Category Archives: Trove

1919 influenza epidemic through my grandmother’s eyes

24 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in 52 ancestors, illness and disease, Kathleen, Through her eyes, Trove

≈ 6 Comments

The COVID-19 outbreak of recent months has been more than adequately destructive and frightening, but the influenza epidemic that followed World War 1 was far worse. In South Australia its progress was recorded in an odd way by my grandmother Kathleen Cudmore (1908-2013), the daughter of an Adelaide doctor.

In 1919, just eleven years old, she composed a hand-written newsletter called ‘Stuffed Notes’ [sic. I think because her toys were stuffed animals], about an imaginary hospital which had many cases of Spanish flu. On 14 March 2018 I blogged a transcription of her newsletter. Oddly enough, or perhaps not, the ebb and flow of cases of influenza she recorded in her newsletter follow much the same pattern as South Australian cases as a whole.

Kathleen and Rosemary

Kathleen and her older sister Rosemary about 1919

 

Looking just at the mentions of Influenza (my transcription retains the original spelling and grammar)

February: There has been one case of influenza which was fatal. But we are glad to say no more cases have been proved influenza.

March: No more cases of Enfluenza have accured.

April: There has been one more case of Influenza. But he is recovering.

May: The are 8 cases of Influenza 2 deaths and 3 dangious cases all the rest are getting better.

June: Five cases of Influenza have accured 1 death and 2 dangirus the other two a getting better the outbreak of Influenza is very bad at present.

July: There are 10 cases of Influenza 3 deaths and 5 dangrous cases. Nurse Wagga is ill with Influenza so Nurse Sambo is taking her place. … Nurse Wagga is is not so very dangious but she is fairly bad.

August: Influenza
Cases = 12
Deaths = 4
Dangious = 3
Mild = 5

Nurse Wagga is quite well now and has gone away for a Holiday a Henly Beach.

We are not removing the Influenza cases to the Isolation Hospital at the Exhibition. As we heard the conditions are not very good.

September: There a five cases of Influenza but they are all recovering.

October: There were no deaths lately and most of the dangerous cases are getting better.

November: No more cases of Influenza have accrued.

Here is a graph of the number of influenza cases in Kathleen’s hospital:

Stuffed Notes Influenza graph

Here is a graph of South Australian influenza cases:

Influenza South Australian notifications 1919

Graph of South Australia influenza notifications, January–December 1919 from Kako, M., Steenkamp, M., Rokkas, P.J., Anikeeva, O. and Arbon, P.A. (2015). Spanish influenza of 1918-19: The extent and spread in South Australia. Australasian Epidemiologist, 22(1) pp. 48-54 Retrieved from the Flinders Academic Commons: http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/

I once thought that Kathleen’s “Stuffed Notes” had their origin in dinner-time conversation among the adults of her household, but recently I noticed that in early 1919 her father Dr Cudmore had not yet returned from the War, so the dinner conversation was not based on hospital information at the beginning of the year. Perhaps Kathleen followed Adelaide newspaper reports of the local outbreak.

Influenza South Australian newspaper articles 1919

1919 South Australian newspaper articles mentioning influenza by month (retrieved from Trove.nla.gov.au)

Australia Day memories

26 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in Australia, Canberra, encounters with indigenous Australians, Trove

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Greg has contributed a guest post about Australia Day:

With the sky over Sydney now clear of bushfire smoke, much of the heat has gone out of the public clatter about the warm weather we’ve been having – sorry, I mean about climate change – and the chatterati have turned their attention to the other staple of the Christmas holiday news vacuum, faux concern about the meaning, the true, deep, meaningful meaning of Australia Day.

Old New Australians—those whose ancestors got here before yours, so there!—line up to parade their grievances against newer New Australians, the class most of us inhabit. Still heavy with the season’s gluttony, grunting bogans rig up Chinese-made Aussie flags on their clapped-out Commodores, while in more leafy suburbs the Wokes of faux outrage, retrospective history-fixers, play Sensitive Snowflake over their pinot grigio.

It wasn’t always so. When I was a boy no one cared much about Australia Day. In January the Land of the Long Weekend was still half asleep after its holiday break, and apart from a few fussy citizens and sweaty politicians no one could be bothered to notice the reason for another day off work. Most people assumed it was something to do with Captain Cook’s landing in Sydney harbour.* Gallipoli may have come into it, or was that later in the year?

I asked Anne what she could remember about her Australia Days. She did her research:

 

Australia Day beach ball

Australia Day beach ball made in China

Beginning of Anne’s post

I thought I’d check my memories of Australia Day against Trove’s digitized newspapers.

The Canberra Times from 1926 to 1995 has been digitized and put online, so I looked at its Australia Day reports at five-year intervals from 1965 to 1985. Actually, to be honest, although I grew up in Canberra, I didn’t in fact attend any of the festivities the Times reported. Every summer we had our holidays at the beach, a hundred miles away. My Australia Day was my family’s Australia Day, hardly noticed, and rarely commented on.

[Below, where there is no image of a newspaper page or article I have hyperlinked in the text to the digitised image of the article at Trove.nla.gov.au]

In 1965 26 January fell on a Tuesday. The lead story concerned the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill. None of the stories on the front page were about Australia Day or Australia Day honours. (In fact the Australia Day Honours system was introduced only in 1975.)

Canberra Times 1965 01 26 pg 1

Front page of The Canberra Times 26 January 1965

The editorial on page 2 discussed the possibility of Australia giving 500,000 tons of wheat to India as a gift.

The front page of 27 January 1965 also had no mention of Australia Day. On Saturday 30 January an article under the heading ‘Rain may mar holiday‘ noted there was a chance of scattered thunderstorms over coming the long holiday weekend. The front page of Monday 1 February, the public holiday marking Australia Day that year, also had no article mentioning Australia Day or honours. The editorial that day discussed universities.

In 1970 Australia Day fell on a Monday. The front page of the day did not mention Australia Day. Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Israel and Egypt were in the news. The editorial concerned police arrests of homosexual men in public toilets. The Canberra Times on 27 January reported that about 10,000 people had visited the city’s swimming pools on the previous day. In 1971 Canberra’s population was 144,000.

The Canberra Times 26 January 1970 front page
The Canberra Times 27 January 1970 front page

The first Aboriginal ‘tent embassy’  was set up on the lawns of Parliament House on Australia Day in 1972.

In 1975 Australia Day fell on a Sunday and the Canberra Times was not published on Sundays. On Monday 27 January one of the front page stories reported on festivities at Manuka Oval viewed by 3,500 to 4,000 people. There was a brief glance at Australia before White settlement but the more prominenent reenactments concerned other things: the Boer War, Dame Nellie Melba, and the bodyline cricket crisis of 1932-33. I can’t remember where I was for Australia Day 1975 but I am quite sure I wasn’t at Manuka Oval. The editorial of the day discussed the consumer price index.

Canberra Times 1975 01 27 pg 1

The Canberra Times 27 January 1975 page 1

 

In Canberra the first Australia Day to be celebrated with fireworks was in 1977 on the holiday Monday of 31 January.

In 1980 Australia Day was on a Saturday. One of the front page stories concerned awards for Australia Day Honours. The weather was going to be fine for the holiday weekend. The editorial concerned dissidents in the Soviet Union. On Sunday 27 January 1980 the lead story was a protest by motorcyclists about motorcycle laws. Australia Day sport was promised inside the paper. The editorial was on dog ownership. The front page of Monday 28 January did not mention Australia Day. The editorial discussed the boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games. On 29 January the newspaper reported that Australia Day was celebrated by thousands. The entertainment included the dunking in Lake Burley Griffin of John Haslem, the local member of Parliament.

Canberra Times 1980 01 29 pg 1

The Canberra Times 29 January 1980 page 1 featuring John Haslem being dunked in the lake

 

On Saturday 26 January 1985 the front page was dominated by a siege in a gunshop in the Canberra city centre, with only a small mention of Australia Day Honours on the front page. The editorial discussed the celebration of Australia Day. It mentioned Aboriginal ‘injustices’. The Canberra Times of Sunday 27 January reported on festivities at Weston Park and Black Mountain Peninsula. A ‘Miss Ocker’ competition was won by an eight year old girl. The festivities included Aboriginal dancers and entertainers. These 1985 festivities seem somewhat similar to the festivities still put on, thirty five years later. The editorial on 27 January discussed the Prime Minister’s cricket match.

Canberra Times 1985 01 27 pg 1

The Canberra Times 27 January 1985 page 1

End of Anne’s post

Greg concludes:

Does any of this sound like public breast-beating over the guilt we are supposed to suffer for our collective good fortune?

* Smarty pants will recognise the small inaccuracies here.

Fires at Batemans Bay

02 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by in Lilli Pilli, Trove

≈ 5 Comments

For most of my life our family has been coming to Batemans Bay for our summer holiday. Our house is close to the beach, in the bush surrounded by large gum trees. It’s a lovely setting but a bad bushfire risk.

Circuit Beach NSW

This summer the fire danger period seems to have arrived earlier. As I write, fires are burning out of control just north of Batemans Bay and the Princes Highway, the main road from here to Sydney, is closed. Last weekend a fire came within a kilometre of Braidwood, a small town on the way to Canberra, and the highway to Canberra was closed.

BBay fire 2019

Bushfire map 2 December 2019 The map has no scale however the drive from Batemans Bay to Canberra is about 150 km or just under 100 miles.

 

In March 1965 Batemans Bay was threatened by bushfires. I was too young to remember. In those days we used to rent a house for the holidays;  this was before my parents had built a beach house of our own.

BBay fire 1965

Batemans Bay facing crisis (1965, March 9). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131759934

 

In 1971 there were bushfires again, but we were overseas. Our house came close to being burnt down. The Briggs and Bailey holiday cottages are very near my parents’ house.

BBay fire 1971

Bushfire service in Letters to the Editor (1971, October 7). The Canberra Times, p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110680827

BBay fire cycads

Fires sweep areas of Queensland and NSW (1971, October 5). The Canberra Times, p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110680476 (These days it is suggested you dress in more than a t-shirt when near bushfires.)

 

In 1980 there were worries about the fire season

BBay fire 1980 pic

BBay fire 1980

HOLIDAYS with The Canberra Times (1980, December 15). The Canberra Times, p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126164236

 

The summer of 1993 /94 was a bad summer for fires, and our house was threatened once again. The flames came very close. My mother, cooking dinner in the kitchen, looked out the window: there was the fire, coming down the hill. My father was busy putting out embers. The wind changed just in time.

old St Barbary

My parents’ beach house when it was newly built in the 1960s

BBay fire 1994

Worst of fires yet to come (1994, January 7). The Canberra Times, p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126921130

 

As you can guess, I follow the fire news closely. From today’s news we are reading about fires just north of us:

Brandy for the clerk

25 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in Castlemaine, Champion de Crespigny, court case, crime, GSV, Trove

≈ 1 Comment

From time to time I look over various online resources for my family tree to see if anything interesting has been added. Recently I went back to the Genealogical Index of Names, an eclectic database of personal names from material in the Genealogical Society of Victoria library and elsewhere.

Among the 103 items for the name Crespigny I noticed:

CRESPIGNY, P C (CASTLEMAINE). Castlemaine, Victoria Court records 09 JUN 1853 PETER ROBINSON CASE; Offence: STOLEN BOTTLE BRANDY; Status: victim

The more detailed record has:

CRESPIGNY, P C (CASTLEMAINE)
Event Court records
Date 09 JUN 1853
Place: Castlemaine, Victoria
Source: Victorian ‘Argus’ court reports 1851-1856 [Includes victims, witnesses,
jurors and accused]
Author/compiler: Button, Marion.
Comment: PETER ROBINSON CASE; Offence: STOLEN BOTTLE BRANDY; Status: victim

P.C. (Philip Champion) Crespigny was my great grandfather. I hadn’t noticed this incident before.

There was a report of the theft in the digitised newspapers that can be retrieved through Trove, but the text-recognition software had done a poor job of transcribing the faint image of the newspaper. The extracted text was quite garbled; no wonder I hadn’t seen it when I’d searched on Trove before for ‘Crespigny’.

The incident gives me a little bit more information about Philip Crespigny’s life on the goldfields. To be living in a tent probably means that his wife and children were not with him at that time and had stayed behind in Melbourne.

Crespigny Castlemaine larceny 1853

Crespigny Castlemaine larceny 1853 b

NORTHERN COURT OF GENERAL QUARTER SESSIONS. (1853, June 9). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4793362

 

Peter Robinson, accused of stealing the brandy, was tent-keeper to Mr Crespigny, resident Gold Commissioner. He was found not guilty.

Philip Champion Crespigny was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Fields on 18 November 1852 (Gazetted 14 October 1853). When gold was discovered in great quantity in the colony, the governments of New South Wales and then Victoria followed British law at and asserted the right of the Crown to all gold that was found, requiring anyone who sought to mine it must hold a licence. Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners were appointed to administer each new field, to adjudicate disputes and, most important, to collect payments for the licences.

Crespigny license February 1853 Loddon

License no. 144. Issued to George Bencraft, 05 February 1853. Issued by Commissioner P. C. Crespigny. State Library of Victoria Collection (H41033/19)

nla.obj-135588436-1

Mt. Alexander gold diggings, 1853 watercolour by William Bentley in the collection of the National Library of Australia retrieved from from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135588436 [Mt Alexander diggings were at Castlemaine]

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U is for Una

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in A to Z 2018, genealogical records, New South Wales, Queensland, Trove, Way

≈ 11 Comments

Una Elizabeth Dwyer née Sneyd (1900-1982), first cousin twice removed of my husband Greg, was the daughter of Samuel Charles Sneyd (1863-1938) and Emily Sneyd née Way (1868-1952).

Usually in my family work I am able to find a considerable quantity and variety of information about the person I’m looking researching. I gain, I hope, some small insight into their circumstances and perhaps one or two events of their lives.

Una Sneyd and her family, however, managed to keep a very low profile. They didn’t write to the paper with bright ideas about burials in wicker baskets, weren’t imprisoned for bankruptcy, and weren’t exiled for their religious views. Thoreau said that the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation; the Sneyds apparently just led quiet lives, and left few traces of themselves for a family historian to work with.

Una’s mother Emily was the seventh of ten children of John Way and Sarah Way née Daw. She was born in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1868 but her family moved to Parkes, New South Wales, when she was about five years old.

In 1892 Emily married Samuel Charles Sneyd, a police constable, in Hughenden, Queensland. I don’t know why Emily, then aged 24, was in Queensland; Hughenden is two thousand kilometres north of Parkes. As far as I know, no other members of her family were in Hughenden. At the time of her marriage Emily was living at Hughenden.

Sneyd Way marriage 1892

1892 marriage certificate of Charles Samuel Sneyd and Emily Way

Emily and Samuel Charles had six children:

  • Lionel Walter Sneyd 1894–1976
  • Cecil Sneyd 1896–1954
  • infant daughter Sneyd 1898–1898
  • Una Elizabeth Sneyd 1900–1982
  • Ruth Dawes Sneyd 1904–1996
  • Jasper Samuel Sneyd 1906–1991

Lionel was born in Hughendon but the others were born in the Emmaville district of north-east of New South Wales. Samuel Charles Sneyd worked as a miner.

When Emily’s father John Way died in 1911, four daughters were mentioned in his obituary, so it would seem Emily was still in touch with her family. When her sister Mary Ann Waine died in 1938, Mary Ann’s obituary mentioned only one sister, Eliza: the family seemed to have lost touch with Emily.

The Sneyd family moved to Sydney sometime after 1913. In August 1915 Lionel Sneyd enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He gave his father as his next of kin. At the time, he was living in Marrickville, an inner-west suburb of Sydney

Lionel served overseas in France, was wounded in action in July 1916, and was repatriated with a fractured left ankle.

Only limited number of electoral rolls for New South Wales have been digitised. In these I have been able to find  Una Elizabeth Sneyd listed in 1930 as living at  39 Tupper Street, Marrickville. Her occupation was shop assistant. She was living with her parents and younger brother Jasper, who was also a shop assistant. Samuel was a carpenter. Emily’s occupation was listed as home duties.

In 1932 Una Sneyd married Patrick George Dwyer, an engine driver. In 1935 the Dwyers were living at 11 Audley Street, Petersham. Una’s occupation was given as home duties. Petersham is immediately north of Marrickville.

By 1936 the Dwyers had moved to 6 Brightmore Street, Cremorne. The suburb of Cremorne is on the lower North Shore in Sydney, 13 kilometres north-east of Marrickville, across the harbour. The Dwyers were still at the same address at the time of the 1980 electoral roll.

Samuel Charles Sneyd died in 1938 and Emily Sneyd died in 1952.

Sneyd Samuel death

Sneyd Emily death notice
I have not ordered her death certificate, but I notice from the index that Emily’s mother was named Ruth; her family appear to have known very little about Emily’s parents.

Patrick and Una seem to have had only one child, called John. He is listed on the 1958 electoral roll as living with them and is named in their death notices. As the voting age was 21, he was born between 1936 and 1937. I have not found a newspaper birth notice.

Patrick George (Paddy) Dwyer died 29 December 1981 in hospital. His death notice stated that he was from Cremorne, loved husband of Una. The notice names his son and two grandsons. Una died on 13 February 1982, also in hospital. Her death notice also named her late husband, son and two grandsons. In May 1982 there was a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald associated with the estate of Patrick George Dwyer, retired council employee.

In researching Una I have been able to verify dates, places and relationships with the aid of birth, death and marriage indexes, electoral rolls and notices in the newspapers. The Sneyd and Dwyer families, however, did not attract much notice in the newspapers and it has been hard to find any events that enable me to get to know Una Dwyer née Sneyd.

J is for John

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by in A to Z 2018, cemetery, obituary, Parkes, Trove, Way

≈ 9 Comments

One of my husband’s great great grandfathers was John Way (1835-1911).

When he died on 11 June 1911, in Parkes, New South Wales, John Way was buried in  Parkes cemetery with his wife and son. His gravestone noted the death of his grandson Leslie Leister, killed World War 1.

The local paper, recording John Way’s death, provided a  brief obituary.

John Way obituary

MR. JOHN WAY. (1911, June 16). Western Champion (Parkes, NSW : 1898 – 1934), p. 16. Retrieved December 4, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article111914465

5281c-20090328parkes016

Sadly, the headstone of John Way’s grave was broken in two by vandals in 2010 (after this photo was taken).

Because the marble is too soft and hollow to drill and pin, it could not be completely restored.

As a community service, J.T. Cock & Sons, a Parkes monumental masonry firm, repaired the headstone as best they could, picking it up off the ground and laying it flat. Unfortunately, some of the lead lettering, fractured in the damage, has come away, making the inscription harder to read.

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F is for Francis

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in A to Z 2018, Ballarat, Brighton, Edwards, Gilbart, immigration, insolvency, probate, railways, Trove

≈ 10 Comments

One of my husband’s great great grandfathers was Francis Gilbart Edwards (1848-1913).

He was born at St Erth, Cornwall, on 21 January 1848, youngest of the nine children of Thomas Edwards (1794-1871) and Mary née Gilbart (1805-1867).

Francis Gilbart Edwards was christened at the parish church of St Erth on 11 June 1848. On the christening documents his father’s occupation is given as carpenter.

Shortly after Francis’s birth the family emigrated to Victoria, arriving at Port Philip on the Lysander on 13 January 1849.

On 27 December 1870 Francis Gilbart Edwards married Caroline Ralph (1850-1896) in Ballarat. At the time of his marriage Francis’s occupation was declared to be farmer.

Francis and Caroline had ten children:

  • Edith Caroline (1871-1946), Greg’s great grandmother, born Ballarat, Victoria
  • Lucy Gilbart (1873-1908) born Ballarat
  • Helena Mary Francis (1876-1950) born Ballarat
  • Annie Tuckfield (1879-1906) born Port Adelaide, South Australia
  • Elizabeth Christina (1881- ) born Gladstone, South Australia
  • Ethel Augusta (1885-1963) born Kensington, South Australia
  • Benjamin Gilbart (1887-1888) born Ballarat, died Richmond, Victoria
  • Stanley Gilbert (1889-1917) born Richmond
  • Ernest Francis Gilbart (1891-1901) born East Brunswick, died Brighton
  • Arnold Leslie Morton (1893-1904) born Brighton, died Elsternwick

The oldest three children of Francis and Caroline were born in Ballarat. Sometime between 1876 and 1879 the family moved to South Australia, and three more children were born there. A seventh child was born in Ballarat in 1887. Not long afterwards the family moved to Melbourne. In March 1888 their then youngest son died in Richmond. Three more sons were born in Melbourne. From the place of birth information on their birth certificates, it appears that the family moved from Richmond to East Brunswick, Victoria. In 1893 the youngest child, Arnold, was born in Brighton and died a year later in Elsternwick. (Richmond, East Brunswick, Brighton, and Elsternwick  are suburbs of Melbourne.)

On 1 December 1887 Francis joined the railways as a carriage cleaner.

In 1894, due to ‘a reduction in his wages and sickness in the family’, Francis became insolvent.

 

NEW INSOLVENTS. (1894, February 3). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8727630

 
On 22 July 1896, after six week’s illness, Caroline Edwards died of cancer of the uterus. At the time the Edwards were living in Grant Street, Brighton.

 

Ethel Augusta Edwards & James McCorkell 1911

Francis Gilbert Edwards, seated on the left, was photographed at the 1911 wedding of his daughter Ethel Augusta Edwards to James McCorkell

 

On 29 March 1913 Francis, who had been ill for twelve months, died of  diabetes, at Primrose Crescent, Brighton. His occupation was given as railway employee.

Francis Edwards died intestate. His estate, valued at £1076:13:1, included two houses, one at Primrose Crescent Brighton and the other at Male Street Brighton. Each was valued at 500 pounds. Also in his estate was money in the bank, a gold watch, jewellery, and a cow.

Gilbart, the maiden surname of Francis’s mother, has often been used in the family as a given name. Francis Edwards used it consistently as his second personal name. There have been variant spellings. My mother-in-law Marjorie insisted that Gilbart should be spelled with an ‘a’ rather than an ‘e’. Her mother, granddaughter of Francis, was christened Stella Esther Gilbart Dawson. Sometimes, however, the name is spelled ‘Gilbert’, perhaps because of a recording error and at other times perhaps quite deliberately. Stanley Gilbert Edwards (1889-1917), a son of Francis Gilbart Edwards, spelled it with an ‘e’ when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in World War 1 and when he married.

References

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250 posts later

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by in Cavenagh, family history, Northern Territory, politics, South Australia, Trove

≈ 5 Comments

In writing on the Web about my family – I have just submitted my 250th blog post – I try to go beyond just listing names and dates and adding relatives to my tree.

How have I gone about my research and what have I noticed along the way?

My method is to be thorough. When I prepare a blog, I revisit any earlier work I might have done and check my notes and the original records. There’s always more to know on any subject, and often there’s something new to say, though I do feel that despite more research I can’t help thinking that I don’t know and understand my more remote ancestors any better than I did. I certainly don’t feel more Scottish or Irish, for example, despite confirming Celtic DNA in my blood.

More than any other topic, I have written about my forebears and relatives who have my maiden name Champion de Crespigny. Because this surname is uncommon it’s easier to research. People with the name Champion de Crespigny are certainly related to me and to one another.

I have enjoyed being inspired by ‘Sepia Saturday’ prompts and by ‘Trove Tuesday’. It’s great fun to explore the immense digitised repository ofthe National Library of Australia, especially its digitised newspapers.

For the last four years I have joined in the ‘A to Z Blogging Challenge’ in April. Trying to find ideas for every letter of the alphabet is not easy but it has lead to some fascinating research. For example, in the first Challenge, I was wondering what to write for the letter Z. My son suggested the Zulu wars. I knew my paternal grandmother’s Mainwaring relatives were in the army and sure enough I found a second cousin of mygreat great great grandfather who fought against the Zulus. I had heard of the Zulus, of course, but the blogging challenge led me to learn much more. It was fun and satisfying.

I used to enjoy historical novels, but now I can find real life history in my own family researches. Who needs fiction!?

And it’s everywhere. For example, next week our family is travelling to the Northern Territory for a short holiday. One of the main streets of Darwin is named after my great great grandfather Wentworth Cavenagh. I visited Darwin many years ago and knew of Cavenagh Street though I only learned about the family connection afterwards.

I’ve looked in Trove to learn more. On 13 January 1869 the SouthAustralian Advertiser, and other newspapers,  published instructions from W. Cavenagh, commissioner of Crown Lands, to Mr Goyder, the Surveyor-General, giving guidance to Goyder in his expedition to survey the Northern Territory. These instructions had been tabled in Parliament. The document was more of a mandate to proceed than detailed instructions. The SouthAustralian Register of 13 January 1869 notes that the instructions were in keeping with the Strangway’s Government’s laconic style. It was interested to see what Cavenagh’s role was and how it was interpreted by newspapers of the day.

In the unlikely event that someone asked for my advice about writing family history I’d say just go ahead and do it. It’s great fun.

Wentworth Cavenagh who, after being Commissioner of Crown Lands, served as Commissioner of Public Works of South Australia from 1872 to 1873. Image retrieved from the State Library of South Australia id  B 5622/17
Cavenagh Street Darwin photographed in 1915 by Ted Ryko: Chinese shops at the north west end of Cavenagh Street, Man Fong Lau in foreground. Photograph retrieved from Territory Stories ID PH0135/0045

Carngham

13 Saturday May 2017

Posted by in Carngham, Cross, gold rush, Snake Valley, Trove

≈ 1 Comment

James  Cross (1828 – 1882) and his wife Ellen Cross née Murray (1837 – 1901), the great great grandparents of my husband Greg, moved to Carngham between the births of their first and second children. Frederick James Cross, their oldest son, was born on 1 April 1857 at Green Hills near Buninyong. Their daughter Ellen was born on 27 May 1859 at Carngham. James and Ellen had nine more children all born at Carngham. James Cross died at Carngham in 1882. Ellen Cross died in Ballarat in 1901.

 

From Lost and almost forgotten towns of Colonial Victoria : a comprehensive analysis of Census results for Victoria, 1841-1901 by Angus B.Watson.

Carngham, 27 km west of Ballarat, about 30 km from Buninyong, and 4 km north of Snake Valley, was a mining township, surveyed and proclaimed in 1855. State School number 146 operated at Carngham from 1856 until 1911.

Snake Valley was not proclaimed a township. It was a mining centre, surveyed as a hamlet. State School number 574, which began in 1854, is now part of the Woady Yaloak school.

According to the census of 29 March 1857 there were 459 people in Carngham, 292 males and 167 females. This figure probably includes the population of Snake Valley. In 1854 there had been 58 people, 15 males and 13 females.   There are no 1854 figures for Snake Valley. In 1861 there were 22 dwellings counted in Carngham with 92 people of whom 54 were male and 38 female. Snake Valley had 204 dwellings housing 714 people: 454 males and 260 females. In 1871 Carngham and Snake Valley were counted together, with 384 dwellings housing 1,693 people of whom 958 were male and 735 female. In 1881 there were only 133 dwellings housing 611 people, 313 males and 298 females. In 1891 Carngham had 30 dwellings housing 126 people and Snake Valley had 92 dwellings housing 333 people. Watson, Angus B Lost & almost forgotten towns of colonial Victoria : a comprehensive anaysis of census results for Victoria, 1841-1901. Angus B. Watson and Andrew MacMillan Art & Design, [Victoria, Australia], 2003. Pages 84, 408.

Today Carngham amounts to little more than a few houses where the Snake Valley – Trawalla road crosses the route from Ballarat to Beaufort.  Snake Valley is still the larger settlement. Overlooking Carngham is a cemetery where James Cross, his wife Ellen and some of his children and their families are buried.

The name Carngham is said to derive from the Wathawurrung people’s word for house or hut.  In 1838 James and Thomas Baillie squatted there and adopted the Aboriginal place name for their property. The local clan was the Karrungum baluk or Carringum balug. Clark, Ian, and Toby Heydon. “Historical Information – Carngham.” VICNAMES. Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (State Government of Victoria), 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. <http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=3226>.

Snake Valley is said to have got its name when a gold miner found snakes in a shaft he was sinking. Clark, Ian, and Toby Heydon. “Historical Information – Snake Valley.” VICNAMES. Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (State Government of Victoria), 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. <http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=5118>.In turn citing Porteous in Smyth 1878b: 179. 

The Ballarat Star reported on the gold rush to Carngham in November 1857. CARNGHAM. (1857, November 23). The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 – 1864), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66045316

 

 

Trove Tuesday: Nancy de Crespigny at Salt Creek 1936

02 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in Champion de Crespigny, Movius, South Australia, Trove, Trove Tuesday

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Trove  is a repository of digitised data managed by the National Library of Australia.

Recently when I was researching Trove’s digitised newspapers, I came across a newly-added photograph of my great aunt Nancy de Crespigny.

Miss N. de Crespigny, Salt Creek Image from State Library of South Australia PRG 1218/34/435

Nancy Champion de Crespigny (1910-2003),  the second child of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny and his wife Beatrix née Hughes, was the sister of my grandfather Geoff. She was a close lifelong friend of my grandmother Kathleen, Geoff’s wife.

Nancy went to Woodlands School in Adelaide and then attended the University of Melbourne, where she graduated in 1933 with a history degree. She studied archeology at the University of London and Newnham College of Cambridge University.

The photograph comes from the State Library of Australia. It was taken 8 March 1936 by Charles Pearcy Mountford (1890-1976) at Salt Creek, also known as also known as Winnininnie Creek, about 330 kilometres north of Adelaide.

The photo of Nancy is in the Mountford-Sheard Collection. In the same collection I found two shots of Nancy’s future husband Hallum Movius (1907-1987) taken on the same day.

Hallam Movius, Salt Creek Image from State Library of South Australia PRG 1218/34/433B
Hallam Movius, Salt Creek Image from State Library of South Australia PRG PRG 1218/34/433A 

The Adelaide Advertiser of 11 March 1936 mentions Nancy and Hal’s excursion. With them was the Adelaide anthropologist Charles Pearcy Mountford (1890-1907) .

PERSONAL (1936, March 11). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 – 1954), p. 18. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35415220

A few months later, in June, Hal sailed from Australia. Nancy followed in July. In September the pair married in London.

Life on the Ocean Wave (1936, June 18). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 – 1939), p. 9. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152065161

Adelaide Archaeologist (1936, August 1). The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982), p. 25. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48212356
DAUGHTER OF ADELAIDE DOCTOR MARRIED (1936, September 28). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 – 1954), p. 13. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48182227
Lighter Side of London Life Adelaide Girl Weds Young Archaeologist (1936, October 27). News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 – 1954), p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132025722

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