A world without Trove

The National Library at Canberra under suitably stormy skies (photo from Pinterest by Jared Adamo on 500px)

Remembering the last funding cuts (see Treasure Trove: why defunding Trove leaves Australia poorer) it seems that once again Trove is in the gun sights.

Without additional funds the National Library of Australia is threatening to pull the plug on Trove or reduce it to a service focused on the National Library’s collections. 

Trove (as detailed in previous posts) is the bestest resource Australia has for finding stuff, and not just for librarians and academics. There are Average Joes and Janes out there who may never visit or consider joining a library, but who access Trove regularly.

Any service (‘service’ as distinct from providing a search engine) that boasts more than 22 million visits per year is on the right track. If not for Trove delivering access & consolidation to over six Billion digital items, these items would be either not be available digitally or scattered around all the organisations that contribute to Trove.

The daunting aspect is already past – it has been created and embellished and improved over the years. Digitising more items – newspapers, photographs, ephemera… is an ongoing process that will continue to add to Trove’s importance (and a Shout Out to all the volunteers who make Trove even better by correcting text and making our search results more accurate). 

How good is Trove? Try an experiment - search Trove’s newspaper collection then, do the same for British newspapers. What, access to the British is not free! The Search results and functionality is not as easy or as clear! Thank goodness for Trove.

Want to raise the issue or help campaign - check out Speak up for Trove.

Family history conferencing at home

RootsTech 2022 will be held March 3rd - 5th, 2022.

It is entirely virtual and completely free (though you do need to register) You can join the world's largest family history conference from their website: www.rootstech.org .

RootsTech welcomes millions of people worldwide to learn & to celebrate family at the family history conference and year-long learning platform. With thousands of classes, inspiring speakers, meaningful activities and joyful connections.

All the major family history search are represented, including: FamilySearch, Ancestry, My Heritage, FamilyTreeDNA, Family Tree Maker, Photomyne, TheGenealogist, The Family History Guide Association, National Genealogical Society (US)…

The Schedule starts streaming at 8:00am in Salt Lake City, (2:00 am [Thursday] in Sydney/Melbourne) and continues for the next 72 hours. You can join in at any time and watch what is playing on the main stage, watch one of over 900 class sessions, visit the virtual expo hall, and connect with other attendees, & your Relatives at RootsTech (an online experience that shows if (and how) you are related to other RootsTech attendees). Classes begin at any time that you are ready to begin, it is all about your schedule and individual needs (Sessions are available at the website via streaming – no downloading is available).

To create a personalised schedule - Click the plus button at the bottom of each preview tile for a class session or on the session page to add that class to your playlist. In the top navigation you will see a play button icon where you can access everything you have added to your list.

RootsTech is hosted by the FamilySearch people, and aimed at the American & international audience, but as family history research is about the whole wide world, and with over 1,500 sessions, you can find something of relevance & interest to you. Check out the Innovators Portal for some of the new & emerging tech!

Census now & then

 With tonight's Census falling in Family History Month, we can think about how Census data has been used to help find little known information about how our ancestors lived and worked.

Here are just a couple of examples -

 

Everyone is on the Census regardless of who or where you happen to be - 

Ancestors Trove

Since words like “pandemic” and “coronavirus” became part of everyday parlance, Australians have sought solace in researching their family histories in increasing numbers.

Tapping into this desire to know more, the National Library of Australia announced a new series of Family History for Dummies online tutorials as the international and local shutdowns took effect. The NLA found the sessions booked out within minutes. Normally around 100 people sign up for online classes. In April, they had 356, and around a third of those lived in regional Australia.

Ancestry.com's main focus is on the internationally lucrative family history genre fuelled by such reality TV documentaries as ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ (which ancestry.com sponsors). They said during April & May there was a 78% increase in the use of the word "ancestry" across Facebook, Twitter & other social media.

It does show there has been this massive shift during lockdown of Australians keen to find out more about their own families. Time spent 'in iso' with little else to do, is clearly a factor.

The stereotype is that family history is something you do when you’ve retired, but a personal interest in family history can also be inspired by certain life events -  the birth of a child, death of a parent or another close loved one.

Researching your own family history has never been easier or more accessible. Cemetery records, gravestones, birth certificates — you can find so much now at home on a computer.

Administered by the National Library of Australia, Trove should be considered as a starting point. It celebrated its 10th birthday at the end of June with a much-improved, user-friendly redesign.

Described as ‘Australia’s online cultural and research portal’, it is really the free go-to-shop for anyone interested in finding out a particular fact about Australia’s past, be that in newspapers on a photo, listed in a gazette...

The new version contains 6.4 billion records of Australian history, culture and research, painstakingly gleaned from 140 other libraries, museums, archives and media organisations.

However, the updated Trove is more accessible than ever, particularly for Indigenous Australians, with more than 200 Indigenous languages on the site and a filter which prevents anyone from seeing culturally disturbing photos or documents without clicking approval.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned by looking at the lives of our ancestors during an epidemic or pandemic.

Based on The Age article: Pandemic prompts growth in familytree digging

To be sure

With such a large ancestry from the Emerald Isle, researching your Irish family heritage is part of many a family history.
The Genealogical Society of Victoria are conducting "Beginning your Irish family history"
The presenters are Maureen Doyle and Beryl O'Gorman.
Topic covered will include BDMs,census & other substitutes, and land records. 
The session is on Thursday 15th August from 10:30am to 1:00pm, at Level 6, Queen St in Melbourne.
Costs for GSV members: $30, RHSV/CAV/FHC members: $45, Non-members: $60.
Books are essential. Contacts Phone: 9662 4455 Email: gsv@gsv.org.au Website: www.gsv.org.au

B.D.Ms

Records of births, marriages and deaths can provide unique insight into your family history and identity.

Effective 1 July 2018, the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages will reduce the price of their historical images from $33.00 to $24.50.

The historical index holds these life events registered in Victoria.

Life event	From	To
Births	1853	100 years before today's date
Marriages and relationships	1853	60 years before today's date
Deaths	1853	30 years before today's date
Church baptisms, marriages and burials	1836	1853

An 'Uncertified historical certificate' is a scanned image of the original, often handwritten, record that you can download.Great for family history purposes, but if you require a Certificate for official purposes you'll need a physical printed certificate that the Registry mail out to you.

A poor man's bushranging

This story has surfaced again, there are all sorts of folklore associated with 'the bushranging gang in Edenhope', much of it associated with an engraving in the 1880 edition of "The Australasian Sketcher".

Reilly's prison photo

The article in "The Australian":- 

THE BUSHRANGING CASE AT EDENHOPE

[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]

HAMILTON, THURSDAY.

The Court of General Sessions was opened here to-day before Acting Judge Smyth. Wm. Reilly, senior, pleaded not guilty to the charge of highway robbery at Edenhope. The prisoner, who was undefended, conducted his own case.

E. F. Hearne deposed that he was a grazier, residing at Lake Wallace, and was returning from church in a buggy with his family on Sunday morning, July 11, between 12 and 1 o'clock. On nearing prisoner's residence he saw him run into the road. He ordered witness to pull up or he would fire. He complied, and Reilly then said, "The day of reckoning has arrived ; your friends cannot save you now; and unless I obtain my rights, you will die." At the same time he demanded £300. Witness replied that he did not have so much money on him. Prisoner said, " Yon had better send to Cuik, (would be Crick) the publican, who will give you the money."

Witness asked him to send his son instead, which was done. While the lad was gone Reilly said he would take £100 down if he (witness) promised to give him £200 more on his arrival at the station. As soon as he had agreed to this, the prisoner said - "Do you see that coming down the road ; if you do not stop him, I will shoot him:" at the same time directing his attention to Constable Smith, who was riding towards the buggy. Witness beckoned him to stop, which he did. A storekeeper named Kerr then came up, and in answer to a question, said he had no money on him, but would give witness a cheque for £100. This was done, and the cheque handed to prisoner, who, after submitting it to several members of his family, said. That is all right," and put it into his pocket. Witness was then made to promise another cheque for £200, and that he would not stop the payment of the cheques at the bank or prosecute. During all this time he was covered with the gun at full cock. Mrs. Reilly and her son then proceeded with him to the station where she received the other cheque. He had bought land from prisoner at a sheriff's sale some time ago, for about £700, but there was nothing due to him.

Rose Fox, domestic servant, deposed that the prisoner bailed up the buggy, saying to Mr. Hearne, "Stop, or I will shoot you. I want my rights, and will give you five minutes to determine. If you do not give me at the end of that time £300, you and I will leave this earth to-day."

Mrs. Anne Hearne gave a recapitulation of the above facts, and further deposed that she sent her brother for the police. On Constable Smith appearing, prisoner said to Mr. Hearne, "I will soon have been off. I do not care for all the police in Victoria."

J. G. Kerr, storekeeper, deposed to giving the cheque for the £100 to Hearne, who passed it on to Reilly.

Constable Smith stated that he saw the prisoner covering Mr. Hearne with a gun, and also saw a piece of paper similar to a cheque pass from Kerr to Hearne, who gave it to Reilly. He afterwards, with Constable Balehim arrested the prisoner.

Constable Balehim also deposed to Reilly's arrest. When he got within 50 yards of his residence he saw the family run into the house, and the prisoner come out. Upon trying to open the gate, which was locked, Reilly picked up the gun and said, "If you come a foot further I fire.” After a little trouble he arrested him, and on the way to the lock up prisoner said he had stuck up Mr. Hearne in order to obtain his rights. On searching his house the gun could not be found, and Reilly refused to give up the cheques.

This was the case for the prosecution. The prisoner made a rambling statement about the injustice his wife had received in being imprisoned for no offence whatever. Ever since January 23, 1879, Mr. Hearne had carried firearms for, the purpose of shooting him. He had made at settlement with Mr. Hearne about 50 acres of land which belonged to him (Reilly) and not to that gentleman. In spite of that agreement, however, Mr. Hearne had turned his family out of their home while he (the prisoner) was in the Hamilton gaol. It was in consequence of Mr. Hearne's threats of violence that he had carried the gun when he had demanded his rights.

The judge summed up against the prisoner, pointing out that he could have proceeded both criminally and civilly against Mr. Hearne, if those allegations were true. However, that was not for the jury to decide ; they had only to consider the authenticity of the evidence, and if they believed the witnesses for the prosecution they must record a verdict of guilty against the prisoner.

The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

The Court then adjourned sine die.

So William Reilly served his 3 year sentence in Hamilton, Geelong & Melbourne Gaols - and how do we know? Because now you can access some of the digitised Register of Male & Female Prisoners (1855-1947) files from PROV - there's even a photograph of an elderly looking William Reilly.

 

Returning to the folklore, back in October 1988 the Kowree Advocate published this article and photos on the front page. (right)

This was followed in May 1989 by another article furnishing more of the history of the now demolished cottage. (below)

Both agreed that it wasn't THE cottage - that Reilly's house was on the opposite (north side) of the main street, but it still added to the whole narrative.

So now in 2018 nearly 140 years after the events, researchers are delving into the history of the people involved.
Is the bearer of the cheque the storekeeper Kerr the same person who actually owned the Edwards/Carter cottage, and would therefore be Reilly's neighbour?
Did the Hearne family really swindle the Reilly family of their due in the land sale?
Why was the land up for a Sheriff's sale? 
Who was this man William Reilly, and when & where did he die?
Did the 'rest of the gang' (William's wife & son) also face robbery-under-arms charges?

The Edenhope Historical Society would love to hear from anyone with any information.

Michael's Hell Ship

For more than a century and a half, a grim tale has passed down through Michael Veitch's family: the story of the “Ticonderoga”, a clipper ship that sailed on a calamitous voyage from Liverpool for Victoria in August 1852.Crammed on board in cramped, overcrowded conditions, often without sanitary facilities, fresh water and barely enough food, were 800 poor but hopeful emigrants- mostly Scottish victims of the Clearances and the potato famine. A better life, they believed, awaited them in Australia.

Three months later, a ghost ship struggled into Port Phillip Bay flying the dreaded yellow flag of contagion. On her horrific three-month long nightmare voyage, deadly typhus had erupted, killing a quarter (nearly 200) of Ticonderoga's passengers and leaving many more desperately ill. Sharks, it was said, had followed her passage as the victims were buried at sea. 

The plague-stricken sailing ship struck panic in Melbourne. Forbidden to dock at the gold-boom town, the ship was directed to a lonely beach on the far tip of the Mornington Peninsula, a place now called Ticonderoga Bay. 

The Quarantine Station administrative building

James William Henry Veitch was the ship's assistant surgeon, on his first appointment (and last) at sea. Among the volunteers who helped him tend to the sick and dying was a young woman from the island of Mull, Annie Morrison. What happened between them on that terrible voyage is a testament to human resilience, and to love.

Michael Veitch is their great-great-grandson, and the book “Hell Ship” is his brilliantly researched narrative of one of the biggest stories of its day, now all but forgotten. Broader than his own family's story, it brings to life the hardships and horrors endured by those who came by sea to seek a new life in Australia.

But there’s more...this story was repeatedly told to Michael all his young life by his own father, he has carried it and explored it all these years. 

You can hear the story directly from Michael in a performance at the Horsham Town Hall. Told with pieces of music from the era performed by Michael’s son, there will be the web of four generations of Veitch on stage. This is truly a family story.

Michael captures the human aspects in what is essentially a dark story. Even in a dying ship’s hull there is always some small thing that a wry sense of humour can find to lift us out of the putrid desolation that marks our history.

Michael Veitch’s story of the Ticonderoga delves into our Australian emigrant history, explores the themes of unimaginable courage, of family, and shines the light on a monumental, but almost forgotten, human story. This one, his own.

Upon the arrival of the “Ticonderoga” on the 22nd December 1852, a quarantine station was hastily erected at this site.  Sadly, a cemetery was also immediately required as of the 170 people that died due to Typhus Fever that engulfed the ship, 70 people were to perish upon their arrival to Port Phillip.

Heaton’s Monument marks the location of the original cemetery established at the quarantine station on Point Nepean. The cemetery was relocated inland around 1854, but the neo-Egyptian style sandstone memorial to the Ticonderoga Tragedy and to all those who endured the lengthy passage in migrant transport ships to Australia remains. 

George Heaton was the Supervisor responsible for building much of the Quarantine Station. It is believed that he built the monument at great expense to himself, in memory of the migrants who died.

DATE: 8th September 2018

TIME: 8pm

VENUE: Horsham Town Hall Theatre

DURATION: 70 minutes (no interval)

PRICE: $40 – Adult, $35 – Concession, $30 - 2018 Member, $25 - 2018 Member Concession.

Contact the Box Office on (03) 5382 9555.

Tales from the churchyard

A word about the effort some organisations, trusts have gone to assisting family and history researchers.

Just a couple of examples from afar.

Old St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe, is a former church in the village of Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire in England.

 

The original building on the site was a chapel of ease called Eastfield Chapel, which was built in 1529. This was damaged during the Reformation, and repaired in 1536. The chapel was rebuilt as a church in Neoclassical style in 1775. It was then replaced in the late 19th century by a new church a short distance away. 
The old church was then used as a mortuary chapel. It was severely damaged by a storm in the 1960s and its fabric deteriorated and the church suffered from vandalism. Now only the tower remains.

   
The tower is square in cross-section and constructed in hammer-dressed stone with ashlar dressings. 
On the west face is a round-headed window with a circular window above. At belfry level is inscribed stone taken from an earlier church on the site. At the top of the tower is an octagonal cupola with a ball finial. 
Inside the tower are an inscribed stone dated 1529, benefaction boards, and a monument from 1830 designed by Richard Westmacott.
In its accompanying churchyard there are over 11,000 grave sites.

Lots of centuries old history, but St Matthews has a website, a number of YouTube clips,
and a Friends Facebook page, and its churchyard cemetery has headstone photographs and transcriptions.

While the Prospect Cemetery in Toronto has affiliated with Google Maps to guide people in finding graves. Especially helpful in large cemeteries (148,000 burial records have been indexed for the cemetery), and when the cemetery concerned is halfway across the world.

Prospect Cemetery (part of the Mount Pleasant Group) has been in use since 1890, with a special focus on its 5 acre Veterans' Memorial, Canada's largest First World War memorial.

It has a Cemetery App with options to 'Find a grave', 'Find a tree' in the arboretum search, and a 'Notable person' search.

There's also a little video of where Toronto's original Potters Field cemetery was located in now downtown Toronto. 

This is what just two different cemeteries have been able to achieve by embracing a number of digital initiatives.

Find the story, not just the person

Now we no longer have to think what the letters A.I.G.S. stand for. The Australian Institute for Genealogical Studies has changed its name to 'Family History Connections...tracing ancestors in Australia and beyond' and launched a new look website,

 with a great tag-line "Find the story, not just the person"
Their Press release states: "We are still the same organisation with the same objectives and deep commitment to assist members and the wider community in their search for their ancestors in Australia and overseas".
Their extensive library is still located at Unit 1 / 41 Railway Road, Blackburn in Melbourne, where library volunteers can assist members & visitors with their family history research.
Interest Groups (see the list of groups below) have been established to enable members who are researching their families in a particular area, to assist each other with their research and to share their mutual successes and difficulties. 

You can also follow them on their Facebook page which utilises the old logo that everyone is familar with, and details all sorts of news items.

So you can access their website from home, or if in Melbourne check them out in Blackburn, they may have that difficult to find item you've been searching for. 

NFHM post 3

Week 3 -  Is Nancy Cato's All the Rivers Run- a saga which spanned eight decades and four generations.

Orphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast in 1890, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia finds both love and adventure aboard a paddle-steamer on the Murray River.

Sent to live with her guardians Uncle Charles and Aunt Hester at Echuca, she invests some of her inheritance in the paddle steamer PS Philadelphia. Her life is changed forever when she meets the paddle steamer's captain Brenton Edwards. Delie is torn between the harsh beauty of life on the river with its adventures, and the society life in Melbourne with her blossoming career as a painter.
 

It is the image of river life that is the backdrop to the story. 
At the time Echuca was Australia's largest inland port, and the paddle steamers were responsible for the majority of goods transportation to the inland. At its peak, nearly 200 steamers plied their trade on the Murray, Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers.
Supplies were carried by steamers to remote rural properties, and farm produce transported back to ports like Echuca to connect with the railway system and ultimately the cities and the sea ports. 
The paddle steamers lasted into 1900s till improved road and rail services replaced the river trade. 
 

Yanga wool loaded on the PS Trafalgar at the station wharf

The main or major cargo was wool. Steamers transported the wool clip when the water levels were up and the flow most reliable, from pastoral stations like 'Yanga' near Hay in New South Wales. Wool from 'Yanga' was transported by steamer to Echuca. The stations were veritable small towns.

Details of 'Yanga' at the turn of the century

The 'Yanga' woolshed was erected 8 miles west of the homestead in the 1850s. The site, normally above flood level at a point where the deep water was suitable for a wharf, was chosen to take advantage of paddle steamer transport to ship the wool to market. 

The 'Yanga' shed with machine stands on the left and blade stands on the right

The woolshed had 40 shearer stands, a pen capacity of 5,000 sheep, and could store 2,000 bales of wool. On a single day it shore 5,000 sheep and pressed 96 bales.
And the family history link - with a tradition of sheep farming, ancestors shore around the district and up into New South Wales. Family folklore had Old Tom involved in the shearers' strife and the burning of the 'PS Rodney', but more of that next post. 

Family History Challenge

August is National Family History Month

And the call went out to libraries -

'Who's up for a blogging challenge on a literary theme given that a few of our more well-known authors were born 100 years ago e.g. Ruth Park (okay she was born in NZ but married & lived in Oz), Sumner Locke Elliott, Nancy Cato and Frank Hardy.'

So the plan was for bloggers to post on the literary theme each Saturday through-out the month.

Stay tuned for the first post on Saturday 5th August.