GSV News

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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A mysterious ancestor living the good life in Sydney in the early 20th C as a socialite and breeder of racehorses—this was the subject matter of the winning entry in the GSV Writing Prize 2021.

The winner was Susan Wight with her story ‘The mystery of the extra Booth Hodgetts’, a well-written account of her original knowledge of the four Booth Hodgetts and subsequent research to solve the mystery of an apparently additional member of her family tree. 

Last Saturday 2 October, President Jenny Redman announced the winner and runner-up of the 9th GSV Writing Prize at a virtual gathering of eager entrants and interested writers who joined Council members, staff and the Ancestor team online. 

The runner-up was Bernard Metcalfe with his intriguing tale of ‘The Secret Life of Mr Crisp’ about a ‘model’ family man who stole his brother-in-law’s identity—a tale that uncovered much that was hidden from his family. 

Susan wins a one-year subscription to Ancestry’s Worldwide membership and a DNA test. Bernard wins a six-month subscription to Ancestry’s Worldwide membership. The GSV extends its warm thanks to Ancestry for their continued support of this annual Prize.

This year fourteen entries were received from which five were shortlisted. The three remaining shortlisted entrants were Louise Wilson with ‘Hapless Fate’, in which she recounts the misadventures of a distant family member, Russ Gloster with ‘Ghost ships of Gloster’, his account of the ships belonging to one of his ancestors and Yvonne Tunney with ‘From Godly mechanics to farmers’, the story of German missionaries in the Moreton Bay settlement.

We were glad to see two entries from members of GSV Member Societies - Gisborne Genealogical Group Inc, and Philip Island & District Genealogical Society Inc - to whom eligibility has been extended.

Well-known GSV members Cheryl Griffin (guest judge) and Joy Roy (President’s nominee) joined three Ancestorteam members, Barbara Beaumont, Sue Blackwood and Tina Hocking on the judging panel. The judges were appreciative of the work that went into the entries, and congratulated all the entrants on their achievement. The President thanked all the judges for their deliberations and Leonie Ellis for her administration of the competition. 

The winning story will be published in the coming December issue of GSV's Ancestor journal and the full Judges' Report will be available on the GSV website.

Congratulations all! 

You don't have to go far - living within 5 km

In previous times families didn't move far from their villages for generations. Many or even most people never moved beyond our recent 5 km lockdown over their whole lives.

This has been a useful factor in tracking early family names in a specific geographical location. Tracing my Barnes family, it has been shown that by 1860 a third of all UK 'Barnes' were in Lancashire and in 1861 it was particularly prevalent in Haslington and Accrington, north of Manchester - in the Valley of Rossendale. 'Golding', a recurring name in my family, is also most prevalent in Lancashire in its north England cluster. Both these name locations probably reflect the settlement there of Hiberno-Norse people from about 900 after their expulsion from Dublin in 902.

A great grandfather of mine set foot on Suvarov (or Suwarrow) Island, a very small Pacific atoll, in 1889. Years later the largest islet of this coral reef would be the voluntary home of Tom Neale where he lived for six years. He was inspired by an earlier occupant, Robert Dean Frisbie, who exiled himself and his four children there for a year in 1942. The islet they lived on is only 800 metres long and 200 metres wide - so a perambulation is well below our present 5 km confinement.

Robert Frisbie had lived on Pukapuka, another small Pacific atoll and wrote: 'Think of it! A woman living on this island for some seventy years and never visited Frigate Bird Islet, four miles across the lagoon! It reminds me of a pair of darling old maids who lived near our ranch in the foothills of California. They were in their forties, alone on a farm only a few miles from Fresno, the lights of which place they could see, on a clear night, from a hill beyond their house—yet they had never been to Fresno nor to any city! Once I tried to take them, and I remember that one old dear couldn’t go because she had a hen setting and her sister was “no hand at poultries”; the other one couldn’t go because she was afraid to leave her sister alone—“something might happen.” So it is with lots of Puka-Pukans. We have only three islets on this reef, yet many of the neighbors have set foot on only one.' 

And to help us live within our own resources, that classic of Thoreau's two years in a cabin on Walden Pond is worth a re-read. 

Our ancestors didn't move far, until they did - when wars, economic emigration and forced relocation, transportation took them to another county or across the globe.

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References:

Tom Neale. An Island to Oneself, Collins, 1966

Robert Dean Frisbie. The Island of Desire: the story of a South Sea trader, Doubleday, 1944 / Benediction Books 2019 / ebook available online.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden or Life in the Woods (1854), JM Dent Everyman's Library 1910. 

[Ed] I thought I would treat you to a picture of this tropical island in memory of all those beach holidays we Melbournians had to cancel this year.