Author Archives: Meg Carney

FEMALE IRISH FAMINE ORPHANS

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 I have previously written in this forum about elusive ancestors. Those ancestors that you can only trace back to a certain event in their life and then you reach a dead end. You know they are your ancestor because you have the proof. You have traced backwards from your self via the relevant birth, death and marriage certificates. You know they were not born in Australia because you have the death certificate which states that they were born somewhere else … Continue reading

A Trip Down Memory Lane

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  A few weeks ago, my father, my sister and I went for a holiday to Coolangatta, at the southern end of the Gold Coast. This holiday turned out to be a lovely trip down memory lane for my father who will turn 90 in two months time. It was there in the twin towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads that my father and mother met, courted and were married.   Coolangatta and Tweed Heads are situated on the Queensland, … Continue reading

Those elusive ancestors – were they convicts?

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I had never considered the possibility of having convicts in my ancestral heritage. I don’t know why it had not occurred to me, considering that the convict story is so much a part of Australia’s early colonial history. I think I naively assumed that if there had been convicts amongst my early ancestors I somehow would have known about them. I would have heard rumours or detected a hint of mystery or noticed veiled silences around certain family stories. However, … Continue reading

The Value of a Photo

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Last week I found a photo of my grandfather taken when he was 25 years old. I came upon him suddenly after an afternoon of searching. I felt a shock of instant connection as I saw family resemblances and recognised my uncles and my mother in his features. Even though he was not looking directly at the camera I could see a far away dreamy look, even a sadness, that startled me. It was a look that I instantly recognised. … Continue reading

The importance of checking variations in the spelling of names.

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I joined the Genealogical Society of Queensland just over 2 years ago and immediately started attending all the information sessions and seminars that were on offer. Numerous times I heard the advice, “ Be sure to consider variations on the spelling of names.” I took this advice and considered different spelling for the tricky surnames like RAILL ( Real, Reale, Rail, Raile) and Conor (Connor, Connors, Coner, O’Connor). However, I made one very serious mistake. I did not look at … Continue reading