One of the most important things we can be grateful for is the gift of good health. Not everyone is so fortunate, but my DNA health inheritance has been predominantly healthy. Those health issues which I have had to deal with have been responsive to good medical care – how very grateful we can be … More Gratitude for Health
It’s funny how when writing about ancestors in the past, it seems easy to be objective and base stories on discovered facts. When writing about more recent people and events, the concern is a lack of objectivity. Having said that, I’ll continue with the story of Dad’s working life which will inevitably be from my … More A numbertaker? Say what?!
We’re not long home from a week of genealogy indulgence…what’s not to like about genie-adventures? Especially when they take you on a road trip! First up was two days at the Unlock the Past Roadshow in Brisbane with Scottish/Irish guru Chris Paton, German expert, Dirk Weissleder and local speakers. Learning new strategies and sources for … More Genea-learning and touring
This week’s topic in Family Tree Frog’s NFHM Blog Challenge is All the Rivers Run. Australia alternates between extremes of weather as illustrated by the famous poem by Dorothea Mackellar: My Country[i]. I love a sunburnt country A land of sweeping plains Of rugged mountain ranges And drought and flooding rains. This is just one … More Flooding rains: Ipswich 1887
This week’s Sepia Saturday theme was a “gimme”. I’ve had this photo strip for ages but have never used it because I felt it made my grandfather look a little gormless. However it’s a perfect match this week, so here is Dinny strolling through Brisbane city probably in the 1920s or 1930s (the car would … More Sepia Saturday: Strolling in the City
Yesterday I was reflecting on my Aussie heritage and why I am such a proud Queenslander. I had a little play with my immigrant stats and this is what I came up with, an analysis of my first immigrants to Australia, all bar one of them to Queensland. 8 Pre-Separation Queensland ancestors (pre-1859): George Mathias … More Australia Day 2016
This Sepia Saturday has three young men relaxing at their leisure on the creek bank after a spot of fishing with their flimsy fishing rods. It brought to mind many similar scenes that would have occurred in colonial Queensland beside creeks and waterways throughout the countryside. I could well imagine my Kunkel great-grandparents, and perhaps … More Sepia Saturday: Colonial Fishing Days
“Inspired” by my post on the jubilarian McSherry couple, I decided to look at the marital longevity of my ancestors. Rather than confuse myself (and you) with a plethora of ancestors, I confined myself to those who came to Australia, although in the case of Duncan and Annie McCorkindale, she and their children emigrated after … More Ancestral Marital Longevity
Over the past days I’ve been working on my Congress 2015 about family and local history. I came across this wonderful photo which I wanted to share right now – regular readers may see it again in a few months <smile>. It is wonderful because of the four generations included in it rather than the … More The Chapman and Marshall families: Qld pioneers
As happens sometimes with a Sepia Saturday prompt, I immediately thought “how can I write on this?”… “I’ve got nothing in my family history that fits”. Turning to Trove, the Aussie genealogists’ friend, I searched for “police + chemist”. Did you notice there was a chemist’s shop in the background of the featured image? So … More Sepia Saturday 251: Qld Civil Liberties in the 60s
Family history across the seas 