North Terrace is a major road right in the heart of Adelaide, South Australia, yet I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t even know that the plaques are there. These represent the many men and women who helped make South Australia as it is, and they are right there on the footpath under your feet.

Heading over to Wikipedia they explain the plaques as …

The Jubilee 150 Walkway, also variously known as the Jubilee 150 Commemorative Walk is a series of (initially) 150 bronze plaques set into the pavement of North Terrace, Adelaide.

December 18th, 1889 was a big day in the history of the little farming town of Gumeracha, as it was opening of the butter factory. Housed in what was originally a flour mill that William Beavis Randell built in the 1840s, it was his son William Richard Randell (the one that was the River Murray pioneer navigator), that later converted it to be used as a butter and cheese factory.

So for today’s Trove Tuesday post I’m highlighting the the article in the South Australian Register from 1889 that mentions the opening of this Butter Factory.

This article in Trove (Australia’s most-awesome digitised newspapers website) does a great job of telling the details of the opening …

I think I’d be pretty right in saying that as far as Australian history that is taught in schools pretty much covers the convicts, the explorers, and the wars. And while each are fascinating in their own right, I have found other bits of Australian history that also deserve to be known. Now I can’t speak for the current generation, but I know they certainly weren’t in the syllabus when I was at school.

So get comfy, grab a coffee, and take a little look into Australia’s history, and discover the bits that you didn’t know about. And at the end, see how many of these fascinating facts you actually already knew about.

Life doesn’t let us stay on just one road. To make it interesting it throws in roundabouts, u-turns, side roads and sometimes even one way streets. Whether we like it or not, we adapt and go with it. Genealogy is like that too. Sure you’re going along fine, then you find a name in records you’re browsing that sounds a bit familiar – and you’re given two choices: 1. to ignore it as it’s not connected to your current research, or 2. check it out, and see where it takes you, which can lead to you leaving your current research, and totally following this person.

Personally I think there is nothing wrong with that as long as you can accept that “what-was-your-current-research” is now pushed back at least one level. And depending on just how interesting this family is, as to how long you continue to be sidetracked. It can be a few hours , a few days, a week or even months … sometimes even longer  (gasp). But trust me if it’s that long, it means the family is worth researching because they are just SOOOOO interesting.