Names
Australian Placenames of German Background
Steiglitz, Victoria
Two brothers, John Lewis (1809-1868) and Robert William von Stieglitz (1816-1876), were born in Ireland but were descended from German nobility. They were children of Baron Heinrich Ludwig von Stieglitz and Charlotte, née Atkinson, and grandsons of Christian Ludwig von Stieglitz who had been made a baron of the Holy Roman Empire in 1765. They emigrated to Australia in 1829, where their brothers settled in Tasmania as pastoralists, however they bought land north of Geelong.[1] The area became known as the Steiglitz Forest (with altered spelling of the first vowel), and gold was discovered in the area a year after the von Stieglitzs had returned to Ireland. The town that developed, 30 km north of Geelong, was called Steiglitz. It was a thriving town in the gold-rush days, but now has a very small population.
The historic courthouse at Steiglitz, Victoria. The courthouse was built in 1875 and now houses a museum about the history of Steiglitz.
Photo appears here by kind permission of Goldfields Guide, <www.goldfieldsguide.com.au>
♦ Notes:
1. Fox, Matt J. (1919). The history of Queensland, its people and industries : an historical and commercial review, descriptive and biographical facts figures and illustrations, an epitome of progress. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-268958857> p.798
♦ Reference:
‘Steiglitz’, Victorian Places, 2014, <www.victorianplaces.com.au/steiglitz>, accessed on 22/09/2022