How could I resist this wonderful Sepia Saturday prompt which had passed me by until I read Jollett Etc’s post today? The koala is, of course, a key icon of Australia – they look cuddly and cute, even if all they do is sleep much of the day and between-times munch on a gum leaf … More Sepia Saturday: Aussie royalty – the koala
On Friday 31 July 2015, Queensland celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of its first train line from Ipswich to Bigge’s Camp on that date in 1865. For a colony that had separated from New South Wales less than six years earlier, this engineering feat was quite an achievement and more was ahead with … More Lives on the line with Qld Rail
Having reviewed some of the talks I attended at Congress 2015, it’s time to turn to a little personal navel-gazing. Decades of working as a senior administrator means I can’t help myself when it comes to assessing what went well and what wasn’t so successful. How else to improve one’s own performance in any sphere? It’s always … More Congress 2015: Navel-gazing
This photo gave me an instant connection to some from my 3rd cousin’s photo albums. This particular cousin, Nora, has provided me with so much information over the years: old histories, photos of my Kunkel ancestors and our mutual O’Brien relatives. I owe her an enormous debt in terms of what she’s given to my … More Sepia Saturday 258: Meeting the GI Cousin in Sydney WWII
Thinking of parades for this week’s Sepia Saturday reminded me of a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while. Growing up as a child there was one memorable “parade” every year when Brisbane Catholics would arrive en masse at the Exhibition Grounds for the Corpus Christi procession. This liturgical feast celebrates the belief … More Brisbane Catholics and Corpus Christi
The people had to go where there was work for them and where there was a living. Wages were six shillings a day. They followed the establishment of the railway line right through. It’s been said that it’s a pity they ever left Ipswich because they could have bought something in Ipswich. But then there … More Trove Tuesday: The Kunkel family leaves Ipswich
This week’s Sepia Saturday image celebrates the 50th anniversary of Dollinger Steel of Beaumont, Texas. We all know 50th events are important ones, whether they’re wedding or business anniversaries, or just birthdays. It has to be said that 60th anniversaries are even rarer, especially of weddings as it takes a youthful marriage and two to … More Sepia Saturday: Mr & Mrs McSherry – Diamond Jubilee 1941
The topic of one of my papers at Congress 2015 is The marriage of local history and family history: a bridge to the past. In part this will be a case study of the town of Murphy’s Creek, Queensland, at the bottom of the Toowoomba range. For several years I’ve been collecting information on the … More Missing Friends: Murphy’s Creek (Qld) people
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
Today’s guest post is by my friend, Kate Cole, in England who I met doing an online course several years ago. Kate’s just published her first local history book on the town of Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire. We had a virtual conversation about how she came to research and publish her book. I posed some questions, and … More Guest post: Kate Cole on Local and Family History
Family history across the seas 