Are You Listening? 25 Australian History and Genealogy Podcasts...

Hands up how many of you listen to podcasts? Hmm, not enough of you. Before I get into that, let me start right at the very beginning by giving you the definition of podcast. In simple terms, a podcast is a digital medium consisting of audio episodes that relate to a specific theme. The hosts of a podcast are referred to as “podcasters.” So in essence it’s an audio recording that you can listen to on your computer, iPad, or phone. There are literally hundreds of thousands of podcasts available to listen to, on just about any topic that you can think of – just browse Audible to get an idea. They can be fun and entertaining, they can be horrifying, or they can be educational. Podcasts are great to listen to while you’re travelling. Anyway today I just want to highlight a few Australian history and genealogy-related ones for you. Please note it takes a LOT of work and dedication to create a podcast, and as you’ll see some of those listed below are not currently active, but I’ve included them as you can still listen to the past episodes. —- AdeLOL – Adelaide & SA’s Hilarious History Podcasthttps://adelol.podbean.com/Stories of South Australia and Adelaide’s unique, and often hilarious, past. Australian Ancestry Podcasthttps://australianancestrypodcast.podbean.com/The Australian Ancestry Podcast helps you make the most of your uniquely Australian family history research by providing insights into how to perform your research in Australia, overview of historical trends in Australian migration & settlement and interviews with leading Australian researchers. Aussie History Podcasthttps://player.fm/series/aussie-history-podcastThe Aussie History Podcast, (also known as the Aussie Waves Podcast) tells Australian history though the lens of all those peoples who have made the journey from other lands to call Australia home....

Traces Magazine – Issue 22 (April 2023)...

If you have a love of Australian history and genealogy, this is just what you need. As with all every issue of Traces, this one is packed with high quality Australian history and genealogy-related articles. Issue 22 recently hit the newsagent shelves, (or your letterbox if you’re a subscriber), so what great articles are in this issue? In this edition Traces welcomes back some regular writers, and several new contributors. Karoline Cernoch explores the stunning Waverley Cemetery, and the social and cultural factors that led to its development. Dr David Waldron shares the grizzly story of Fitzroy’s Hand of Glory, and the folklore maintained by Melbourne’s 19th-century immigrants. The genealogy section features a fascinating article by Lucy Frost about convict orphans, transported from Australia with their convict mothers, and how to find them in your family tree. While the cover story, written by Peter Baker, charts the rise and tragic fall of violinist and entertainer Percy Cowan, his wartime service and his enduring friendship with poet Henry Lawson. There’s another “Vintage Vernacular” article, and a profile of the grand historical estate Edina, with its Scottish connections. But there’s plenty more to discover in this edition’s pages, so if you love Australian history and/or genealogy, do yourself a favour, and grab a copy of Traces. Available in both printed and digital form, you can subscribe through iSubscribe or Traces magazine directly. You can buy the current issue from some newsagents, and back issues of the magazine from Traces magazine themselves. More information:Website: http://tracesmagazine.com.au/ Follow...

Australian Genealogy and History Snippets – March 2023...

From time to time I come across all sorts of interesting history and/or genealogy related tidbits that I want to share with you, so I’ve collected them together to make up a Snippets post. These aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but rather they are just bits that I’ve found and wanted to share. Mostly it is Australian news, but I have tacked on some overseas snippets on the end for you interest too. Discovering Anzacs website “Decommissioned”News on Twitter is that the National Archives of Australia have “decommissioned” (deleted) the Discovering Anzacs website. This is a perfect demonstration of why the community are hesitant to engage with and contribute to institutional projects. How many hours of work and contributions of material has been thrown away? –  via @michwatsonoz@ausglam.space on Twitter. More info on the NAA website. Are you interested in helping to research and preserve the history and heritage of the WEA (SA)?Are you interested in helping to research and preserve the history and heritage of the WEA? The WEA are in their 110th year, and they are launching an exciting volunteer-led project to ensure their  history is properly recorded and preserved for future generations. The project will include a research component as well as cataloguing, digitising, and storing our vast treasure trove of documents, photographs, and objects. Initially we are seeking 3 enthusiastic Volunteers to take on the role of WEA Volunteer History Project Team Leader for our three categories: Research; Cataloguing; and Digitisation. Once our Team Leaders have been appointed we will also be calling for general volunteers to assist with the project. If you’re interested, CLICK HERE for more information or to apply. Sydney Jewish Museum Major ExpansionNews from the Sydney Jewish Museum … “We’re thrilled...

Australian Genealogy and History Snippets – January/February 2023...

From time to time I come across all sorts of interesting history and/or genealogy related tidbits that I want to share with you, so I’ve collected them together to make up a Snippets post. These aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but rather they are just bits that I’ve found and wanted to share. Call for expressions of interest for new editor/s of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical SocietyThe Council of the RAHS is seeking expressions of interest for the position of editor of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society (JRAHS). The current editor Adjunct Associate Professor Carol Liston AO and our proof reader Mrs Joy Hughes are stepping down after many years of distinguished services in their respective roles. [via their email newsletter] Billionaire fails in bid to partially demolish historic goods shed in VictoriaA $750 million twin office tower project has been turned down in a move by Heritage Victoria to preserve the state’s largest and most architecturally elaborate 19th century railway goods building. [via The Age] New Records at Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and MarriagesNew records alert!  The Queensland Registry now has 107,603 new records available to search on their BDMs website. These include BDMs from the following years: 1923 Births, 1948 Marriages, 1993 Deaths. Start searching today! www.qld.gov.au/familyhistory [via Facebook post] Labour History Society South AustraliaDid you know that there is a society dedicated to the history of labouring in South Australia? No, nor did I until I found it mentioned on a website. So if you’re interested be sure to get in touch with them, or if you’re local, pop along to one of their meetings. [via Experience Adelaide site] 41,000 Burials for the ‘Adelaide Plains’Recently the Adelaide Northern Districts...

Facebook for Australian & New Zealand History and Genealogy...

Since releasing my first big list of Australian history and genealogy links on Facebook in September 2016, I’ve continued to find more, and more, and periodically do updates. So what started out as a list of a few hundred links, has grown to large list of 2085 links (as at 26 January 2023). That’s 77 pages worth of Australian and New Zealand history and genealogy links … just on Facebook. I haven’t added any new categories with this update, but there are additions to nearly every category that’s listed. DOWNLOAD HERE This is an ongoing project which will be updated periodically, so if you have any links you’d like added, please either send an email to  alona @ lonetester.com (without the spaces), or message me on my Lonetester Facebook page. ————– And I can’t mention genealogy on Facebook without making reference to two other incredible lists: – Katherine Willson’s worldwide Genealogy on Facebook list is enormous, and now has over 16,700 links. – Gail Dever’s Facebook for Canadian Genealogy list of over 1000 links is a must for everyone with Canadian...

They Closed the Borders ….. AGAIN!!...

“Victoria-NSW border to close for the first time in 100 years as Melbourne coronavirus cases hit record daily high” – this is the headline from the SBS News report, dated 7 July 2020, and it comes as Victoria is just beginning another six weeks of lockdown to try get COVID-19 under control. Anyway that headline intrigued me, as I was curious about the previous border closure … so I headed to Trove to see what I could find. And what an amazing article I found. Talk about history repeating itself … just have a read of this article from South Australian newspaper, The Register, dated 3 February 1919. You can see the original article here. Please note, the red highlight is my emphasis, not that of the original article.  —The Spanish Flu— No one desires to minimise the horrors or the epidemic which has swept over the world, nor the necessity for precautions, but it would seem that if ever fear was worse than the disease, the present is the occasion. The Federal Quarantining Department kept the disease out of the country for months. Australia has had ample warning, and advantage from the experience of other countries. The Commonwealth and State authorities met last November, and planned, a joint course of action. The Sydney doctors diagnosed their cases as the real thing; the Melbourne doctors were still using big words, and unable to make up their minds. Now both States have been declared infected, but New South Wales will not admit Victorian passengers, because Melbourne was responsible for the trouble, and Queensland, not to be out of the fuss, is asking the despised Commonwealth Government to lend it a body of Light Horse to patrol its border against New South Wales....

Introducing “Six Feet Under Downunder”- Australian Cemetery and Burial Records Online...

In between trips, blogging and presentations, my geniemate GeniAus (aka Jill Ball) has managed to begin a new project (and website) …. “Six Feet Under Downunder“, which is a listing of Australian burial and cremation records online … and she’s asking for your help! But first here’s her explanation of how it came about …. While preparing for my Six Feet Under Downunder webinar over the past few days I realised that there is no one site that lists all the wonderful resources in Australia that index the names of the deceased resting in cemeteries and crematoria around Australia. It would have helped me no end in my preparation if there was a meta site that links to such resources. Of course I decided to create such a site. I must be mad but I hope that the many generous genies around Australia who know of such indexes of  memorials, headstones and burial sites will share them with me so they can be loaded on the site. I will initially only link to free sites that are available online, sites that one can visit via the internet. So Aussie geniefriends, please visit her website, click on the various state links. These link to Google Doc pages with lists of cemeteries. If you know of other FREE sites, that are not yet listed, please send her an email with details, 6feetunderdownunder@gmail.com, and she’ll get it added. The more comprehensive this is, the more useful it is. And I can see this being an incredible resource for those searching for Australian...

Australia’s Biggest Ever Gold Robbery...

1862. 8 Bushrangers. 77kg of Gold! The incredible true story of Australia’s Biggest Steal. Did that get your attention? It sure got mine. ‘Australian Heist‘ is the title of a brand new book written by James Phelps, who is quoted as being Australia’s #1 bestselling true-crime writer. I’ll admit it’s not a name I was familiar with, but I sure am now!! Written as well as any good fiction book, it really is a non-stop-page-turner, with fascinating characters, and twists all the way through. And yet this is Australian history. It really happened. And it happened in what was our ancestors era. This isn’t an official book review, and I’m not going to spoil the book for you, but I will give you the speil … On 15 June 1862, a gang of bushrangers held up a gold escort at Eugowra, just east of Forbes in new South Wales. They escaped with a pile of cash and 77 kilograms of gold, worth about $10 million today. It remains the largest gold robbery in Australian history. In this riveting re-creation of the events, James Phelps finally tells the full story of how Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall, John O’Meally, Johnny Gilbert, Henry Manns, Alexander Fordyce, John Bow and Dan Charters planned and executed the robbery – and what happened to all that gold. And the map! ‘Australian Heist’ is a thrilling, fast-paced and thoroughly modern take on one of the most extraordinary episodes in the nation’s history. Anyway here’s all the relevant book details for you: Title: Australian Heist Author: James Phelps Format: hardcover Pages: 368 pages Published: 2018 ISBN: 9781460756232 Publisher: HarperCollins Australia Buy the printed book Buy the ebook To give you full disclosure. Yes, I do work in...

The First Traffic Lights in Australia...

When were the first traffic lights installed in Australia? It’s an interesting question, and one that once asked, makes you intrigued to find out … well it did me anyway. So that’s what today’s history lesson is all about. When were the first traffic lights installed in each of the Australian states? Of course I headed to the one and only magnificent Trove to find out, and you might just be as surprised as I was! SYDNEY – 13 October 1933 Friday, 13 October 1933 was when Sydney’s (and Australia’s) first traffic lights began operating. The lights were installed at the intersection of Market and Kent Streets in city of Sydney, and were switched on at 11am, by the then Minister for Transport, Colonel Michael Bruxner. You can see a fabulous photo of the traffic lights here.   BRISBANE – 21 January 1936 At 3pm on Tuesday, 21 January 1936 a large crowd gathered in the CBD to watch the switching on of the first traffic lights in Brisbane.  These were installed at the intersection of Ann, Upper Albert and Roma Streets.   HOBART – 27 January 1937 This one surprised me as I never realised that Hobart had traffic lights so early. But the newspapers reported the grand occasion which you can read on the link below. Just before 11am on Wednesday the 27th of January 1937 the lights were turned on at the intersection of Elizabeth and Liverpool streets.   ADELAIDE – 13 April 1937 Tuesday, 13 April 1937 was Adelaide’s big day, as that’s when Adelaide’s first traffic lights were turned on. These were installed at various intersections along King William Street in the city.   MELBOURNE – late December 1937 The Melbourne public had to adapt...

The Origin of Mother’s Day in Australia...

Mrs Janet Heyden from Leichhardt, New South Wales is not a name that you’re likely to recognise, but her name goes down in history as the person who introduced gift giving for Mother’s Day. In 1924, Mrs Heyden was concerned about the lonely, and forgotten mothers in Sydney’s Newington State Hospital when she visited an old friend regularly. So she started a campaign throughout Sydney asking for donations so she could buy presents for these old ladies. Newspapers took up the appeal helping to spread the word, while she made personal requests to many of Sydney’s leading businesses. The response was incredible with donations ranging from talcum powder and soap, to scarves and mittens, as well as confectionery and fruit gifts. Janet is quoted as saying “The late Alderman Dyer, who was Mayor of Leichhardt, used to drive me around to the old mothers of the district with my gift parcels. For seven years in succession the appeal through the newspapers made sure that hundreds of mothers who would otherwise have been forgotten received a Mother’s Day gift, today, of course, a gift for mother is just a natural thing.” Mrs Heyden continued to visit the lonely and forgotten mothers in Newington right up until her death in 1960. It was then her daughter spoke of her mother’s disappointed by the commercialism of Mother’s Day and the loss of it’s original meaning … but she figured that “commercial interest provided publicity which reminded people of the occasion.” So just to be clear, Janet Heyden, wasn’t the founder of Mother’s Day, as technically it already existed, but it was quite different to what we understand it to be these days. The credit of the ‘founder’ of Mother’s Day goes to Miss Annie Jarvis from Philadelphia....