Colac Cemetery burials

May 29, 2011 10 Comments

We have just added 12,211 entries to the Geelong & District Database – these are burials in Colac Cemetery [extracted from the headstones].

We have to thank Ian Marr for permission to include these entries in the Geelong & District Database - for anyone who hasn’t looked at Ian Marr’s Cemeteries of South Western Victoria then you are missing an amazing project.

You won’t find the entries in Ian’s on-line Surname Index because there are just too many – 12,211 entries and and more than 7,000 headstone photographs for the Colac Cemetery.  For the very large cemeteries in the region, they are included on the CD / DVD / USB instead of on-line – making sure that people can still search the thousands of other entries at all the smaller Cemeteries.

Ian has priced the complete set of cemeteries at an extremely affordable price and no-one should criticise him for trying to recoup some of the costs [including petrol] that he has expended over the years.  Congratulations Ian – a really fantastic job – and he’s still going!

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Colac in North Carolina!

May 22, 2011 Leave a comment

It was an exciting time for our region last Thursday [19th May] … Colac & District Historical Society were joint winners in their category in the Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards!

Not only was it exciting for them to win the award but their entry is an amazing story.  Their member, Dawn Peel, was the instigator when she found a reference to the Colac Court of Petty Sessions 1849-1860 in the special collections at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.  She thought it was an error until the duty librarian scanned the first few pages … they included the name of Hugh MURRAY (pictured) … she then knew it was no error.

You can read the whole story on the PROV Wiki site.  This is an amazing blend of history and technology … a digital copy of the register is available on a server in the United States, the story and full transcription of the register is on a server at the Public Record Office Victoria, and the full index is included in the Geelong & District database on yet another server in Victoria!

Congratulations to Dawn and the Colac & District Historical Society on their win in the category “Community Archives – providing enhanced records access” and congratulations also to the Knox Historical Society for their project on school photos – both were worthy joint winners.

All category winners can be seen on the PROV web site with more details on the projects to be added there later.

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Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum: Annual Reports

April 26, 2011 Leave a comment

The Annual Reports of the Geelong Infirmary & Benevolent Asylum are being indexed by volunteers for the Geelong region.  The report for 1877 has just been added to the Geelong & District Database.  This makes a total of 28 Annual Reports indexed to-date.

Full digital copies of the reports from 1852-1922 are all available for download from the Geelong Infirmary & Benevolent Asylum web site.  You can also see which have been indexed – or even better you can volunteer to assist with the indexing!

The Annual Reports do NOT include lists of patients, however they include information about the staff and progress of the hospital and for family historians they include comprehensive lists of subscribers.  The subscription lists expand over the years to include employees of companies and inhabitants of small towns / communities making donations to the organisation and thus entitling the subscribers to medical services – similar to Medicare today.

A timeline history of this institution can be found on the Geelong Infirmary & Benevolent Asylum web site and a link is provided to two other important sites when searching for your ancestors:

The Annual Reports were digitised and provided to our Geelong & District web site by Geelong Hospital librarian Stephen Due who was also responsible for creating the wonderful Australian Medical Pioneers Index.

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Christ Church, Geelong – Burial Register 1863-1902

April 26, 2011 2 Comments

The card index of the Christ Church [Church of England] Burial Register, Book 2 [27 Aug 1863 - 20 Jan 1902] has been added to the Geelong & District Database.

We have combined all details from the card index with comments and family history data added from the corresponding entries for Geelong Eastern Cemetery [contributed by Pam Jennings].  The new index contains 3,408 entries of people who appeared in the Christ Church burial register and were then buried in the Geelong Eastern Cemetery.  Not all burials were in the Church of England Section at the cemetery – there are burials in all denominational sections and of course some are listed as “unknown location”.

The importance of this card index from the burial register is that they include many death dates which don’t appear in the Geelong Cemeteries Trust on-line database.  The new index also combines data from different sources providing the best combination for family history researchers.  Details of the contents can be found on the Potpourri Database page for this index.

The card index was transcribed with permission from the Genealogical Society of Victoria and the new combined database will also soon be available in the GSV members’ databases [LINX AUS and GIN]

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From Native Creek to Teesdale 1837-1900

April 17, 2011 Leave a comment

The index of this new book has been added to the Geelong & District Database.

From Native Creek to Teesdale 1837-1900 was written and published by Dianne Hughes.  The index contains 2,360 entries of people, places, organisations and subjects relating to the the town of Teesdale, formerly known as Native Creek.

The book was launched on 2nd April 2011 – copies are available from the Geelong Family History Group.

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Colac Court of Petty Sessions 1860- [VPRS 301]

March 20, 2011 2 Comments

The Colac Court of Petty Sessions [VPRS 301] is being indexed by our Geelong & District volunteers.

Currently 1483 entries have been added to the Geelong & District Database.

This is an ongoing project – the following entries have been added to date:

  • VPRS 301 / 25  [21 Mar 1860 - 14 Nov 1860 DONE]
  • VPRS 301 / 27 [6 Jan 1869 - 22 Apr 1870 DONE]
  • VPRS 301 / 55 [14 Aug 1914 - 8 Oct 1914 DONE]

Details include:

  • NAME: Either Prosecutor / Complainant / Applicant OR Defendant – COMMENT field will explain which
  • DATE: of court sitting
  • OTHER NAMES: Either Prosecutor / Complainant / Applicant OR Defendant – COMMENT field will explain which
  • COMMENT: Reason for court appearance, and explanation of NAME and OTHER NAMES field for EACH entry
  • REFERENCE: VPRS number and UNIT number (entries are in chronological order)

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Farmland, Forest & Surf: Environmental History

March 20, 2011 Leave a comment

New book index added to Geelong & District Database.

Farmland, Forest & Surf: Environmental History, prepared by Dr Carlotta Kellaway (1998), revised & updated by Dr David Rowe (2009) as part of the Surf Coast Shire Heritage Study Stage 2B (2009).  This publication of the Environmental History from the Heritage Study was produced by the Surf Coast Shire (2010).

Introduction: The Surf Coast Shire’s special landscape features and natural beauties have been identified over many decades as factors that have contributed to its popularity both as a holiday and resort place, and a desirable place to live and work.  Although close to Melbourne and to Geelong, Victoria’s second largest town, the Shire (an amalgam of parts of the former Shires of Barrabool, South Barwon and Winchelsea) is notable for its attractive natural features and relatively undeveloped condition.  It includes coastal holiday places along the Great Ocean Road, large areas of national park and forest reserves, and extensive pastoral landscapes.

This publication includes the following chapters: The Natural Environment; Arrival and Settlement; Economic Development in the Shire; Transport and Communications; Towns; Governing the Shire; Holidaying at Surf Coast; Community Life; Housing; and an extensive bibliography.

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The Waterholes: a history of Drysdale on the Bellarine

March 20, 2011 Leave a comment

New book index added to Geelong & District Database.

The Waterholes: a history of Drysdale on the Bellarine, written by Lynette Willey and published by the Bellarine Historical Society Inc.  The index contains more than 740 entries of people, places, organisations and subjects relating to the the town of Drysdale and the home of the Shire of Bellarine.

This book was launched at the historic Coriyule homestead – home of the Lady Squatters – in 2011.  Copies are available from the Bellarine Historical Society.

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Geelong Heritage Centre: Open Day

March 14, 2011 Leave a comment

For those who struggle to get to the Geelong Heritage Centre during the week [open Tue-Thu] here’s a great opportunity.

The Centre will be open on Sunday 17th April from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm to co-incide with the Geelong Heritage Festival.

See the Geelong & District Events calendar for full details.  While you’re there, have a look at the other events in Geelong & District.

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Year of Hope: 1857 in the Colac district

March 14, 2011 Leave a comment

New book index added to Geelong & District Database.

Year of Hope: 1857 in the Colac district written by Dawn Peel.  The index added to the database includes 1300 Colac residents of 1857 from the appendices in this book.

From the back cover: The Colony of Victoria. January 1857 …

It’s just two years since the Eureka Rebellion. Former miners and ex-convicts are joining with new immigrants to challenge the 20-year domination by squatters in the developing Western District of Victoria. Traditional Aboriginal life has been irreversibly changed.

These are the forces at play in the young township of Colac at the start of 1857. Professional historian Dawn Peel takes us through the following twelve months with a factual and fascinating account of power, religion, class and race in both this local area and the fledgling Victorian colony during its first full year of responsible government.

Key personalities and the social life of a colonial township are also illustrated as Year of Hope creates a detailed vignette of this pivotal year.

Dr Peel has uncovered a wealth of primary sources and other data during her extensive research for this academic and readable study of a key settlement at a vital moment in history.

The book is available from the author – email to check price and availability.

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