Mum was moving into a retirement unit, and we sat on her bed as she tipped out a box of old photos and cuttings. I picked up some yellowed pages, stapled together in the corner. I flipped through the pages until I came to a longer entry for “FRANZ, Frederick Leopold Theodore”. I read how he was part of a missionary group who arrived in Australia in 1838 where they founded a mission in Moreton Bay at what is now … Continue reading
1849-1850 was a distinctive stage in the free settlement of Moreton Bay which had begun in 1842. For the first time significant numbers of people arrived in Brisbane, most not government assisted immigrants. Different groups created vigorous conflict which determined the colony’s future. They also necessitate checking various records to track their arrival. When the government-assisted Artemisia, the first ship to bring immigrants direct to Moreton Bay came in December 1848, it brought news of the Fortitude’s imminent arrival, which … Continue reading
For many years, my husband Trevor’s family had resigned themselves to never knowing the identity of their great-grandfather. Their grandmother Ida Beatrice Conroy was born in Bingara, New South Wales, on 13 January 1889 to Emma Ethel Conroy aged 20, with no father given on the birth registration.[1] Ida married William James Tighe in Goondiwindi, Queensland on 13 October 1904.[2] The marriage registration named both Ida’s mother and father, but it also raised questions. Ida’s father’s name was stated as … Continue reading
One of the topics I’ve presented to a few societies is “The marriage of family and local history”. By broadening our research focus to our family’s geographic context to the place(s) where they lived, we can learn so much more about their engagement with their local community and the successes and trials of that community. I don’t know about you, but when I drive through a small country town, I wonder how it came to be – what brought it … Continue reading
Life in Ireland was difficult in 1840-41, it was a time leading up to the great famine that peaked in 1845. No doubt wanting to believe the favourable tales and promises made by recruiting agents that a better life was to be found in Australia, Hugh and Ann McGovern made the decision to leave behind the hardships of life in Ireland. Being married, Protestant and able to read and write, they would have been eagerly recruited by ‘bounty’ agents tasked … Continue reading
