonhard, who collected and sold mineral specimens.
Menge then moved to the South Australian mainland, travelling widely, exploring alone as far north as Mount Remarkable and searching for minerals, while engaging in many other interests.
He was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents — such as Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, William Blandowski, Amalie Dietrich, Wilhelm Haacke, Diedrich Henne, Gerard Krefft, Johann Luehmann, Carl Mücke (a.k.a.
[6] Menge was particularly fond of the Barossa Valley (which he called "New Silesia"), and he lived there for some time in a cave on the banks of Jacob's Creek at its junction with the North Para River.
In 1852 Menge walked overland to the Victorian gold diggings, where in the winter of that year he died (though news did not reach the newspapers until October)[8] and was buried at Forest Creek (now Chewton, part of Castlemaine) near Bendigo.