Hi Marcelle, A google search suggests Gronvold is a Norwegian/Danish name also spelt as Gronvoll. I don't know how far you have looked, but I would suggest though, searching for other alternative spellings. If taken phonetically, it is very close to the Austrian/German name Gronwoldt, Grunwaldt, Grunwald, etc. Also, in case you also haven't looked, a quick search of Trove has bought up many passengers of that name from 1864 onwards coming into various parts of Australia. How old was your Hans? A Mr Gronvold and 5 children arrived in SA in 1874 aboard the "Southern Belle" from Newcastle. SA was often a drop off point for immigrants (interstate or overseas). I personally have one that came on the Shackomaxon in 1852 who some months later then took a local boat to Tasmania, where they already had relatives. Ah, you can probably scratch most of my suggestions as above. A further search of Trove brings up MISSING FRIENDS. "The West Australian" 6 April 1908. Bottom right hand corner of the page. "The undermentioned persons are requested to call at the Royal Norwegian Consulate, Perth. HANS SMIDT, GRONVOLD (GRON-VOLD); PEDER KRISTIAN LARSEN. Richard S Haynes, Consul." This URL might be a bit long, but here goes: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/25719852?searchTerm="gronvold"&searchLimits=exactPhrase=gronvold|||anyWords|||notWords|||l-textSearchScope=*ignore*%7C*ignore*|||fromdd|||frommm|||fromyyyy|||todd|||tomm|||toyyyy|||dummy=on|||l-title=%7C175|||l-title=%7C173|||l-title=%7C221|||l-title=%7C220|||l-title=%7C181|||l-title=%7C73|||l-title=%7C254|||l-title=%7C93|||l-title=%7C180|||l-title=%7C26|||l-title=%7C28|||l-title=%7C6|||l-title=%7C30|||l-title=%7C27|||l-title=%7C29|||l-title=%7C98|||l-title=%7C99|||l-title=%7C100|||l-title=%7C101|||l-word=*ignore*%7C*ignore*|||sortby=dateAsc I would feel that he was most likely fairly new to the colony with that advertisement inserted. Families back home often wrote to the local Consuls if their family members did not contact them as quickly as they expected after arriving in the country. Or, sometimes, there was an irregularity in their papers, or simply that a family member had lost touch and wanted to know where they were. If there is still a Norwegian Consul existing, they just might have records that go back that far. Regards, Wynnette. ----- Original Message ----- From: "mvs" <[email protected]> To: "QUEENSLAND ROOTSWEB" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 5:31 PM Subject: [AUS-QLD] GRONVOLD Hans Schmidt > Hi List, > > Can anyone tell me anything about the above person. <snip> ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1901 / Virus Database: 2109/4757 - Release Date: 01/21/12