Friday, September 30, 2011

Photos :: Life's travels kept

We're taking a break today from Issue # 7 - our 1st birthday edition. It's my birthday! Have a wonderful day. One step further on in life ::

Monday, September 19, 2011

Issue 5 :: Tracing your Chinese Ancestor - Additional details

Do you have a Chinese ancestor in your family tree? Or just curious to know more about this fascinating part of our history?

Here, historian and Inside History contributor Kate Bagnall offers some reading suggestions to get you started:

  • Kate Bagnall, Golden Shadows on a White Land, PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2006. Available online.
  • Dinah Hales, ‘Local histories: Chinese-European families of central western New South Wales, 1850–80’, Journal of Australian Colonial History, vol. 6, 2004, pp. 93-112. 
  • Morag Loh & Christine Ramsay, Survival and Celebration: An Insight into the Lives of Chinese Immigrant Women, European Women Married to Chinese and their Female Children in Australia from 1856 to 1986, Melbourne, 1986. 
  • Sandi Robb, ‘Myths, lies and invisible lives: European women and Chinese men in North Queensland’, Lilith, vol. 12, 2003, pp. 95-109. 
  • Pauline Rule, ‘A tale of three sisters: Australian-Chinese marriages in colonial Victoria’, in K. Pookong, C. Ho, P. Macgregor & G. Presland (eds), Chinese in Oceania, Melbourne, 2002, pp. 65-76. 

Remember your local library can help with interlibrary loans, or you can use the National Library’s Copies Direct service. And you can read Kate Bagnall's brilliant article on tracing Chinese-Australian families from the 1800s in Issue 5 of Inside History.


ISSUE # 6 COMPETITION GIVEAWAYS

Don't miss out on our Issue # 6 giveaways! There are 2 prizes up for grabs!

Also, don't forget the My Heritage Family Tree Builder CD free inside every Issue 6; Sep-Oct 2011!

SO, WHAT CAN YOU WIN?!

[1] Win an Ancestry.com.au Membership for 12 months, worth $299!

With a World Heritage Membership you will have unlimited access to all Ancestry.com.au records from around the world including the US, Ireland and the UK, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Who knows, your family research could take you all over the world!

One of the latest collections to be added online is more than 20 million New Zealand records. Including Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981, Canterbury Provincial Rolls, 1868-1874, military records including New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) Nominal (Embarkation) Rolls, NZEF Casualty List, New Zealand Army Medal Rolls, schools, directories and church histories, Jury Lists 1842-1862 and Maori Land Claims, 1858-1980, to name a few.

To see how to go into the draw to win this 12 months subscription, worth $299, grab a copy of Issue 6 from us www.insidehistory.com.au, or your local newsagent.

[2] Win a beautiful set of diamond-cut crystal glassware!

All we know about this wonderful crystal pitcher and matching four glasses is that they were made in West Germany by Astra, and have been wrapped up carefully for many years. There the story ends, but we think this exquisitely crafted glassware deserves a second lease of life and a home where they will be loved and used.

To see how to go into the draw to win this little part of history, grab a copy of Issue 6 from us www.insidehistory.com.au, or your local newsagent.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Darwin 1942 :: 70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 - Press Release
[For interviews email Domonique Young on domonique@creativeterritory.com]

Darwin will remember the anniversaries of a series of bombing raids that took place during 1942 as it approaches the 70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin on 19 February 2012. The bombing raids during WWII continued for nearly two years across Northern Australia after the initial attack on Darwin in February 1942.

September 25 to 27 marks the anniversary of five bombing raids on the city, Livingstone and Bynoe Harbour. Darwin city was attacked twice in the early hours of 25 September 1942, Livingstone Airfield on September 26 and both Bynoe Harbour and Darwin city on September 27.

Former Adelaide River army nurse Alva Curtis, who now resides at Esperance in Western Australia, clearly remembers the raids, which coincided with a full moon. “Planes didn’t have the technology then that they do now so the pilots relied on the light of the moon to know where to bomb. “Darwin was bombed every full moon. Whenever the siren went off, it was lights out, under our beds and no one was allowed to smoke - everyone smoked back then.”

Alva had more than a couple of close calls during the 21 month-long raid on Australia’s north and recalls one time where she spent more than five hours in a dugout trench. “We were travelling back to Adelaide River when we were stopped at Winnellie by troops who said the planes were coming. It was only 6:30 in the evening but boy those planes came.

“They (the Japanese) were dropping ‘daisy cutters’ and it lasted hours. When we thought it was safe we got back into the jeep and had another go, but we didn’t get too far before we had to make another run for it. “It was easily midnight before we made it home and the matron was very pleased to see us safe. We weren’t in trouble as we thought we may be, but we weren’t given the next day off either!” Alva affectionately recalls.

This month’s remembrance is in lead up to a series of commemoration events that will take place from February 11 to 26 next year.

The main event will mark the 70th anniversary of the first bombing of Darwin to be held at the Darwin Cenotaph on 19 February 2012. The two-week program will include commemorative ceremonies, a schools competition and exhibition, historic talks, tours and movie screenings, the release of a commemorative coin and an AFL football match.

For more information visit www.frontlineaustralia.com.au and follow on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Issue 6 is out! Our military issue; Sep-Oct 2011

Inside History is for people passionate about Australian and New Zealand genealogy, history and heritage. In our Issue # 6; Sep-Oct 2011 edition:
  • Read the remarkable discovery of a WWI soldier after 93 years, and how his belongings will be shown for the first time in Australia
  • Learn why some Aussie soldiers rebelled during the Boer War
  • We look at why more of us are trekking Kokoda
  • A family historian in Queensland makes a fascinating find
  • Win an www.Ancestry.com.au membership valued at $299
  • Plus there’s a free Family Tree BuilderTM CD from MyHeritage for every reader!
And there's much more – in fact, 76 pages of terrific features, practical information on family tree research, chances to network with other genealogists, competitions and product reviews.

Issues # 1, # 2, # 3, # 4, # 5 and now # 6 are available online now! Order now online and collect the complete set.

Issue # 6 is available in newsagents nationally from Wednesday, 7th September. To find out where in your state, click here. You can also request us at your local newsagent, and we'll make sure that the next issue - our birthday issue [Issue # 7] is sent there for you!

Authors to look out for in Issue # 6:
  • Journalist :: Melinda Farrell
  • Australian genealogist :: Barbara Hall
  • Family historian :: Neil Hall
  • Australian genealogist :: Jane Harding 
  • Social historian :: Jo Hawkins @MyKokoda
  • Australian genealogist :: Shauna Hicks @HicksShauna
  • Journalist :: Alice Johnson
  • New Zealand genealogist :: Helen Leggatt @GenealogyJourno
  • Health microbiologist :: Helen Smith @HVSresearch
  • Military historian :: Neil Smith
  • Journalist :: Kirsten Wade @kirstenwade
  • New Zealand genealogist :: Mark Webster @macnzMark
  • Dictionary of Sydney historian :: Garry Wotherspoon @DictionaryofSyd

Have a sneak peak inside our new magazine; Issue # 6, Sep-Oct 2011.

Vintage Spring Fling Ball :: 10th September

It's NSW History Week and that puts us in the mood for dancing! So, dust off your vintage frocks – we’re having a ball!

You are cordially invited to the inaugural Vintage Spring Fling Ball at the classic Marrickville Town Hall on the 10th of September. It’s time to dust off your vintage frocks and shine your dancing shoes for a night of food, dancing and entertainment.

Featuring the 1950’s musical stylings of the Ellipsis Swingers, you will be transported back to a time when full skirts were in and Grace Kelly was a style icon. The night will include a delicious three-course meal and all wine, beer and soft drinks included for $100 per person.

Marrickville Town Hall has been open since 1922 and was used as a dance venue throughout the 1920s-1950s. Its high ceilings and marble staircases make it the perfect location for a vintage themed ball.

The Vintage Spring Fling Ball is an event for singles, couples and friends to come enjoy an evening purely dedicated to having a good time. We encourage you to bop till you drop and twirl your poodle skirt around the dance floor, glass of wine in hand.

Vintage Spring Fling Ball:
When: 7pm – midnight, Saturday 10th September, 2011
Where: Marrickville Town Hall
How much: $100 pp - three-course meal and all wine, beer & soft drinks
Rules: Strictly over 18s

For more information or to book your tickets, please visit Blossom Media. See you there!