A few weeks ago, I wrote a guest blog on my trip to Ireland in May looking for my Irish ancestors. This time I have followed it up with a trip around Northern and Central Queensland in July following in ancestral footsteps here.

Dorcas White on the far right with three of her daughters. Authors collection.

I was fortunate to have a paper accepted at the Australian Historical Association conference in Townsville which gave me the opportunity to head north. My great grandfather, Herbert William White from Wiltshire, England arrived in Townsville in 1886 and then travelled to the Charters Towers goldfield. There he met my great grandmother Dorcas Trevaskis, and they married and had eight children.

Dorcas was born in the copper mining town of Moonta, South Australia. When the copper declined the Trevaskis family moved to Queensland via Copperfield near Clermont and then on to Charters Towers.

Coming back to Herbert he arrived on the ship Chyebassa. How did me make his way to Charters Towers and the goldfields? Today it’s a one-hour trip in an air-conditioned car, but back then I would imagine that he would either be on a coach or cart. Possibly even a horse or maybe he walked, but it would have been a much longer trip than just an hour or so.

General merchant’s cart at Stockman’s Hall of Fame, Longreach. Authors image.

From Townsville we made our way out to Charters Towers, and I think there is still a pub on every corner from what we saw. We then went out to Hughenden and Richmond where my grand uncle Herbert’s son Robert died. He is buried in the Richmond cemetery.

Then we went down to Winton and explored not only dinosaurs but opals. This part of the trip was following my Scottish great great grandmother Helen Carnegie who was an opal miner and fossicker of gemstones in central Queensland.

From Winton we drove back through Longreach and Barcaldine and the mining areas of Clermont, Sapphire, Anakie and the Central Queensland gem fields. My great, great grandmother would have known these areas as she fossicked for gems. These areas today are still not heavily populated. They are still hot, dusty and millions of flies is not an exaggeration. You must ask yourself questions as you visit these places. How did they live? Where did they sleep? There are hardly any buildings left, so were they just living in tents? I wish I could find out, and how did they move from place to place, if not by coach?

The whole trip was interesting because I was following in the footsteps of several of my ancestors. Again, it made me think as to the value of visiting places and picturing our ancestors living there. Where did they shop? Did they buy from a travelling merchant? What did they eat? All those basic living conditions are often very hard for us to discover, unless someone kept a diary.  So many questions as we travel around in our air-conditioned cars.

Old style hotel in Ravenswood. Authors image.

I am grateful that I had two weeks travelling around in central and northwestern Queensland going through the places that I know my ancestors lived at different points of their lives. Of course, it still cost petrol and accommodation, but there were no big airfares. Food was sometimes an issue because there was no place else to eat except the hotel, if you could get a table. But at least you could get a good chicken schnitzel most of the time, and bakeries did a roaring trade with pies.

We also visited several tourist places, such as the Longreach Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the. Workers Heritage Centre at Barcaldine. The dinosaurs in Hughenden, Richmond and Winton. Plus, lots of photos of places that were obviously there in the days of my ancestors.

So again, was the trip worth it? Yes, I think so, because I realise how hard it must have been living out at Winton in the 1880s and 1890s. You know, if it was difficult finding somewhere to eat in 2025, how hard would it have been back then and getting around? Helen and her husband wouldn’t have been rich although they were opal miners, one can’t imagine that they were making that much money at that point in time.

Mum and bub dinosaurs at Winton. Authors image.

What next? I am now planning another trip to Thargomindah where I know Helen lived for a while with her husband Alexander Miller Ferguson, who was a jeweller in Thargomindah. This would have combined her fascination with opals and jewellery with a jeweller who possibly made jewellery pieces from her opal finds. This trip will take us out from Toowoomba through to Mitchell and Charleville. And further out to Eromanga (more dinosaurs) and other far western Queensland towns. We will have to watch the weather because these places can flood and once, you’re there you may not be able to travel out. Who wants to be stuck out there?

Stay tuned for another ancestral journey, probably next year now because we already have a couple of other trips lined up with holidays and conferences. Start planning your journey in your ancestors’ footsteps. Highly recommended.