GSV News

You may have read in the latest edition of Ancestor that the University of Tasmania is offering a scholarship for a GSV member to study their Diploma of Family History commencing in 2023.

Applications are now open and can be made online through the University’s Scholarship Office: https://info.scholarships.utas.edu.au/AwardDetails.aspx?AwardId=2940

Details of the scholarship are:

• The scholarship will cover the full tuition fees
• The course is fully online and flexible, consisting of 8 units that can be studied at the student's own pace
• Applications are open to members of GSV
• The scholarship recipient will be announced in November
• Applications will need to include:
  1. Evidence of current membership of the GSV
  2. A brief CV (max. 2 pages)
  3. A written statement, comprising two parts:
     • A micro-story (max. 350 words) regarding a family photograph or heirloom and what it reveals about your family history
     • A response to the question (max. 250 words): What would a scholarship to study the Diploma of Family History mean to you?
  4. Be able to commence study in Term 1, in February 2023.

This is an excellent opportunity to develop your family history research skills and to expand your knowledge in finding and interpreting information about families in the past and sharing family stories with others. Further details about the course may be found on the University’s website: https://www.utas.edu.au/courses/cale/courses/r2h-diploma-of-family-history

Breaking News from National Family History Month!

We are delighted to announce that you can now view a recording of a presentation that Dr Jonathan Richards, Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry UQ, hoped to present at Congress recently.

Dr Richards researches and writes about Australian (mostly Queensland) history, particularly colonial and frontier policy and violence.

His talk about convict Israel Shaw is fascinating to all those who research convicts and covers a wide terrain from Tasmania in the south to Norfolk Island and then Queensland in the north.

You can watch the recording of it here at a time to suit you. Enjoy!

Don't forget to register for our Closing Ceremony on Wednesday 31st August at 5pm.

Our speakers will be joining us live from Yorkshire and Israel via Zoom.

Speakers : Catherine Warr (YouTube Yorkshire's Hidden History) and Daniel Horowitz (MyHeritage)

How to Bring your Ancestors to Life!

Catherine will share how to make history interesting, engaging and accessible for everyone.

Daniel will talk about MyHeritage's latest tool DeepStory and how it can enhance your storytelling.

Catherine Warr has become one of the most prominent young local historians, reaching thousands of people all over the world through her YouTube channel Yorkshire's Hidden History. With a passion for making history interesting, engaging, and accessible for all, she has been featured in a national YouTube campaign recognising regional creators. Her first book - A Yorkshire Year: 366 Days of Folklore, Customs, and Traditions - is due to be released in Summer 2022.

Daniel Horowitz is a Genealogy Expert at MyHeritage, providing key contributions liaising with genealogy Societies, bloggers and media, as well as lecturing, and attending conferences around the world. Dedicated to Genealogy since 1986, he was the teacher and the study guide editor of the family history project “Searching for My Roots” in Venezuela for 15 years. Daniel is involved in several crowdsource digitization and transcription projects and holds a board level position at the Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA).

There are still so many wonderful prizes to give away. Check out our competition page here https://familyhistorymonth.org.au/index.php/competition-page.

To register for the Closing Ceremony just email jan@jansquire.com to be sent the details to connect via Zoom or use the NFHM website contact form.

Member Societies Showcase

Gisborne Genealogical Group Inc

Spring is coming, time to get out and about again?

How about the Gisborne Genealogical Group’s Celtic Day on Saturday 27 August, 9.30am to 4.00pm?

You could also visit their Family History Room and support regional tourism by making a weekend of it and doing both!

Make the most of your trip to Gisborne and also call in at The Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts Historical Society centre, just on the other side of the library from GGG. This is open Wednesdays.

CELTIC DAY SCHEDULE

Saturday 27 August 2022

THREE SESSIONS

9.45 – 11.00am – The Celts, Cornwall, and the Cornish in Australia – Lyn Hall

11.15 – 12.30pm - Scottish Kirk Session Records – Joy Roy

1.15 – 2.40pm – You can’t research Irish ancestors - All the records were lost – WRONG! - Susie Zada

Venue – Uniting Church, Brantome Street, Gisborne

Bookings are essential

Contact Lorna Jackson – Ph 0402 091 034

Featuring Harpist – Fran Thiele



GGG members: $20 | non-members: $25

For more information please contact Lorna Jackson at: lorna_jackson@bigpond.com

FAMILY HISTORY ROOM

The Family History Room is located next to the Gisborne Library. It will be open for research, between 1.00pm and 4.00pm. each day during the week preceding our Celtic Day (Monday 22 August until Friday 26 August).

Volunteers will be on duty each day to help you with your research queries.

The Family History Library contains:

• over 1200 reference books
• thousands of fiche
• data CDs and DVDs
• journals
• maps

You can view the catalogue at https://www.ggg.org.au/catalogue

Additional family history resources (e.g. Ancestry.com, findmypast, Trove and over 300 years of UK newspapers) are available on the Gisborne Library computer system. For more information visit the Gisborne Library’s Family History page at https://www.ncgrl.vic.gov.au/e-resources/familyhistory<p>

For further information about the Gisborne Genealogical Group, please see their webpage: https://www.ggg.org.au

Images

Top: Family History Room of the Gisborne Genealogical Group, part of the old Council Chambers and Mechanics Institute complex. (Photo courtesy of GGG).

Bottom: Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts Historical Society in the restored old Gisborne Court House (1858). (Photos courtesy of G&MMDHC).

Acknowledgments: Julie Dworak, GGG; Kristy Love, GSV volunteer.

[Other GSV Member Societies might like to showcase their activities in this section of our blog. Ed]

Each year the GSV awards a Writing Prize for family-history writing.

The purpose of the Prize is:

• to encourage the writing of family history
• to provide an opportunity for recognition and publication
• to publish the winner as an example of quality family history writing

Last year's winner Sue Wight, in ’The Mystery of the extra Booth Hodgett’, conveyed the thrill of her chase in solving a family history mystery. You can read the judge’s report from last year on the GSV website and also read the winning entry in the December 2021 Ancestor issue.

The GSV website / Ancestor tab gives essential guidelines for writing articles that may appeal to the readership of our journal and contribute to our told stories.

So there is time and incentive to finalise that article you have been working on!

Entries close 4 pm Friday 26 August

Full details of the competition are on the website

https://dev.gsv.org.au/gsv-writing-prize-2022

In the last few months the GSV has uploaded 13,028 records to our Genealogical Index of Names (GIN) database and 10,035 Records to our Milestone database.

Many thanks to all our hardworking DIGI team who assist us. The highlights of the additions are below.

Genealogical Index of Names (GIN) Database

VICTORIA

General alphabetical list of electors of the Electoral District of Port Phillip for the year commencing 1st June 1850, and ending 31st May 1851

[Index to] The Victorian municipal directory and gazetteer for 1885 compiled by David Holloway

Baringhup schools: Baringhup State School No. 1687 (Old), Baringhup West State School No. 941

Register of municipal ratepayers: Nepean ward and surrounding areas of the Mornington Peninsula shire 1864-1900 compiled by Frank South

FAMILY HISTORY

Index of names from “My wonderful family and me: an overview of Alan's ancestry” by Alan Haintz. Families include Haintz, Boadle, Kelly, Bousted, Lyons, Pickering

Milestones

GEROGERY (NEW SOUTH WALES)

Gerogery Lutheran cemetery headstones 1869-1979 by C A J Summerton

NARACOORTE (SOUTH AUSTRALIA)

'The Spirits' of Pioneer Park: Narracoorte-Kincraig Cemetery 1850-1878 by Murray Sherwell

CLUNES (VICTORIA)

Clunes burial register 1861-1989 compiled by Genealogical Society of Victoria Ballarat Group

YAN YEAN (VICTORIA)

Yan Yean cemetery (Whittlesea) headstones 14/5/1853-2/5/1951 compiled by Niel T Hansen

GEELONG (VICTORIA)

St Giles Presbyterian church Geelong: baptisms 1889-1916

MELTON (VICTORIA)

Christ Church Melton marriage register 1906-1954 compiled by Judith Bilszta

RICHMOND (VICTORIA)

St Stephen's Church of England, Richmond, Victoria baptisms 1901-1914 compiled by Miriam Macartney.

What did you and your ancestors play with as a child?

Dr Carla Pascoe Leahy will explore the history of children’s play in the twentieth century in a talk on 14 July at 10.30am. She’ll draw on evocative examples from her own research and the collection of Museums Victoria.

This is a joint zoom event with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and has limited numbers.

Book in early. It’s $5 for GSV members.

The title “Slingshots, rag dolls and knucklebones” prompted me to look through my old photos. I found quite a few photos of my grandfather’s siblings, and my mother and her sister at play. What a wonderful prompt for a 350 word story. Perhaps you are also inspired.

If so, register for the talk, check your old photos, and then write up a little story for one of the discussion groups.

Written by Jackie van Bergen

Back in November Jackie van Bergen noticed a little paragraph and photo in the GSV eNews. She writes:

Are these your ancestors? was how it started.

The names caught my eye. It was a name in my family tree.

Victor Mason Luke is my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

His grandparents: Charles Kelvey Pearson and Eliza Mason were my 3 times great grandparents.

My 2 times great grandfather Frederick Augustus Pearson was the oldest sibling and Victor’s mother, Ida Florence was 14 years younger, the ninth child.

Ida was born in Avoca in 1862 but the family had moved to Geelong by 1869 when her mother tragically took her own life.

Ida married Edmund Thomas May Luke from Beaconsfield in 1884. Just a few months after her big brother Frederick took his life.

Edmund was the first “artist and photographer” employed by The Age newspaper. They bought land in the Beaconsfield/Berwick area and named their home Montuna after their eldest son (Monte) and eldest daughter (Una). This land is now part of the Berwick Montuna golf club.

In 1917 he bought more land and the ET Luke subdivision includes Montuna Grove and Victor Avenue.

Victor was their fourth child, born in 1891. When he enlisted in WWI he was a signwriter of Beaconsfield. Very soon after his return (in 1919) he married Nellie Elizabeth Merritt. They had five children:

Verna Dorothy Luke b1921 married Frederick Archibald Field. Verna died in 2016.

Kelvin Victor Luke b1925 married Nancy Coffield. Kelvin died in 2003 in Horsham.

Austin Edmund Luke b1927 married June Patricia Wilkinson. Austin died in 1980.

Margaret Luke b1930

Trevor John Luke b1938, d2007.

Victor was Mayor of Kew around 1950-51.

His older brother Charles Montague Luke, known as Monte was a famous photographer in Sydney.

Perhaps you are more closely related to Victor and Nellie than I am and would like this postcard.

Please email gsv@gsv.org.au to claim it.

We Need Your Help

GSV’s membership fees are kept as low as possible, largely through the enormous number of hours given freely and willingly by many volunteers. But like many organisations and individuals, the GSV is experiencing increasing costs.

Our membership fees cover our operating expenses, but they do not stretch to covering the rising costs of our IT infrastructure and the storage of our digitised records and resources. We are asking you to please consider making a donation to help us continue to ensure that your GSV is able to provide all its existing and new services to you and other members.

Our electronic storage equipment is our behind-the-scenes “hero”, always there, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months a year. It is at the heart of the services we offer. We must regularly upgrade our electronic equipment. We need funds to do this.

We must maintain state of the art software to ensure optimal use of our equipment, and this is becoming more costly. For example, our storage service providers have increased prices for the provision of our online services and the cloud storage of digitised records, all of which we need to improve remote access to our information and services. We need funds to ensure we can do this.

We also want to upgrade GSV’s website, to provide you with easier and improved access to GSV’s records, resources and services. We need funds to do this.

As we continue to emerge from the past two years of unprecedented and unanticipated change due to Covid, we are facing huge increased demands for information from all our existing and new online services. In order to continue to increase the services available to you and all our members, we need your support.

Donations to GSV are tax-deductible and can be made online through the Donate Now link on the GSV website homepage, by a call to the GSV with your credit card details, or by a cheque in the mail.

Whichever way you choose we will really appreciate your financial support, large or small, to help us meet these costs, upgrade our website and further improve our services and offerings to members.

Would you be able to do something before the end of June?

Many thanks.

Stephen Hawke

President

The Genealogical Society of Victoria has made available many Webcasts for members to enjoy. Below is the list that has been uploaded to our webpage from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Just login as a GSV member from home and these are available from our Webcasts page at https://dev.gsv.org.au/webcasts

If you are not a GSV member, purchase a GSV Visitor E-pass https://dev.gsv.org.au/visitor-e-pass and for the special price of $10 you can access a large range of Genealogical resources for a short period (6 hours) from home, and it includes viewing our webcasts.

AUSTRALIA

Dancing at the southern crossroads: histories, families, genealogies.

Presented by: Mollenhauer, Jeanette

Dr Mollenhauer describes her research into the history of Irish Step Dancing in Australia.

Great War Soldier Settlement and its records.

Presented by: Fahey, Charles

In this presentation Dr Charles Fahey describes the Soldier Settler Scheme in Victoria and examines the scheme and the effects on the farmers and the community.  He also discusses the records that are available for researching soldiers and their farms.

Passenger records: how did your ancestors get here?

Presented by: Johnson, Claire

Describes the records available to assist research into your ancestor’s voyage to Australia.

Strategies for researching and writing about convict ancestors.

Presented by: Vines, Margaret

Explores convict records and resources available in the UK and in Australia and discusses how best to utilise them to research and write about your convict ancestors.

Why did they leave? Exploring the migration of our ancestors from Ireland.

Presented by: Vines, Margaret

An examination of the migration of people from Ireland to Australia. She considers the choices, the push and pull factors and other reasons for their decision through the eyes of her family ancestors. Families mentioned Fogarty, Shannahan, Stawell, Lonergan, O'Shannassy, Baggot, Ferguson

VICTORIA

Exploring the RHSV: register of Victorian pioneers.

Presented by: Hiscock, Gillian

The RHSV has collected and maintained an ‘Historical Register of Persons who arrived, or were born in Victoria before 1900.’ In this presentation Jillian Hiscock describes the Register and provides information regarding how to access the data.

BATE FAMILY

James Bate: an enigma.

Presented by: Blackwood, Sue

Describes searching for James Bate who lived in Scotland during the first half of the 18th century.

DE FIRCKS FAMILY

My journey: researching my family history.

Presented by: de Fircks, Alex

Describes the journey researching family in Germany and Latvia.

MADDOCKS and STEVENSON FAMILY

Maldon: the Maddocks and Stevenson families.

Presented by:   Vanderstoel, Jane

Jane Vanderstoel discusses researching her families who resided in Maldon for many generations.

O'DONNELL and BARRY FAMILY

Chain immigrants from Southeast Limerick to Victoria: 1854 and after.

Presented by: Noone, Val

The story of immigration of families from Limerick to Victoria during the gold rush era and afterwards through the lens of Michael O'Donnell and Johanna Barry

PLAYNE and JENNINGS FAMILY

The life of a squatter in the Port Phillip district 1837-1854.

Presented by: Playne, Martin

ROBERTS, LATTER, TONKIN, FORESTER and PRICE FAMILY

Living in the 1890s depression years in Victoria: family experiences.

Presented by: Trotter, Maureen

How their families lived and survived the 1890s depression years in Victoria.

WAINEWRIGHT FAMILY

Thomas Wainewright: artist and convict.

Presented by: Norwood, Clodagh

The life of her ancestor Thomas Wainewright who was transported to Hobart for fraud, became an artist and his portraits provide documentation of personalities in Hobart before 1850.

GENERAL

GSV Member Research Interests Database.

Presented by: O'Dea, Tom

The developer of the GSV Member Research Interests Database describes the background to this project and provides a detailed demonstration of the functionality of the system

Preservation of your collection.

Presented by: Parry, Debra

Debra Parry of Melbourne Conservation Services outlines methods of preserving documents, books, maps, plans as well as ceramics, textiles and other objects

UNITED KINGDOM

Using the Tithe Apportionment records.

Presented by: Down, David

The tithe apportionment records of England and Wales from 1836 - how to use the records to enhance the stories of your rural ancestors.

ENGLAND

Cholera in South-West England.

Presented by: Hawke, Stephen

Explores the major cholera outbreak in the 1830s in south-west England and also the later outbreaks of the pandemic in the UK in the 19th century.

DEVON

Devon cottage scenes during the cholera.

Presented by: Carman, Cathy

Using the diary of a Devon vicar to describe the scenes in a Devon village during the cholera outbreak of 1832

LONDON

Richard Turner: an excise officer in London.

Presented by: Trethewey, Jillian M

The life of a 19th century Excise officer based in London. Jill describes how she researched her ancestor and the records that are available.

Watermen in London: the Round family in Williamstown.

Presented by: Ansell, Robyn

Are you struggling to write your family history? Are you surrounded with paper or digital files wondering where to go next?

Margaret Vines will conducting her Writing Family History course over three weeks commencing on Monday 20 June. Margaret has successfully run this course for many years. She is the author of several books about her family including the recently published John Vines from Christian Malford: a Wiltshire convict and his family. Margaret also has many years of experience as a member of the Editorial Committee for the GSV journal Ancestor.

The course will be conducted by Zoom over three weeks. There with be zoom sessions on each Monday at 10.30 am for face-to-face contact with Margaret. Participants will discuss information and techniques for writing future articles and books, particularly

• The Writing Process - getting started, especially drafting and editing
• Basic writing skills
• Historical skills, including documenting your writing

With encouragement and feedback, each student will produce a small piece of family history of about 1,500 to 2,000 words. Participants will be expected to be writing both in class and between classes.

You can enrol in the course by registering on the GSV Event Page listing for 20 June, click here..

The charge for the course is $90 for GSV Members.

Enrol now to ensure you do not miss out as there is a limit of 10 places.