Your favourite history book :: NYR 2012

To celebrate the National Year of Reading 2012, we asked you to tell us your favourite non-fiction history books. Now, after a  nail-biting few months of voting, it’s time  to announce your winner. Drum roll, please…

In first place came Michael Flynn’s The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (Library of Australian History, 1993), a tremendous feat of meticulous research into more than 1,500 individuals who were on board the tragic Second Fleet.

It remains a seminal work. It’s also now out of print, but check with your local library, which might have a copy you can borrow, or organise an inter-library loan for you. Click here to find a copy at your library on Trove.

“Many thanks to the readership of Inside History for their support,” says Michael. “Revised versions of the First and Second Fleet books are ongoing, assisted by feedback from some of the thousands of descendants of these early colonists. Coming soon: a website with updates and information to be called Botany Bay Bound.” Stay tuned, we’ll bring you more news soon!

As for second place?

Two runners-up tied equally for silver. The Convict Ships 1787-1868 (first published by Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1959), by Charles Bateson, is an authoritative guide to Australia’s period of convict transportation.

And "In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie" (Exisle Publishing, 2011) by Robin Walsh is an important recent work.

As a compilation  of personal records, diaries and letters written by  Elizabeth Macquarie, it offers fascinating insights into two figures who helped shape the early colony.

Though our list is by no means definitive, we’d like to thank everyone who voted. We enjoyed your suggestions, and even managed to add a few books to our must-read list — hopefully you have, too.

Author Q&A :: Eureka Stockade by Gregory Blake

From time to time, we'll be talking to great Australian authors about their local history and what inspired them to start researching and writing their stories.

This week we talk to Gregory Blake, author of Eureka Stockade - A ferocious and bloody battle. Gregory Blake was born in Melbourne in 1955. Since a very early age, he has had a keen interest in military history and has written numerous articles on the subject, for publications in Australian, the UK and the US. Greg is a secondary school teacher and tutor at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Greg served with the Australian Army Reserve during the 1970s and 1980s. He is an accomplished artist and in addition to illustrations in this book, has contributed his talents to magazines and instructional texts both in Australia and overseas.

Diggers swore their oath beneath the Southern Cross flag
Artist: Charles Doudiet | Courtesy of the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

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IHM. Q. What inspired you to start researching and writing?

• Greg: There are so many stories in Australia’s history that have remained undiscovered or remembered only as a collection of myths, legends and fallacies. One of these is the story of the Eureka stockade. I have always admired how similar stories to the Eureka Stockade have been portrayed in other national histories and around 2004 I stumbled across a little book that had within it a collection of firsthand accounts of what occurred at Eureka. I am a keen student of military history, especially that of the mid C19th. With this knowledge I began reading these accounts of Eureka and the penny dropped and I realised that there was a great deal about this conflict that we simply did not know. This excited me and so I began digging. Four years and a mountain of research later I had uncovered an amazing story which, unlike many of the commonly accepted stories, was based on hard evidence and logical informed deduction. This story bore little resemblance to the collection of myths and misunderstandings that have characterised the Eureka story for generations and it was a story that needed to be told.

IHM. Q. Which resources did you find most helpful?

• Favourite website? Greg: The Public Records Office Victoria and TROVE. 
• Favourite library? Greg: Without doubt the State Library of Victoria although others such as the St Ives Library at Sovereign Hill, the Mechanics Institute in Ballarat, the Supreme Court of Victoria library to mention only a few are excellent resources.  

IHM. Q. What resources did you come across when researching your books that hasn’t been widely used by others? 

• Greg: The transcripts of the State Treason Trials for the accused Eureka diggers held by the Supreme Court of Victoria are a treasure trove of material for primary source material related to the military aspects of Eureka. I believe I am the first to have made use of this resource for the military information contained within it. 

IHM. Q. Was there any information you uncovered that stopped you in your tracks? Which stories affected you the most from your research? 

• Greg: No one thing but more of an overall realisation that so many ordinary men were willing to take up arms, risk their lives and all they had to defend an ideal of personal independence and liberty they held precious. It made me wonder how many would do the same these days if faced with the same circumstances as the Eureka diggers.  

Which stories amused you the most in the course of your research? 

• Greg: The sheer pomposity and arrogance of the colonial ruling classes and their utter unwillingness to accept that their world had changed. 

IHM. Q. If you could track down one thing you haven’t yet managed to find out, what would it be? 

• Greg: The pre Eureka story of James McGill the leader of the Independent Californian Rangers Revolver Brigade. McGill was significant figure amongst the Eureka diggers at the Stockade and while his post Eureka story is well enough known but his pre Eureka story is a mystery.  

IHM. Q. What’s your best tip for people wanting to write a history book of their own? 

• Greg: Be passionate about your topic, have a firm goal in mind to guide the direction your research takes, keep an open mind and follow leads that you may not have anticipated, have the patience to keep searching, be absolutely meticulous with your records, cite everything you use – so many ‘history’ books fail to do this. Let people know what you are doing; you will be pleasantly surprised by the interest and support they will show. 

IHM. Q. How did you go about bringing the characters to life? 

• Greg: The characters really did this for themselves. These were passionate and colourful people living in a passionate and colourful time and all one needed to do was to tell their stories.

IHM. Q. How do you know when you’ve written a good book? 

• Greg: Good reviews are nice. Pats on the back are nice as well. The best thing though is to know you have done the best you can, to have covered all the bases and presented an account that is readable and informed.

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Image courtesy of Big Sky Publishing. Click to look inside or buy

"Eureka Stockade: A ferocious and bloody battle, is the epic account of the attle for the Eureka Stockade, an iconic moment in Australian history. On the chilly dawn morning of 3 December 1854 British soldiers and police of the Victorian colonial government attacked and stormed a crudely-built fortification erected by insurgent gold miners at the Eureka lead on the Ballarat Gold Diggings. The fighting was intense, the carnage appalling and the political consequences of the affair profound. This book, for the first time, examines in great detail the actual military events that unfolded during the twenty minutes of deadly fighting at Eureka. Many of the old assumptions about what occurred that day are turned on the heads, raising in their places provocative questions. Were the intentions of the Eureka diggers as pacific as tradition insists? How was it that men supposedly poorly armed and taken completely by surprise in their sleep were able to deliver ‘sharp and well directed’ fire on their attackers? How close, in fact did the assaulting infantry come to failing in their task, and why has the pivotal part played by the police in the battle been ignored in every retelling of the Eureka story? Why have the Americans, who played a decisive part in the defence of the stockade been all but ignored? The author argues convincingly that Eureka was not a wanton massacre of innocents, as it has been portrayed. Rather it was a hard fought military engagement. 

Eureka was a decisive moment in Australian history and in this book it comes alive in a rousing and original manner".

Rathmines Catalina Festival :: 3 Nov 2012

Did your relatives travel or fight in a flying boat? Yes? You'll like the Rathmines Catalina Festival on the NSW Central Coast at Lake Macquarie on November 3.

The Rathmines Catalina Festival is an annual celebration of the rich history of the WWII RAAF Base.  Now in its 6th year, the festival promotes the significance of the base both locally and nationally. The Rathmines RAAF base reached its peak strength of almost 3,000 RAAF personnel in 1944-45. It comprised 230 buildings and marine facilities and there were forty aircraft in service. The event serves to commemorate the significance of the former RAAF Base during WWII and pay respect to those who served at the Base and lost their lives through the war effort.

Date: Saturday 3 November 2012
When: 10 AM to 3.00 PM
Where: Rathmines Park Dorrington Road Rathmines
Cost: $5 for adults, children under 12 are free

Visit the website on www.catalinafestival.com.au 
Or Like it on Facebook: Rathmines Catalina Festival 

The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) plans to fly its fully restored Consolidated PBY Amphibious Catalina (Registration VH-PBZ) from Albion Park to the 2012 Rathmines Catalina Festival. HARS plan to alight the Catalina on Lake Macquarie at approximately 10:30am, and then taxi up the ramp onto the hard stand at the former RAAF base. HARS will open the Cat to the public for inspection at the Festival. The aircraft will depart from Lake Macquarie at approximately 3pm for its return flight to Albion Park.

There will be RAAF Balloon and an authentic Beaufighter cockpit section, along with 10 light amphibious seaplanes flying in and parking on the hard stand at the Festival. These will include Lake Buccaneers, Super Petrels, and Seareays.  De Havillland Tiger Moths from Luskintyre plan to flypast the Festival as a salute to the former RAAF base. Paul Bennet will fly an aerobatic display in his Pitts Special aircraft.  All this and food stalls, playground for the kids and live music. The day has something for everyone.

Other places the flying boats flew from or to in Australia.

Rose Bay, Sydney

Lake Boga, Victoria

Lord Howe Island

Author Q&A :: The Kokoda Campaign 1942 by Peter Williams

From time to time, we'll be talking to great Australian authors about their local history and what inspired them to start researching and writing their stories.

This week we talk to Peter Williams, author of The Kokoda Campaign 1942: Myth and Reality. Peter is a researcher for the Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal and is a military historian for the Darwin Military Museum. His new book combines narrative and detailed analysis, to re-evaluate the Kokoda campaign of 1942 and should be considered a must-read for anyone who is interested in Kokoda.

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IHM. Q. What inspired you to start researching and writing your book on Kokoda?

• Peter: I wanted to write books on the most famous episodes in Australian military history. My first book was about Gallipoli. These days Kokoda comes second on the list but it wasn’t always so. When I first went to New Guinea in 1980, to visit Australian battlefields, I remember Kokoda was not foremost in my mind as a place to go. 

IHM. Q. What resources did you come across when researching your books that have not been widely used by others? 

• Peter: I went to Tokyo and spent a month in their military archives looking at Imperial Japanese Army documents from 1942. I don’t know of any other Kokoda author who has done that, which is possibly why other books on Kokoda have got much of the story wrong.

IHM. Q. Why is your Japanese evidence so important to the book. 

• Peter: I don’t think you can explain a military campaign, who won and why, without looking at the evidence from both armies. You wouldn’t try to explain the outcome of a game of cricket by only discussing the vice and virtues of one team.

IHM. Q. What is the main point you make in The Kokoda Campaign 1942, myth and reality?

• Peter: The usual explanation for the series of Australian defeats that occurred when the Australians were driven back along the Kokoda track, from July to September 1942, is that they were so greatly outnumbered by the Japanese no other outcome was likely.  The main thing I discovered in the archives in Tokyo is that the Japanese did not outnumber the Australians at all.  It’s hard to believe, as so many books have stressed the huge Japanese numerical superiority, but it is simply not true that they were in superior strength. So if that’s not the explanation for our series of defeats, what is?

IHM. Q. Which stories amused you the most in the course of your research?

• Peter: Australian veterans of New Guinea often told me, ‘You couldn’t see them in the jungle, the Japanese soldier was a master of camouflage’.  Then I went to Japan and interviewed a dozen veterans there. I was surprised to hear many of them say exactly the same thing. ‘Those Australians were very good at hiding in the jungle, you couldn’t see them.’ In fact neither side had any special training in jungle warfare, I think it was rather the jungle itself. It was easy to hide in, but the men on both sides concluded that the enemy must be masters of jungle war. 

IHM. Q. If you could track down one thing you haven’t yet managed to find out, what would it be?

• Peter: I still have not figured out why the Kokoda story is so popular now. When I was a kid Kokoda wasn’t a famous Australian battle. That has changed in the last 20 years. Now thousands of us walk the track every year. 

IHM. Q. What’s your best tip for people wanting to write a history book of their own? 

• Peter: Be prepared to work hard for a long time. Hank Nelson, a wonderful historian who died in February, once told me ‘a page a day is a book a year’. He meant do not be discouraged, do not give up. Do a little every day, just keep plugging away.  

IHM. Q. How do you know when you’ve written a good history book? 

• Peter: In my book title there are the words ‘myth’ and ‘reality’. If you write a history book that challenges what people have always believed about a well-known subject, then you get a bit of criticism from those who do not want to let go of the old version, the myth. I have had a few unpleasant emails from readers who prefer the myth and do not like the new evidence I have found about Kokoda. But that’s good in a way, when you get flak you know you are over the target.

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Extract [Page 1] from The Kokoda Campaign 1942.Myth and Reality, Cambridge University Press, 2012 by Peter Williams

"This book is an examination of the Kokoda campaign – from the Japanese landing in Papua in July 1942 and their advance along the Kokoda Track, to their defeat at Oivi–Gorari in November. The Kokoda campaign is catching up with Gallipoli in popularity, as is apparent from the number of books on it that have appeared in the past twenty-odd years and the thousands of Australians who now walk the Kokoda Track each year. As the events of 1915 pass into distant memory, it is possible that Kokoda might come to rival Gallipoli as the representative Australian military experience. While there are positive aspects to this, as its popularity increases errors in the Kokoda story have a tendency to be repeated until they take on the outward appearance of fact. Other aspects of the campaign, some arising from Australian wartime propaganda, have not been subject to postwar investigation. These two strands combine to create the Kokoda myth. Recent popular accounts, concerned more with colour than precision, perpetuate the myth.

The core of the Kokoda myth is that during the Japanese advance towards Port Moresby the Australians were greatly outnumbered. Those in the front line were convinced of this, and their word has been accepted. Japanese veterans often say the same thing – that the Australians significantly outnumbered them. It may be that in jungle fighting, where the enemy is rarely seen, there is a tendency to imagine that he is in great strength. In truth, during the Japanese advance, the Australians were rarely outnumbered by their enemy. While Australia’s 39th Battalion and the Papuan Infantry Battalion faced superior numbers in the small July clashes, it was not as many as two to one. The forces engaged at Isurava, the first large action, have always been thought to have been at the very least three to one against the Australians and perhaps six to one. In fact the numbers were equal with about 2300 being engaged on either side. With the exception of the first Eora–Templeton’s Crossing fighting, where the Japanese did have almost twice as many troops as the Australians, the Australians fought the Japanese at one to one until Ioribaiwa in September, where it was the Australians who outnumbered the Japanese by two to one, yet the Australians were still defeated. During the Australian advance after Ioribaiwa they always maintained a great superiority of numbers over the Japanese.

Numbers are important in war. To have a good prospect of success the attacker should usually have more men than the defender. The firepower of modern weapons so advantage a defender that a three-to-one local superiority is said to be needed to be reasonably certain of success if all other factors are equal. A two-to-one advantage provides a lesser chance of success but will sometimes be enough, and one to one is usually not enough for the attacker to prevail. When numbers alone do not explain victory or defeat – and it is rarely as simple as that – we look to the quality of the troops, their weapons, morale and supply, and how well they were commanded. Each of these elements can powerfully increase fighting power or, to use terms not in use in 1942, they are force multipliers that enhance combat effectiveness. For example, if the attacker’s men were of higher quality than those of the defender, or if the attacker had much more artillery or was better supplied, then he might not need any superiority in numbers to win. According to the Kokoda myth, it was the large Japanese numerical superiority that enabled them to advance as far as they did towards Port Moresby. If that is not true then other reasons for the series of Australian defeats on the Kokoda Track between July and September 1942 would be required. One possibility is that the Japanese were qualitatively superior to the Australians.

A central fact of land warfare in the first year of the Japanese offensive in the Pacific from December 1941 is that, man for man, the Japanese proved to be better soldiers than those who opposed them. The proof is that up to the second half of 1942 the Japanese rarely had superior numbers engaged in land battles, yet they rarely lost one. They achieved their victories in Burma, the Dutch East Indies, during the Malayan campaign, in the final battle at Singapore and in the Philippines without a numerical advantage. Only when the Allies had a very considerable superiority, as at Milne Bay and Guadalcanal, were they able to defeat the Japanese. The Kokoda campaign fits this pattern.

It might not be too much to say that most issues of the campaign ought to be reappraised if it can be shown that the Japanese engaged in the battles along the Kokoda Track were many fewer than has been believed. This word engaged holds a clue because, while the Nankai Shitai was more than 16 000 strong, the number the Japanese actually committed to battle on the Kokoda Track, which runs from Kokoda south over the Owen Stanley Range towards Port Moresby, was much smaller.  The problem for the myth is that of a 16 000-strong Japanese force, of which 7000 were fighting troops, no more than 3500 of these actually advanced along the Kokoda Track.

What has occurred in postwar Australian historiography might have something to do with the saying that the victors write the history. This is true as far as it goes, but much of what the victor later writes might not be accurate as it can arise out of his own wartime propaganda. The defeated too has wartime propaganda, but this is swept away postwar as it is immediately seen for what it usually is – falsehood. The victor’s propaganda is not subject to the same rigorous reassessment and has a chance to seep into later accounts and, over time, become entrenched there. Two examples of Australian wartime propaganda still read today, and which stress the Japanese numerical superiority, are George Johnston’s New Guinea Diary and Osmar White’s Green Armour, published in 1943 and 1945 respectively.

The attempt to debunk Kokoda myths is not intended to denigrate the Australians who fought on the Kokoda Track. Their bravery and fortitude is not in question. It is rather that the current interpretation of the campaign is invalid. The Kokoda Campaign 1942, myth and reality, is an attempt to set aside the myth of Kokoda and replace it with the reality and, as the evidence that undoes the myth comes mainly from Japanese sources, it follows that more than half the book concerns the Nankai Shitai. The unfortunate contribution of Australian popular military history to the strength of the Kokoda myth was discussed earlier, but the problem is broader than that. The Kokoda myth has arisen because there exists a gap in Australian historiography: a wide range of Japanese sources have not hitherto been examined, although Raymond Paull, Lex McAulay and Paul Ham have all made some effort to do so. The result is a lack of balance in our understanding of the Kokoda campaign, a natural outcome, for if we try to explain an historical event involving two belligerents using sources from only one of them, then we should hardly expect to get it right".

Apply for Victoria local history grants :: Closing Nov 12

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From the Public Record Office Victoria Press Release: 10th September 2012

Victorian ommunity groups are invited to apply for a share in $350,000 in grants for projects that preserve and share stories of Victoria's past.

Premier and Minister for the Arts Ted Baillieu said individual grants of up to $15,000 were available to not-for-profit groups such as historical societies, schools, sporting clubs and special interest groups, for projects that capture and share the fascinating stories of Victoria across the ages.

“The Local History Grants program provides grants to support a diverse range of projects, including exhibitions and multimedia projects, publications, oral histories and the digitisation or preservation of vital historical items, which together provide greater access to our community history,” Mr Baillieu said. “Victoria has a rich history with so many important stories to uncover and celebrate. This program supports projects that enable community members to connect with their history in innovative and engaging ways.

“Importantly, in addition to supporting individual projects, the Local History Grants Program also supports the tireless efforts of volunteer networks and community organisations that act as custodians of our state’s heritage, ensuring that it is available to future generations,” Mr Baillieu said.

The program, which is run by Public Record Office Victoria, is open to not-for-profit community groups across the state.

Applications for the Local History Grants Program are open now, and close on Monday 12 November 2012.

Media contact: Ali Webb, Communications and Marketing Coordinator, Public Record Office - 03 9348 5709, 0418 698 364 or alison.webb@prov.vic.gov.au

Author Q&A :: Jack Cross - Great Central State

From time to time, we'll be talking to great Australian authors about their local history and what inspired them to start researching and writing their stories.

This week we talk to Jack Cross, author of Great Central State - The foundation of the Northern Territory and historian. Jack Cross grew up in the lower Flinders Ranges amid the influences of the German Lutheran community. Jack spent five years as a Research Fellow in Australian History at the University of Adelaide. For twenty years he was Head of Studies in Education at the Underdale campus of what is now the University of South Australia. He was a founder of the Aboriginal Tauondi College at Port Adelaide and the Anangu Teacher Education program at Ernabella in the APY Lands. He is now a teacher in the History of Ideas at the Adelaide Central School of Art and the University of South Australia, and was awarded the 2012 Chief Minister’s Award for History.

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1. Q. What inspired you to start researching the 19th-century history of the Northern Territory?
• A. I was challenged by my mentor Douglas Pike (Paradise of Dissent, 1957) to write one thorough history in a lifetime. At the time, I was a teacher in history in the Northern Territory. 
2. Q. You utilised over half a million pages of primary research documents over an impressive 40 years of archival research. What resources did you come across when compiling your book that haven’t been widely used by others?
• A. There are no records on 19th-century Northern Territory history on the web. Most records are held in the State Records of South Australia. Some private records relating to the territory are held in the State Library of South Australia. Only a few nineteenth-century records have survived in the Territory. Because of the time I took, I wrote numerous letters to families of interest. Their documented replies are to be donated to the Northern Territory Library as well as my extensive rare library on Northern Territory subjects. Because indexes proved unreliable I worked line by line through half a million pages of documents. I still believe that relying too much on indexes is a sloppy way of doing history. Much revealing history is in the cracks – the give-away asides
3. Q. Your publicity mentions that you were introduced to many leads and anecdotes by the strong oral tradition in SA regarding the Northern Territory. What were the advantages of using oral history in addition to documents?Could you name any specific examples where this oral tradition helped you?
• A. Up until the Second World War, many Territorians retired to Adelaide. I got the tail end of these people. They provided me with a unique opportunity to obtain leads which I could then check against records. I heard many tales about the alcoholism of J.M. Stuart. In the 1960s the Royal Geographical Society was patronised by the Adelaide establishment. One prominent family would tell tales to me about the other.
4. Q. Was there any information you uncovered that stopped you in your tracks?
• Q. Which stories affected you the most in the course of your research?
• A. I was exposed to the mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples as far back as the 1950s and it gave me a shock. The urban story that Aboriginal women would use sand to protect themselves from rape was cut out from the book in the last editorial review because we could find no documentary evidence to support it.
• Q. Which stories amused you the most in the course of your research?
• A. The Territory is full of tragic – comic stories. A good example is the first Government Resident at Darwin (Bloomfield Douglas) threatening to shoot up the police force while standing on the roof of the Residency, because he believed they were coming to arrest him as a debtor.
5. Q. If you could track down one thing you haven’t yet managed to find out, what would it be?
• A. I would like to find out more about the mystery of the Shou Lao (now held in the Powerhouse Museum). It is a Chinese statue dug up four feet under a large banyan tree in Darwin in 1879, a tree not indigenous to Australia. It could be evidence that the Chinese navy may have come as far south as North Australia.
• I am also interested in when the Macassan fishers first started first started coming to North Australia. Also when Aborigines first started going to the land of Macassar. 
6. Q. What’s your best tip for people wanting to write a history book of their own?
• A. As with most things of life, nothing can replace years and year of practice. History is a discipline which benefits from rich background experience and considerable knowledge. It also requires imagination in order to empathise with people in another time and another place.
7. Q. In your book’s preface, you mention your desire to “make the history live”. How did you go about bringing the characters and stories to life?
• A. I am a ‘raconteur lecturer’ – to quote student feedback. The way to make history live is to back up generalisations with interesting relevant stories. I believe that telling stories is archetypal as a way of transmitting culture. African proverb: God made Man so that he can hear stories!
8. Q. How do you know when you’ve written a good book?
• A. I doubt if you ever know. Early feedback is important. Soon after reading the text Michael Bollen of Wakefield Press said: ‘The kind of book that will be read 300 years from now.’ As a result Wakefield Press spent 6 ¼ years editorial work on the text. The book was launched in Government House Darwin in March 2011 by the Administrator Hon. Tom Pauling – who had seen an earlier version of the text. His detailed analysis was extraordinary – like a judge summing up a complicated case. It was re-launched in Adelaide in June by Dr John Bannon – former premier. Nicholas Rothwell wrote a two-page essay in The Weekend Australian. Philip Adams interviewed me on Late Night Live. In May 2012 I was awarded the Chief Minister’s Award for History, awarded in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Darwin. The cover by Liz Nicholson and rare nineteenth-century visuals have been applauded by the art school lecturers with whom I work. I have now been lined up to write three short histories.

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Click on the image to read a free extract from Great Central State

"The Northern Territory's first European decades were an extraordinary mixture of grand vision and human folly, peopled with larger-than-life characters.

In Great Central State, Jack Cross tells the story of South Australia's ambitious - or foolhardy - plan to become the premier colony of Australia using its own unique experience in planned colonisation, and its bid to develop the north coast as an integral part of South-East Asia. Bitter feuding abounds alongside admirable efficiency, while tales of courage and sacrifice are matched by episodes of sad ignorance and abuse. This is a history strange but true.

Great Central State is a result of the most sustained historical research on a South Australian subject since Douglas Pike's Paradise of Dissent published in 1957. In his wry, meticulously researched book, Jack Cross demonstrates that already before 1911 when the Northern Territory was ceded to the Commonwealth, it had a sophisticated history of its own. He looks forward to the day when it will become the seventh Australian state". From our friends at Wakefield Press.

Grave Tales 5 :: From Germany to Bega in 1842

Here is the next instalment in our series of Grave Tales. The 5th in the series sees Ancestry's Brad Argent in Quaama Cemetery, just north of Bega in New South Wales, following Adam Engelman's journey from Germany, to being Australian and marrying "Big Jack" the bushranger's daughter.

Don't forget to read instalments 1-4, the links are at the finish of this tale, and find a sample of what history awaits to be discovered when you go walking.

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Just north of Bega, surrounded by national parks and state forests, rests the small New South Wales community of Quaama. This hamlet was established in the latter half of the 19th century and formerly called ‘Dry River’. I’m unsure when they changed their name to Quaama – or why – but it was originally spelt with an extra ‘a’ on the end. I assume that someone believed that was one ‘a’ too many.

It was a beautiful spring morning when I found myself searching for Quaama’s cemetery. It lies south east of the bucolic village, in a gently sloping field behind the last of the houses. As I parked my car and entered the cemetery I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was interloping – there was a palpable ‘spirit of place’ here.

The cemetery has a few marked burials in what I assumed were family clusters, but the one that caught my eye stood all alone, some considerable distance from the entrance.

Adam Engelman(n) was born in Germany in February 1842, the second son of Heinrich and Agnes Engelmann (nee Dumm). He came to Australia with his parents, his older brother Martin and his younger sisters Agnes, Catherine and Elizabetha in March of 1855. The voyage must have been difficult for the Engelmanns as the infant Elizabetha died on the voyage.

Adam and his family were assisted immigrants brought to Australia by William Macarthur, the youngest son of John and Elizabeth Macarthur. As his father and older brother were both ‘Vine Dressers’ they no doubt went to work on Macarthur’s extensive vineyards in Camden, New South Wales.

At Bega in September of 1864 Adam married Celia Eden Hayden, daughter of the convict and bushranger known as “Big Jack”. Celia and Adam had 15 children, though it wasn’t until 1872 that they moved to Quaama.

Adam was naturalised in early 1876, and his brother Martin followed suit the following year – their father Heinrich having undergone the process just a few years after arriving. It must have troubled Adam – as it must have for all German-born Australians - to see the outbreak of the First World War. How sad that he did not live to see it end, dying only days before the official cessation of hostilities.

Sad, too, that Adam rests alone; an isolated grave in an isolated burial ground. In life he would have been surrounded by family, but now he is deserted – or so it would appear. Many of Adam’s family remained at Quaama – his wife Celia passed away there in 1935 – and perhaps they are buried there too, resting in graves unmarked.

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Read the previous instalments in the series of Grave Tales:
[1]  Story of Strange Butson Hartigan
[2]  The murder of William Hird
[3]  The loss of the 2 Graham girls
[4]  Fatality at Warragul. A youth drowned *

The Coroners Inquest, from the 22 January 1901 West Gippsland Gazette
[*] Fatality at Warragul. A youth drowned. Source: Trove

✻ Brad Argent is content director at Ancestry.com.au. Australia’s leading family history website, Ancestry.com.au contains more than 1 billion records in its Australian and UK collections.

Expert Facebook Q&As :: BDM Certificates

Another Thursday and another great Expert Q&A sharing session. This week we discussed how to get the most from your Birth, Death and Marriage certificates. Thanks again to Shauna Hicks, for joining us and giving us the benefit of her family history expertise and years of experience! Please find the transcript of the Q&A and useful links, and you can count on Shauna being back to help with your family history in a future Q&A.

Don't forget our Expert Q&As happen every Thursday night on the Inside History Magazine facebook page.

When: 8:30-9:30pm EST | WA: 6:30-7:30pm WST | SA - NT: 8:00-9:00pm CST | Weekly on a Thursday night

Summary of links from BDM Certificates Expert Q&A:

• Marriage Witness Index: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvic/mwi.htm
• Gravesend parish registers: http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/
• Graham Jaunay - Australian BDMs: http://www.jaunay.com/bdm.html
• FamilySearch wiki: Australian state civil registration
• Shauna Hicks blog: http://diaryofanaustraliangenealogist.blogspot.com.au
• More links below the session transcript

Top tips from Shauna Hicks on BDM certificates:
Read the certificates carefully, compare info on birth, death and marriage certificates carefully, where possible try and get the handwritten copies rather than a typed certificate (minimises human error), don't always believe what is on the certificate (only as good as person giving the info) and sometimes they just simply lied! So check with other documents as well. Remember that civil registration dates for each state /or countries varies and before then you definitely need to look for parish registers.

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Transcript of Expert Q&A - how to get the most from your certificates; Birth, Death and Marriage certificates:

Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us tonight. The rules are simple. Try to keep your questions concise & focused on Birth, Death and Marriage certificates, that will help Shauna to answer as many as possible in the hour that we have.

Q. Hi Shauna and Cassie. Years ago, in Victoria, I think there was an attempt to database witnesses to marriages, but I don't know if that happened anywhere else. Are you aware of any databases such as that - as I am especially looking to find a family black sheep acting as a doctor in NSW, so he should be on birth and death certificates.
A. Shauna: ‎@Linda Yes I have heard of people doing witness indexes but not familiar with the details - I would need to look into that more
A. Linda: @Shauna Thank You!
A. Shauna: @Linda Re the witnesses index - try looking at Cora Num's website as she often picks up related indexes - here is the link to her BDMs page http://www.coraweb.com.au/bdmau.htm
A. IHM: @Linda Hi Linda Barraclough, this could be the witness database you're looking for :: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvic/mwi.htm
A. Shauna: Thanks Cassie now I'm going to have to check that index out myself!
A. Linda: Ta for the two indexes - been away looking. I'm looking for a doctor in Boggabri in NSW - basically guess best bet is to write and register with local hist soc, and hope they can keep an eye on certs. Used to be good in the old days when you could just rock up to the court house and look at the lot. Did a lot up the Darling River that way, but never got to Boggabri.
A. Shauna: @Linda local newspapers might be worth checking too, maybe he advertised too.
A. Linda: [Friday, 17/08] I was going to throw this one in last night, but it was a little busy! Many years ago, a famous incident happened at the East Gippsland Genealogical Group. A new member came in, and asked how to use the microfiche indexes to BD&Ms (this is in the old days, of fiche of the actual indexes). The member pulled a random fiche out of the births, and put it up on the screen. And seemed to go into a really strange trance, that it took him a long time to come out of. There, in front of him, was the birth he had searched unsuccessfully for, for years. She was registered with her third given name as her surname. Father's name had been changed to make it fit, and everything. We have never been able to calculate the odds of this happening, but they are pretty long! There are witnesses!

Q. I am trying to locate the Birth certificates of two deceased sons of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth Tegreth,(maiden name Debnham, first married name Maxwell) died in Forbes NSW 1926: one was Allan Maxwell (possibly original surname was Debnham) born in Young who died on 26th April 1915 at Gallipoli aged 25 years, the other has no information on her death certificate. Would love some guidance, please.

A. Shauna: ‎@Colleen Usually when people can't find a certificate it is a spelling variation so you need to check all possible variations, also check under maiden name of mother or former married names as

A. Shauna: @Colleen Re the missing birth certificates question sometimes I just search on given names and a year and that way I can pick up any odd spellings of the name, you just need to try all variations of a search

A. Jill: @Colleen Colleen, I recently visited the Forbes Family History group in person and from their resources was able to knock down a 20+ year brick wall. May be worth contacting them.

A. Shauna: Thanks Jill yes local genealogical and historical societies have some great local resources and are definitely worth contacting.

Q. What do people commonly miss when reading certificates?

A. Shauna: People tend to just look for the date and place of the event but it is also important to look at all fields eg witnesses at a marriage maybe relatives or the midwife at a birth even witnesses to a burial. Spelling of place names can vary so the more certificates you look at you may be able to work out what it should be - I purchased all the birth certificates of my gg grandfather's children and eventually ended up with the right place in Ireland!

Q. IHM: Do the certificates vary by state? If so, what are some important variations to note?

A. Shauna: Because certificates are expensive you should make certain that the type of information you are looking for is on the certificate - I find Graham Jaunay's quick guide very useful as there is a lot of variation between the states http://www.jaunay.com/bdm.html

A. Shauna: I find NSW, QLD and VIC the best certificates but sadly I have SA ancestors too and SA is one of the least detailed

Q. We have searched (via ancestry.com) for a relative born in 1845 Gravesend, Kent. Is it possible his birth was just never registered? Where else should I look?

A. Shauna: @Rachael The UK indexes are now available online via a number of different sites as well as the old microfiche. I would try another online site because you can get indexing errors (we are all human)

A. Helen: @Rachael It is worth checking with the Northfleet registrar office which was the local office as the Ancestry indexes are the National GRO indexes. My grandfather born in 1915 Northfleet in was not listed on the national indexes but I was able to get his certificate from Northfleet. Also check that he is not one of the Male (your surname) listings as there was a requirement to register by a set date and sometimes the name decision had not been made.

A. Shauna: Thanks Helen yes local offices are another place to look and Helen's example also highlights how errors can creep in to the official indexes too.

A. Shauna: Yes I find those unnamed children quite frustrating!

A. Helen: Also worth checking http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/ for the Gravesend parish registers as it may narrow down when the baptism took place.

Q. Hi Shauna - and other researchers! I was wondering if you had any tips for tracking down death certificates in NSW in the mid-late 19th century? A few former convicts I've been researching have been seemingly impossible to find.

A. Shauna: @Sarah Are you sure they died in NSW? Sometimes convicts changed their names and moved on? Are they common names?

A. Shauna: @Sarah Were they married? Any children? I tracked one convict from TAS, to VIC and finally got him dying in Auckland - it helped that he was a butcher and he stuck to that trade.

Q. IHM: Did your Auckland butcher have a NZ Death Certificate Shauna Hicks? http://www.dia.govt.nz/Births-deaths-and-marriages

A. Shauna: Yes there was a NZ death certificate with absolutely no information on it, his wife was the same and getting back further has been tricky!

Comment. Shauna: As we are getting close to the finish line (still in Olympics mode) I would just like to suggest that people should relook at their certificates from time to time as sometimes we don't recognise something and it is only with further research that a piece of information becomes more significant - this goes for all documents too

Comment: Chez: Hope you don't mind...but wanted to make a comment re: names - for years I had looked for Arthur born in Newtown NSW could never find him...but knew that was his name (we are only going back to early 1900's) any how on a whim I think I just used the first letter 'A' and believe me he has a very common surname...found him...he was registered on his birth certificate as Author - yep never would have found him.....to me it indicated a bit of an accent! So be adventurous!! lol

A. Shauna: Love that comment Chez - yes just using a first letter can be useful - great example of a spelling variation, must remember it! Reminds me of when I found an Onions family for someone - the certificates made it look like Union and it was only when I sounded it out that I thought of Onions and sure enough, there they were!

A. IHM: Great tip Chez Leggatt! What are your top 5 tips for family historians examining certificates Shauna Hicks?

A. Shauna: 5 tips - read the certificates carefully, compare info on birth, death and marriage certificates carefully, where possible try and get the handwritten copies rather than a typed certificate (minimises human error), don't always believe what is on the certificate (only as good as person giving the info) and sometimes they just simply lied! So check with other documents as well.

A. Shauna: Another point to remember is civil registration dates for each state /or countries varies and before then you definitely need to look for parish registers.

A. Jill: I had a group registered as a job lot after the parents were married and the Legitimation Act came in in 1902 in NSW so don't just look at the estimated birth date - widen your search.

A. Shauna: Another good point thanks Jill - lateral thinking is the only way to go with family history research!

A. IHM: Go to the FamilySearch wiki for more on Australian state civil registration dates and BDM records :: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Australia_Civil_Registration-_Vital_Records

Comment. Cathy: I could not find a Hawes ancestor in the death index-turned out he had been indexed as Hawkes. The certificate itself was correct.. Also my grandmother and her six siblings did not have registered births in SA-had to locate the baptism records.

Comment. Jill: Thanks for the conversation everyone - I feel a Geniaus post coming on.

A. Shauna: Yes I like hearing about other's experiences especially with finding people under weird entries in the indexes - it's a great way to learn.

Comment. IHM: Time flies when you're having historic fun, we're at 9:30 already! Thanks again to Shauna for her expertise tonight and thanks to everyone for your questions and comments. Don’t forget to follow Shauna's blog http://diaryofanaustraliangenealogist.blogspot.com.au/ and you can find her books on Unlock the Past. We’ll publish the questions, answers and links from tonight’s session in a blog post this coming week.

A. Shauna: Thanks for having me. I enjoyed it as well as learnt a few more sites. Now off to research!

A. IHM: It was our pleasure Shauna :) We’ll be here again next Thursday, 23rd August from 8:30 – 9:30pm, with our next expert Q&A. Next week we have Zoe D'Arcy and Anne Mclean from the National Archives of Australia, answering questions on how to get the most from NAA’s amazing collection! We’ll be coming to you from the International Council of Archives [ICA] Congress.

Links for Birth, Death and Marriage certificates:

• ACT: http://www.ors.act.gov.au
• NSW: http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/searchHistoricalRecords.htm
• Northern Territory: http://www.nt.gov.au/justice/bdm/index.shtml
• Queensland: http://www.justice.qld.gov.au
• South Australia: http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/bdm
• Tasmania: http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/bdm
• Victoria: http://ow.ly/czBoS 
• Western Australia: http://www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au
• New Zealand: http://www.dia.govt.nz/Births-deaths-and-marriages

BDM transcription services:

• Joy Murrin Family History Services: http://www.joymurrin.com.au
• Marilyn Rowan's transcription service: http://www.transcriptions.com.au
• Genealogy SA: http://genealogysa.org.au

Online databases:

• Ancestry: http://www.ancestry.com.au
• Family Search: http://ow.ly/czBAu
• Findmypast Australasia: http://www.findmypast.com.au
• Obituaries Australia: http://oa.anu.edu.au
• Ryerson Index: http://www.ryersonindex.org

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Read the previous Expert Q&A transcripts:

[1]  Thursday, July 26 :: How to get the best from Trove Australia

Expert Facebook Q&As :: Trove Australia

Well, that was a hour of history power! Thanks again to Virginia and Mark from Trove Australia! Here is the blog of our second Expert Facebook Q&A including links. We promise to have Trove back for another Q&A soon! Remember, if you have other burning questions you’d like to ask you can use Trove’s contact form here.

Don't forget our Expert Q&As happen every Thursday night on the Inside History Magazine facebook page.

When: 8:30-9:30pm EST | WA: 6:30-7:30pm WST | SA - NT: 8:00-9:00pm CST | Weekly on a Thursday night

Summary of links from the Trove Expert Q&A:

• Trove Newspapers: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
• List of titles coming soon to Trove: http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/selected_newspapers/Future_Titles.html
• List of current titles: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/titles
• Trove support: http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact
• Top 5 text correctors: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/hallOfFame
• Crowdsourcing funding: http://www.pozible.com
• Tim Sherratt Trove Graphing Tool*: http://wraggelabs.com/shed/querypic/

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Transcript of Expert Q&A - How to get the best from Trove:

Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us tonight. The rules are simple. Try to keep your questions concise and focused on Trove, that will help Virginia and Mark to answer as many as possible in the hour that we have.

Q. Hi Virginia, I've spoken to quite a few history teachers in NSW who aren't aware of TROVE. They love it when they try it and all swear they're going to share with their senior students. Are there any plans to raise awareness of Trove to teachers?
A. Virginia: ‎@James Definitely! We're actually going to be presenting at the History Teachers conference! We feel the education sector is one area we need to try and engage with more!
A. Virginia: @James, if you have ideas that we could do to engage with the school sector more, please do contact us! We'd love to know how Trove could help schools and teachers more.
A. James: Virginia, maybe do a tag team presentation with National Archives - They have the Vroom site which has themed archive records.... I reckon they're really good for younger students but think Trove could scaffold for senior students
A. Virginia: ‎@James, That's a good idea! We do think Trove is more for senior rather than primary, but need to find good ways of appealing to teachers.
A. James: Hmmm. I think it's just awareness of how powerful a tool it is. If you set up a curriculum linked program question that structure in the need to quote original sources found on Trove in the reponse, teachers would probably see a range of interpretations based on sources. Great way to open a topic on multiple interpretations!
A. Virginia: James I'm going to note that one down James. :)
A. James: It's funny, I just realised that I never log in to Trove even though I use it a lot.
A. Virginia: Tsk, James, you're missing so much. ;) You could correct text without having to enter the captcha, create lists, merge/split records, make public or private comments.
A. James: I do have one because I have corrected quite a few early Sydney Gazette articles in the past....Need to get back in there!
A. Virginia: Go for it James. ;) Dare you to get into the top 5 text correctors. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/hallOfFame

Q. Hi Virginia & Mark. As an industrial-strength Trove user I love the site, but is there any hope of changes to the copyright issues so we can access newspapers post-1954?
A. Virginia: ‎@Lyn... that would be up to the copyright council or the copyright owners. We've received approval from the Canberra Times to go post 1954 but unless we get permission we can't go beyond 1954. :(

A. Mark: Hi Lyn, There is work in progress to get some post-1954 newspaper titles up in Trove. We aren't directly involved in the selection of the newspaper titles for digitisation, however I do know that there are about 7,700 newspaper titles published prior to 1954, so as these are more straightforward to get in they have been the focus (as are the 1914-1918 papers for the state libraries)

Q. I am interested in future plans and the papers that shall be scanned in future. Is there a list somewhere?
A. Mark: Hi Sharon - future titles list at http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/selected_newspapers/Future_Titles.html - this list is updated irregularly, but definitely in June/July each year
A. Mark: selections are made on an annual basis - although sometimes additional titles are added in during the year as specific funding is provided

Q. The Queensland country newspapers have been a wonderful bonus, especially in our area the Nambour Chronicle. Are there any more Queensland provincial city papers to come?
A. Mark: Hi Helen Page - have a look at the list of future titles
A. Helen: just checked the link to coming titles too - great to see the Country Life and Sunday Mail in Queensland list!

Q. Do you know of any plans to digitise the Renmark South Australia Murray Pioneer? It's a treasure of history pertaining to a huge area along the Murray from over a hundred years ago. It claimed a circulation of over 500 miles of river front in the 1920s.
A. Mark: Hi Helen - have a look at the list of future titles, I think there are a couple of more regional titles in there - specifically from renmark
A. Helen: or the MIldura Sunraysia Daily?
A. Mark: Renmark Pioneer is selected for the next year's digitisation, unfortunately we can't provide a date that it will be available. Mildura Sunraysia daily isn't currently selected

Q. HI, I am investigating pilgrimages to Gallipoli 1919-1939, and find that it is hard to pin down actual stories, any hints, please
A. Virginia: ‎@Christine, Hmmm... have you found anything at all so far?
A. Virginia: ‎@Christine, Interesting... I just did a quick search for Gallipoli pilgrimage in Trove and there are over 1500 articles in newspapers http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=gallipoli+pilgrimage did you find those?

A. Lyn: Thanks Mark, we live in hope! @Christine, if you just search Gallipoli Visit in Trove digitised newspapers you will find a few references starting from 1919. Once you have names of people you may be able find any diaries, books etc that are in public institutions.
A. Virginia: ‎Thanks Lyn! :) It's great that we have power users that can help other users! We hope to promote the Forum more so these kinds of questions can be shared and answered by other users. :)
A. IHM: Hi Christine Alexander, try putting keyword Gallipoli into Tim Sherratt's querypic tool that graph's Trove results :: http://wraggelabs.com/shed/querypic/

A. Christine: @Virginia, yes I have but it is so time consuming when you get 2 or 3 thousand hits, but what a fantastic resource, love it

A. Christine: graph thing brilliant, many, many thanks

A. Rhonda: That querypic link is AWESOME! Thanks!

Q. When I tag items, is there a way I can then just visit all the pages I have tagged?
A. Mark: You can visit just the articles you have added a specific tag to by selecting your username in the top right hand corner of a screen, the select the 'tags' tab, and click on the tag that you want to see the articles you've added that tag to.

Q. I tagged about 20 articles with the same name and only one remains. Have they been deleted?
A. Mark: @Lyn - tags shouldn't have 'vanished', could you please put an enquiry with your username & the tag that has gone missing so we can investigate it properly? http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact
27/07/12 update: This issue has been resolved, after Lyn submitted details of the problem via the Trove contact form.

Q. I'm in the process of putting together funding to get a title on there. But is there any way you would open some form of donation site where people can donate towards specific titles?
A. Virginia: ‎@Linda For digitisation of a newspaper title? That's fantastic that you're getting funding together! We've got information on how to do just that here: http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/get_involved/
A. Linda: Hi Virginia, yes, wonderful way to go. We have almost got there, have talked with NLA re exact amount etc. But we have several small runs for towns where I am sure if a site was open, enough people would donate to get those titles up there. Maybe if a starter was lodged to get a title up on a donation site, then people we don't even know about would finish it off.
A. Virginia: ‎@Linda, Oh that's so good you're on the way! I'll mention it to ANDP but you may want to talk more with Wan Wong about things like http://www.pozible.com/ for newspaper digitisation donations. Wan's email is wwong@nla.gov.au
A. Linda: or maybe if Trove put the first ten years of a paper up, and it went on in ten year increments as people donated enough. We will raise the $7,300 to get the 1855-1868 total run of this paper up (don't rely on that figure people, as it is a page count thing), but now we have our teeth into it, we want more!
A. Virginia: ‎@Linda, LOL, that's great! Sorry I can't be more help. Unless you think setting up a pozible yourself could help at all...
A. Virginia: ‎Wow Linda, that's amazing! What a donation! Kudos to you!
A. Linda: @Inside History - would be good if you did a story on someone like us, so people knew you can get papers onto Trove like that. One promise of $2,000 came in as soon as I mentioned the project - person did not realise this was an option.
A. IHM: Hi Linda Barraclough, a great idea! Let's talk on cass@insidehistory.com.au

Q. I am researching locks and weirs on the Murray River. It is a bother that the word lock returns so many hits, but I do advanced search and put all the words together: eg Lock 5 River Murray. Is there a 'smarter' way to search when I have to use combinations and permutations, Like "Number 5 lock, river murray" or 'Murray river lock 5' or Lock number 5 River Murray." It scrambles my brain.
A. Mark: @Helen There is indeed a smarter way to search for the various permutations, Trove has a 'near' search functionality that can be used to catch these - so for 'Murray river lock 5', try putting "murray river lock 5"~5 in the search box - this will find all articles that contain these terms within 5 words of each other - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=%22Murray+river+lock+5%22%7E5

Q. Is there a way to use 'wildcards' to search? In my family history, with name spelling variations, it would be great to put a * in place of a letter variation?
A. Mark: Helen - unfortunately we don't have this functionality in Trove - if it is the 'last' characters that are changed around you can cut the word off at the last common character and add a * to truncate the word, but we don't have the ability do replace a single character with a wildcard.

Q. Helen: I run the Quested one name study and often get re- quested in search results so can I do a negative search within 5 words?
A. Mark: This should be possible - so I can investigate it properly, can you please put in an enquiry through the contact us form with a sample search / scenario?

Q. IHM: Thanks to everyone for attending, that was a brilliant Q&A. Thanks especially to Virginia and Mark! To finish, what would be your Trove golden rules - to Virginia and Mark?
A. Virginia: Just search... play... try advanced search... look at the help (which we're re-working!!!) and if all else fails, contact us.
A. Mark:

1. Start simple - Although advanced searches are useful, they also make it easy to over-think the query and miss important results
2. When searching newspapers, don't forget that newspaper titles change over time, so you may need to look at the title details pages to see which other newspapers you need to look at to capture all of that newspaper
3. Trove is more than just newspapers - it can also help you find a library that holds that elusive book (or sheet music, or photograph)
4. http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/newspapers_help#Tips has some helpful tips on how to enhance your newspapers search.
5. If searching for a name where you only have a surname, try using the near search with a title - e.g. "Mr Black" ~2 - you may be surprised at the results

* Read more about Trove in other posts on this blog:
[1] Graphing Trove - Papers Past newspapers

Pick your favourite history book :: Our Top 10 shortlist

Earlier this year we asked our readers to nominate which non-fiction works inspired you to fall in love with history, or that contributed to your research. Here, in no particular order, are the ones that made it to the top 10!

From the classics of last century, to the latest in literature, we loved reading about your nominations. Now it's your chance to vote for your number one! We want to know which inspired you the most, or which you'd most like to get your hands on! Click here to pick your favourite.

• Dancing with Strangers: Sydney 1788-1800 | Inga Clendinnen
• Port Arthur: A Place of Misery | Maggie Weidenhofer
• In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie | Robin Walsh
• Pioneers of Martins Bay: Life in New Zealand's Most Remote Settlement | Alice McKenzie
• The Convict Ships, 1787-1868 | Charles Bateson
• A Million Wild Acres: 200 Years of Man and an Australian Forest | Eric Rolls
• Seeing the First Australians | Ian and Tamsin Donaldson
• The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 | Michael Flynn
• Digging for Diggers: A Guide to Researching an Australian Soldier of The Great War | Graeme Hosken
• Private Journal of A Voyage to Australia | James Bell

Pick the book above that really grabs your attention? Click here and have your say in Inside History magazines best 10 history books!

Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland

Grave Tales 4 :: Fatality at Warragul. A youth drowned

Here is the next instalment in our series of Grave Tales. The 4th in the series, sees Ancestry's Brad Argent in Melbourne and walking the well kept rows of the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery. It was a cold winter's day, unlike the hot summer's day that Alan Burnett lost his life in 1901.

Don't forget to read instalments 1-3, the links are at the finish of this tale, and find a sample of what history awaits to be discovered when you go walking.

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It was a cold and rainy afternoon when I ventured into Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery in Melbourne – perfect weather to mingle with the departed.

This beautiful cemetery is located about 20kms south east of Melbourne’s CBD and rests against the railway line that was cut through in the 1880s. The grounds are well kept and despite the rain I was able to get around with relative ease. The grave stones and monuments are in very good order, thanks no doubt to the wonderful work of the Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries.

Whilst the rain impeded my usual wandering approach, I still managed to get around the ground relatively protected from the water thanks to the boles of some of the larger trees and it was from under the branches of one such tree that I spied the final home of the Burnetts.

Many and varied things draw my attention to a particular gravestone but the thing that spoke to me this time was the ages of its occupants: 95, 87, 90 and 16 – the octogenarian and nonagenarians each emphasising the lost potential of passing at only 16.

Alan Gordon Edgar Burnett was the first child Henry Halford and Frances Rosina Burnett [nee Monk]. They married in 1884 and Alan was born a short time later in 1885. Henry and Fanny went on to have three more children Ellenor Mary, Mildred May and Cedric Henry.

Sunday January 20, 1901 was a very warm summer’s day in Melbourne. The previous day had seen the temperature hit 98 fahrenheit [36 Celsius] and perhaps the prospect of yet another hot day led Alan and his workmate Ernest Symons down to the Warragul Public Baths. Alan and Ernest were engaged as watchmakers for the Jeweller and Optician H.J Day.

According to Ernest’s account of events they went to the baths at about 11am – Sunday’s temperature was rising to a high of 87 fahrenheit [30 Celsius]. Ernest went in first and then swam to the jetty waiting for Alan. Alan dived in feet first and when he surfaced a few moments later he appeared to be struggling. Ernest tried to assist Alan, but in a panic Alan tried to drag him down. Edgar sought assistance but to no avail. Alan’s life ended at the Warragul Public Baths after just 16 summers.

No doubt the years crept slowly by for his parents, Henry and Frances, who were long-time residents of Cheltenham and lived on the same road as the Cemetery. But in the end they were reunited with Alan – Frances first, and then, just under a year later in 1945, Henry joined them both.

Alan’s younger brother, Cedric – a veteran of both world wars, joined them all some 87 years after the tragedy at Warragul.

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Read the previous instalments in the series of Grave Tales:
[1]  Story of Strange Butson Hartigan
[2]  The murder of William Hird
[3]  The loss of the 2 Graham girls

The Coroners Inquest, from the 22 January 1901 West Gippsland Gazette
[1] Fatality at Warragul. A youth drowned. Source: Trove

✻ Brad Argent is content director at Ancestry.com.au. Australia’s leading family history website, Ancestry.com.au contains more than 930 million records in its Australian and UK collections.