Issue 11; Jul-Aug 2012 is now available!

Fashion photography, early film clips and our 1858 “champion of Australia”: Issue 11 of Inside History is fresh off the press!

Inside History is a bi-monthly magazine for people who are passionate about Australia and New Zealand’s history and heritage. In our July–August edition:

• Ever wondered if your family was on film or radio? We show you how to find out where
• It’s the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Milne Bay. Read about it from a pilot who was there 
• Our experts show how to preserve your audio records 
• Read about the influence fashion and photography had on our ancestors’ lives 
• Discover who is the dashing gentleman gracing our cover 
• Copyright and your genealogy: find out who owns what 
• Plus reveal your top 10 history books! 

And much more – in fact, 76 pages of terrific features, practical information on genealogy, chances to network with other family historians, and book and app reviews. On sale now online - click here to buy!

Issue 11 will be available in newsagents nationally by July 13 - click here to see where. You can also request us at your local newsagent, and we'll make sure that our next Issue 12; Sep-Oct 2012 is sent there for you!

Authors to look out for in Issue 11:

Travel Journalist :: Teresa Cannon
Author :: Hazel Edwards @muirmoir
Journalist :: Miranda Farrell
Historian :: Michael Flynn
Journalist :: Paula Grunseit @PaulaGrunseit
Australian genealogist :: Barbara Hall @IrishWattle
Australian genealogist :: Shauna Hicks @HicksShauna
Military Historian :: Michael Martin @RegimentalBooks
National Archives of Australia :: Elizabeth Masters @NationalArchivesAus
Australian genealogist :: Merrill O’Donnell @1891Women
Intern Journalist :: Pristine Ong

Australian genealogist :: Annie Payne @annie_histheart

SLNSW Curator :: Margot Riley @statelibrarynsw

Journalist :: Emma Sutcliffe @littleriveremma
Intern Journalist :: Sarah Trevor
New Zealand genealogist :: Mark Webster @macnzMark
University of New England historian :: Janis Wilton

For more information please contact: 
Cassie Mercer, Inside History magazine
phone: 02 9590 9600 | email: cass@insidehistory.com.au

Have a sneak peak inside our new magazine; Issue 11; Jul-Aug 2012.

Another grave tale from the Klondike by Robin McLachlan

The grave of Norman Nicholas Graeber in Canada. Photo courtesy Robin McLachlan.

Welcome to my Klondike blog. I expect you have come here after reading "Grave Stories from the Klondike" in the May-Jun 2012 issue of Inside History. As promised, the story of Norman Nicholas Graeber is told below.

As I recounted in the article, my prospecting wander through the Dawson City cemetery in Canada brought me to Graeber’s grave, a find that inspired me to delve into the story of Australians and New Zealanders on the Klondike. Norman Nicholas Graeber is unusual in that he didn’t drift off to another goldfield after a season or two, but put down roots in the Klondike. He is very likely the “Nicholas Graeber” on No.10 Soap Creek, a claim that was “in the pay”. In the summer of 1902, the mine was employing a crew of eight men and future prospects looked good.

By 1904, Norman had done well enough to trade the hard life of the miner for that of a Dawson City businessman. He bought the Bonanza Livery Stables. It was also around this time he may have courted Catie Couture (born 1880), a French Canadian girl from Selkirk, Manitoba. Catie was on the Klondike with members of her family. Norman and Catie (her full name being Sarah Anne Catherine) were married in Dawson’s Roman Catholic Church on 10 July 1906. Her brother Alfred was a witness.

Marrying Catie may have presented Aussie Norm with something of a culture shock. She was from the sizeable French Canadian community on the Klondike, socially separate in language and culture. Even Dawson’s Catholic Church was largely a French Canadian institution, with priests from Quebec and records kept in French. If Norman was not bicultural at the time of marriage, lessons in French culture surely followed.

There was time, however, for recreational activities other than just French Canadian folk dancing. A son, Anthony Gerald, was born on 23 June 1907. Aunt Eléonore Couture was godmother at his baptism on 6 July. Norman’s story reads as a classic gold rush tale of hard won success opening the way onto a happy and full life. Alas, life can be like the run of quartz reef that for a time gives much but in truth promises nothing. Baby Anthony lived for only a month. His tiny grave lies only a few rows away from that of his father, who died from appendicitis in April of the following year.

Norman and Catie's son, Anthony, died when he was just four weeks old. 

Photo courtesy Robin McLachlan. 

But for a few words in the church register, I might have ended my tale here. The register for St Mary’s Church, or Église Ste-Marie, records in French that Norman was a widower, "vf de Helen Cameron”, at the time of his marriage. When this entry is combined with other fragments of evidence, the suspicion arises that Norman Nicholas Graeber may not have been perfectly truthful about his past. He may have been Nicholas J. Graeber, a former Omeo hotelkeeper and father of three. In 1896, the divorce court had granted his wife, Ellen (Cameron), a legal separation on the grounds of his repeated adultery. Ellen died in 1942, as the widow of Nicholas. If Norman is Nicholas and Helen is Ellen, then Catie has a bigamist as her husband.

Taking on a new identity was not unknown on the Klondike, where even today you wait for an invitation before asking too many questions. Perhaps given the passage of time we can though take the liberty of asking Norman and Nicholas whether they are the same Mr. Graeber.

I have created “family histories” for both men on ancestry.com.au where you will find the sources used for this blog together with evidence for their common identity.

Norman Nicholas Graeber is just one, or perhaps two, of more than 700 Australians and New Zealanders who went to the Klondike in 1897-99 so far identified by the Diggers on the Klondike project. If you should know of an Australian or New Zealand Klondiker, you are invited to contact me on rmclachlan[at]csu.edu.au.

Issue 8: Jan-Feb 2012 is now available!

Inside History is for people passionate about Australian and New Zealand genealogy, history and heritage. In our Issue 8; Jan-Feb 2012:

• We celebrate 2012 as the National Year of Reading by asking: what’s your favourite history book?
• Our photo expert helps solve a family mystery
• Discover one home’s genealogy in Tasmania
• The experiences of Australian mothers since 1788
• Darwin 1942: eyewitnesses before and after the bombings
• Was your ancestor in the theatre? We look at how to find them
• The life of a ship’s surgeon in the 1800s
• Why Norfolk Island’s world heritage listing is so well deserved

And 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.

Issue # 8 is available in newsagents nationally from Monday, 2nd January. You can also request us at your local newsagent, and we'll make sure that the next issue - our ANZAC issue [Issue # 9] is sent there for you!

Authors to look out for in Issue # 8:

• Author :: John Bailey
• New Zealand genealogist :: Christine Clement
• Museum manager :: Anthony Curtis
• Author :: Hazel Edwards @muirmoir
• Journalist :: Miranda Farrell
• Journalist :: Paula Grunseit @PaulaGrunseit
• Australian genealogist :: Barbara Hall @Irish Wattle
• Author :: Jenny Robin Jones
• Journalist :: Alice Johnson @Alice_Johnson88
• Personal historian :: Annie Payne @annie_histheart
• Local and family history librarian :: Liz Pidgeon @Infolass
• Historian :: Leann Richards
• Historian :: Jayne Shrimpton @JayneShrimpton
• CEO RAHS :: Maria Walsh
• New Zealand genealogist :: Mark Webster @macnzMark

Have a sneak peak inside our new magazine; Issue # 8; Jan-Feb 2012.

Issue 7; Nov-Dec 2011 is now available!

Inside History is for people passionate about Australian and New Zealand genealogy, history and heritage. In our Issue 7; Nov-Dec 2011:

• Our preservation special looks at how to care for mementos, and how you can help conserve a piece of Australia’s history 
• It’s our first birthday! You could win up to $970 in prizes, including the ultimate findmypast subscription package
• Looking for the lost grave of an ancestor? Read our guide first
• What heritage roses in cemeteries can reveal about your family
• She has my face! How award-winning author Hazel Edwards caught the genealogy bug
• Plus, take a tour around Tasmania’s stunning – and historic – Maria Island

And there's so 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. On sale now.

Missed an issue of Inside History? Our back issues are now on sale! Just $7.50 per issue (plus $2 postage). Sale ends December 31!

Issue # 7 is available in newsagents nationally from Friday, 4th November. 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 summer issue [Issue # 8] is sent there for you!

Authors to look out for in Issue # 7:

• Genealogist :: Jill Ball @geniaus
• Historian :: Mark Dunn
• Author :: Hazel Edwards @muirmoir
• Academic :: Alison Elliott
• Journalist :: Miranda Farrell
• Historian :: Karen Filewood
• Genealogist :: Megan Gibson
• Journalist :: Paula Grunseit @PaulaGrunseit
• Australian genealogist :: Barbara Hall
• Family historian :: Neil Hall
• Journalist :: Alice Johnson
• New Zealand genealogist :: Helen Leggatt @GenealogyJourno
• Historian :: Jayne Shrimpton @JayneShrimpton
• Military historian :: Neil Smith
• Journalist :: Kirsten Wade @kirstenwade
• New Zealand genealogist :: Mark Webster @macnzMark

Have a sneak peak inside our new magazine; Issue # 7; Nov-Dec 2011.

How can I subscribe to Inside History Magazine?

Our doors are now open and we're selling subscriptions and single issues to our lovely new readers.

Single issues are $10.50 [plus $2 p&p], or we have two subscription plans:

• $31.50 for 6 months [3 issues], or
• $63 for 12 months [6 issues]
• Subscriptions are available to libraries and societies by invoice
• Subscribers get FREE postage for each issue - usually $2 p&p.

Order online, www.insidehistory.com.au, or you can also call on 02 9590 9600 or email us to book direct, if you prefer to talk to us.

Or pick up a copy from your local newsagent nationally - click here to find out where.

Any queries can be emailed to info@insidehistory.com.au or call 02 9590 9600 with questions! We'd love to hear from you!

Happy reading!
The Inside History magazine team
Explore your past, enrich your future

Notes:

All figures above are inclusive of GST