Yearly Archives: 2019

Filling gaps with Dead Letter Office lists

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There are gaps in my knowledge of the life of my grandfather Philip Shepherd[1], who died before I was born. One of these gaps lies in the decade between his marriage in November 1882 to Catherine Heffernan in Cometville, on the Central Queensland Railway, and his purchasing of a town allotment in Jericho in the central-west in April 1892. Philip was a carrier so that the building of the railway line west from Rockhampton provided him with work carrying goods … Continue reading

We become what we see!

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For those who know me you know I am a public health microbiologist, a scientist. I have done a number of presentations for Scientists in Schools and had the interesting experience of a young lad about 11 years old very upset with his teacher as he thought they were getting “a proper scientist! Girls can’t be scientists!” It is hugely important that people can see that girls can be scientists, plumbers, doctors, teachers etc and also that this is also … Continue reading

A fascinating family history diversion – finding Cicely Beven

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It all started with allowing myself to be deflected off course. I had been looking for a possible reference in Trove to an aunt who had done some pottery in the 1930s and had been associated with L. J. Harvey and the Harvey School. I was not successful in finding a mention of her, but I noticed the names of many Queensland artists listed, some of whose works we had collected over the years. On a whim I searched for … Continue reading

A Dickens of a connection: tangents and fundamental mistakes

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By Cathie Sherwood. Many of us can often be heard complaining bitterly about the erroneous information in family trees on Ancestry and MyHeritage and elsewhere. We are all too aware that once one person gets a date wrong or has an ancestor marrying the wrong person, that information is copied across numerous trees without any further checking to determine its veracity or otherwise. These kinds of mistakes can easily be made by beginners who may lack an understanding about the … Continue reading

Publishing a family history book – learning from experience

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At its June meeting, the GSQ Writing Group discussed the positives and pitfalls of publishing a family history book. Group member Anne had circulated a long list of things she had learnt from experience and demonstrated the various points with books she had published on members of her own family. Other group members had also published books and they contributed their ideas. The following combines the details in Anne’s list with points raised during the discussion. Before reaching the stage … Continue reading