Hello Albert, My family have four German ancestors who came to Australia in the 1800's, Two brothers to Victoria from the USA gold fields, to the Victorian Gold fields, 1850's. One family to QLD, and one of my husband's ancestors to NSW in the late 1800's. Regards, Jill J H Albert Just a little more info to add to your evergrowing collection. While this article deals with the emigration to the USA it does also give some info on why so many did emigrate. It is particulaly pertinent to my gg grandfather as he was not the eldest son so no chance of inheriting land. He also lied about his age and said he was 2 years older than he was when arriving in the US. This is believed to be so as not to arouse suspicion, being 23 would have mde him old enough to have done his 3 years compulsory service in the Prussian Army, he was actually only 21 and we were told he was literally smuggled out of Prussia??? He spent time in the US Goldfields, he must have made good $$ as he was then able to pay for his own passage from US to NZ then to Australia where he purchased land shortly arriving here in 1866. Hope this is of interest Cheers Michele Darwin NT - wet, humid and overcast!