To Laurie Hansen -
What ship did your family travel on to Australia in 1853 ?
If you know that , have a look at the passenger list for details of other peoples home areas - maybe they all came from same area to work at setting up wine areas in OZ.
The Hunter Valley was a bit of a "sponge" for Germans to do this , as was Sth Aust of course.
Good luck - yvonne in melbourne .
researching SCHRADER in Australia and Hannover [ Osterode am harz areas.]