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

When: NSW – ACT – VIC – TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm | Weekly on Thursdays nights!

Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links below.

Summary of links from the Q&A:

• BDM Online Ireland: http://ow.ly/ljO6C
• Breifne Historical Society: http://www.breifnehistory.com/
• Failte Romhat: http://www.failteromhat.com/
• FamilySearch: County Cavan :: http://ow.ly/lLuG9
• Griffith’s Valuations: http://ow.ly/lLr2T
• IreAtlas Townland Database search form: http://www.seanruad.com/
• Irish Births 1864-1958 on Findmypast Ireland :: http://ow.ly/lLrzE
• Irish Civil Registrations on FamilySearch :: http://ow.ly/lLr9z
• Irish Famine Memorial Sydney: http://www.irishfaminememorial.org/
• Irish Famine Memorial Sydney: Earl Grey’s Famine Orphan Scheme :: http://ow.ly/lLpvM
• Irish Famine Memorial Sydney: Famine Orphan Girls database :: http://ow.ly/lLx99
• JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org
• National Archives of Ireland: Census of Ireland 1901/1911 :: Click to view
• National Library of Australia card :: http://ow.ly/lLsjw
• NSW Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896 :: http://ow.ly/lLt85
• Roots Ireland :: http://ow.ly/lLrnm
• Tipperary Emigrant Index 182-1866: Click to view

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Transcript of Expert Q&A – Drs Richard Reid and Perry McIntyre

Our Expert Q&A with the DRs Richard Reid and Perry McIntyre starts in 15 minutes at 8:30pm AEST. Join us with your questions on Irish immigration in the 1800s.

Please ask your questions in a comment below, and Perry or Richard will answer in a following comment.

Comment: IHM: Welcome everyone, thank you for joining us. Please welcome Perry and Richard to tonight’s Q&A!
A. IHM: Tip :: Keep refreshing your browser to see the answers as they appear and remember to look through the entire list of comments, as facebook may order your questions and answers out of sequence.
A. Perry: Hi, Richard and Perry here to help you tonight.
A. Carmel: Hi all!

Q. From Noeleen: My g. great grandmother Bridget Young and her sister Mary arrived aboard the Thomas Arbuthnot in 1850. Bridget was the mother of Kelly Gang member Steve Hart. The book “A decent setof girls” tells me that they came from “Hannahdown” (Sic). I visited Galway last year and saw the famine memorial at Annaghdown. My question: is there any way of finding records of their parents’ deaths etc? I have looked, but maybe not in the right places… and I am not holding hope that there will be records. 
A. Perry: Hi Noeleen – Basically no chance. Death registration didn’t begin until the 1860s. There are some rare aeriel registers for Catholics parishes but not for Annaghdown in Galway. Perhaps you should check cemeteries in the area in case there is a headstone. Lots of cemeteries in Galway have been indexed – check for a heritage centre in Galway that might deal with family history enquiries and send them an email about cemeteries that have been indexed – Richard
A. IHM: You can go to Roots Ireland to search records from the East Galway Family History Society ::http://ow.ly/lLo65
A. Noeleen: Thanks Perry. I checked quite a few for headstones and some indexes. Chalk this up to the end of the line in this particular branch.

Q. From Tracey: My ancestors (John Carroll and Catherine Ryan) came from Ireland in 1864 both arrived per Queen of the East and married here just after arrival (June 20). According to the passenger records He was from Clonmore father John from Dunmore Tipperary and Mary (dead); Katherine’s parents were Daniel Ryan (Clonmore) and Margaret (dead). This information was found on Tipperary Index on the internet at this link (click to view) - Can you suggest where I start for Irish records – I do not know where these places are? 
A. Perry: Alphabetical Index to the Towns and Townlands of Ireland published in 1861 for the 1851 Census has no Dunmore in Tipperary. There are 5 Clonmores listed in Tipperary in different parts of the county. You will really need to determine which of these Clonmores the Ryans came from before attempting to look for records in Ireland. Marriage, dead and births of their children in the colony should help with this – Richard and Perry
Q(b): Tracey: Thank you – can you point me in the direction of the towns for Clonmore or the index you speak of? Also do you know is there only 1 Dunmore (anywhere in Ireland).
A. IHM: The IreAtlas townland database at :: http://www.seanruad.com
A. Tracey: Thanks
A. Tracey: Are the irish births,deaths, marriage records in one place or in each parish please?
A. IHM: You can search Irish Civil Registrations on FamilySearch :: http://ow.ly/lLr9z | Roots Ireland :: http://ow.ly/lLrnm | Findmypast Ireland :: http://ow.ly/lLrzE
A. Perry: I  assume you mean Civil Registration which did not start in Ireland until 1864 so many of us are second or even third generation Australians by then! They are at the GRO – General Register Office – Dublin which have a search room at the Irish Life Centre in Abbey Street, Dublin and are on some websites. Before 1864 you are reliant on parish registers and need to know the parish and whether they were Catholic or Church of Ireland – lists of surviving ranges of parish registers are on the National Library of Ireland’s website. For the 6 Counties of Ulster part of Northern Ireland since 1922, the BDMS are in Belfast. Perry
A. Tracey: Thank you very much Perry and Inside History – I appreciate your help.

Q. From Clancy: Hi Richard and Perry. According to my great grandmother’s death certificate, her mother is unknown but her father was Patrick Murphy. My grandmother told me he arrived with his family in the mid 1800s, My grandmother is reported as being born in Sydney in 1881 but I have not been able to find a record that fits. Do you have any tips to help me narrow down likely Patrick Murphys?
A. Perry: Hi Clancy, Murphy is the most common surname in Ireland. The fact that his first name is Patrick doesn’t help. Undoubtedly there were would have been hundreds of Patrick Murphys who came from Ireland in the 19th century. Mid 1800s doesn’t really help you a lot. You really need to try and see from death, marriage and birth certificates if you can get an approximate date on this guy. Good luck with a name like that! – Richard.
A. Kerry: That’s similar to me Clancy, says on certs of her kids birth born in Sydney but no records no marriage no death and no immigration only record is birth of her children that is it.
A. Perry: They MUST have at least died and, if you are a descendant, had children so you have to search further and purchase certificates. The indexes to Aus BDMs are mostly on line now.
A. Kerry: It states on my mans death cert her mother was Elizabeth Hutchison but it not true her.mum was Elizabeth mead so not Always true. Elizabeth age changed three times on her kids birth cert I learnt my relatives love to hide a few details not sure why.

Q. From Jan: My Irish gg grandparents married in St Pancras in 1851 before coming here in 1853 – Edward Sarsfield & Mary Leonard. Edward was born abt 1823 in County Wexford. His father is also Edward Sarsfield occ Farmer/Labourer apparently dead before 1853. I have reached a total blank from here back. I cannot find out anything more about the Sarsfield of County Wexford. Any suggestions please ?
A. Perry: Hi Jan, do you know what denomination they were – Catholic, Protestant? – Richard
A. Jan: Roman Catholic – I have no town in County Wexford but possibly thought could be Wexford itself but just a guess. Once in Australia the surname becomes Sarchfield but prior to this seems to be Sarsfield.
A. Perry: My suggestion is that you look for the name Sarsfield in the indexes to the Tithe Applotment books for Wexford, produced between 1823 and 1838 and the Tenement Valuations for Wexford (known as Griffith Valuations) produced in 1853 for Wexford. That will help you to see if the name Sarsfield crops up in that county and in what areas. Sarsfield is not a particularly Wexford name, more associated with Limerick but it doesn’t mean it’s not there in that county. – Richard
A. IHM: Search the Griffith Valuations on Ask About Ireland :: http://ow.ly/lLr2T
A. Jan: Thanks Richard – I think I’ve gone down that road a while ago. Yes Sarsfield is quite a famous name in Limerick – just got to try and make a connection some where. Anyway might just have to go over and search the Parish records in person  thank you.
A. Perry: Did you look at Griffith and the Tithe Applotment? – Richard
A. Jan: Yes I think so but long ago, will try again – thank you for the link to Griffith’s Valuation – I will start looking.

Q. From Carmel: I have Mary Anne (Annie) Hart born c 1806 Ballinrobe, coMayo. I have no idea who her parents are but she married in Lancashire then the family came to Australia in 1849. would love that step back! Where do I start?
A. Perry: Hi Carmel, how do you know for sure she was born in Ballinrobe? – Richard
A. Carmel: It was stated on her death certificate. (so it has to be true!)
A. Perry: Really! I’m sure that’s right but one must always wonder at the informant’s knowledge when they gave such information. The family name Hart originally comes from Co Meath and these families were pushed to the west after the Norman invasion so they have probably been in Mayo for quite a while. Unfortunately there are no Catholic births or marriages that far back for Ballinrobe ie 1806 so all you can hope for is the occurance of the name in some other record – for example, there is a list of Ballinrobe householders for 1783 in a magazine called Analecta Hibernica volume 14. There is also something known as Spinning Wheel Premium List with 1900 Mayo names from 1796. – Richard
A. Carmel: Can these be found on line anywhere or where can they be accessed?
A. Carmel: I am fully aware of information on death certificates, but it was her son in law who was the grandson of a minister and at 17 filled out his father’s certificate with extra information so trusting him to check!
A. Perry: There are 8 Harts on the Spinning Wheel Premium List for 1796 in Mayo – see http://www.failteromhat.com/post1796.php. - Richard
A. Carmel: Thank you I will have a look at this
A. IHM: Analecta Hibernica volume 14 is available on JSTOR :: http://www.jstor.org | You can access JSTOR via your National Library of Australia card :: http://ow.ly/lLsjw

Q. From Peggy: My G Grandfather John O’Rourke, his wife and 10 children came from Limerick, Ireland in 1884 to Sydney, Australia as unassisted immigrants. His sponsor was Michael McGirr 163 York St Sydney. I have been unable to find out who Michael McGirr is. How did the sponsorship work…did the sponsor have to be related to the family?
A. Perry: Usually if you had a sponsor it meant you were assisted so I’m a bit confused here. By 1884 you can look at directories in Sydney which shoud pinpoint Michael McGirr
Q(b): Peggy: The immigrations records are confusing as some showed them as unassisted and yet others showed them as assisted? confusing. From your reply they must have been assisted due to them having a sponsor. Did the sponsor have to be related? What were the rules around being a sponsor? (thank you)
A. Perry: Hi Peggy, a sponsor could be a friend as well as a relative. There are records relating to all this in State Records NSW – Remittance Deposit journals, these have been indexed. There are also regulations relating to age, occupation etc if you received an assisted passage sponsored by a friend or relative. – Richard
A. Peggy: Thanks for the information Perry.

Henry Lawson was born in 1867 and spent his first 16 years or so in western New South Wales before joining his mother in Sydney. Well before I started work at North Sydney Council as the area’s official historian in 2003, I knew that Lawson had written about city life. “Faces in the Street” (1888) was, for me, as bleak a representation of urban alienation as anything written in this country — finishing, as it does, with an echo of William Blake and Karl Marx. It is only “red revolution”, writes the young Lawson, that will end “the everlasting strife… in that great mill for human bones — the city’s cruel street”.

Henry Lawson on the pre-1988 Australian $10 note

However, like many, I had associated Lawson mainly with the bush through stories and verse such as “Andy’s Gone with Cattle”, “The Loaded Dog” and “The Drover’s Wife”. Not that Lawson romanticised the regions. His poem “Up the Country” made plain his preference for the urban boarding house where he could drink beer and “lemon squashes”, take a bath and “cool down”. Indeed, for this and suggesting that the idyllic bush was a figment of poetic imagination, Lawson was roundly chastised by Banjo Paterson, his greatest rival for the title of Australia’s best-known poet.

So it was something of a revelation to discover his long association with North Sydney. For this I owe much to writer and historian Olive Lawson, Henry’s great niece, who documented his local associations and in 1999 compiled his writings about the North Sydney area.

Lawson lived in and visited North Sydney many times between 1885, when he stayed with Emma Brooks in East Crescent Street overlooking Lavender Bay, and 1921, when he was incapacitated by a stroke before his death in 1922. Lawson was never in one place for long. There were numerous abodes in Euroka Street, a house called Strathmere in Lord Street where he lived in 1899 and rooms above the Coffee Palace, which sat in the middle of North Sydney, a small but bustling commercial centre in Miller Street. That was run by Isabel Byers who cared for Lawson for many years. He followed her to William and Euroka Streets. And there was Chaplin Cottage in Charles Street, where Lawson’s second child Bertha was born in 1900.

The local hotels no doubt saw a lot of Henry, as a patron if not a resident. He described the Fig Tree Inn at the bottom of Blues Point Road — next door to the present site of Blues Point Tower. And the pub at the bottom of Alfred Street, Milsons Point was the subject of the very funny poem “Dinds Hotel”:

… We hurried out of Campbell Street, and round to Dind’s hotel
Where after two long beers apiece, we found the world “orright”…

Joe Summer was the publican there around 1914. His granddaughter can still recall the story he told of rescuing the poet from the street after a few too many “long beers”, when the world was no longer “orright”. Along with painters like Arthur Streeton, who also frequented the foreshores of McMahons Point and Lavender Bay in the early 1890s, Lawson and Paterson were “City Bushmen” — to use the title of Leigh Astbury’s important study of the Heidleburg School. They presented “the bush” to Australians at a time, in the late 19th century, when this country’s national identity was coalescing around images and stories from the interior while its demographic reality was highly urban. The “Legend of the Bush” had great resonance in Sydney and Melbourne.

On one occasion he was picked up there by police on suspicion of being drunk – when in reality he was labouring under the strain of the incline.

While Australia’s rural landscape was being well-interpreted and mythologised in poetry and prose, the communities around Sydney’s, by-then, famous harbour were rarely explored in writing. It only really dawned on me as I researched my own book on the harbour that, at least until the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built, the waterway did not symbolise Australia as it does today. Though it was appreciated across the world for its superlative beauty, Sydney Harbour represented nowhere but itself. So while Lawson’s portraits of life near the North Sydney waterfront are not held up as the best examples of his work, and indeed are hardly acknowledged at all, they are among the most intimate and rare portrayals of “harbour people” written.

The span of Lawson’s association with North Sydney coincided with great change. The population grew from just over 12,000 in 1886 to 48,000 in 1920. Around 1910 Lawson expressed his annoyance at the changes taking place around him. The poem “Old North Sydney” is an early and significant expression of community and loss in the face of the development that many welcomed as progress. While we may think back on the early 1900s as a time of relative calm and continuity — before mobile phones, the internet and choking traffic — Lawson was full of pique at the crowds that surrounded him:

…A brand new crowd is thronging
The brand new streets aglow
Where the Spirit of North Sydney
Would gossip long ago.
They will not know to-morrow –
Tho’ ‘twere but yesterday –
Exactly how McMahon’s Point
And its ferry used to lay…

The ferry Lawson referred to started operating in 1884 with an all-night service between Circular Quay and the North Shore. From 1906 Sydney Ferries ran services at 15-minute intervals and every 10 minutes at peak hour. While Milsons Point was by far the busiest of North Sydney’s ferry wharves, the McMahons Point and Lavender Bay service was a popular and busy transport route with over 6,000,000 passenger trips each year before the opening of the Bridge.

Lawson’s sense of history and place is obvious again in the poem “The Pub That Lost Its Licence”. It describes the Fig Tree Inn in the early 1840s, before ferry services and when people rowed themselves across the harbour or paid a boatman to transport them in a wherry or skiff. The Fig Tree Inn was demolished in the late 1940s to make way for a block of flats — a fate that would have outraged the poet. Lawson must have walked up and down Blues Point Road many times. On one occasion he was picked up there by police on suspicion of being drunk — when in reality he was labouring under the strain of the incline. His 1913 story “The Kids” begins with a description of local children sweeping down the same steady incline in billy carts on their way to “a little sandy beach” where flotsam and jetsam from the harbour could be scavenged and pulled back up the hill.

Many of the houses that survive along this thoroughfare would have been familiar to Lawson. The filigree-style terraces were built in the late 1880s to the mid 1890s as respectable lower middle-class dwellings. Two sandstone cottages along there, numbers 89 and 91, are among the oldest in the area. Though built in the late 1860s and 1870s, the style and the untreated stone makes them look much older.

William Street branches off Blues Point Road towards the top where it morphs into Miller Street — still one of North Sydney’s main business thoroughfares. A stone seat was installed at the junction in the late 1960s. It is known as the Henry Lawson seat. The writer affectionately called William Street, “Bill Street”, in the short story “The Bath” written in 1908. In this he remarked upon the transience and mobility of life in the terraces of North Sydney at the lower end of the social scale:

One thing I could never make is that when one house becomes vacant from a house agent’s point of view… the people of another remove into it. And there’s not the slightest difference between the houses. It is because the removal is such a small affair I suppose, and the change is the main thing.

Union Street also meets Blues Point Road near here. There are several handsome terraces along here but the grandest of all the homes is “Graythwaite”. In Henry’s time it was home to the banker Thomas Dibbs and his family. Graythwaite was the centre of upper class socialising before the Great War, and Lawson must have passed here many times on his way. Acutely aware that this was not “his” North Sydney, he made mention of the class divide that could be so manifest by simply turning a corner:

Up to the right are the rising terraced gardens of upper and still more upper classes. You’ll see a tennis party running about… But these people and things don’t trouble us. (“The Pride of Flu”, 1919)

A railway line, built after the poet died in 1922, now cuts Euroka Street in two. Three of his Euroka Street homes, numbers 15, 17 and 19, were demolished, but five still stand – Nos 21, 26, 28, 30 and 31. Indeed, enough of Euroka and nearby Banks Streets survive to give a sense of the place in Henry’s day.

What has definitely gone are the sounds and sights of the old working class neighbourhood — those who lived and worked on or beside the waterway, in its boat yards and ferry depots, its timber yards and gas works. It was with these people in mind that Lawson expressed his greatest outrage at the anticipated destruction of Balls Head. In the “Sacrifice of Ball’s Head” written around 1916, Lawson was protesting against the leasing of part of the foreshore to a coal bunkering company. It is one of the earliest articulations of a conservation ethic and the needs of a community in Australia.

The Balls Head Coal Loader was built despite Lawson’s objections, though the remaining part of the headland was preserved as public park. The poet lived to see the former completed but died before his brother-in-law, Premier Jack Lang, dedicated the latter in 1926. It might have given him some respite.

Henry Lawson suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage at Abbotsford — further up the Harbour’s estuary. He died on 2 September 1922. The poet and writer was given a state funeral and a statue was erected in his memory in the Domain above the harbour he loved.

Dr Ian Hoskins is the North Sydney Council historian, manages the North Sydney Heritage Centre and wrote Sydney Harbour: A History (UNSW Press, $39.95).

Historical newspaper articles add insight into our families’ past, and often provide rich information which cannot be found elsewhere. Most family history researchers know and love Trove, which enables users to search through millions of pages from digitised Australian newspapers dating from 1803 to 1954.

Trove is outstanding in providing free access to these newspapers, but there are many other sites that also provide free-to-view newspapers. Papers Past, an initiative of the National Library of New Zealand, provides access to two million pages from 77 New Zealand newspapers between 1839 and 1945.

Further abroad, The London, Edinburgh, and Belfast Gazettes are also freely available online. The London Gazette is available from its first edition, 7 November 1665. It owes its inception to the relocation of the Royal Court from London during the Great Plague.

Australian residents with a National Library of Australia card can access a number of newspapers online through the eResources link on the NLA website. These include the Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845, a selection of 19th-century periodicals; Dawn and New Dawn, magazines published from 1952 to 1975 by the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board; The Irish Newspaper Archive, of 78 Irish newspaper titles dating from 1763; and The Gale NewsVault. The latter is a personal favourite of mine. It allows users to simultaneously search across the Times Digital Archive, the 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection, the Financial Times Historical Archive, the 19th Century British Library Newspapers, the 19th Century UK Periodicals, and the Illustrated London News Historical Archive.

Check your state and local libraries for free access to newspapers. For example, the State Library of Queensland and the Brisbane City Council Library offer card-holders free access to the Times Digital Archive and the British Newspapers 1600–1900. Other websites offering both free and pay-to-view access include Cyndi’s List and Wikipedia’s list of online newspaper archives.

Problems with searches and OCR:
Searching newspapers online is an inexact science, with many factors determining the success of your search. Damaged, deteriorated or missing copies of the original newspaper could be to blame. Problems with the scanning process are another possible explanation. However enticing the image of the newspaper appears on your computer screen, remember the computer is reading text that has been through a process of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). That is, a computer has translated the letters, numbers, and symbols on the page into electronic text. This process can often go very badly as physical features and the type of print may interfere. Some other problems that affect the process include scanning from bound copies, poor ink and paper quality on the originals, and particular letters — electronic mistranslation of the letters a, e, c, and o is a common problem. Trove allows registered users to correct the scanned text which, of course, assists the searching process. However, not all sites offer this text correcting option and, even with the newspapers found on Trove, many lines of text are uncorrected.

Search Strategies:
To improve your chances of success in searching on any newspaper site, try some of these strategies:

1. Use uncommon words. Think of all the words that might appear in the article you are seeking, then search for the most uncommon word. For example, a member of my family, James Emanuel Woodward, died in the village of Bickley in Kent. I was only successful in finding his death notice in the Times Digital Archive by searching for ‘Bickley’.
2. Note different forms and spellings of names. I can find references to James Emanuel Woodward as James E Woodward and J E Woodward. The spelling of ‘Emanuel’ also varies.
3. Enclose your search term in double quote marks to search for the exact phrase. Try enclosing different parts of your search terms in double quotes. Remember that older newspapers were printed in a column format, so if your search terms ran over two lines of newspaper text, the words may have been correctly electronically translated in one line, but not in the next. Also, some words in your search terms may be correctly translated and others not.Using James Emanuel Woodward as an example again, varying the position of the quotes in the search from “James Emanuel Woodward” to “James Emanuel” Woodward and then James “Emanuel Woodward” provided four new results on Trove.
4. Exclude terms with NOT. You can refine the number of results by using NOT to eliminate certain words. Searching for “James Woodward” in The Sydney Morning Herald for the period 1870-1879 gives 33 results, including a number where a James Woodward was imprisoned. If we use the search term “James Woodward” NOT imprisoned, the number of results is reduced to 24.
5. Become familiar with the period and adapt your search terms to fit. Styles, particularly of family notices, varied over time. For example, in birth notices in the 19th century neither the mother nor child were usually mentioned. By the mid-20th century, a notice often included the mother’s maiden name, her married name, and that of the child’s.
6. Expect a time lag in the appearance of family notices. Vast distances and slow communication meant notification of events could be delayed.
7. Do not limit yourself to searching in one state. Interstate newspapers often copied articles from local newspapers.
8. Become familiar with the layout of the newspaper. Advertisements, family notices and shipping reports appeared in the same position in the papers day after day. It’s simple and quick, especially using Trove, to browse from one edition to the next and locate the appropriate page for the type of notice you’re seeking. Remember that Saturday’s paper, and sometimes Wednesday’s, was often larger than others and was laid out differently.
9. Some newspaper sites have a near function. Using Trove, a near search is achieved by the tilde key (~). A search for “James Woodward”~2, will pick up James Woodward within two words of each other in any order. This strategy is particularly useful if your search term is a common name, such as Young.
10. And finally, do not forget to use the Help pages of a particular site.

Other useful links:
Brisbane City Library card – click here
Cyndi’s List newspapers – click here
Dawn and New Dawn magazines – click here
The Irish Newspaper Archive – click here
National Library of Australia library card – click here
Queensland Family History Society – click here
State Library of Queensland library card – click here
The Times of London Archive – click here
Trove text correction FAQs – click here
Wikipedia’s list of online newspaper archives – click here

Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links below.

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

When: NSW – ACT – VIC – TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm | Weekly on Thursdays nights!

Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links below.

Summary of links from the Q&A:

• BDM Online Ireland: http://ow.ly/ljO6C
• Immigration Museum: Current exhibitions :: Click to view
• Immigration Museum: Education programs and resources :: Click to view
• Museum Victoria: Immigration to Victoria Timeline :: Click to view
• Museum Victoria: Origins :: Click to view
• NAA Guide to Ship Crew Lists after 1922 :: http://ow.ly/lxjx8
• PROV Guide: Crew List records :: http://ow.ly/lxj24
• PROV Guide: Passenger lists :: Click to view
• PROV: Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports 1852-1923 :: http://ow.ly/lxjmR
• State Library of Victoria Guide to ship’s crew lists :: http://ow.ly/lxksz

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Transcript of Expert Q&A – Museum Victoria – Immigration Museum

Our Expert Q&A with the Immigration Museum Victoria team starts in 15 minutes at 8:30pm AEST. Join us with your questions on the Museum Victoria‘s education and family history resources, and immigration into Victoria.

Please ask your questions in a comment below, and Phillip or Jan will answer in a following comment.

Comment: IHM: Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us. Please welcome Phillip and Jan to tonight’s Q&A!
A. IHM: Tip :: Keep refreshing your browser to see the answers as they appear and remember to look through the entire list of comments, as Facebook may order your questions and answers out of sequence.
A. Phillip: Hello everyone
A. Jan: Hello everyone
A. Carmel: Hi all
A. IHM: Hi Carmel :)

Q. From Ros: What are the best source for German immigration into Victoria?
A. Phillip: @Ros Hi Ros, depends on what time period you are looking for? Is it pre 1923? Or are you just interested in general history?
A. Ros: The one I am helping research was born about 1858 in Wahrenhelz or Wahrenholz germany,(prussia or Austria and married in Australia in 1887. The other was perhps borni n Hanover about 1830 and died in Australia in 1867 so I’m hoping to find some sources which will help us track down these elusive family members.
A. Phillip: @Ros Births Deaths and Marriages Ros in each State may give you further information on the wherabouts of this elusive family member. Again arrival records through PROV is also an option, but again it depends on what State they may have arrive.
A. Phillip: as to which archives you search.
A. Ros: We have searched the BDMs extensively but I was just wondering if there were any alternative records you might know about. I do know that many of the German settlers in the Riverina came in to the Rivernian via South Australia but I was thinking Victorian entry would be an alternative. We know where they ended up just not how they came in…
A. Phillip: @Ros Well Ros again it’s a case of finding out what State they arrived in. South Australia for example was a very popular destination for German Migrants so the South Australian Archives may be a good start.

Q. From Carmel: I have an ancestor travelled intermediate in 1850 arriving Adelaide Jan 1851. Trying to find out more about intermediate travel. He was in Melb before July 51 and wondering is there are any records of interstate travel?
A. IHM: Hi Carmel, here’s the link to the Public Record Office Victoria 1852-1915 Index: outward passengers to interstate, UK & foreign ports :: http://ow.ly/lxjmR
A. Jan: Hello Carmel my colleague Phil is better placed to answer these questions.
A. Carmel: would also like to find more about the crews, I am sure a couple of mine came out as crew and that is why they are not appearing on passenger lists
A. Phillip: @Carmel Interesting question Carmel. Crew lists can be sourced at PROV as well as the State Library of Victoria’s Genealogy Centre
A. IHM: Here’s the link to Public Record Office Victoria crew list records :: http://ow.ly/lxj24
A. IHM: Here’s the link to the National Archives of Australia guides to ship crew lists after 1922 :: http://ow.ly/lxjx8
A. Carmel: Thanks Cassie but mine came from Adelaide to Melb, don’t worry have exhausted this link time and time again. great link and have found a lot there too. have to remember too that not all will be found here, many just came in as mr or mrs etc so no guarantee of finding all.
A. IHM: And the link to the State Library of Victoria guide to ship’s crew lists :: http://ow.ly/lxksz
A. Carmel: I also have a couple of pics of my husband and family on the ship out from Holland in 1958.

Q. From Dan: Looking for information on a Daniel Gallagher or Gollougher that came from co down Ireland. Born 1828 in Ireland died in maldon 1898, unsure of when he arrived, but had 2 brothers John and Micheal.
A. Phillip: @Dan Each state looked after there migration records in this time period. You would need to visit the archives of each state online to view records. For example Public Records Office of Victoria can assist you with Victorian arrivals only.

Q. From Lynda: I’ve got a baby born at sea 1852 (Burns) but cannot find the ship arriving. He died whilst still an infant on the Collingwood flats so I think I can rule out the SA option. Any ideas?
A. Phillip: @Lynda Hi Lynda well given that the baby died in Victoria you can presume that he/she is listed in the PROV records for arrival at that time period. See PROV link above. It must be noted that not all ships ie Merchant Ships were listed so it could be a case that they are not listed. State Library of Victoria have very good listings of other ships arriving in Melbourne and surrounds
A. Michelle: One of my families travelled from Ireland to Sydney in the 1880s but with no record. I have a copy of a letter written by the surgeon on the Orizaba stating that their child died and was buried at sea before arriving in Adelaide. The family are actually recorded on the Victorian shipping registers as arriving Melbourne. They actually travelled on to Sydney.

Q. From Linda: Good evening all. I have an interest in travel luggage. In the 1970s I bought a tall (seven foot plus – showing my age), very narrow cupboard with shelves that were resting on pieces of wood that could be moved up and down to make shelving of the desired configuration. I was told it came from a local Dutch family (wish I had asked for a name!) that emigrated in “the very early days”, who bought it out with them when they emigrated. It was designed to be shipped on what is now its back, packed with well-wrapped crockery (where it would no doubt have survived). On arrival it was unpacked, the cupboard stood up, and the crockery put back in it. Question – were these cupboards common to your knowledge? Perhaps something sold at a port? Any thoughts at all on a date?
A. Linda: Two photos over on the side bar. The top easily removes (and could have been packed inside) and the base is very small, making a very solid packing box.
A. Janne: if this was in Briagolong maybe it was the Mennen family – will try to think of the name of the only other dutch family in Briagolong
A. Linda: Hi Janne - I don’t know. I bought it at Feeleys in Maffra in the mid 1970s. A few families spring to mind.
A. Jan: Linda the Dutch luggage sounds amazing we could ask our curators and get back to you or contact members of the Dutch community.
A. Linda: Thank you – I am looking for a home for it, and need to know if it is common or otherwise.
A. IHM: Here’s the link to the 2 photos of Linda’s Dutch luggage :: http://ow.ly/lxlx6 | http://ow.ly/lxoNQ
A. Linda: Hi IH (Cassie or Ben?) – the links look different, but go to the same place.
A. IHM: All fixed now Linda :)
A. Linda: You guys continue to amaze me! :)

Comment: Carmel: One of my distant cousins has a chest of drawers that came from England with our ancestors. It is almost 5 ft high, we are told the bottom drawer was for the babies to sleep in which I had heard of before. Such a beautiful piece.
A. Phillip: @Carmel great story Carmel although I haven’t heard that myself
A. Carmel: Phill the drawers were left to the daughter in his will, I have photos of it!
A. Phillip: It would be great to see them Carmel. You can email them to immdiscoverycentre@museum.vic.gov.au
A. Carmel: Shall do
A. Janne: As a baby in 1920 my mother slept in a drawer and there was no lack of money for a cot.

Q. From Anne: I can’t find my Sarah Howe from Ireland or my Martin Johannasen from Norway I suspect they may have gone to Victoria first since I’ve checked NSW and QLD they came over at different times and I’ve found no marriage or anything for them either but the spelling back then was rather rough as well any help or suggestions appreciated Martin I don’t know if either were convicts could never find them on any lists ? Big mystery.
A. Phillip: @Anne Hi Anne it is always a tricky one as often in that time period names were not often recorded correctly. You would best to try the PROV website were you can see most names of arrivals from the 1839 through to 1923. Again each State in that time period looked after their own records so there is no harm in trying WA and SA.

Q. From IHM: Hi Jan and Phillip, what would be your top tips for using the Museum Victoria collections?
A. Phillip: The Immigration Museum website is full of interesting collection items, stories, images and video material exploring all aspects and themes associated with Australia’s migration story and in particular Victoria’s rich immigration history. My Tip: If you have a particular topic in mind you can simply add it to the search engine of the homepage and you will be provided with a number of different items that exist online. If you can’t find what you’re looking for and need assistance send us an email to immdiscoverycentre@museum.vic.gov.au and one of our staff members will assist you.
A. Carmel: I visited there last year, worth the tour!
A. Phillip: Everyday day at 2.30pm and well worth the visit
A. Jan:  If you are interested in researching immigration from the teaching and learning point of view then http://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/education/ this is the best place to start for the programs we offer Online resources like http://museumvictoria.com.au/origins/ Origins And the Immigration Timeline http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/websites-mini/immigration-timeline/ are wonderful.

Q. From IHM: Hi Phil, what is your favourite collection item or story you’ve found in the Immigration Museum collection? What do the kids like the most when they visit for school, Jan?
A. Phillip: My favourite item on display at the moment is located in our Immigration Discovery Centre and is the small O’Shea Diary. The diary was kept by male Irish immigrant M.P. O’Shea, recording his voyage from Castlecomer, Ireland to Melbourne via Dublin and Liverpool in 1859. The diary tells the story of a voyage of adversity, describing illness, drunken passengers, and scarcity of provisions, as well as early struggles in the new colony. It focuses on shipboard conditions, including poor and insufficient food, drunken assaults on female passengers, seasickness and subsequent summary justice, as well as attempts by O’Shea to gain compensation after the voyage. It’s an interesting historical item that truly gives a fascinating account of early migration by sea. By clicking on the above link you can also view a pdf. transcript of the entire diary or see it on display at the Immigration Museum.
A. Phillip: http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1304066/diary-m-p-o-shea-liverpool-melbourne-ship-eastern-city-1859
A. Jan: Students love the ship in the Journeys gallery http://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whatson/current-exhibitions/journeys-lifetime/ and often that’s because it’s very interactive they can climb into the bunks of the 19th century clipper
A. IHM: I think I’d love the Journeys Gallery! Thanks for sharing Jan.
A. Jan: Another object students really connect to is Cuc Lam’s suitcase as we tell her story in one of our most popular school education programs http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/themes/1912/cuc-lam-vietnamese-migrant-councillor-1978
A. Linda: Incredible story, how sad for her sister and her family

Q. From Patrice: Hi all I am interested in what Williamstown was like in 1850′s as the ship Dragoon which carried my ancestors was the first to disembark passengers here instead of Melbourne. Would like to see a photo and description of the town at this time to write up what they would have experienced. Any ideas where I could look please?
A. Phillip: @Patrice Hi Patrice a great resource for this type of information is TROVE which gives newspaper articles, documents and photographs relevant to many locations around Melbourne. Williamstown also has a very vibrant historical society which would be worth contacting.

Q. From IHM: Another great Q&A, thanks Phillip and Jan. Do you want to tell us what do you have in the pipeline that we should be excited about before you go?
A. Phillip: In October as part of our involvement with Seniors Week 6th October – 13th October the Immigration Museum will present a seminar “Discover your British family history at the Immigration Museum” Friday 11th October 1:00pm – 3:00pm. Presented by Immigration Museum, State Library of Victoria, National Archives Australia and Public Records Office of Victoria. Many Australians are descendants of British migrants. Discover how to find records relating to your family’s history of arriving and settling in Australia. Presented by a panel of experts who will discuss key material that can assist you with your search using historical records, post World War 2 Immigration records, historical newspapers, documents, passenger lists and various online resources. Bookings essential.
A. Phillip: Thank you everyone, please visit us at the Immigration Museum.
A. Linda: Really been wanting to get there – remember it from before you moved in – but after it was restored. Thank you for tonight.

Question asked before the session: 

Q. From June: We can access shipping passenger lists for NSW arrivals (copies of originals) online with NSW state records. Why can’t we do the same for Victorian shipping?
A. Tracey: June some of the early ships for Port Phillip are on NSW records.
A. June: Not the one I want, which is possible for my great grandmother. “morning Light” 1857
A. Karen: June Johnston 1857 or 1867? See http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Morning_Light%281853-2%29.html
A. Karen: and an ancient discussion on rootsweb: http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.immigration.ships/813/mb.ashx which is free, and if you Goog-search ‘Morning Light (Ship)’, you get several references to diaries and other stuff from companies and passengers, held in the State Lib of Vic, Nat Lib of Aust, and other places. This material hasn’t been digitised (and probably won’t ever be, or not in our lifetimes, LOL)
A. June: Yes the list is there, in Vic Archives & Ancestry, I have it but want the ship list as written same as I can get for ships in NSW bounty ships. Morning Light came to Vic in 1857. I have Rev Fraser and family which I think my G grandmother came with as nursemaid. I think she is the Mary aged 16. The actual ship list says who they are and relationship, where they come from etc
A. June:  From Liverpool 8/8/1857 arrived 2/11/1857 fische plate 135 page 016 Morning Light – Unassisted Inwards Passenger List.
A. Phillip: The Immigration Passenger Lists for arrivals in Victoria between 1852 and 1923 are kept by the Public Record Office of Victoria. The indexes for these lists can be found on their website at http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide023/PROVguide023.jsp

Probate packet of John Riley. Courtesy of State Records NSW.

The will books are an excellent resource for family history researchers tracing the financial history of their ancestors. Findmypast.com.au users will be able to track exactly where their ancestors’ wealth, estates and belongings were allocated, helping them uncover the past relationships and loyalties their family held.

“The will books are an invaluable resource to genealogists and only strengthens the already solid offering available from findmypast.com.au. We are continually growing our pool of resources,” said Findmypast.com.au General Manager Vicki Dawson.

Findmypast.com.au was awarded the rights to publish the record set by the State Records Authority of New South Wales, as a reliable and credible source to display this critical information.

Jenni Stapleton, Acting Director, at State Records stated, ‘’The will books are one of the most vital sets of records held by State Records and provide a unique insight into the past lives of people in New South Wales. This agreement with findmypast.com.au is an example of increasing access to such valuable resources through new access channels and technologies.”’

Learn more at findmypast.com.au - click here.

Useful links:

• State Records of NSW Archives Investigator: Will books – Click here
• State Records of NSW: Probate Packets guide - Click here
• State Records of NSW: Index to early probate packets - Click here
• State Records of NSW: Death records - Click here

Source: findmypast.com.au press release, 12 June 2013.

They had navigated their way on horseback through vast expanses of country unknown to Europeans, struggling from one water source to the next. Yet the country they travelled through was already home to thousands of people, celebrated in song and story, every feature of the landscape known and named. The intruders and their strange animals were observed, their tracks closely examined.

Stuart’s explorations provided the impetus and means for the colonisation of the country through which he had travelled, and were the catalyst for great changes, both for the new colonists and for the people who had been living on country for tens of thousands of years.

Crossing Country, an exhibition at the Migration Museum in Adelaide, examines the achievements and impact of Stuart and his expedition parties. It locates them within two parallel contexts: the heroic age of inland exploration and the colonisation of central Australia. The exhibition draws on the rich collections of History SA and other state collecting institutions, as well as organisations including the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia and the John McDouall Stuart Society, and private collections.

The visitor can get a close look at items ranging from Stuart’s compass and telescope to his rifle and spurs – and his pipe and smoking cap. Stuart’s ‘Rules for a successful expedition’ set out what he required of his men, and sunglasses, a pannikin, quartpots and tins of jerked meat evoke daily life in the bush. An original silk flag from the official procession which welcomed the explorers home on 21 January 1863 is hung over a photograph of the massed crowds on the day – the largest ever seen in the colony. It was on the same day that the largest crowd ever seen in Victoria assembled for the funeral of Burke and Wills.

One of the most powerful objects in the exhibition in on loan from Museum Victoria: a rare example of a depiction of first contact from an Indigenous perspective. It is a boomerang made by Jim Kite Erlikilyika Penangke, a Lower Arrernte man from the Charlotte waters area, born in about 1865. A special reporter for The Register interviewed Kite in 1913 and described the boomerang as depicting ‘the coming of McDouall Stuart’, with Aboriginal men ‘creeping up’ to get a closer look at these strange-looking creatures and their packhorses.

Crossing Country is illustrated with sketches from two of Stuart’s expeditions, sketches which convey a vivid sense of both the landscape and the day-to-day activities of Stuart and his companions. Botanist and artist David Herrgott, who accompanied Stuart on his second expedition, filled a sketchbook which is now in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales. Stephen King was one of the party who accompanied Stuart on his final, successful, expedition in 1862, and his sketchbook recording that journey is now in the State Library of South Australia. It includes sketches of the triumphant hoisting of the Union Jack after the expedition made the northern coast – and of Stuart being conveyed in a stretcher slung between two horses on the return journey when he was too ill with the effects of scurvy to ride.

Crossing Country: John McDouall Stuart will be showing at the Migration Museum
Where: 82 Kintore Avenue, Adelaide
When: until Sunday 27 October 2013
Cost: FREE

Stuart the explorer. This unfinished sketch shows Stuart with his leggings, cabbage-tree hat and staff. It was drawn by David Herrgott on the 1859 expedition. Image courtesy of State Library of NSW, PXB 128

Their current project is the Rev. Henry Fulton’s Baptism, Burial and Marriage records of 1801 – 1806, slated for publication in March 2014. The project includes more than 150 baptisms, many for babies born between 1796 and 1800, a period in Norfolk Island’s history from which few records survive.

The historians are researching further details to fill in the picture of Fulton’s Register – including the details of the next generation of families whose antecedents are listed in the Register, as well as cross-references to names mentioned in other primary records, such as victualling books, population returns, land grants and shipping records. This follows on from Cathy’s earlier research on deaths in Norfolk Island. There were more than 260 deaths during the first settlement of Norfolk Island. In researching her book Norfolk Island Deaths, Cathy painstakingly checked all primary records for Norfolk Island references to deaths, including journals and diaries, letters, musters, church records, victualling books, population returns and much more.

The book contains a burial list giving the full details of each person and their family, their status (convict or free) and date of arrival to NSW and Norfolk Island. Photographs of headstones accompany many of the entries. The new compilation of the Fulton Register has identified many anomalies in the records – such as Marg Buchannon, whose death on 29 May 1805 was recorded in the Rev. Fulton’s Burial List, while the 1805 Muster listed her under the name of Marg Clarke.

Cathy is giving away 5 copies of Norfolk Island Deaths: 1st Settlement 1788 – 1814 to readers of Inside History.

Simply comment on this blog post and tell us when the HMS Sirius was sunk off Norfolk Island.

Thinking of heading to Norfolk Island? Check out Cathy’s History Lover’s Norfolk Island Tour next year…

Norfolk has a unique beauty of its own, with its renowned tall majestic pines, sheer cliff faces, coral reefs and beautiful beaches. Almost one third of the island is devoted to National Parks and Reserves. But Norfolk Island is far more than a picturesque island in the South Pacific; it is paradise with a past. What was once a convict’s nightmare is now the tranquil home of the descendants from the Mutiny on the Bounty, who have their own unique culture and their own language.

Next year historian Cathy Dunn is conducting the History Lovers Norfolk Island Tour, March 14 – 21 2014, which will include:

• Special discount airfare from Sydney and Brisbane and 7 nights accommodation
• Historic cemetery tour
• Twilight dinner and tour of world heritage and the convict days of ole, at the Kingston Convict Settlement
• History in the Making tour: journey back in time and participate in recreating some of the tasks necessary for survival in Norfolk Island’s early settlements
• Discover the history of the Sirius shipwreck from 1790
• History and genealogy research workshop
• Discover Our World tour – marvel at the beauty and heritage of Norfolk Island
• Visit Captain Cook’s 1774 landing place
• and much more!

Further details on the History Lovers Norfolk Island tour 2014 is available at www.australianhistoryresearch.info or phone Cathy on 02 44554780.

The Melancholy Loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island March 19th 1790

Other useful links:
Issue
HMS Sirius – click here
Norfolk Island Museum – click here
KAVHA Public Research Centre – click here

When bubonic plague struck Sydney in 1900, George McCredie was appointed by the Government to take charge of all quarantine activities in the Sydney area, beginning work on March 23, 1900.

The infected areas, and buildings selected for demolition because of the health risks they supposedly raised, were recorded by photography. Most of the buildings demolished were considered slum buildings.

View the entire State Library of NSW collection online – click here.

Other useful links:
Purging Pestilence – Plague! State Records NSW – click here
The mechanical eye in Australia : photography 1841-1900 / Alan Davies & Peter Stanbury – click here
ONE hundred [100 years of the Mitchell Library] – click here
Bubonic Plague comes to Sydney in 1900. University of Sydney – click here

The exhibition runs to the end of August, focusses on the boys’ engaging stories – from day to day life, such as learning how to drive up to 10 horses at a time and lumping 80+ kg bags of wheat, through to the impact of the Great Eastern Drought, the First and Second World Wars and the Great Depression. The display reveals the pros and cons of the scheme, shows how far farming practices have come since then and celebrates the contribution these migrants made to our state.

The exhibition premieres in the Migration Museum‘s community gallery, ‘The Forum’, from 3 June to 30 August 2013. It will then appear at the Royal Adelaide Show from 6 to 14 September 2013, followed by a tour of country shows and field days across SA.

The diary of Bill Gladwell (a Barwell Boy) By John Gladwell, Migration Museum volunteer

The handwritten diary of my father, Bill Gladwell, a Barwell Boy from Essex England, was written during his trip to Australia aboard the S.S. Ballarat in November/December of 1923. The diary is a black cloth covered exercise book, notable that it has a map of Australia inside the front cover, even though purchased in England prior to departure. The diary gives a clear picture of daily shipboard life through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy seeking new opportunities. Not surprisingly there are times when it reads a little like ‘Boy’s Own Paper’ and it tone is optimistic. Bill describes how a group of about sixty young chaps his age (ranging from 15 to 23) kept themselves entertained during the six week voyage around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope and Capetown, South Africa. Many of them were away from parental control for the first time and were ready to try out some of the perks of ‘adulthood’ such as smoking and gambling (card games and betting on the daily distance travelled by the Ballarat.) Other activities included deck games and general ‘horsing around’, and some lasting friendships were forged on this journey out to South Australia. Going ashore in Capetown was clearly a highlight as they explored the town, even ‘having a go’ at Tabletop Mountain, which forms the backdrop to Capetown.

“We are now in the south seas and have passed the equator we are about 200 miles off Cape Town at the time of writing, and I shall post this letter there. It has been a fine voyage so far, and the weather has been fine every day…” – from George Henry Doxey
Diary kept on board SS Ballarat en route to Adelaide

Bill had grown up as the eldest son of a family of six, and his father was a veteran of the First World War whose life had been severely affected by being gassed at the battle of the Somme. After the War his father and mother lived in a ‘found cottage’ at Upminster Farm near Upminster Common, Essex, where he was the farm labourer. From an early age Bill had helped his father on the farm, and fell in love with the Clydesdales which they used to work the property. They were a very poor family but nevertheless Bill won some sort of parish scholarship which gave him entry to Chelmsford Grammar School (CGS) now known by its 450 year old name King Edward VI Grammar School. He had his heart set on being an architect and going to Cambridge University, but his father, following the ‘son follows father’ rule of agricultural life of the day, had other ideas. At the end of Bill’s second year at CGS in 1922 aged fourteen, his father pulled him out of school to work on the farm with him. This led to a furious argument, with both father and son as bull-headed as the other. As a result Bill ran away to sea, they were living not far from Tilbury docks, and at the age of fourteen he worked as a stoker on a Cunard liner for a year. On his return in 1923, he worked briefly on an orchard near the family home, but his father was still furious with him. While Bill was away, his mother had heard of a farm apprenticeship scheme in South Australia called the Barwell Scheme, and encouraged him to apply. He was accepted and set out for South Australia in November that year. He was not to return to England until 1966 with his wife Dorrie, a South Australian girl he had married when a soldier in the Second World War. His mother had died not long before, but his father was still alive, and so after 43 years they were able to reconcile.

After my father died his ‘Barwell diary’ was amongst his possessions I inherited, and I finally got to read it at the age of 42. It gave me a bigger picture of him, as he had continued to use the diary after the boat journey was over. He had recorded information about the places he had been sent to as a Barwell Boy, his wages and supplies, and as he got older he recorded many poems in bush ballad style (most of which he could recite ad lib.) and many of which showed that the ‘young man’s fancy had turned to love’. In growing up I had some difficulty knowing just how much of Dad’s account of himself was actual, or heroic verging on myth, so the diary gave me something both tangible and factual to understand him. It helped me to make sense of so much he had wanted for me, and also why he was a ‘larger than life’ character to me, and how some of his story with his father had been repeated between us.

“A large one (13800 tonnes) but is not quite so roomy as I expected, because quite a lot of it has been made into cabins as it was realy built for cargo and not for passengers. There are 1176 persons on board, and quite a number of them are scotch, so have plenty of bagpipes. We boys are berthed right in the fore part of the ship so we get all the rolling and it is great fun…” – from George Henry Doxey
Diary kept on board SS Ballarat en route to Adelaide

When I started working as a volunteer at the Migration Museum, History SA, four years ago it seemed only right that I donate the diary to the Museum collection as a contribution to the history of migration to South Australia, to be safe for posterity and to honour his memory. It was through the Migration Museum that I met Elspeth Grant who had researched the Farm Apprenticeship Schemes in South Australia from 1913 in her Honours studies in History, and who had come to the Migration Museum as a Curator in 2010. This year, 2013, marks the Centenary of those Farm Apprenticeship Schemes (including the ‘Barwell Scheme’) and I am one of a group of Barwell descendants who are working with Elspeth to present a centenary exhibition in the Migration Museum Forum Gallery in June 2013. John Gladwell (only child of Bill and Dorrie Gladwell)

Other useful links:
Barwell Boys on facebook – click here
Genealogy SA – click here
History SA – click here

The derivation of the term ‘Digger’ as a colloquial reference to Australian and New Zealand soldiers originates from the First World War. As the years have passed, it has become more prominently synonymous with the Australian soldier while its application to New Zealand’s soldiers has waned significantly.

But regardless of which country continues to use it, debate still exists about who can lay claim to its origin and is a far more contentious issue. In his 1945 work, ‘The Digger: A Study in Democracy’, Alan Butler defined what it meant to be called a Digger during the war and the ethos for which it was intended,

“ ‘Digger’ and ‘dig’ were used by soldiers as friendly terms of address equivalent to ‘cobber’ and ‘mate’ … The term has tended to be defined in high-value laden ways … ‘a man for whom freedom, comradeship, a wide tolerance, and a strong sense of the innate worth of man, count for more than all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory in them.’”

Enlisting in 1914, Butler had served as a Regimental Medical Officer at Gallipoli, earning the Distinguished Service Order for his courage and devotion to duty on the day of the landing and in its immediate aftermath. He was promoted to the position of Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services, I Anzac Corps and later while serving on the Western Front was given command of the 3rd Field Ambulance.

And yet, although aptly characterizing what the term ‘Digger’ had come to mean, like many he was unable to pinpoint the origins of its common use by Anzac soldiers in reference to themselves and by whom it had first been used in this fashion.

It is a well known fact that on the Australian gold fields of the 1850’s, the term ‘Digger’ first appeared, making reference to the huge influx of miners from all over the globe seeking their fortunes at the gold diggings. These miners soon became known as the Diggers and before long the name was adopted into the Australian language as a type of informal greeting generally associated with the gold mining community.

Similarly, at about the same time in New Zealand, the kauri gum industry was undergoing change.

First used by the Maori inhabitants, kauri gum was formed when the resin of kauri trees leaked out through fractures in the bark, hardening with the exposure to air. Lumps commonly fell to the ground and became covered with soil and forest litter, eventually fossilising.

The gum had many local uses including chewing, tattooing, jewellery and because of its highly flammable properties, it was used as a fire starter. But by the 1840’s, it had become Auckland’s main commercial export to London and America due in the most part to its particularly effective use in the production of varnish. Initially, the gum was readily accessible, commonly found lying on the ground. But by 1850 most of this surface-lying gum had been collected and to find further deposits, it had to be dug from the ground. The resultant transient workforce moving from place to place to unearth the gum became known as Gum Diggers.

It is from both these backgrounds that many of the later claims about the First World War Digger originate. In the February 1918 edition of the trench newspaper, ‘Aussie’, one submission by a contributor echoed the idea,

“About the origin of this word Digger – you listen to me. As long as I can remember it’s been used on the goldfields of Western Australia. It’s always been quite common among the gold diggers there. It came to France when the sandgropers gave up digging on the goldfields of W.A. and carried on with it on the battlefields of France and Flanders.”

A similar enquiry conducted during 1920 by ‘The Diggers’ Gazette’ attempted to get to the bottom of the matter but only brought up a number of suggestions that also stemmed from the Australian gold rush days,

“The writer enlisted in Victoria and the term was much in use in camp there before the days of Gallipoli, and as our ranks had a large sprinkling of Ballarat and Bendigo men, I used to think that it derived its origin from that source. I may be wrong but I believe it originated in the trenches of Coolgardie and Ballarat and other pleasure resorts in the days of the rush.”

In opposition to the gold fields theory, the renowned war correspondent and author of the Australian Official Histories, C.E.W. Bean, laid the origin of the term squarely with the New Zealanders. In Volume IV of his histories, Bean records during the Third Battle of Ypres August-September 1917,

“It was at this stage that the Australian soldiers – in particular, the infantry – came to be known, together with the New Zealanders, as ‘the Diggers’. The term had occasionally been heard before, but hitherto had been general only among the New Zealanders, who are said to have inherited it from the gum-diggers of their country. It carried so rich an implication of the Anzac infantryman’s own view of his functions that it spread like fire through the A.I.F., and by the end of the year was the general term of address for Australian or New Zealand soldiers.”

Similarly to Bean, in A.G. Pretty’s ‘Glossary of Slang and Particular Terms in Use in the AIF (1921-1924)’, he also attributes the origin of Digger to the New Zealanders,

“Mate, friend. Used in the second or third person. This term had been in use on the Aust. gold fields, and New Zealand Kauri gum fields for many years prior to the war. It was not until the end of 1917 or early 1918 that it came into universal use in the A.I.F. or N.Z.E.F.
The first to use the term, to any extent were the New Zealanders from whom it quickly spread through the A.I.F.”

But in a recent analysis of Pretty’s book, Amanda Laugensen annotates the original entry with a note of caution,

“The explanation given here as to how it was first used by New Zealanders has no supporting evidence.”

And although backing away slightly from this original annotation, in her 2005 book, ‘Diggerspeak: The Language of Australians at War’, Laugensen instead takes the analysis in a different direction and makes a very valid point,

“There is some evidence to support the argument that digger may have been brought with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, from the shortened form of Gumdigger…..During the First World War, the first Australians use of digger to refer to an Australian soldier was in 1916, and this appears very early to be explained merely as a transfer from the New Zealand sense.”

Both Bean and Pretty place the timing of the appearance of ‘Digger’ towards the end of 1917 after having been adopted from the New Zealanders, but all available evidence implies otherwise and it is now commonly accepted that both nationalities began using it much earlier. This in turn casts doubt on both men’s theory regarding its origin. There had also been suggestions that the term had been derived as early as the Gallipoli campaign and a number of proponents claimed it resulted from the order issued by Sir Ian Hamilton just after the initial landings,

“You have got through the difficult business, now you have only to dig, dig, dig, until you are safe”.

However there is no evidence, documented or otherwise, to suggest that ‘digger’ became a commonly used term for the Anzac troops on Gallipoli, and more than likely its occasional use on the peninsula only stemmed from a handful of men, possibly former miners, who had become accustomed to applying it in its original form during their civilian lives before the war.

The general consensus is that the use of ‘digger’ to refer to Anzac troops came into vogue during the second half of 1916. Given that it was not an unknown term in either country and was no doubt used on the odd occasion amongst the troops in its previous civilian guise, we can only surmise that a particular incident must have occurred involving Australian or New Zealand troops to establish its new meaning and prompt its general use.

One article in Melbourne’s ‘The Age’ newspaper in August 1918, accurately predicted the future for the term ‘Digger’ but at the same time expressed the confusion and debate already evident at that early stage when trying to pinpoint its source,

“Many people have asked for an explanation. Inquiry amongst those recently from the trenches shows that the origin of the expression is vague. There are various definitions, but few of them agree. The general belief is the name “just growed”. When severe fighting in France had so changed the personnel of battalions that only a small proportion of the survivors had ever seen Anzac Cove, it is said the modest new recruits hesitated to accept the reflected glory of the ‘Anzac’ name which they had had no hand in burnishing. So many of the later reinforcements came from Western Australia and so many of the eastern men were from the mining fields, that ‘Digger’ came easiest to the lips; and then the Mining Corps were all ‘diggers’. So the whole force seems to have accepted naturally the title which constantly recurs now in letter, cable message and cartoon. For all time the Australian soldier will probably be known as ‘Digger’ though he will not know why.”

In his book, ‘The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War’, historian Christopher Pugsley makes the claim that the nickname ‘Diggers’ was first applied to the Maori Pioneers after their enormous efforts to dig Turk Lane and Fish Alley trenches in the vicinity of Flers during September 1916. According to Pugsley, after the completion of these trenches in record time, the Maoris were given the title ‘Diggers’ which was adopted by the remainder of the New Zealand Division and later in 1917, spread to the Australians.