Hi Listers, I wonder if anyone could help with spotting any clues in this tale - very vague - which might suggest where I could start looking? It has parallels with my own Danish family, who emigrated to NSW in 1856 and fossicked for gold, then selected land. (Except I think by 1864, he had left it a bit late). I tried to explain to Anita that Australia is organised by States...I'm afraid that for a lot of Danes, it is just Australia - or "ned under" :-)) Any help appreciated. Cheers, Lesley (Melbourne) *** I would be very happy if you can help me. The only problem is, that the information I have about Christoffer Bruhn, is a lifestore written by his niece. She tells that he went to England in around 1864. He had 4 brothers and one sister. His sister was born in 1844 and his mother in 1822. Know I say Christoffer, well I am not sure at all, because I have got a familytree from an uncle, but I have found some mistakes, so I can not be sure that his name was Christoffer. As I wrote before he went to England. Later on he went to Australia. He was going to dig for gold, but got a small piece of land. Now this is the story. A another farmer wanted to buy his piece of land but he refused, Then the farmer bought all the land land around Christoffer´s piece and Christoffer had forgotten to buy some road, so he could go to his piece of land and he ended with selling the land to the other farmer. Then he got another piece of land, but it was a good piece of land to use, but he stayed in Australia till he died. And he died as British citizen. The story also says that the place he came to was full of snakes and that he sent for his wife and children when he was settled down. I don´t know any of their names or how many children there was. I hope you can help me with some information. regard Anita

At 04:28 PM 9/12/00 +1100, you wrote: From naturalization indexes - NSW - None. Vic - A few BRUHNs - two with name Johan Christopher SA - A few BRUHNs Tas - None. Commonwealth - A few BRUHNs between 1904 & 1916 WA, Qld indexes not published. NOTE - Vic, SA & Comm. are held in Canberra, so get someone there to check them all. From the quantity of BRUHNs I'd guess it could be about a three to four hour job. It would probably be a bit inconclusive, but would narrow down the search to a few that hopefully will cross reference with property records. As he sold and purchased land, legally he should have been naturalized, but sometimes these things slipped through. Get someone to search for property transactions in the NSW & Vic Land Titles Offices - the two earlier gold mining states. Maybe WA & Qld, where gold discoveries were later in the 1800s. Old System titles are indexed by seller, Torrens Title by purchaser. Try wills and probates - NSW & Vic have good indexes. There are a few BRUHNs on AGCI. It will probably need somone local to do the research. The above records are not online and the relevent archives do not do research themselves. Gary ==================== >I would be very happy if you can help me. The only problem is, that the >information I have about Christoffer Bruhn, is a lifestore written by >his niece. >She tells that he went to England in around 1864. He had 4 brothers and >one sister. His sister was born in 1844 and his mother in 1822. Know I >say Christoffer, well I am not sure at all, because I have got a >familytree from an uncle, but I have found some mistakes, so I can not >be sure that his name was Christoffer. > >As I wrote before he went to England. Later on he went to Australia. He >was going to dig for gold, but got a small piece of land. Now this is >the story. A another farmer wanted to buy his piece of land but he >refused, Then the farmer bought all the land land around Christoffer´s >piece and Christoffer had forgotten to buy some road, so he could go to >his piece of land and he ended with selling the land to the other >farmer. Then he got another piece of land, but it was a good piece of >land to use, but he stayed in Australia till he died. >And he died as British citizen. The story also says that the place he >came to was full of snakes and that he sent for his wife and children >when he was settled down. I don´t know any of their names or how many >children there was. >I hope you can help me with some information. =================== Gary Luke feraltek@zeta.org.au fax +61-2-9519-9907 Sydney, Australia

Hi All, Many thanks to the people who answered my original query. The answer appears to be *Queensland*, then Sydney - and the key was in the Danish Emigration Archive. (I at first thought Anita would have checked it - then decided to double-check, just to make sure). Here is the message I've just posted to <dk.historie.genealogi>: Hej Anita, Maybe Ødis, Vejle Amt? This is from the DEA <http://www.emiarch.dk/home.php3>: Bruhn, Christoffer Knudsen, Landmand, 26, Queensland, 5249, 10/13/1873, , -, Odis, Veile A., Australien, , I7374B0622 Bruhn, Emilie Gustave, Hustru, 26, Queensland, 5249, 10/13/1873, , -, Odis, Veile A., Australien, , I7374B0623 Bruhn, Kurt Christian, Barn, 22, Queensland, 5249, 10/13/1873, , -, Odis, Veile A., Australien, ALD: Formodentlig forkert angivelse af alder., I7374B0624 Seems that by 1883, Christoffer had moved to Sydney and married again (to Esther BEDFORD). Had 5 Australian daughters, and apparently changed his name to BROWN around the time of WW1. 12615/1923 BROWN CHRISTOPHER K KNUD 4206/1928 BROWN ESTHER 73 YEARS MENTAL HOSP Death certificates can be obtained, and may have additional information (including Christoffer/Christopher's occupation) - see <www.bdm.nsw.gov.au> What is missing now are possible children of the first marriage, born in Queensland. I will check the fiche for that next time I'm at the Library - those records are not on the Net, unfortunately Here are some URLs for Queensland which may help, though: Qld Archives - http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/ GSQ - http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/gsq.htm GenWeb - http://members.nbci.com/QldGenWeb/ State Library - http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/ Qld District Maps - http://www.multimap.com/index/AS4.htm BTW, Sir John - no, not all Danes went to Queensland (but some did) :-) mvh, Lesley (Melbourne, Australia) *** Gary Luke wrote: > > At 04:28 PM 9/12/00 +1100, you wrote: > > >From naturalization indexes - > NSW - None. > Vic - A few BRUHNs - two with name Johan Christopher > SA - A few BRUHNs > Tas - None. > Commonwealth - A few BRUHNs between 1904 & 1916 > WA, Qld indexes not published. > NOTE - Vic, SA & Comm. are held in Canberra, so get someone there to check > them all. From the quantity of BRUHNs I'd guess it could be about a three > to four hour job. It would probably be a bit inconclusive, but would narrow > down the search to a few that hopefully will cross reference with property > records. > > As he sold and purchased land, legally he should have been naturalized, but > sometimes these things slipped through. Get someone to search for property > transactions in the NSW & Vic Land Titles Offices - the two earlier gold > mining states. Maybe WA & Qld, where gold discoveries were later in the > 1800s. Old System titles are indexed by seller, Torrens Title by purchaser. > > Try wills and probates - NSW & Vic have good indexes. > There are a few BRUHNs on AGCI. > > It will probably need somone local to do the research. The above records > are not online and the relevent archives do not do research themselves. > > Gary > ====================