Yearly Archives: 2020

John Irvine – Bootmaker and preacher.

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The shot rang out in the quiet stillness of the farming community of Mt Thabor, just east of Warwick in South East Queensland.[1] The cows in the paddock opposite were mildly disturbed and the native birds squawked off in alarm. Mary knew the sound, as after all, her husband Clement Parkinson was a farmer and such is the necessity of country life. However, this shot on 5 June 1909 was different and more importantly she could smell the gunpowder. The … Continue reading

Living with a Family Historian.

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Wos’it like, then, eh? Wos’it really like? Living with a Family Historian (FH), that is. (Dropping poor Michael Caine imitation.) Herewith some reflections and anecdotes, probably somewhat muddled because they include events from Pauleen’s (aka the FH in question) pursuit of her family history, far more sporadic forays into mine, and the involvement of our daughters. For Pauleen, the journey began in the mid-1980s, with an enquiry at the Genealogical Society of Queensland stand in an Historical Fair in George … Continue reading

The Gift of a Name.

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A collection of historic photographs landed in my email months ago. One photo caught my eye – a woman and four small children sitting next to a sign advertising the children for sale. With a bit of digging I learned that the photo was published by an Indiana newspaper 5 August 1948, with a caption suggesting that the woman’s husband was out of work, the family had no money for food or rent and had decided to sell their children.[1] … Continue reading

When did he find out? Did he ever find out?

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It is really important to always “Roadmap Your Records” to know how and why a record is produced as this can give information about the record and its contents. Civil registration in Queensland began at the same time as New South Wales registration in 1856, as Queensland was still part of New South Wales until 1859. Queensland indexes are available online with each index date range increased on 1 January by one year. You do need to be aware of … Continue reading

Discovering the Treasures at the Society of Genealogists

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The past few months have been an interesting time for genealogy.  New approaches and developing technology have changed the way we do things while we cannot meet up or visit archives.  As a trustee and volunteer for the Society of Genealogists (SoG), I have been involved in supporting some of these developments and have been pleased with how adaptable organisations have become. One of our big advances is the start of Online Talks.  Opening up the learning opportunities (that are … Continue reading