What Discovery means to me.

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Amazing how fast these guest blog posts for GSQ come around. Each time I am left thinking ‘what will I write about this time’. This month’s choice is the word Discovery. When I talk about how fantastic Discovery is to my U3A genealogy students, they immediately think that I am talking about the Discovery television channel. Was that your first thought? Be honest. For me, Discovery is the amazing online catalogue of The National Archives (UK). It has so many … Continue reading

‘Shivering to atoms’: Ireland’s night of the Big Wind.

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By Jennifer Harrison. Recently many Australians have reeled from drought to flood, bushfires to mice plagues and of course, all this mayhem occurred during a global pandemic.  Is the world coming to an end?  Is it possible to maintain a comfortable existence with the natural world?  Obviously, these events are not unique to any particular country or time period and the same questions have been posed before – just ask the stunned Irish in 1839. Following the successful passing of … Continue reading

Convict Love Tokens – Inscriptions from the Heart.

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I wonder if you read the heading above and thought as I did many years ago; “what is a convict love token?” It was just over 5 years ago when I received a phone call from Paul and although I cannot recall our exact conversation, the reason he was phoning me was to ask if I might be able to find out the original owner, or rather inscriber, of a convict love token he had purchased at an auction.  At … Continue reading

Revisiting early research.

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It was not long after my father died in 1987 that I first started to research my family history. I have related the story on many occasions that when I looked at all the people who attended my dad’s funeral and wake I wondered where everyone whom I knew as a child had gone. I therefore decided to start with my paternal ancestry as my maiden name is not very common. I did an introductory course at GSQ, became a … Continue reading

An Edwardian Superstar.

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Researching Mr & Mrs W E Gardner was never dull. One moment I was in the dangerous world of intrepid World War 1 pilots and the next I was barrelling along a speedway with glamorous lady racing drivers. In early 1918, Victoria Alice Guest married Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot William Edward Gardner in Kent, England. On his arrival in Australia in 1923 to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) he was a widower. Who was Victoria Alice Guest … Continue reading