Winchelsea Wonders give us Barrabool!

December 3, 2011 2 Comments

The Barrabool Inn, Ceres [Wynd collection]So just who are the Winchelsea Wonders?  A pair of wonderful ladies who are constantly doing indexing projects for the Geelong & District database.  Joan and Di are from the Winchelsea & District Historical Society.

Their most recent project has been the Shire of Barrabool rate books 1869-1901.  They have indexed every five years but have access to the interim years if you are “missing” your ancestor in that period.  The indexed rate books include 5,204 entries.

The Barrabool Inn at Ceres [photo above] can be found in the index in 1869 under the ownership and occupation of James Parsons.  He “inherited” this imposing establishment by marriage.  The former owner, George Cartwright from Yorkshire, died in 1868.  His widow, Eliza, carried on the business until she married James Parson in 1869 when the licence was transferred to him.

The Shire of Barrabool rate books are grouped into three ridings: Ceres, Moriac and Coast.  The parishes in the Shire are:

  • Barrabool
  • Gnarwarre
  • Modewarre
  • Duneed
  • Puebla
  • Paraparap
  • Jan Juc

Thank you from all of us to our Winchelsea Wonders!  Think of them while you search the Geelong & District database for your ancestors.

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Winner of 2011 PMI Short History Prize

December 3, 2011 Leave a comment

Prahran Mechanics' Institute: Short History Prize [2011]The winner of the 2011 Prahran Mechanics’ Institute Victorian History Library Short History Prize was our very own Dr Peter Mansfield.

Most locals involved in family or local history in Geelong & District will know Peter and his involvement with many groups.  He has been convenor of the Geelong & District Historical Association, on the committee of the Geelong Historical Society, guest speaker to many of our societies, and formerly CEO of the Geelong Regional Libraries.  He has researched and written many articles on some of his favourite subjects including Free Libraries and local politicians.

Able, gifted, trustworthy and disloyal: the political fortunes of Henry Bournes Higgins, MLA for Geelong, 1894-1900 is the title of Peter’s winning entry.  Peter has very kindly provided us with a copy for all to enjoy.

Congratulations Peter!

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Geelong: Assisted Immigrants Remittances 1856-1858

September 11, 2011 6 Comments

I do love some of the wonderful hidden treasures amongst the records held at the Public Record Office Victoria – and those that have been transcribed or indexed by the Geelong Family History Group [GFHG].

As part of an ongoing project with the GFHG, volunteers from our region are transcribing or indexing their huge collection and adding them to our Geelong & District database.

This is one of my absolute favourites!  It is part of VPRS 22 / P0: Customs, Shipping and Immigration Records – 8 of the 27 units in this series are specifically Geelong records!  And yes, we’re planning on working on the other records in this series.

To give you an idea on how wonderful these records are, I’ll step you through the details available in our Geelong & District database and the additional information available from the Geelong Family History Group transcriptions.

A search was done in the Geelong & District database for the name CROHAN.There were 43 matching entries [10 Sep 2011] for CROHAN – the ones of particular interest are the four entries for:

  • Bridget CROHAN
  • 23 Sep 1856
  • Geelong: Assisted Immigrants Remittances 1856-1858

 

 CROHAN – search
  Clicking on VIEW for the first entry you will find these details:

  • Bridget CROHAN was the Depositor
  • Mary CURTIN was the Nominee
  • Mary CURTIN was the MOTHER of Bridget CROHAN
  • PROV reference: VPRS 22 / P0 / 15
  • GFHG Reference Number is 70
  • Link to explanation of this record group which includes links to GFHG Research Requests or the Public Record Office web site

CROHAN – results 1
  Clicking on VIEW for the second entry you will find these details:

  • Bridget CROHAN was the Depositor
  • Mary MOYLAN was the Nominee
  • Mary MOYLAN was the SISTER of Bridget CROHAN
  • PROV reference: VPRS 22 / P0 / 15
  • GFHG Reference Number is 70
  • Link to explanation of this record group which includes links to GFHG Research Requests or the Public Record Office web site

CROHAN – results 2

Viewing the third and fourth entries will provide similar information for Thomas MOYLAN and Patrick MOYLAN – probably nephews of Bridget CROHAN.

If you look at the original record at PROV or submit a Research Request for the transcription from the Geelong Family History Group, you will find these details [in addition to those above]:

  • Bridget CROHAN resided with Ed Willis Esq, Barrabool Hills, Geelong
  • Mary CURTIN was aged 50, a housekeeper and widowed
  • Mary MOYLAN was aged 30, a nurse and widowed
  • Thomas MOYLAN was aged 16, a labourer and single
  • Patrick MOYLAN was aged 9 and single
  • The Nominees [CURTIN & MOYLANs] arrived on the ship Echunga on 20 August 1857 [many ship details have been added to the GFHG transcriptions and were not all included in the original transcription]
  • The Nominees’ residence was shown as – Alex Bannalyneby [?], Ennis Mills, Co Clare, Ireland

GFHG Ref No 70 – CROHAN

CROHAN – GFHG transcription [.pdf file]

Some Nominees’ residence details include cottage / house names, and street addresses – who wouldn’t just love that information for their ancestors?  The majority of entries are from Ireland however there are also significant numbers from England and Scotland which also include detailed addresses.

There are 1,289 entries [total number of Nominees] in VPRS 22 / P0 / 15 for 550+ Depositors.  This equates to 2,578 entries in the Geelong & District database – they are “duplicated” so that you can search by both Depositor and Nominee.

These records refer to depositors dealing with the Sub Treasury in Geelong.  There are plenty of similar records out there for Melbourne, other Sub Treasuries, and of course Geelong for different years.  They won’t be handed to you on a platter like these ones!  You will need to search for them.  Make use of the PROV Guide 52: Transport – Immigration Records.  Look in the Correspondence and administrative section – these type of records are found in the Immigration Branch files.

You should also do some background reading for details on immigration remittances, regulations, procedures and rates payable.  These can be found in these Victoria Government Gazettes by searching for the word IMMIGRATION and the dates shown below:

Well, that should keep you busy on what is a very cold September day in Victoria!

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Unlock The Past Victorian Expo (Geelong)

August 27, 2011 Leave a comment

Unlock The Past and the City of Greater Geelong have issued a HUGE invitation to anyone wanting to come to this terrific Expo.  It’s a banner across the Melbourne-Geelong Road - on the footbridge spanning the main road into Geelong – you can’t miss it!

If you see the banner and you’re coming to the Expo, you’re on the right road!  Stay on the main road, follow the bends as you go up and over the railway line, then start working your way into the left-hand lane.  Yes, I know The Arena is on the RIGHT but you have to go LEFT from the service lane at the Victoria Street exit [3rd set of traffic lights after the railway overpass].  Then turn hard right into the Margaret Street overpass to go up and over the Melbourne-Geelong road.  Turn right at the end and The Arena main car park is on your right.  See the map.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

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Unlock the Past Victorian Expo (Geelong)

August 21, 2011 1 Comment

Well I really can’t quite believe that it is SEVEN months this week since I first posted the news of the Unlock the Past Victoria Expo to be held in Geelong on Friday 2nd & Saturday 3rd September!  And now it’s only a week and a half away.

Already we have 74 exhibitors and lots of people registered.  Don’t forget that if you register before 30th August you get into the Expo for FREE!  And don’t forget to book for any of the sessions you want to attend to ensure you don’t miss out.  There are some free sessions with others at $5 each.

I really hope to see lots of you there.

And just to share something funny with you … this afternoon I was testing some computer equipment we’ll have on the Geelong & District stand so we can do lots of lookups of databases etc.  I had previously used my Netbook and USB dongle for Internet connection.  Unfortunately the Netbook has a rather insignificant display card and when a larger screen is attached for people to view it looks a tad … well … AWFUL!

The screen looks great with my Notebook but I had never used my USB dongle on it.  So, there I was trying to get my Internet connection working on the Notebook computer.  You see, where I live in Ocean Grove, we’re in a shadow and sometimes struggle to get digital TV reception, let alone a wireless Internet connection.  If you can picture me standing on tippy-toes on a chair on the verandah AND holding my Notebook as high as I could while still reaching the touch-pad and keyboard to try to get a connection … well I nearly fell off the chair laughing – it looked pretty silly and obviously my neighbours thought the same.

The good news – it works!

See you there … Susie Z

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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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Geelong & District Surnames of Interest

January 31, 2011 Leave a comment

Well – this one is exciting.  The former Geelong & District Surnames of Interest was still in the old HTML format and not searchable in my web site – you used to have to select a letter of the alphabet and browse the names.

I was going to bring it into the 21st century when I realised there was an even better way!  The Surnames of Interest entries have now been added to the New Geelong & District Database.

I’ve included all those on the former web pages plus some more – I still have a backlog to add which will be done progressively – I only need another dozen hours in a day! :-Q

There is an explanation on this function called “About the Surnames of Interest DB” and don’t forget to follow the Help and Tips links from the Database search page.

I think people are more likely to find and contact Submitters of Surnames of Interest as they will appear in the same search for surnames in the database – make sense?  Have a play and see!

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1863 Geelong & District entries from Vic Gov Gazette

January 31, 2011 1 Comment

100s of entries for our region have been extracted from the 1863 Victoria Government Gazette and are now in our Geelong & District Database

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Unlock the Past Victorian Expo (Geelong)

January 26, 2011 Leave a comment

This is so exciting – after some months of planning it’s now a reality and a MUST for your diary! Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd September 2011.

A major history-genealogy-heritage event for all Victoria.

See our Geelong & District Calendar & Events.

And for full details and future information on the program, bookings etc. make sure you bookmark the Unlock the Past Victorian Expo (Geelong) web site.

Groups from throughout our region will be there in force with all their expertise and local knowledge.  And of course it will be a chance for you to meet some of our wonderful volunteers who have provided so much to the Geelong & District Database.

And of course it’s not limited to our region as all the major Melbourne and Victorian groups and organisations will be invited to participate in the EXPO – that’s why it’s called the “Victorian Expo”!

We’re thrilled with the venue – lots of free car parking, 2 minutes from the North Geelong station, easy access from Melbourne, and of course we haven’t forgotten our friends from the east side of Port Phillip Bay – why not enjoy a lovely trip across the bay on the Sorrento-Queenscliff ferry?

Of course there’ll be heaps of announcements between now and the EXPO so put the dates in your diary and keep your eyes and ears open!

Look forward to seeing you there.

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