Who is Rex Porter, WW1 Anzac?...

There’s no question that we all get frustrated at uncaptioned photos. They are the bain of every genealogist or historians life. It’s Murphy’s Law that we’re bound to come across the most awesomest photo in the family collection, but it’s uncaptioned. Which leaves us with so many questions. Who is in the photo? Where was it taken? When was it taken? What was the occasion? And so on … But here’s one that IS captioned that GIVES me so many questions, so I’m sharing it in the hope that someone can help answer some of them. As you can see from the picture below it is captioned “Rex Porter in Swansea 1912”. As I don’t have any Porter’s that I know of in my family history I don’t know how this photo ended up in my family’s collection. But I do know that my dad ended up with some items as he was the local historian for the town of Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills, and people gave him things that were relevant to the region or to other families in the district, so I wondered if this was one of those items. So I started my search at the National Archives of Australia to check out what they list for Rex Porter. I did a search for record from 1910-1920, and came up with two entries. So my options from that site are: Rex Wilfred Porter, who enlisted at Sydney, New South Wales in July 1918. Winfred Rex Porter, who enlisted at Adelaide, South Australia in September 1915. Based on the dates of both of these, together with the date on the photo, neither seem likely. However Winfred Rex Porter’s next of kin (his wife) is listed as...

Mannum in Flood … Again!...

The small town of Mannum, in South Australia in sits on right on the banks of the River Murray, so it’s no wonder that it gets flooded now and then. In sorting through family heirlooms, I came across a collection of old photos of Mannum in flood. Unfortunately they are undated, but going by the style of photograph, together with reading up about the floods that hit Mannum, I would suggest that these were from the 1890, 1896, or 1917 flood. If anyone can shed some more light on the specific date on them, I’d be forever grateful. My family has a connection to Mannum through the Randell’s, with William Richard Randell who without any experience decided to make a paddlesteamer. In February 1853, at Noa No Landing, just north of Mannum, William Richard Randell launched the “Mary Ann”, the first paddlesteamer on the River Murray. He later moved his operations to the present site of Mannum, which soon became a centre for shipbuilding and river transport. William Richard Randell is a half-brother to my great grandfather John Beavis “J.B.” Randell. the Lady Daly paddlesteamer on the...