Sharron, I find this a most amazing story. Now did anybody come up with this idea? The Grulke family are a very old Volhynian family. It appears that they migrated from Volhynia to Pomerania around the 17th century but that is only guess. I have traced the family back to 1810 in Pomerania and my ancestors came to Queensland in 1870. To my knowledge there are no other Grulke family members in Australia beyond those living in Queensland and me. If you name change was reversed I might be able to through some light on it all but this really intrigues me. I might mention that there are family GAULKE and GRUNKE. Albert Grulke -----Original Message----- From: Chenelle [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, 1 April 2002 9:55 To: [email protected] Subject: [AUS-GERMAN] German names Hi Albert, My "Grilk's" came to Australia from Germany,arriving in Tasmania in the early 1800's. As far as my research can tell,there were several members of the same family,but only one kept their name unchanged. The others changed one,two and sometimes three letters to form a similar sounding name.I was told by a relative that lives in Sydney they changed the surname to "Grill" so it would seem they were from the Netherlands,not Germany.Others were changed to "Grulke" and "Grilke" That's basically all I have for now.But I am waiting to hear from a lady in Tasmania to confirm where the "Grulke's" and "Grill's" are now residing. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Sharron ==== AUS-GERMAN Mailing List ==== For your Aus-German resources go to http://www.ainsleehooper.com/germlinks.htm ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237