Category Archives: New South Wales

An Irish Lass: Catherine Hawe/Howe (1802- 1862).

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This woman’s story started my passion for writing about my family history. I don’t know what her character was like before she was sent out to Australia, but I think she was or became a strong resourceful woman who cared about her family and community. In a strange twist, DNA testing to enhance my family history information, found out that I was not biologically related to her. Nevertheless, I think her story is indicative of many pioneer women whose struggle … Continue reading

“The Singing Flame”: Destruction of public records.

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By: Jennifer Harrison. One hundred years ago, on 30 June 1922, the Four Courts building in Dublin was bombed and thousands of government records were destroyed in the blast. Ever since, historians have rued the extensive devastation of valuable source material which the current Irish project Beyond 2020 seeks to remedy. Ernie O’Malley in his book, The Singing Flame, described the carnage: ‘Flame sang and conducted its own orchestra simultaneously’. Staunch Republican O’Malley who reported directly to Michael Collins and … Continue reading

My Great Grandfather Alfred

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For some time now I’ve had a photo of a man in a military style uniform in my possession. It was passed to me by my mother when she moved house as she knew of my interest in our family’s history. The photo was originally found in my Nan’s wardrobe after she passed away in 2004. The simple frame was barely holding together, there were no markings or inscriptions on the photo itself to indicate who this gentleman was, or … Continue reading

Not Just Any Railway Guard

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When a fellow researcher shared a death transcript for my third great uncle, Andrew George Lee, I noticed that his occupation was listed as “railway guard” and thought “well that’s different to the usual farmer, carpenter or labourer” and filed it away for later. Recently though, when I began looking at the Lee family in more detail, something grabbed my interest when I found his obituary on Trove. Not only was Andrew a train guard but he was at the … Continue reading

The postmaster, the bolter and the draper

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Can a life be affected if begun in war? Perhaps for William Thomas Phillips, born in Portugal on 6 December 1813, during the Peninsular War, this isn’t a question which needs to be asked. He was only four years old when his parents, James and Lydia Phillips, and older siblings, Henry and Jane, finally returned to peacetime in England in 1817 following the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo. Aged nine when the family arrived in New South Wales, Australia … Continue reading