In the early months of 1915, two young brothers enlisted to serve their country in the First World War. It’s unlikely they felt they were going to fight to defend “home” and the “motherland” as their grandparents and uncles were German-born, not unlike my own Kunkel relatives. Perhaps they felt they needed to defend their … More Two brothers go to war: Les and Fred Fisher
It’s ages since I did a Book of Me post but then I found Julie’s topic for this week is Easter memories…just when I’d been reflecting on that very topic last night and how I’m completely underwhelmed by the Easter palaver these days. This was Julie’s key question: What does Easter Mean to you? A … More Book of Me: Week 34 Easter Memories
Once again blogger extraordinaire, Jill aka Geniaus, has challenged us to think about our blogging practice, and especially the use of hyperlinks. I only read Jill’s post about hyperlinking a few days ago and I’ve been reflecting on my practice ever since. So what are my strategies – always assuming I’m not rushing, or distracted, … More Thinking about linking – thanks to Geniaus
I was excited to see the other day that the program for the 2015 Australasian Congress of Genealogy and Heraldry has been released. I already knew that my proposals for presentations had been accepted, but the cat is now officially out of the bag. My topics probably won’t be a great surprise to regular readers … More It’s Good News Week
Shauna Hicks has set us all a goal of 52 weeks of Genealogical Records. The topic for Week 11 (how did that happen?!) is Newspapers. Now, like most genies I love newspapers and being a bit of an old fogey I’ve used them extensively over the years. Once upon a time it was only possible … More 52 weeks of Genealogical Records: Newspapers
In my previous post I mentioned the newspaper remarks of problems on board the barque Florentia, and my hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery…and finding reference to Mary O’Brien. Only a matter of hours after disembarking from Voyager of the Seas in Sydney I was ensconced in the reading room at State … More Was it all fun and games on Florentia?
Growing up as a child in Queensland, we had a large Queensland nut tree in our back garden. Now known as macadamias, these nuts make you work hard to get to their delicious centres (unless you buy them stripped bare). First you have to work through the hard protective casing around the nut, unless it’s … More Mixing my metaphors: Macadamias and Glass Slippers
My East Clare Emigrants blog has been neglected since the cruise but today I was determined to add a story, and the one I’d selected was about Mary Ann Morton, nee Massy. One thing led to another, as it does, and eventually I also followed up her husband, James Morton. An Irishman born in Ballymena, … More Trove Tuesday: James Morton of Ballymena, County Antrim and Grafton, NSW.
I’ve just begun an e-book of short stories, A First Place, by David Malouf. Absorbing stories written by Australians always seem slightly disorienting, so accustomed are we (or is it only me?) to reading books whose settings are elsewhere. Which came first, the sense that “other is better”, leading to the exodus of much of Australia’s … More My thoughts on David Malouf’s A First Place
Thanks to an alert by Genealogists for Families team captain, Judy Webster, I found there’s a chance today to double our impact when making loans on Kiva. This is how it works: Go to http://www.kiva.org You can join to choose the Genealogists for Families team if you like Click on Lend Look for anyone who … More Kiva: More bang for your buck today
Family history across the seas 