GSV News

The GSV has recently released a new feature which enables members to enter and display the family names and brief details of ancestors and special interest areas they are researching. This database is only able to be accessed by members of GSV.

Log into the GSV website, select Members Area, then select Member Research Interests Database.

You can access this database to search existing entries, and to submit or edit your own entries.

It’s really easy to use. There are ‘?’ buttons beside each field for clarification.

You must select a ‘Discussion Circle/SIG’ or ‘Other Interest’.

There is a Comment box for additional information.

Your email address is not seen by others viewing the database.

Use the search boxes at the top of the screen to filter to database to identify shared interests.

If you wish to follow up an entry submitted by another member, you can click on that person’s name. This takes you to a form where you can type your response or query and this is emailed to the member.

If you have questions, there are lots of answers in the FAQ section of the Home page of the GSV website.

What have you got to lose?

Maybe you’ll break down one of those brickwalls, or find a long lost relation!

Apologies if you received a garbled copy of this!

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A busy few weeks ahead

Zoom talks start again this week. It looks like being a busy month with eight events in this later part of January.

Meg Bate kicks off the year on Wednesday with a small interactive class on accessing Australian BDM records from home and at the GSV library.

On Thursday 20 January, David Down discusses the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act. These are very useful records for those wanting to learn more about the places that your ancestors lived and worked.

The following week sees the resumption of our discussion circles and a talk introducing the 1921 census of England and Wales on Monday 24 January.

Mary McKee of FindMyPast will provide historical context, answer questions and give you all-important tips for effective searching. Book in and learn how to track down those elusive relatives.

All these events are free, so pop over to the GSV website and book yourself in.

Jackie van Bergen

A busy few weeks ahead

Zoom talks start again this week. It looks like being a busy month with eight events in this later part of January.

Meg Bate kicks off the year on Wednesday with a small interactive class on accessing Australian BDM records from home and at the GSV library.

On Thursday 20 January, David Down discusses the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act. These are very useful records for those wanting to learn more about the places that your ancestors lived and worked.

The following week sees the resumption of our discussion circles and a talk introducing the 1921 census of England and Wales on Monday 24 January.

Mary McKee of FindMyPast will provide historical context, answer questions and give you all-important tips for effective searching. Book in and learn how to track down those elusive relatives.

All these events are free, so pop over to the GSV website and book yourself in.

Jackie van Bergen

Hope you all had a good one despite everything!!

And you know what this means! It is soon time for New Year Resolutions! And it is easier this year - DON'T plan to travel much or far! DO plan to keep in e-touch with family and friends to the limit of the possible. DO plan to enrol in those INTERESTING GSV- events.

Also DO plan to finish that memoir and give it to the kids, and circulate that piece of family history research you have been keeping to yourself. Remember the research will never be finished (so that's not an excuse). Maybe publish in Ancestor - or even on this blog.

GSV OPEN between CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR

GSV will be open on Wed, Thurs and Friday 29-31 Dec so this is a great time to do some quiet research - and the city will be VERYYY quiet. Our office is on the edge of the city so quite safe and easy to pop in there.

UNTIL 31 DEC you can still use your State Library Victoria membership to access Ancestry database free online from home.

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Events not to miss in January

24 JANUARY 8 to 9pm  - The 1921 Census is coming

FindMyPast has spent many years digitising and transcribing this unique snapshot of our recent history and is releasing the census on 6th January 2022.  The presentation will provide, along with the historical context, tips for effective searching and using it to trace elusive relatives. Presented by:Mary McKee,the Head of Content Publishing Operations at FindMyPast.

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20 JANUARY -10.30 to 11.30am. 

Using the Tithe Apportionment Records of England and Wales

This talk will discuss the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act, which required tithes in kind to be converted to monetary payments. The resultant records and maps are a valuable resource to assist help learn about the places that your ancestors lived and worked. Presented by David Down.

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Farewell

After 5 years and 247 posts this is my last post as Blog Editor. I hope I have cajoled, prompted and encouraged you in your family history pursuits. I have enjoyed turning a phrase and sharing some of my own interests and thoughts. Bill

If you have ancestors from the British Midlands and might be interested in forming a Discussion Circle to share your interest, join us this coming Wednesday. This would be a group for GSV Members only, but others are welcome if they join the GSV.

Researching English Midlands Counties

Wednesday 15 Dec 1.30-2.30 pm.

Presented by Vicki Montgomery via Zoom. Duration 1 hour.

The Midlands of England broadly correspond to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia (527-879 AD).  It was arguably the origin and heartland of the industrial revolution. The area includes a wide variety of localities from the very rural to Birmingham, the second largest city in the United Kingdom. This will be a brief introduction to researching ancestors in the Midlands with a view to starting a GSV Discussion Circle.

Counties in the Midlands of England: Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire.

J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) based his fantasy setting of Middle-earth, and in particular the region of The Shire, on the area of West Midlands. His fictional language of Rohan was derived from his study of the Mercian dialect.

However, you will not be able to trace your ancestry to the Hobbits!

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Register online as a Member on the website to join in this discussion.

Free of charge, GSV members only. Please log in to receive the discount.

Round off an interesting year, with these family-history attractions in December - before you collapse into Christmas and holiday mode.

ATTEND A FASCINATING PRESENTATION

'The Melbourne Socialite & The Turkish Diplomat'

DEC 9 - THIS COMING THURSDAY - 9 DEC at 10.30 AM - by Zoom

Speakers: Patrick Ferry & Janan Greer

London, 1913: A wealthy young woman from a stately country home falls in love with and secretly marries a handsome young diplomat from the Turkish Embassy. It sounds like a plot line from the hit British period drama Downton Abbey. But it is the real-life story of Melbourne socialite Florence Winter-Irving. Florence’s story is told through records held by the National Archives of Australia, contemporary newspapers and treasured family memorabilia and traditions. Her story is set against the backdrop of patriarchal nationality laws, which stripped women of their own nationality when they married ‘aliens’ –  foreign men who were not British subjects.

This is for GSV members and limited in number. So go online and quickly book a spot. 

BOOK HERE

Our presenters

Patrick Ferry is the State Manager, Victoria for the National Archives of Australia. He is a professional archivist, local historian and author. Patrick’s most recent book Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Remembering the Pakenham District’s WW2 service personnel, 1939 – 1945, won the 2020 Victorian Community History Award for Best Local History Project.

Janan Greer is the great-granddaughter of Florence Winter-Irving. Janan works in marketing and communications and has a passion for family history and storytelling. She is the custodian of many family photographs, letters and documents relating to her paternal family lineage.

READ OUR JOURNAL - ANCESTOR

Members will have received the December issue of our award-winning Ancestor journal. If you are not a member you can always take out a subscription for 4 issues a year for $70.00, including postage.

You could give a friend a subscription for Christmas!  SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Our current edition features the winning article from the GSV Writing Prize, which is ‘The mystery of the extra Booth Hodgetts’ by Susan Wight. Other articles include an account of a medical orderly in the 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance in the First World War; the story of an unmarried mother in 19th Century Scotland, and Paul Magill's intriguing story of the bureaucratic goings-on of two men, John Lanktree and Matthew Jackson, who migrated to Australia and were appointed to senior positions overseeing the building of the Yan Yean Reservoir.  Jennifer MacKay relates the story behind the ‘The children in the lockup’ sculpture commissioned by Moonambel Arts and History Group to commemorate an event from 1896, and how, with the help of the GSV, she was able to trace a descendant of one of the children.

FINALLY THIS MONTH, GET DISCOUNTED VIC BDM CERTIFICATES

To say thank you to their valued family historians, the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria (BDM Victoria) is offering downloadable uncertified historical certificates for $15 each for the entire month of December.

GO TO WEBSITE HERE

This is a saving of $5 per certificate. You can also subscribe to BDM Victoria’s mailing list for future offers, updates about system improvements and user guidance.

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LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFT GSV MEMBERSHIPS -

Easy to do – just go to the GSV website or GO HERE TO PURCHASE.  

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Image citation: Florence Chefik Bey (born Winter-Irving), NAA: A659, 1940/1/1640, p. 34.

Want to avoid the shopping crowds this December?

Why not buy a special Gift Certificate for a friend or relative from the GSV online!

It’s an opportunity for you to introduce a friend to the joys of family history research.

With the gift of a GSV Membership your friend or family member could benefit from GSV research assistants helping them track down family facts. They may like to join any of the Special interest groups and discussion circles - making new friends sharing problems and discoveries. They also receive the award-winning quarterly Ancestor journal.

The Gift Certificate will be for 12 months membership of the GSV for the special price of $105.00. The normal joining fee of $20.00 will not be charged.

Once you have submitted your payment, you will receive a Gift Certificate by email, containing a secure link for the recipient to redeem their gift. Then you may forward the Gift Certificate by email, or print it and send it by post or present it in person.

Easy to do – just go to the GSV website or GO HERE TO PURCHASE.  

Membership will commence only from the day it is activated. If the recipient is already a GSV Member the Certificate will extend their membership by a further 12 months. If you have any difficulties, please simply email us at info@gsv.org.au

Do friends or family need another set of bathroom products or a bottle of wine?

Well, maybe ...but this GSV Gift Certificate would be a gift for the whole family.

Many GSV members are familiar with the use of commercial DNA databases in genetic genealogy, but how much do we know about the use of DNA to solve crimes?

In a forthcoming talk, Professor Linzi Wilson-Wilde OAM, Director of Forensic Science South Australia, will discuss the application of DNA in law enforcement and future directions of the science.

Forensic DNA analysis – what can it tell us and what does it hold for the future?

– Thursday 18 November Talk

Linzi introduces her forthcoming talk to GSV members:

'Forensic science uses the principles of science to study and understand traces – the remnants of past activities (such as an individual’s presence and actions) – through their detection, recognition, examination and interpretation, to answer a question relevant to the justice sector (i.e. detection, resolution or prevention of crime and responding to disasters).

One tool to understand traces is Forensic DNA analysis, which was first introduced into casework in the mid-1980s. From those humble beginnings, it has grown to be an essential tool for investigators. Advancements in DNA analysis continue, and new techniques are constantly evolving, offering exciting new opportunities to aid the justice sector. Current and emerging DNA analysis techniques and their role in forensic science such as murder investigations and the Bali Bombing will be discussed.'

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Our presenter:

Professor Linzi Wilson-Wilde OAM has over 25 years’ experience in forensic science working for Victoria Police, New South Wales Police, the Australian Federal Police, and the National Institute of Forensic Science, where she was Director. During her career, Linzi has worked on the investigation of high-profile murder cases, cold case reviews, a mass DNA screen, along with legislative reform, and policy development. Linzi coordinated the DNA analysis of all samples involved in the disaster victim identification and criminal investigation of the Bali Bombing in October 2002. Most notably, Linzi has received a Medal in the Order of Australia for her work and was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2014. 

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Register for this talk via the 'Events' page. The talk is $5 for all GSV Members and attendance is via Zoom. If you are not a member JOIN HERE.

[Ed.]Thanks to Kristy Love for preparing this post.

REMINDER - The September Ancestor journal is now out - and available as a Flipbook for members on the website. Log in as a Member. You will still receive a hard copy by post unless you have opted not to have it delivered. But you can read it online at any time as a PDF or flipbook. You can change your delivery directions at any time under your Member Details. 

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Women on the Goldfields

At their August meeting, members of the GSV's VicTas Discussion Circle tackled a difficult research task. Gayle Nicholas - a member of this group - gives us a few insights that were shared in the discussion.

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There was no doubt the women were strong and resourceful – but how do you find resources? One member told of a mother and 14-year-old daughter who travelled from Kent in England to Victoria, and through the notorious Black Forest to Castlemaine. Another tale was of a woman who left her English husband to partner with a goldminer and stayed with him until his death 20 years later. Accounts of travel to the goldfields, written at the time, help us to imagine these women’s travels as they bumped along the road, got bogged and stopped at Inns, or in the open, for supper and sleep (ref. 1).

The women on the goldfields liked to dress up. The watercolour Digger’s wife in full dressby George Lacy portrayed as laughable the contrast between women in finery against the men and landscape of the goldfields (ref.2). The crinoline (dress) pictured was on display at the Old Treasury in Melbourne for Gold Rush: 20 Objects, 20 Stories in 2018 (ref. 3). The dress is hand stitched with a high level of skill. It is noted as suitable for shopping or visiting – even on the goldfield. The Old Treasury web site is well worth a visit to explore the story of this dress or other artefacts from the goldfields’ era.

Many Women on the goldfields were in childbearing years and were giving birth with the assistance of neighbours or midwives. Doctors were too expensive. Those parents who registered the birth of their children provided a much-needed source of information for today’s family historian. 

The high number of deaths of children from accidents or illness was endured.

'Deaths, particularly the deaths of children, were mourned with the force of a lightning bolt to the heart. A child was considered born under a lucky star if she reached her first birthday on the goldfields' (ref.4).

Women also suffered violence, fueled by alcohol, on the goldfields. Author, Claire Wright writes of the acceptance of wife bashing and noise of violence perpetrating the campsite at night (ref. 5).

 

Death certificates, cemetery records and inquests provide more research material.  Group members referred to dropping into local history centres and museums while visiting former goldmining towns e.g. Beechworth, Chiltern, Talbot, and Chewton, to find resources not otherwise available. 

All current GSV members are welcome to attend the monthly meetings of the VicTas Discussion Circle. Of course, if you are not a GSV Member you can join easily and benefit from this Circle as well as many others, all of which are part of your membership. (Register at https://www.gsv.org.au), join the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/320532581948801or our email mailing list. Email victas@gsv.org.au for more information or for copies of the resource lists from the 'Women on the Goldfields' meeting.

Gayle Nicholas

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References

1. For example: Duyker, E. A. Woman on the Goldfields: Recollections of Emily Skinner 1854-1878,MUP Melbourne 1995

2. Lacy, G. Digger’s wife in full dress, National Library of Australiahttps://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134736742/view

3. Old Treasury Building. Gold Rush: 20 objects, 20 stories Old Treasury Building in conjunction with Public Record Office of Victoria, 2018-2019 https://www.oldtreasurybuilding.org.au/past-exhibitions/gold-rush/

4. Wright, C. The Forgotten Rebels of EurekaThe Text Publishing Company, Melbourne reprint 2014 p. 174

5. Wright, C. p. 178

Researching family history is a good start, but writing about it makes it history.

Congratulations to Louise Wilson for receiving the Don Grant Award 2020 for her book Sentenced to Debt - the story of Robert Forrester, First Fleeter.

This award was announced by Family History Connections at a zoom presentation on 19 September 2021.

Bettina Bradbury was announced as the winner of the Alexander Henderson Award 2020 for Caroline's Dilemma: a Colonial Inheritance Saga, the lives of the Bax and Kearney families, early squatters on the Victoria-South Australia border.

Congratulations to both winners and for the support given to family history writing by Family History Connections with these ongoing awards.

Louise Wilson is a member of the GSV's Writers Discussion Circle. She regularly convenes one of its annual topics - this year about writing First Nations people in our histories, something that Louise faced in writing Sentenced to Debt. See the blog post July 23. You will find many of her contributions in Ancestor journal both as feature articles and in the 'Getting it Write' section. And members of the GSV Writer's Group benefit from her helpful critiques and suggestions. So it is great to see her input being recognised once again.

You can read the judge's comments on both books https://www.familyhistoryconnections.org.au/index.php/awards/131-2020-awards-3

And about Louise and her books at Louise Wilson "nerdy...but nice!" HERE

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