My grandmother and most of her siblings emigrated to Australia early in the 20th century, after the death of her father. One brother remained behind however. His name was Thomas Sim McCorkindale (the Sim being his mother’s maiden name). Thomas Sim McCorkindale married Jane Wilson McVey in Glasgow in 1910 and they then moved to London … More Missing McCorkindales -the family of Thomas Sim McCorkindale
If you have ancestors in the south-east corner of County Clare or Limerick, you may be interested to know that the Board of Guardians Minute Books for Limerick Union (which includes parts of Clare) are available online through the Limerick Archives at http://www.limerick.ie/DigitalArchives/LimerickCityCouncilandLocalGovernmentCollections/LimerickUnionBoardofGuardiansMinuteBooks1842-1922 While these are not searchable they provide a fascinating insight into the … More Limerick Board of Guardians Minute Books
On Saturday I joined a group of friends at a Malaysian cooking demonstration held at Hanuman Restaurant by Amanda Amutha. What a fabulous surprise -another of those well-kept Darwin secrets. Amanda worked through a menu of delights showing us how to prepare the dishes, explaining the ingredients to us & letting us see each dish … More Cool cooking demonstration
Well it’s been a quiet time in virtual-blog-land for me lately as the real world has taken over. This morning on the way into work I saw a family of eight (yes, 8!) curlews hanging out near the carpark. This is a pretty rare sight but one I also saw a week or two ago … More Bird life delights
The current edition of the National Library’s newsletter has asked for help finding missing editions of this Australian classic so they can be digitised. The AWW was the staple women’s magazine at a time when we weren’t all inundated with choices. Women are traditionally difficult to research and while we might not find our own … More Missing Australian Women’s Weekly mags
The year has officially started, students are back in school & the National Trust’s High Tea is on again at historic Burnett House, Myilly Point. It’s a once-a-week event much enjoyed by locals and, in the Dry, Top End tourists. Apart from being a bargain foodie outing, the food is just great. Love Anna’s fabulous … More High Tea at the National Trust
This post is really about my husband’s family and some World War II history from Papua New Guinea (then Papua). This story shows how family history intersects with local history and each can complement the other. Let him tell the story of how this all started: From the late-1960s my family lived at Alotau, the … More Sadds Ridge Rd, Charters Towers (Qld) and WWII in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
As a fairly techno-competent family historian I didn’t expect to get so much from Shauna’s talk on Online Trends. I was wrong! Sure there were plenty of sites that I’ve used and love, but there were great insights into new ones and new strategies. I learnt what RSS was all about (not having bothered to … More Comments on Shauna Hicks’s talk re Online trends in Family History
On Saturday Shauna Hicks gave two very informative and enjoyable family history presentations in Darwin. Shauna apologised for her laryngitis and croaky voice but it didn’t affect the pleasure of listening to someone with such wide experience. Shauna’s talk on asylum records highlighted how these records could help people to find missing ancestors and the … More Comments on Shauna Hicks’s talk on Asylum Records
In the carpark at work this morning I saw a tiny baby plover with its parents -it was only a few inches high…so cute! Also an old frilly lizard on the run. Where was the camera? – at home! This afternoon the same chick, freaked out by humans in the vicinity, hid under its mother’s … More Wildlife at work
Family history across the seas 