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Monday, April 12, 2021

J is for ...A journal of a tour of discovery across the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, in the year 1813

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.


It didn't take me long to read this modest little book that contained the 1813 Journal of Gregory Blaxland, one of the trio of explorers who forged a way over the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney.

 William Cox who later in that decade was commissioned in 1814 with supervising the building of a road over those Blue Mountains, employed one of my convict ancestors, James Westbrook, as a brickmaker on that project. Although he is not mentioned in Cox's journals Westbrook was granted, in 1818, a mitigation of his sentence for his work. 

When I was working on a project for my local FHG with this book .A journal of a tour of discovery across the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, in the year 1813 I took a break and read it. 

It was most interesting to me as it was a contemporaneous account and primary source that described the conditions of the area in which my ancestor later travelled. 

One can now purchase facsimile copies of the book from Sydney University Press. 

5 comments:

  1. It’s wonderful when you find a book like that to give a feel of what an ancestor may have experienced.

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  2. I found a journal written by a young man on a ship coming from England. He was the same age and on the same ship as a relative I was researching. It was exciting to imagine he may have been travelling in the same part of the ship and certainly brought the ancestor alive again.

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  3. It's amazing how people traveled in the past, and how carefully they recorded their trips. Thanks for sharing this.

    Beth
    https://bethlapinsatozblog.wordpress.com/

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  4. Thanks all for stopping by and reading about this little red book

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  5. I always love it when I discover such book-treasures.. which is why I often end up finding myself in those old bookstores..

    Jabberwocky: Its Simple Joy and Jovial Jargon

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