Thomas Curran is my 3-time great grandfather. He lived a full life both in Jersey and Victoria after he moved to Australia in 1852. I visited Jersey earlier this year and saw first hand Toms house and the hotel he operated Here is part of his story Toms portrait in the National Library Australia Tom Curran was born on the 10th Of September in the year of 1827, in the town of St Helier on the Island of Jersey, one … Continue reading
As regular readers of this blog will be aware, I wasn’t born in Brisbane, let alone in Australia. At times, I do dip my toes into Australian records, however, and have gradually been picking up more knowledge. As well as my regular activities with GSQ, I also belong to a genealogy group that meets monthly. We take it in turns to set a challenge for the following month and some of these challenges have been awesome in opening our eyes … Continue reading
The way in which you justify your conclusions concerning a branch of your family tree has much in common with a formalmathematical proof. Each one depends upon assembling demonstrated (and defensible) facts and then proceeding from them via a path of inexorable logic to an inevitable conclusion. But they share far more than that. Both a genealogical argument and a mathematical proof are deliberately structured to obscure the false starts, blind alleys and mistaken identifications that make each subject … Continue reading
No review of the business and industrial activities of Wynnum and district would be complete which did not include Irvine’s, with their large emporium on the corner of Bay Terrace and Charlotte Street. They have been active in Wynnum Central for over half a century, and indeed their name has become inseparable from that of the district. Their contribution to the growth and development of this centre can be gauged in some measure from their own extraordinary expansion and steady … Continue reading
Because it is Christmas time I thought I would write with a Christmas theme this time. Unfortunately, I do not have any stories, letters or photos handed down from previous generations that show how they celebrated their Christmases, so I will tell you about Christmas for me as a child growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in a small town in Northern New South Wales. There was always a tree, a big one, almost reaching to the ceiling. Dad … Continue reading
