It started with the idea of tracing the family from Europe to New Zealand, a project Alice Evans has been working on for decades. The Wagener family originally settled in the very far north of the North Island of New Zealand, and did so largely because of their relationship with the Subritzky family. This is in fact a much more famous family with a very chequered past and a lively, interesting present. Their story is the backdrop for the Wagener one, and as a result it was decided to use this matrix to present a much more inclusive offering that would cover a whole epoch, beginning with emigration from Europe and continuing with the modern family threads.

This naturally breaks down into geographical areas, as our key family, the Subritzkys, came to Nelson, New Zealand first, then moved on to South Australia, then via Victoria and New South Wales back to New Zealand, but this time to the very far north of the country.

On the way there were interactions with a number of families, and strangely, many of these shared similar patterns of movement and geography. Since these prime families were almost all German in origin, they naturally gravitated to what were then defacto German colonies, although they were quickly absorbed into the colonial melting pots. Even the Burrows family, of Scottish origin, came to New Zealand by way of South Australia, and several of the pioneer families in the far north region of NZ came there via Tasmania, where there had been another German presence.

Accordingly there are stories of places, of ships, of events that shaped us all. For the most part these explanations are present as internal links, but occasionally the link will export the reader to some other site, to the result of somebody's hard work. Without the dedication of these people, and of certain individuals such as Maria Beniston, Alice Evans and Mike Subritzky, all of whom have given freely the information they had, these pages would be much less than they are now.

The work is on-going. Inevitably there are errors or additional information that can be added. If you have anything to add, or even anything to correct, PLEASE email us. Otherwise, enjoy. Oh, and keep checking the site, things DO change over the weeks...