Issue 12 :: Sep/Oct 2012

2 201 ct sep

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12

It’s the wedding issue

 how to get the most from familysearch marriage records

 the clues often overlooked on marriage certificates  love in the age of convicts  free online tools that will transform your research  get even more from trove with our expert Q&A special  discover the latest technique in photodating

plus…

 jill dupleix’s favourite family recipes

Aus $10.50 incl GST NZ $11.95 incl GST PRINTED ON FSC-APPROVED PAPER SEP–OCT 2012

9 771838 504008

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 Win an ancestry.com.au membership worth $299!

ISSN 1838-5044

Sep-Oct 2012

digital spotlight

out d n Fi his l t y wh g vei din cial d e w pe s o is s

Contents Issue 12, Sep–oct 2012

On the cover 29

Getting the most out of Trove Do you tag? Use the “near” search functionality? Want to raise funding for a new title? Our Q&A will show you how!

32 How to find a marriage

on FamilySearch This free site contains billions of names — we

look at ways to discover the ones you’re after 36

Making it official We look at the clues that are most often overlooked on marriage certificates

39 Love in the age of convicts They were a crafty lot, our transportees.

Especially when it came to matters of the heart!

46 42

42

Something old, something new From a beautiful veil, to an antique vase: meet three families for whom genealogy is an important part of the big day

46

Spoonfuls of love Jill Dupleix’s favourite food memories — and recipes to get your mouth watering!

51

Clues the camera left behind Measuring shadows is the latest technique in photodating — and the results will surprise you!

55 Exploring digital history These online tools will help you interpret

your research in new ways — and they’re free!

68

Win an Ancestry.com.au membership!

Kickstart your research with our great giveaway

51

Contents 32 58 genie on the go 27 History apps The best ones to download to your tablet,

from cloud storage, to family tree software

your family

19

14 Ask our experts The story behind female emigration, plus

advice on how to scan and care for negatives

your history 64

Your favourite history books We asked and you delivered. Now it’s time to vote for your number one!

19 History now Events you won’t want to miss around

Australia and New Zealand

travel

24 The home of Granny Smith Paradise lost & found

Ryde Historical Society lets us in Lord Howe Island is a little piece of heaven

on their latest projects that’s been host to treasure hunters, renowned astronomers and enduring family history 62 How to write a non-boring family history

In the fifth of a series of six, Hazel Edwards regulars

looks at writing history for children 6 Ed’s letter 65 The book shelf 8 Postie’s here!

What we’re reading; plus we feature an extract

Your thoughts, your say from Hell’s Battlefield by Phillip Bradley 58

9

Bob’s your uncle Network with other researchers

11 Platform The latest news and happenings

from the history and genealogy world

74 One picture…1000 memories The story behind a family photo

offers 71

Subscribe to Inside History… from just $31.50 for six months!

our family

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

PO Box 406 Erskineville NSW 2043 Australia Publisher Ben Mercer ben@insidehistory.com.au Editor Cassie Mercer cass@insidehistory.com.au Designers Rohana Archer Kelly Bounassif Editorial contributors Phillip Bradley Marci A. Despain Jill Dupleix Hazel Edwards Miranda Farrell Paula Grunseit Barbara Hall Shauna Hicks Cheryl Jackson Virginia James Bill Oates Pristine Ong Mark Raadgever Tim Sherratt Sarah Trevor Shirley Way Mark Webster Print Subscriptions See page 71 or subscribe online at www.insidehistory.com.au Digital Subscriptions For iPad, find us on Apple Newsstand For Android and PC, find us at au.zinio.com

Cover image Gladys McEwen on her wedding day, 17 July 1929. Courtesy Leanne Grogan. Read more on page 42 about Gladys, her beautiful bridal veil and her commitment to family history.

Inside History (ISSN 1838-5044) is published six times a year by Cassie Mercer (ABN 13 353 848 961) PO Box 406 Erskineville NSW 2043 Australia.

Views expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the publisher. Copyright 2012 by Cassie Mercer and Inside History. All rights reserved.

Distributed by Gordon and Gotch Australia Printed by Ligare Pty Ltd 138 Bonds Road Riverwood NSW 2210

editor’s letter

We’re looking at marriage records and wedding heirlooms this issue.

So I thought it would be a great chance to feature one of my favourite photos . The gorgeous bride and groom you see below are my maternal grandparents on their wedding day in 1940. We all have wedding moments we love , and this issue we meet three families who really made family history part of their big day. Our covergirl this issue started a wonderful tradition that still lives on — find out more on page 42.

FamilySearch is a site that contains billions of names — how do you find “The One” marriage record you’re looking for? On page 32, Marci Despain, from the FamilySearch library in Utah, USA, steps us through the best methods for finding what — and who — you’re looking for. Plus on page 39 we look at the not-so-private lives of our convicts , and what they got up to in the pursuit of “love”. And perhaps there’s more information to a marriage certificate than meets the eye?

We’ve got some expert tips for you on page 36.

Have you played Headline Roulette ? It’s simple to play — a bit like a cross between Hangman and The Price is Right — and lets you explore Trove in intriguing new ways. An article is chosen at random and you have to guess its year of publication. Built by digital historian Tim Sherratt , it’s fun and also strangely addictive! See what I mean at www. wraggelabs.com/shed/headlineroulette, but make sure you read Tim’s fascinating feature on page 55 first.

He talks about the terrific online tools being developed that really will have you looking at your research in different ways.

We feature a new technique for photodating — with amazing results. Read more on page 51. Jill Dupleix looks at the role meals play in our family history on page 46. Plus there’s so much more, including the chance to win an Ancestry.com.au membership worth $299 (page 68) and My maternal great tips for getting more from Trove grandparents, (page 29). Happy researching!

Edward Battle and Rita Hall, in 1940.

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| www.insidehistory.com.au

our family

This issue we ask our contributors…

What’s your best tip for people wanting to write their own family history?

Jill Dupleix Spoonfuls of love, page 46 Everyone remembers what they ate as a child, and recalling meals and favourite foods from the past will unlock the gates of memory in elderly relatives. Include family recipes in your family history, and preserve menus of today’s special occasions and family celebrations for the future.

Phillip Bradley

Heroes of Mount Tambu, page 66 Interview the older members of the family and record their stories while they are still around.

And I’d also recommend trying to work with primary sources rather than someone else’s opinion of those sources.

Hazel Edwards

Writing a non boring family history, page 62 An hour is about the optimum length for an effective interview. Have a list of at least 10 questions prepared, and try to stick to them. Remember, for each hour of recording, it will probably take you at least a day to transcribe and even longer to write up the interview selectively.

Congratulations to our issue 10 competition winner!

Natalie James from Wanneroo, WA, won a Flip-Pal scanner worth $219.

Inside History | Sep-Oct 2012 |

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letters

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AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

Jul

–Au

11

speak easy!  new wAys to discover old stories  how to see if your fAmily wAs on film or rAdio

celebrate

160 yeArs of fAshion photogrAphy

 expert tips on preserving your Audio records

copyright & genealogy

Jul–Aug 2012

 bAttle of milne bAy from A pilot who wAs there

find out who owns whAt

revealed! your top 10 history books

society spotlight

uluru

logAn river, queenslAnd

bAlAncing time & timelessness

Win ket

s to

9 771838 504008

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Aus $10.50 incl gst nZ $11.95 incl gst printed on fsc-Approved pAper Jul–Aug 2012

t ic y tor ! his nsW ek We

v ip

eResources a portal of gold

11/05/12 12:16 PM

Postie’s here!

SHARING MAGAZINES AND MEMORIES

May I say that I’ve enjoyed reading the latest issue of Inside History. I purchased it from a newsagent on my way to see my 96-year-old aunt at her retirement village.

We shared several articles by me reading aloud to her and they stimulated a lively discussion. She has dementia, but looking at the photos and listening to the articles she really “perked up” and it set off a train of reminiscences. When I took a couple of old photos off her dresser she actually managed to identify people in them and we shared some stories of times past.

— Alison McCallum, Grange, Qld

THE publication OF THE FUTURE

I’ve just downloaded the latest copy of Inside History. I have found it a wonderful magazine and the iPad version is great for me as I am struggling with storage room for all my magazines. I think it’s the way of the future and I congratulate you for embracing this format.

— Anne Smith, via email

A GENIE SUCCESS STORY

I’m extremely in your debt! Thanks to my “Bob’s your uncle” advertisement in the May-June 2012 issue of Inside History I’ve been able to make contact with close family in the UK. I’ve been researching Hugh Doran (c.1820s) for more than 20 years and recently I decided to try to trace the female side — the Lace family. Out of the blue I received an email from the UK from a man who had

Like us on facebook.com/insidehistorymagazine

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seen my request for information on Isabella Lace, and we excitedly confirmed that yes, we are connected!

It’s all thanks to your magazine. Congratulations and please keep up the good work you are doing.

— Marlene Doran, via email

an inspirational read

I’d like to say what a wonderful job your team is doing in helping family historians keep up to date with the many different areas that are available for us to research and discover our ancestors’ stories. As a beginner at family history and researching archives and various online records, I know how easy it is to get caught up with particular favourite research sites and not consider looking any further, but Inside History keeps me in contact with what’s new both online and off, and enthusiastically encourages me to at least try them out.

Your article in issue 11 on researching the National Film & Sound Archive helped me to see that there are so many areas I haven’t even considered looking at.

Now I can’t wait for each issue of your magazine.

— Susan Hourigan, Central Coast, NSW Want to have your say on our “Postie’s here” page?

Write to us at contribute@insidehistory.com.au We couldn’t pick a star letter this issue — we loved every single one! So we’re sending a book out to each of our four correspondents. Keep an eye on the letterbox for your prize!

Join us on twitter.com/insidehistory

your family

Bob’s your uncle Are you looking to connect with other descendants or historians?

Each issue we’ll feature who and what people are researching.

Image Courtesy Douglas Stewart Fine Books, www.douglasstewart.com.au

Belgian research into WWI diggers

I’m interested in locating any original documents relating to the stationing of Australian troops in the south of Belgium after the Armistice on 11 November 1918. Two Australian soldiers were billeted with my grandmother and it was this which prompted the beginning of my research about the Australian soldiers in my area. It’s a wonderful story. The soldiers were made most welcome at her home. They were thrilled to be able to sleep in a real bed! My grandmother said she received oranges from them for Christmas. If you can help me locate any documents, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

— Claire Dujardin, diable.detasmanie@skynet.be

seeking family of kelly and brenham

My great grandfather was Edward/Edmund Kelly. He married Elizabeth Brenham in 1868 at Gooloogong, NSW (it was registered at Forbes, NSW). I’m trying to locate his father. There are no parents' names on Edward’s death certificate, nor his marriage certificate. I’d like to hear from anyone who might have information on the above family.

— Myra Allan, myalla1@bigpond.com

history of women’s organisations

Do you have information or materials relating to Mrs Edith Ransom who resided in Launceston, Tasmania in the 1930s and 1940s? If so, I’d love to hear from you!

Mrs Ransom was the Northern Divisional President of

the Country Women’s Association in Tasmania, and President of the Women’s Show Judges Association and Returned Armed Services Nurses League of Tasmania. She is integral to the history of women’s organisations in Tasmania, which is the subject of my research at the University of New England.

— C Blunsdon, cblunsdo@une.edu.au

McKenzie/MacKenzie family, bathurst

I’m seeking information about the McKenzie/ MacKenzie family for a Chifley exhibition opening in Bathurst, NSW, in March 2013. George McKenzie (1857–1931), an engine driver, arrived in Bathurst in 1884 from Scotland with his wife Isabella (née Bryce/Brice, 1853–1945). Isabella was from Carstairs in Lanarkshire. Their daughter Elizabeth (1886–1962) married Ben Chifley, later to become Australia’s prime minister. George’s brother, Gordon, lived in Sydney with his wife Grace Fadden. They had seven children: William Bell, George Gordon, John Donald, Julia Anne, Henry (Harry) Norman, Arthur Royal Crownwell and Innes Forbes McKenzie. Many of the McKenzies and Bryces worked on the railways in NSW. — Sue Jones, mckenzieresearch@hotmail.com

Lots of researchers have been linking up through “Bob’s your uncle”. To place an ad, email contribute@insidehistory.com.au. Adverts are free!

Inside History | Sep-Oct 2012 |

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Now you can enjoy Inside History magazine whenever and wherever you want on iPad! Download the app for free, then buy each issue inside the app or subscribe and start building your family history library. Store all your issues in one place and refer back to them when you need to, and save bookshelf space at home!

Get the iPad version of Inside History today and benefit from… l

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Save 36% on the printed subscription cost.

Subscribe now on the Apple Newsstand

genie on the go

History apps Though hardly hallowed by the passing of time, these apps harness the latest technology to help you link with your past in informative and interesting ways.

Mark Webster and Sarah Trevor roadtest four of the latest to see how they fare.

dROPBOX Free; iOS, Android and Desktop compatible

iannotate PDF $10.49; iOS and Android compatible

mobilefamilytree Pro AU$7.49/NZ$9.99; iOS compatible

Cousincalc $0.99; iOS compatible

For carting your files around, it’s hard to beat Dropbox. It’s an off-site folder in which you can store data, accessible from your computer, smartphone and tablet.

It’s a great way to store images and documents you gather while travelling, and it can even keep them all in sync — update a document on an iPad and it’s automatically updated in the Dropbox folder on your desktop.

It’s also a good way of sharing documents, as you can grant others access to specific folders.

It’s free, too, for up to 5GB, and you can buy more space if you need it. Get the app for each device, put in the same details for each and there you have it — easy storage in ‘the cloud’ securely accessible from anywhere.

PDF (Portable Document Format) was invented by Adobe so documents that contain both text and images could be exchanged between platforms. However, PDFs are “locked” — you might be able to copy text, but you can’t change the content. However, you can mark it up — Apple’s free Preview application, for example, lets you draw arrows, circles, speech bubbles and more onto a PDF. But what about on iPad? iAnnotate PDF has a good reputation and is an app you can customise to your needs with a pen, highlighter, notes, underline, strikethrough, photo, voice recording and date stamp functions.

You can also customise it and import new stamps (such as your signature).

MobileFamilyTree Pro was recently rewritten from the ground up, and it’s now based on the same architecture as the excellent MacFamilyTree by Synium Software (www. syniumsoftware.com).

This means you can sync the data between the two platforms and use a fully featured genealogy software program while away from home. But MobileFamilyTree Pro also works without any desktop computer as a standalone solution.

It’s reasonably expensive, but this mobile version allows you to work with a much more portable format out in the field or even use just your iPad as your only family tree device.

“He married my great, great grandmother’s aunt’s son’s daughter…”

When it comes to describing how a distant relative fits into the complex branches of your family tree, the terminology itself is sometimes confusing.

CousinCalc makes it easy, allowing you to simply choose from the family roles listed (for example, mother, brother or niece) and flick through the relationships and generations, until the proper term appears.

For instance, in the above example, this mysterious relation is my second cousin three times removed. The app is simple in design and intuitive to use.

Inside History | Sep-Oct 2012 |

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Specialising in early Irish convict research

Irish Wattle’s books cover more than 900 Irish convict arrivals before 1797.

Order today at www.irishwattle.com

your family

age of love in the convicts

Far from the romanticism of today, colonial authorities emphasised pragmatism in convicts’ relationships.

Sarah Trevor looks at their private (and not-so-private) lives.

I

f every unmarried man in possession of a good fortune in the early 19th century was naturally in want of a wife, as a tongue-in-cheek Jane Austen assured us, the love lives of the lower classes in Britain and her early colonies appear to have been rather more complicated.

Though it’s generally impolite to pry into other people’s love lives, the marriages and relationships of our early convict Australian ancestors can provide surprising insights to the family historian — and, on this particular topic, we certainly wouldn’t be the first to snoop! The colonial authorities scrutinised what we today would call the convicts’ “private lives” as a means of social control. In turn, the convicts occasionally attempted to “work” the system, to fool the authorities in order to be with the partner of their choice.

The entrenched gender roles in late 18th and early 19th century culture played an important role in the penal policy of the early colony. Female convicts in particular were thought to be morally destitute, lacking the upper class standards of piousness and subservience. Marriage was thought to help correct their perceived vices.

On a broader level, marriage helped transform the nascent colony from a penal outpost to a fully-functioning society. Governor Phillip, who sought to make the colony agrarian, initially rewarded married male convicts with land grants.

Above Convictos En La Nueva Olanda [Convicts in New Holland], by Juan Ravenet, in 1789–94 is a watercolour painting depicting a female and male convict. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

Love from afar Doomed to a sentence on the other side of the world, it was rightly assumed that, for the most 

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your family

Clues

the camera left

behind

Historical family photos can often trigger more questions than answers. Bill Oates, from the University of New England talks us through an innovative new process of using shadows to date a photo.

H

Above An image of a War Loans rally in Armidale was the object of a photodating exercise by archivists at the University of New England.

aving recently looked through the collections of the city of Aosta in northern Italy, I was struck by the volume of superb archaeology, the documented history and the lithographs of the images of the city and its monuments. Later with reflection, I realised that their collection really lacked early photographs. With this in mind, I started looking at any photos on display depicting local history.

There were very few in either the tourist literature or displayed in exhibitions; most were sourced from other collections held outside the region. ď ľ

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travel

Paradise lost & found It has played host to Irish immigrants, whalers, astronomers — and its very own cave full of gold!

Shirley Way steps back in time to discover the magic of Lord Howe Island for a very special event.

N

estled in the Tasman Sea off Australia’s east coast, an island dominated by twin volcanic peaks and fringed by coral reefs was a home in paradise to Margaret Curry and Thomas Andrews.

The Irish couple met on the voyage to Australia in 1832 and married in Sydney. In 1842 they settled on Lord Howe Island, first working as servants, then farmers. Descendant Dani Rourke says: “Eventually they acquired land around [an area called] Pinetrees — they bought it for 2 tonnes of potatoes.”

Dani is a sixth-generation Lord Howe islander and an owner of Pinetrees Lodge, one of the oldest family-run businesses in Australia. “There are a few older than we are, but not that many.”

In her role as Lord Howe Island Tourism Association chair, Dani’s mother actively promoted Lord Howe Island as a tourist destination.

QantasLink named a Dash-8 aircraft Pixie Rourke in her honour for services to tourism. Dani shares her mother’s passion for her island ancestry.

The Andrews’ only daughter, Mary, married a whaling captain named Nichols and had 10 children.

“She was a tough old lady: she ran the farm; she built the house. She eventually started taking in visitors and established the guesthouse.” And Mary was known to shoot a shotgun over the heads of her farm workers if they slacked off. “So I’m not quite sure what sort of hospitality she provided,” Dani laughed.

In addition, she became involved in the export of kentia palms, the island’s fledgling industry, to Europe.

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Mary gave her children land as they married and left home, but Edith, her favourite daughter, received Pinetrees which she continued to run as a guesthouse. Gerald Kirby, Edith’s son and Dani’s grandfather, lost his mainland job during the Depression of the 1930s and returned to the island.

In an odd twist of fate, Lord Howe Islanders were considered squatters until the Lord Howe Island Act 1953 granted residents special or perpetual leases, but not freehold title.

At the time, a constitutional lawyer advised Gerald and fellow islanders that under English common law “any person who resides on a piece of land for 60 years or longer automatically becomes its owner, entitled to freehold title or its equivalent.” But the islanders lacked the funds to challenge the NSW government in the High Court.

“Gerald died reasonably young, leaving my grandmother four children to raise and a guesthouse to run,” Dani said. One family heirloom is Gerald Kirby’s nine-metre boat, Albatross, built on the island in 1936. A photo of his wife, Beth, swinging a bottle of champagne across the bows at launch is full of fun and vitality. The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) lists the Albatross on its Australian Register of Historic Vessels.

Wrecks and replicas cannot be added to the Register. A fact worth noting, as I’d come to Lord Howe Island in company with ANMM staff on a special mission: to witness the transit of Venus.

In the footsteps of giants Let me lead you on an uphill journey through pandanus and palm forest to the island’s centre and an astronomical revelation, where a 1982 time capsule buried on Transit Hill bears witness to our explorations of heaven and earth.

In 1882 Henry Chamberlain Russell, then director of the Sydney Observatory, arranged regional observations of the transit of Venus, including one on Lord Howe Island. On 24 November 1882, local teacher Thomas B. Wilson recorded in his diary that after the government party’s arrival by steamer, “Thompson, self and bullocks dragged 2 loads to the top of Mt Lookout.” The spot was later renamed Transit Hill to honour the event on December 8. Alas, Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating: “Transit of Venus party only successful in getting 2 observations – too cloudy,” wrote Wilson.

Fast-forward 130 years and it was a case of déjà vu: our 2012 transit of Venus observation was in doubt.

The crew of the Australian-built replica of HMB Endeavour had sailed to the island in a joint tribute to transit observations by Captain Cook (Tahiti, 1769) and Sydney Observatory (Lord Howe Island, 1882). Two days before the transit, in June this year, gale force winds kept the Sydney Observatory’s historian and astronomer aboard Endeavour, and the ANMM’s land crew in Sydney, until June 5.

Early transit morning — June 6 — telescopes and satellite equipment for live-streaming the event to Sydney were transported to the old meteorological station, a more accessible site than Transit Hill.

However, we were unable to see Venus kiss the sun at 8:45am as clouds obscured our view and wind gusts of up to 115km/hr from the east ripped our marquee. High seas prevented the Endeavour voyage crew from joining us ashore. (“The wind gusts took us by surprise”, island weatherman Les Duttage says later, adding that swells were still up to five metres the following day.)

Excited islanders and tourists joined astronomer Carlos Bacigalupo when the clouds parted to show the silhouette of Venus on the sun. Transit observations are significant because they reveal Venus’ atmosphere and assist the search for planets outside our solar system, says Carlos.

Historian Dr Alex Cook explained 1769 transit observations were used to refine navigation

Right The Pinetrees Lodge family graveyard. The Lodge is one of the oldest family-run businesses in Australia.

Opposite HMB Endeavour departs Lord Howe Island after recording the transit of Venus in June 2012.

techniques, specifically the calculation of longitude, and to calculate the sun’s distance from Earth.

Cook’s assignment to Tahiti to observe the transit included a hidden agenda — literally — that played a huge part in the story of Australia. Before setting sail from England, he received sealed orders from the Royal Navy — to be opened only after the transit had been observed. Cook was commanded to find the Great South Land, a “Land of great extent” that was thought to exist in southern latitudes. The rest is, ahem, history!

As South Pacific exploration continued, says Alex, “the Pacific became a living laboratory in European imagination”. Joseph Banks’ specimens from the Endeavour voyage formed the basis of London’s Kew Gardens, one of the best botanical collections in the world. From Darwin’s voyage in the 1830s, we learned: “Islands have contained ecologies that tell us an awful lot about interactions between animals and the environment.”

Ian Hutton, Lord Howe Island Museum curator and ecologist, agrees. Ian has researched and written books on the island’s unique ecology since his arrival in 1980. Up to 86 per cent of plant species in Mt Gower’s cloud-forest are found nowhere else, along with four land birds, at least 120 vascular plants, more than half of the 1,600 known invertebrates, and several fish. About 40 per cent of the fish species unique to the Tasman Sea live in the island’s waters. 

“The island’s growing popularity as a food source earned it the nickname ‘whalers’ kitchen.”

your history

Your

favourite

Have you picked your favourite from our top 10 history books listed below? Help us choose our number one. Tell us which inspired you the most, or which you’d most like to get your hands on! Vote online at www.surveymonkey. com/s/YourFavouriteHistoryBook. Hurry, voting closes 30 September. The winning book will be announced in issue 13!

Seeing the first Australians

By Ian Donaldson and Tamsin Donaldson (eds) (Allen & Unwin, 1985) The Second Fleet: Britain’s grim convict armada of 1790

By Michael Flynn (Library of Australian History, 1993) Private Journal of a Voyage to Australia

By James Bell (Allen & Unwin, 2011) The convict ships,1787–1868

By Charles Bateson (Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1959)

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Dancing with Strangers: Sydney 1788–1800

By Inga Clendinnen (Text Publishing, 2003) Port Arthur: A PLace of misery

By Maggie Weidenhofer (Oxford University Press, 1981) In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie

By Robin Walsh (Exisle Publishing, 2011) Pioneers of Martins Bay: Life in new zealand’s most remote settlement

By Alice McKenzie (Southland Historical Committee, 1947) digging for Diggers: A guide to researching an Australian soldier of the Great War, 1914–1918

By Graeme Hosken (ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee, 2002) A Million Wild Acres: 200 years of man and an Australian forest

By Eric Rolls (Nelson, 1981)

Image Overseer Jim Riley reading a newspaper on Isis Downs Station, 1915. Courtesy State Library of Queensland

history books

the book shelf

What we’re reading

Second World War Lives: A Guide for Family Historians by James Goulty (Pen & Sword, A$34.99)

Bold Palates: Australia’s Gastronomic Heritage

by Barbara Santich (Wakefield Press, A$49.95)

My Father’s Islands by Christobel Mattingley (National Library of Australia, A$16.95)

When we think of WWII, we tend to think big: the climactic battles, the famous generals, the unspeakable Axis war crimes. This book refocusses our attention on the diverse individuals who, like cogs in the British war machine, helped win the war.

Each chapter is a snapshot into the wartime experiences of a particular individual involved in the war effort. Several non-combatant personnel are profiled, including a medical officer, signalman and, my personal favourite, a “Co-Ed Gun Girl”. Goulty’s background in military history draws the stories together, providing broader insight into the war’s campaigns.

Though centred upon British servicemen and women, family historians from any Allied nation will appreciate the detailed research guides concluding each chapter, which outline many lesser-known resources and archives.— sarah trevor

“From the earliest days, Australian cooks improvised and substituted, invented and innovated. Sometimes from necessity, sometimes by serendipity and occasionally by using unorthodox methods…”

Written by Professor Barbara Santich, an award-winning culinary historian, Bold Palates draws on an extensive range of sources including magazines (Trove gets a special mention), cookbooks, photographs and advertisements and is dedicated to “all the librarians and all the libraries throughout Australia”.

Along the road towards the ‘Australianisation’ of our cuisine, we encounter the influence of other cultures, home cooking, bush tucker, lamingtons, dehydrated mutton, Milo, and pumpkin scones to name a few.

This is a beautifully presented and well-researched exploration of our gastronomic heritage and a fascinating quest to find our “national” cuisine. — Paula Grunseit

Many of us probably haven’t heard much about the remarkable Abel Janszoon Tasman (c.1603–1659) since primary school, when we were listening to boring history lessons about “the great explorers”. Sailing across the world’s oceans in unreliable ships, Tasman not only discovered Tasmania, New Zealand, and many Pacific islands but also mapped a large section of the north and west coasts of Australia. I’d much rather have learned about his life through this charming little gem published by the National Library of Australia.

Inspired by a 1637 family portrait depicting Tasman, his second wife Janettje and his daughter Claesgen and based on his stunning journals, this children’s book has appeal for all ages. Mattingley’s richly illustrated imagining of Tasman’s voyages brings to life wonderful stories about remote islands, indigenous peoples, perilous seas and pirates. — Paula Grunseit

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5. S hare your tree with family members and ask them to help fill in the blanks.

For more information on how to get started with your family tree, simply download our FREE Getting Started Guide. Its packed with fantastic tips and hints including how to successfully search the historical records.

Download your FREE Getting Started Guide Visit ancestry.com.au/insidehistory

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