Category Archives: World War One

Violet Jane Stirling (1886 –1964) – A First World War Nurse

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This is my first blog for GSQ and I thought I would share my passion for family history and combine it with my research on Queensland First World War nurse.  This is the story of Violet Stirling who joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and was a nurse with the AIF Violet Jane (Jean) Stirling was the eldest child of James Thomas Stirling and Annie Porter. She was born in North Branch on the Darling Downs on 24 June … 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

Going to the source

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I had originally thought that this post would be solely about my experiences at Congress 2015, but the more I thought about my visit, the more I realised that my short stay in Canberra was so much more than attending Congress. Don’t get me wrong, Congress was terrific, the sessions I attended were valuable and I learnt a lot. The venue and catering were excellent and I enjoyed chatting to a wide range of people. My thanks go to Jill … Continue reading

Little things

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I’ve made a start on my Genealogy Do-Over, and even though I’m not far in (somewhere in the middle of Week 2), I’ve been surprised to discover things I didn’t know. Or more specifically, what I didn’t know. We all know the first thing we should do when starting to research our family histories is to speak to relatives. But how many of us really do it? I mean, REALLY do it. When I started out, sure, I asked my … Continue reading

In the beginning

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Do you remember what first motivated you to start researching your family history? When I was twenty, maybe twenty-one, my grandmother showed me the contents of a special brown case, which I now know was one of a matching pair her parents brought from London when they migrated after WWI. The case was full. Photos, letters, postcards, documents, an autograph book and other exciting things. She told me stories to match some of the memorabilia and, as much as it … Continue reading