Geelong District – Honour Boards plus more

May 20, 2012 1 Comment

The featured index in the latest bundle of additions to the Geelong & District Database is for names on numerous Honour Boards in the Geelong district.  These Honour Boards include those commemorating servicemen in the region but they also include other Honour Boards for various organisations.  Some boards include Presidents, Life Members, Members and other groups of people.  The initial entries were extracted from the Geelong Family History Group publication Index of names listed on Geelong & District Honour Rolls which has been out of print for some years.  More boards have been added in addition to those from the GFHG book – see the list of Geelong and District Honour Boards already included in the database.

Entries include name, date(s) [where available], and the title of the board.  At the recent meeting of the Geelong & District Historical Association, members adopted the Honour Boards as a new global project for all members.  Already we have photos of some of the boards and plan to expand this for all existing boards in the database as well as all additions to the project.  Most of the boards in the GFHG publication were transcribed many years ago – before digital cameras made this exercise so much easier!  Sadly some no longer exist – it is believed that the Geelong Golf Club entries were destroyed in the Club’s fire – at least we have the names from the board.  

This is the list of additions since 6 April making a total of 1,277,102 entries in the database:

  • Geelong District: Honour Boards – 3,648 entries
  • Geelong District: Orphan Immigrants 1848-1850 – 366 entries
  • Colac Shire: Rate Books 1900-01 [GRS 1393] - 2,759 entries
  • Book – A Grand Vision: the first 150 years of the Geelong Agricultural and Pastoral Society – 2,062 entries
  • Geelong District: names from the Geelong Times [groups, prizes etc.] – 359 entries
  • Geelong District: Hospital Admissions from the Geelong Times – 181 entries
  • Geelong: Immigration Depot Funerals 1853-1857 [VPRS 22] – 38 entries
  • Geelong: Immigration Depot Returns 1851 [VPRS 116] – 168 entries
  • Geelong District: Reports of Felony and Stolen Horses [VPRS 124] – 120 entries
  • Geelong: Register of Seamen Engaged 1856-1889 [VPRS 22] 1857 – 564 entries

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

And don’t forget to search again for your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database – they could have been in the last load of additions!

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Mount Moriac – Duneed baptisms plus more

April 7, 2012 1 Comment

The featured index in the latest bundle of additions to the Geelong & District Database is for baptisms at St Patrick’s Roman Catholic church at Mount Moriac – also referred to as the Duneed Mission.  Separate pages for each year were found at the end of the St Mary’s Geelong baptism registers – these covered the years 1875-1881.  Earlier years [1855-1873] had already been included in our GDHA Church Records database and indexed in the Geelong & District Database.

These new entries generally include parents’ names, mother’s maiden name, residence and sponsors – so if you’re looking for more on someone in the Mt Moriac / Duneed area in 1875-1881 these baptisms could help you.

This is the list of additions since 24 March making a total of 1,266,631 entries in the database:

  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Duneed Mission RC 1875-1881 [St Patrick's, Mount Moriac] – Baptisms [inc. Fathers, Mothers & Sponsors] – 539 entries
  • Book – The History of the Geelong Golf Club 1892-1992 – 4,141 entries
  • Colac Shire: Rate Books 1890-91 [GRS 1393] - 2,417 entries
  • South Barwon Courts: Petty Sessions Registers 1861-1863 [VPRS 350] – 634 entries
  • Geelong District: names from the Geelong Advertiser [groups, prizes etc.] – 592 entries
  • Geelong District: names from the Geelong Times [groups, prizes etc.] – 1,129 entries
  • Geelong District: Hospital Admissions from the Geelong Times – 106 entries
  • Geelong District: Grapevine compensation lists from the Geelong Times – 104 entries

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

And don’t forget to search again for your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database – they could have been in the last load of additions!

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Our volunteers and contributors are amazing!

March 24, 2012 Leave a comment

To say we are blessed with our wonderful volunteers and contributors would be an understatement – they really are amazing and such an asset to anyone researching in the Geelong & District region.

Our latest major addition to the Geelong & District Database comes courtesy of Fred Walter and Heather Cox.  Way back in 1990 they compiled and published the Index to the Admission Books of the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum.  They then provided this index free on their web site of the same name.

Now they have taken this a step further by giving us permission to include what we call a limited index of their web site in the Geelong & District Database.  We call it “limited” because we have omitted the Admission number from our index.  This number is the key to follow up further details and means you need to use their web site to obtain that key as well as read the explanation of the source of the index, how to use it and how to proceed further.  The entries in the Geelong & District Database include the name, year and TAB on their website under which you’ll find the entry.

This isn’t the only addition to the Geelong & District Database since I posted the last lot of updates but it’s certainly one of the most signicant ones and a perfect example of the contributors to everyone who is researching in our region.

Another highlight in the latest additions – a great selection of Court Records for Steiglitz.  This is just the start – there are more entries to come for people with ancestors at Steiglitz.

This is the list of additions since 4 March making a total of 1,256,871 entries in the database:

  • Geelong District: Admission Books of the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum – 12,594 entries
  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – St Mary’s RC church, Geelong 1873-1881 – Baptisms [inc. Fathers, Mothers & Sponsors] – 10,635 entries
  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Wesleyan circuit, Geelong 1868 – Baptisms [inc. Fathers & Mothers] – 510 entries
  • Colac Shire: Rate Books 1869-70, 1880-81, 1905-06 [GRS 1393] – 6,894 entries
  • Steiglitz Courts: Petty Sessions Registers 1899, License Register 1862-64, Charge Book 1868-79 [VPRS 351] – 2,634 entries
  • Book – Beacons of Hope: an early history of Cape Otway and King Island lighthouses – 546 entries
  • Geelong District: names from the Geelong Advertiser [groups, prizes etc.] – 615 entries
  • Geelong District: names from the Geelong Times [groups, prizes etc.] – 1,182 entries

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

And don’t forget to search again for your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database – they could have been in the last load of additions!

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Red faced again!

March 5, 2012 Leave a comment

We now have 1,223,897 records in the Geelong & District Database. 

Why the red face?  Because I set a target of 1,250,000 entries by the end of 2012.  That’s only a little over 26,000 entries for the rest of the year – we MUST be able to achieve that and more.

Mind you, the entries added in this group have a BIG lump factor from existing records – we’ve included mothers from the Geelong & District Historical Association Church records for baptisms as well as marriages.  The mothers listed in the baptisms in particular are a large number of entries as they’ve been created for mothers with their maiden name as well as mothers with their married names.  We decided that would be beneficial where researchers knew the mothers first names but not their maiden name – conversely the benefit of showing mother’s with their maiden names would obviously also benefit researchers.  Before people complain that we don’t show the child’s name in the same entry as the mother, please understand that we are not able to do that based on agreements made when we created the GDHA Church records database.  In the end the decision was made to include separate entries for the parents rather than not to include them at all.

The other good news on the GDHA Church records database – a lot of work is being done on adding another 15+ years of baptisms for St Mary’s Roman Catholic church in Geelong – something many will look forward to.  This is an ongoing project with many more entries to come.

This is what’s been added since the last update on 12 February:

  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Baptisms [Mothers] – 101,124 entries
  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Marriages [Mothers] – 17,982 entries
  • Colac Shire: Rate Books 1863-64, 1865-66, 1867-68, 1868-69, 1870-71, 1885-86, 1896-97 [GRS 1393] – 9,857 entries
  • Mt Moriac: Court of Petty Sessions – 1876, 1877 [VPRS 335] – 162 entries
  • Geelong District: extracts from Crown Reserves Correspondence files [VPRS 242] – 150 entries
  • Geelong District: Schools – pupils, prize winners etc from the Geelong Times 1874-1898 – 380 entries
  • Gerangamete, Barwon Downs & Forrest: Names on parish plans [VPRS 16171] – 83 entries
  • Geelong: Register of Seamen Engaged – 1856-1889 [VPRS 22] – 92 entries for 1857
  • Geelong District: Reports of Felony and Stolen Horses – 1853 and 1858 [VPRS 124] – 103 entries
  • Geelong District: Geelong Times – Admissions to Geelong Hospital – 1875 – 144 entries

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

Don’t forget to check out your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database.

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Database target for 2012!

February 12, 2012 Leave a comment

We now have 1,094,870 records in the Geelong & District Database. 

That’s a good enough reason to set a target for the end of this year – I hope it’s realistic but if we don’t have a target we don’t have anything to aim for!

This is what’s been added since the last update on 28th January:

  • Barrabool Shire: Rate Books 1917-1949 [GRS 877] approx every 5 years indexed – 9,675 entries
  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Marriages [Witnesses] – 13,202 entries
  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Marriages [Mothers] – 18,890 entries
  • Geelong District: GDHA Church records – Baptisms [Sponsors] – 37,939 entries
  • Geelong: Infirmary & Benevolent Asylum Annual Report 1878 – 1,466 entries
  • Colac Shire: Rate Books 1864-65 and 1875-76 – 2,199 entries

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

Don’t forget to check out your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database.  Good luck with your research!

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The database is still growing!

January 28, 2012 Leave a comment

We now have 1,011,499 records in the Geelong & District Database. 

This is what’s been added since the last update on 8 January:

  • The Sea War in Bass Strait by Jack Loney [Book]
  • Geelong City Council: WWII Servicemen and women enlistments – now complete
  • Ashby: State School teaching staff
  • Victoria: Exiles and others on Pentonvillain ships 1844-49
  • Geelong circuit: Criminal Trial Briefs [VPRS 30]
  • Geelong District: extracts from Crown Reserves Correspondence files [VPRS 242]
  • Drysdale: stipend subscriptions St James Church of England 1890-1899
  • Geelong District: soldiers
  • Geelong District: names mentioned in the Geelong Times
  • Geelong District: Geelong Agricultural Show results and prizewinners 1868 and 1874
  • Geelong District: Grapevine compensation lists
  • Geelong District: various entries from Victoria Government gazettes – additions

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

Don’t forget to check out your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database.  Good luck with your research!

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Geelong Advertiser … update!

January 10, 2012 Leave a comment

One thing my previous blog proved – a LOT of people believe that the Geelong Advertiser is an important newspaper and that it should be part of the National Library of Australia Newspaper Digitisation project!

Now for the latest and greatest news!

One member of our Geelong & District Mailing List contacted the National Library about the digitisation of the Geelong Advertiser.  The reply she got included a statement that the Geelong Advertiser WAS included in their 2011-12 schedule and that it had been added to the NLA Future Titles – Titles coming soon web site.

The papers are currently being scanned and hopefully would be completed by the end of the financial year [June 2012].  The papers in this lot are:

  • Geelong Advertiser and Squatters’ Advocate (28 May 1845-26 Oct 1847)
  • Geelong Advertiser (29 Oct 1847-20 Dec 1851)
  • Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (22 Dec 1851-9 Aug 1856)

It is important to note that this scanning is being funded by the National Library of Australia and not by the State Library of Victoria.  And I guess that also adds weight to our argument on how important these papers are.

This also fits with the statements made when the Digitised Newspapers project was announced at the Genealogy Congress in Darwin in 2006.  At the time I remember being particularly excited when they announced that one key regional newspaper for each state would be selected as part of the pilot project.  For New South Wales it was the Maitland Mercury [where many of my ancestors lived] and for Victoria it was the Geelong Advertiser.  At the time I remember feeling smugly spoilt!  The Maitland Mercury happened but not the Addy.

Now before you start jumping up and down and yelling and saying that the Addy doesn’t appear on the Future Titles web site [that's what I did!] … if you do a FIND on the page you’ll find them in the strangest place!   They’re listed under South Australia!  I don’t care where they’ve put them – as long as they are there that’s all that matters.  [And AFTER I posted this blog I noticed that the Geelong Advertiser now belongs to Victoria - right where it should be.]

By now you should have noticed that the papers to be scanned commence 28 May 1845 and the Geelong Advertiser began 21 Nov 1840 – so what about the issues 1840-1845?

I’m guessing the decision has been made to not repeat what’s already been done or they’re waiting until they can access all the issues missing between 1840 and 1845.

In my previous blog I mentioned that:

Some issues from the first five years of the Geelong Advertiser were digitised as part of the Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845 project.  It’s available online as single page downloads however it’s not searchable.

Back in 2004 to 2006 I did a lot of work checking these files.  At the time I produced a spreadsheet showing which papers were missing.  I’ve just double checked the spreadsheet and it’s still the same.  I’ll mention a few gaps here but I’ve also uploaded the spreadsheet as an Acrobat file so you can at least check if there are important dates that may already be online.  [ Geelong Advertiser Summary of papers 1840-1845 ]

Some explanations for the “gaps”:

  • There are random omissions – I don’t have an explanation for these.
  • There are NO editions for 1843, hence the jump from 26 Dec 1842 edition No. 110 to 1 Jan 1844 No. 184.
  • There is a strange mixup of edition numbers from 10 Jul 1844 No. 238 to 15 Jul 1844 No. 230.  A sequence of edition numbers if repeated – and also missing first time around.
  • There are some gaps of almost a month throughout 1844 – no explanation.
  • There is no issue No. 315 however this may never have been produced – following the sequence it would have been for 28 May 1845.  You’ll notice that the name changed 28 May 1845 to Geelong Advertiser & Squatters Advocate – they may have just decided to skip an issue number.
  • The planned scanning for NLA commences with this new title on 28 May 1845.

It’s possible that someone on our Geelong & District Mailing List may have done more detailed research into the missing / existing issues and can give us an update.

In the meantime let’s celebrate the imminent digitisation of a good chunk of the Geelong Advertiser.  Our next task is to confirm the plans for 2012-13 – hopefully the scanning won’t stop at 1856.

I know a LOT of people will be getting a LOT of sleepless nights once the Addy hits TROVE – in the meantime you’ve got nearly six months to store up some extra sleep to compensate for the last half of the year!

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Geelong Advertiser … where is it?

January 9, 2012 10 Comments

The banner for the Geelong Advertiser includes the words “Fortis est veritas” or THE TRUTH IS STRONG.

From the Geelong Advertiser web site:

The Geelong Advertiser is Victoria’s oldest morning newspaper, the first edition being published on November 21, 1840.

A mere 171 years ago today, the Geelong Advertiser included a supplement to the (then) standard 4-page issue.  The supplement was this amazing “Map of the Town of Corio (or Geelong) including the Suburbs, the Bay, and the River, 1841 … printed and published for John Pascoe Fawkner by Harrison & Watkins, Corio”.

And what a huge amount of history is in the map and the names associated with it – not least of which is James Harrison a true pioneer of our region.  [Do yourself a favour and actually click on the link to read the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for this truly amazing man!]

So why am I writing this blog today?  There are TWO reasons …

  1. Today I published a blog to announce that we had achieved more than one million records in our Geelong & District database.  This amazing effort is due to a heap of volunteers who have just one aim – to help others research their family and local history – a totally unselfish attitude by all involved.
  2. I’m CROSS – and it’s time I got on my soap box.

ANYONE with an ounce of history running through their veins knows how much history exists in our region.  I have given presentations all over Victoria and also in New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory.  Many have been on Geelong and Point Henry (the place of arrival of so many ships bringing immigrants to our shores) but the majority have been on other local and family history subjects.  Without fail the majority of the audience had ancestors who arrived in Geelong / Point Henry.  In June 2011 I gave four presentations to the Genealogical Society of the Northern Territory [GSNT] – almost 100% of the audience had Geelong connections!

Using the National Library of Australia catalogue, I have confirmed the following places where people can access the “full” Geelong Advertiser, either on microfilm or hard copy, to do their research:

Of course, being the LONGEST RUNNING morning newspaper in Victoria AND the newspaper covering not just Geelong but all of the western district of Victoria [and across the border into South Australia] you would think it would be a high priority to be included in the wonderful Digitised Australian newspapers web site.

Have a look at this amazing list of places already included in the Victorian newspapers that have been digitised or are on the 2011-12 list to be digitised:

Acheron

Alexandra

Ararat

Avenel

Bacchus Marsh

Bairnsdale

Balaclava

Ballarat

Balmattam

Bellarine Shire

Benalla

Bourke

Box Hill

Brighton

Broadford

Broadmeadows

Bulla

Buln Buln

Callignee

Camperdown

Casterton

Caulfield

Cheltenham

Coburg

Colac

Dalhousie

Dromana

Drysdale

East Bourke

East Brighton

Elsternwick

Eltham

Emerald Hill

Essendon

Euroa

Evelyn

Fitzroy

Footscray

Frankston

Gippsland

Gobur

Healesville

Heyfield

Horsham

Hurstbridge

Keilor

Kerang

Kilmore

Kyabram

Lilydale

Longwood

Maffra

Malvern

McIvor

Melbourne

Melton

Mentone

Merino

Miepoll

Mildura

Mirboo

Mordialloc

Mornington

Morwell

Narracan Shire

Normanby

North Melbourne

Oakleigh

Omeo

Point Lonsdale

Portarlington

Portland

Portsea

Prahran

Queenscliff

Reedy Creek

Ringwood

Rodney Shire

Sandford

Sandringham

Somerville

Sorrento

South Bourke

South Brighton

South Melbourne

St Leonards

Stawell

Strathbogie

Sunbury

Sunshine

Swan Hill

Taggerty

Tambo

Thornton

Toongabbie

Towong

Traralgon

Tyers

Upper Yarra

Violet Town

Wandin Yallock

Warragul

Warrnambool

Werribee Shire

West Gippsland

Whittlesea

Williamstown

Wimmera

Wodonga

Yarck

Yarra Glen

Yea

 

 

So what’s missing?  GEELONG !

If the Geelong Advertiser was digitised this list of places would double as it covers so many towns and districts in Western Victoria.

Verbally we’ve been told that if the Geelong Advertiser was digitised it would gobble up the annual newspaper digitising budget for the State Library of Victoria and that wouldn’t be fair on every other area of Melbourne and Victoria.  But is that fair on Geelong and half of the rest of Victoria?

What pre-1850 Victorian newspapers have been digitised for the NLA site?

  • 1842: Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser
  • 1846: The Argus

And what about 1850-1860?

  • 1855: The Star [Ballarat]
  • 1856: Williamstown Trade Circular and Williamstown Chronicle

That’s it!  The Port Phillip Herald was digitised some years ago and is available [not free] as part of the Paper of Record web site, hence the reason it’s not included on the NLA site.

Did you know that the Geelong Advertiser published lists of people who shipped gold from the gold-fields to the port of Geelong in 1851-54?  We have 6,624 entries in our Geelong & District database for the gold shipments.  In fact our database includes 29,413 entries transcribed from various editions of the Geelong Advertiser on a variety of subjects.

There is no argument … the Geelong Advertiser should be digitised as part of the National Library Digitised Newspapers project.

What can we do about it?

If you look at the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program for 2011-12 you’ll get an idea from the bottom of the page about the funding sources to get some newspapers into the program.  Of course there is no limit to where funding and/or support can come from:

  • the newspaper [Geelong Advertiser] and associates
  • the local council [City of Greater Geelong] and nearby  and western Victorian municipalities
  • private individuals and organisations
  • Federal and State funding including heritage / history type grants
  • other sources for grants / funding
  • petitioning the State Library of Victoria
  • petitioning State and Federal members of parliament
  • contributions from local societies and organisations

I’m an individual – I can’t do it all [apart from working 5-days a week] – but let’s get something moving!

OK – that’s my soapbox all worn out for now – come on everyone, come up with ideas and actions to help get the Geelong Advertiser digitised for the benefit of ALL researchers.

P.S. I almost forgot to mention that some issues from the first five years of the Geelong Advertiser were digitised as part of the Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845 project.  It’s available online as single page downloads however it’s not searchable.

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One MILLION … and still going

January 8, 2012 Leave a comment

What a milestone … One MILLION records in the Geelong & District Database.  To be more specific – 1,005,265!  And of course, there’s plenty more where they came from.

This is what’s been added to reach that milestone:

  • Geelong City Council: WWII Servicemen and women enlistments – 2,429 entries [more added, only the "L"s to go]
  • Church Records: Marriages [Parent] – 19,306 entries [fathers done, mothers and witnesses yet to come]
  • Church Records: Burials [Spouse] – 546 [up-to-date for all burials]
  • Church Records: Burials [Parent] – 10,082 [fathers, mothers and mothers with maiden names done - up-to-date for all burials]

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

Don’t forget to check out your ancestors in the Geelong & District Database.  Good luck with your research!

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Sometimes you just have to eat your words!

January 7, 2012 1 Comment

These are the words I used in my last blog just 5 days ago … Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!!  We now have more than 900,000 entries in our database and heading in the right direction to reach that magic 1,000,000 mark.

No – I didn’t “mis-count” or “over-calculate” – I just had one of those flashes when I said to myself … You idiot, why didn’t you think of that before?  I’m talking about the number of records in the Geelong & District Database.  My crazy dream was reaching 1,000,000 entries by the end of 2012 – but that was before I had that flash.

I had a few more indexes to add – one of the fun things you can do when you have some holidays – and I thought we would get the total close to 910,000.

So what was the flash?  I realised that in one of my large databases I had a couple of extra columns of names that weren’t in the Geelong & District Database - and they should be!  I’m talking about the wonderful GDHA Church Records database available at select societies in our region – the societies who have contributed to the GDHA database.  These extra columns of names need some manipulating / tidying up as they were not the key indexes, so some still need a lot of work before they can be added to the Geelong & District Database but some were reasonably easy.  What I’m talking about are the parents, and potentially witnesses and sponsors in the GDHA baptisms, marriages and burials.  The records will NOT be added as a whole but the parents etc. will become new entries showing the name, year, place and event – i.e. Baptisms [Parent].  So they won’t be matched to the child, but will give you enough information to evaluate following up on the records further.

So, we now have 986,027 entries to search free online in the Geelong & District Database!

Now you understand why I have to eat my words?

That’s just 14,000 short of 1,000,000!!!!!

And at the risk of having to eat my words again, I hope to hit 1,000,000 before the end of January.

This is what’s been added since my last blog:

  • Geelong District: Schools – pupils and prize winners.  These appeared in the Geelong Times and so far include 906 entries from 1874-1898
  • Winchelsea Court of Petty Sessions – 1,082 entries from 1865-1872
  • South Barwon Court of Petty Sessions – 212 entries from 1859-60
  • Mount Moriac Court of Petty Sessions – 852 entries from 1862-1867
  • Birregurra Court of Petty Sessions – 576 entries from 1907-1910
  • Higgins Collection – 6412 entries from 1840s-1904.  This is an index to the solicitor’s papers held at the Geelong Heritage Centre.  They’re an amazing collection covering wills, crime files, land transactions and debt cases and most are available on microfilm at the centre.
  • Church Records: Baptisms [Parent] – 63,701 entries [fathers only at this stage, mothers and sponsors yet to come]
  • Church Records: Marriages [Parent] – 11,058 entries [fathers part done, mothers and witnesses yet to come]

Details on these indexes can be found in the Geelong & District Potpourri pages.

As you can see from this and the previous two blogs, we’re trying to include a huge mixture of record types as well as covering all the municipalities in our Geelong & District region.  Apart from our Winchelsea Wonders who I’ve spoken about before we also owe thanks to our PROV Girls and GFHG & GDHA volunteers.

The PROV Girls regularly make the trip up to North Melbourne for a day of focussed work.  One is responsible for photographing pages of registers which can be indexed from the images at home, and the others index directly into their notebook computers from other registers.  As you can imagine it’s quite a logistical exercise pre-ordering the right records for the team and this is all co-ordinated and managed by Pam Jennings who is also the chauffeur for the day – What a team!

In the meantime the GFHG (Geelong Family History Group) and the GDHA (Geelong & District Historical Association) volunteers are working on local newspapers and the huge collection of indexes from the GFHG Library.  Most of this library now resides at the Bellarine Historical Society at Drysdale and to search for a name in these 100s of indexes would take a week – thanks to the GFHG we are progressively indexing / transcribing these to go into our online database.

What a team effort – thankyou to EVERYONE involved!  By the way, the new target for the end of 2012 should be something like 1,250,000!!!

If you’ve got this far, you’d better scurry for the Geelong & District Database and search for YOUR ancestors!  HAVE FUN!!!

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