Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun included making a “Heritage Pie” chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the “Heritage Pie” chart idea.] For a bit of light relief I thought I’d bake … More Heritage Pie: a slice or two of ancestral places
Last night most of us slept peacefully in our beds, but ninety-five years ago a fierce and bloody battle was raging in France. That night Australia suffered a truly terrible loss of its young men akin to that at Gallipoli. Among the Australians readying for action on the evening of 19 July 1916 were my … More Battle of Fromelles: In Memoriam L/Cpl James Augustus Gavin KIA
One of Richard Reid’s comments during Shamrock was to the effect that family historians search for meaning and information on their ancestors among the documents held in various repositories but ignore the things or objects that may tell us more about their lives. In his paper presented to the 2009 Irish Conference, hosted by the Irish … More An Object-ive view of family history: It’s not just “stuff” or junk
The topic for Week 29 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Water. Do you have any memories of the sea or another body of water? Did you live there or just visit? What did you do there? You can also describe a body of water by which you … More 52 weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 29: Water and Hastings Point holidays
The topic for Week 28 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Summer. What was summer like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc. How ironic that this blog topic arrived just as we left … More 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 28: Summer Down Under
The topic for Week 27 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Vacations. Where did your family go on vacation? Did you have a favorite place? Is it still there? If not, how has the area changed? My family’s favourite place for holidays was Magnetic Island off Townsville in North … More 52 weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 27: Vacations on Maggie
This week we were driving the nearly 4000kms to get back to Darwin from Canberra. Yesterday as we drove through 1000kms of Territory bush I was moved by the many colours and images. I’m no poet but here are my thoughts in vaguely poetry form rather than prose. Territory Colours Dawn breaks deep red against the … More On the road again: Territory colours
Shamrock in the Bush 2011 has once again come and gone. This was the 19th Shamrock but while I have only been to three, the entire weekend has been as exciting and stimulating as in other years. One of the things I like most about Shamrock is the atmosphere of collegiality among all the … More Shamrock in the Bush 2011: a grand event to be sure!
This week I have been lucky enough to have two visits to the Not Just Ned exhibition in the National Museum of Australia, one on my own and one with Shamrock in the Bush. The supplementary title of the exhibition is A true story of the Irish in Australia and it is a reasonable claim: … More A true story of the Irish in Australia aka Not Just Ned
The topic for Week 26 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is Songs. What was the #1 song during the week of your birth? Enter your birth date at This Day in Music (http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1) and find out. If you were born before 1946, you can enter the year … More 52 weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Week 26 -Songs: Beatlemania, Songs and the memories they evoke
Family history across the seas 