This site will focus on the QLD and Australian heritage with a special focus on the German Heritage in Queensland. As this site is under construction, you may wish to bookmark and visit from time to time.

I will research and link with existing sites on the QLD and Australian Heritage, so more to come soon.

Did you know that in 1905 one third of the population of Queensland was of German origin?

Did you know that Byron Bay was just a small paradise for surfers and completely unknown to the rest of the word? Then young hippies discovered the Lifestyle of Byron and either stayed or came back to Byron Bay.

Today 3,3% of the Byron Bay locals have a German background.

Plus the German tourists that roam the streets and shops and bars of Byron Bay these days after Covid.

I visited the Immigrant Museum in Melbourne and in Bremerhaven in Germany, to get some ideas about the time and those days: Why did people leave their homeland and went into this most dangerous passage which took months and then start a new life in the unknown?

I visited small local museums in the Atherton Tablelands not far from Cairns (QLD) and I explored the farms and villages in the Lockyer Valley between Brisbane and Toowoomba.

And I found Templin in Queensland in the Scenic Rim area and visited the town of Marburg, which had in the 2016 census a population of 873 people.

Genealogy is the study and tracing of family lineage and history. It involves researching and documenting the relationships between individuals across multiple generations, with the aim of understanding how families are connected and where they come from. Genealogy can provide insight into a family’s ethnic and cultural background, as well as provide a sense of personal identity and belonging.

There are many resources available to those interested in researching their family history. Some places to start include:

  1. Family records: Start by talking to family members and collecting any family records, such as birth, marriage, and death certificates, old photos, letters, and diaries.
  2. Online genealogy databases: Websites like Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com provide access to millions of records, including census data, immigration records, and military records.
  3. Local archives and libraries: Many local libraries and archives have collections of historical records, including genealogical records, that can be accessed in person or online.
  4. DNA testing: DNA testing can be a helpful tool for tracing family lineage and identifying genetic relatives. Companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA offer DNA testing services.
  5. Professional genealogists: For those who need help with their research, professional genealogists can provide expertise and assistance.

With best wishes from the Gold Coast in QLD Australia

Yours

phb

Nomen Est Omen – Forest Workers and later free farmers in Holstein, Germany

My surname “Bloecker” is of German origin, and I believe it has a connection with the Middle English word “blokker,” meaning a person who works with blocks of wood or is a woodcutter (Forest Worker) like the German origin derived from the Middle Low German word “blokker,” blocking wood and cutting trees.

Some individuals from my family – based in the middle of Holstein north of Hamburg – with the surname “Bloecker” immigrated to the United States and later changed their name to “Blocker” to make it easier for English speakers to pronounce and spell this name. The English and US spelling of Bloecker comes from the German Umlaut “ö”.

So it is possible that some individuals with the surname “Blocker” in the USA and South Africa and Australia have German ancestry and may have had ancestors with the surname “Bloecker.” However, without further genealogical research, it is impossible to determine the specific relationships between individuals with these surnames in the United States.

Dan Blocker

Dan Blocker was an American actor best known for his role as “Hoss” Cartwright on the television series “Bonanza” in the 1960s. He was born in De Kalb, Texas in 1928, and his family has been traced back to German immigrants who arrived in the United States in the 19th century.

Dan Blocker’s father, Ora Blocker, was a farmer and a veteran of World War I. Ora Blocker’s father, John Blocker, was also a farmer, and his father, George Blocker, was a German immigrant who settled in Tennessee in the mid-19th century.

Dan Blocker had several siblings, including twin sisters and a brother named David Blocker, who is also an actor and producer. David Blocker has worked on several film and television projects, including the television series “Fear the Walking Dead” and the film “The Disaster Artist.”

While there is no “Blocker clan” per se, there are many individuals with the surname “Blocker” who possibly have descended from the same German immigrants who settled in the United States in the 19th century. Many of these individuals can be found in Texas, where Dan Blocker was born and raised, as well as in other parts of the United States.

It would be interesting to track the name Bloecker back to US German immigrants plus South African and Australian immigrants from Germany as well!

The Peter Ludlow Blog (Historian from Brisbane)

Peter Ludlow has researched a lot about the Moreton Bay Shores and Islands including Moreton Bay.

Find out more about the history of the Brisbane area and his Moreton Bay World on his BLOG Moreton Bay History.

Word War 2 comes to Brisbane

The Passage of Time – Thank you to Noel and Del Bergmann

The 1865 Voyage of the SUSANNE GODEFFROY

LINKS Australian Heritage

GAGHA – German Heritage Australia

BLOG Germans in Queensland

GermanAustralia – Dave Nuttings Website – Germans in Queensland

State Library South Australia – Germans in SA

Updated Thu 9 Mar 2023 by phb