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From: "Albert Grulke" <>
Subject: Name changing
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 15:00:00 +1100


One needs to be careful when discussing this question of name changes.
There are two unrelated factors here.
During World war One there was hostility toward the German especially in
Queensland and South Australia. This seems crazy since both states owe their
development to the Germanic migrants. To make it worse the English
population could not distinguish between German and Polish or other European
nationalities. Hence if you had a name that was not English you were German
but might be French or Italian. It mattered not.
A great number of people changed their names entirely or anglicised it. I
learned recently that my grandfather changed his name and went to Bundaberg
to work in the sugar mills. Somebody found out about his name change and his
German background. He was dismissed for being a German even though he could
not speak a word of German. He said 'Stuff them" and resumed his correct
name. His brother changed his name to Robinson and went to Narrabri to work.
His family all think they are Robinson.
The second issue is changing names for other reasons. Today they do it by
deed poll or are supposed to. I understand that they can be traced today
because of records.
My grandfather was born Schneider because that was his father. However
father disappeared as soon as he found out that he was fertile and could
father a son. The result was that his Mother changed her name back to
Grulke, her first husband, and naturally changed sons name as well. I
understand that this practice was common. Unlike now where the child gets
the father's surname irrespective of the mother's surname. If there was a
disappearing father they simply changed the names to the one the mother
choose.
It was common that if a girl got pregnant when she shouldn't that one of the
parents (the girls or the boys) would raise the child as their own. Hence a
girl might have a child that might be raised by the boy's parents as their
child. The birth certificate would register one name and the child lived and
died under another name.
That is what my research into this is telling me. It suggests that there
were no deed poll actions and it just happened because that was how they
solved the problem whatever it was.
Albert Grulke in wet miserable Melbourne

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