Worldwide Genealogy - A Genealogical Collaboration

Back on 30 December 2013 English Genealogist,  Julie Goucher, announced a collaborative Project in which I was involved. 

Worldwide Genealogy - A Genealogical Collaboration was a collaborative blog on the Blogger platform to which a team of bloggers contributed posts on an allocated day. In the first year of publication there were  215 posts but this had dwindled to 3 in 2018 with the last post written by Helen Holshouser published on March 30. Life is busy and somehow the wheels fell off the project.

There is some wonderful content in the posts, some of the information may be outdated but some of the issues discussed are still pertinent. The good news is that the blog is still live on the internet and the posts may come up in search results. But I wonder if it will remain there. 

My first post in the Worldwide Genealogy Blog

As I own the copyright on my posts I am going to copy my contributions from that blog into this GeniAus blog. My blog is preserved on the Australian Web Archive at Trove so I know that my words will be available in the future. 

I'll post them with their original posting date and acknowledge that they were originally posted on the Worldwide Genealogy Blog. 

30 Bob for Daphne

 Indulging in some Sunday afternoon newspaper browsing on Trove  I found this mention of my mother-in-law, Daphne Gillespie from 1931. I wonder how she disposed of her 30 bob?

1931 'Advertising', The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), 1 January, p. 6. (LAST RACE EDITION), viewed 18 Jul 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224659981

Uncle Jack Charles

I finally caught up with last week's episode of Who do you think you are that featured Jack Charles. 

I thought that I recognised Jack and, as the program progressed, I realised that last year I had read a book about him. It wasn't the best book I have read and wasn't particularly well written but it certainly gives the reader an understanding of this man and his struggles. There have been many dark periods in Jack's journey.

I found the episode most touching and engaging and wonder if my interest was more intense because I knew more about Jack's personal history.

Should you wish to read "Jack Charles : born again blackfella"  you can find the details here:   https://www.penguin.com.au/books/jack-charles-9781760899158. 

A search in the Books & Libraries category on Trove indicates that there are copies available for loan in 200 Australian libraries  https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/236741439?keyword=9781760899158. It is available in paperback, audio and eBook formats.

Surprize, Surprise

 Last month I attended a free webinar, Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to NSW,  hosted by the RAHS. 

During the webinar Anne McMahon, the author of the book Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to New South Wales 1823-1837, discussed the history of the Irish hulks and gave details on the lives and conditions of the convicts incarcerated on them. I learnt that one of the hulks, the Surprize, was in Cork Harbour around the time my 3xGreat-Grandfather, Patrick Curry/Corry, was transported from there. Did Patrick spend time on the Surptize?

I realised that I needed to purchase the book which was published in 2017, I'm surprised that I didn't learn about it when it was published. I was hoping to purchase an eBook copy of the work but, when I asked during the webinar, if the book was available in that format the author was quite surprised, said she didn't know about those things and it would not appear in an electronic format!!

The book was available from several online sites but I opted to buy it from Amazon because it was 9.95 cheaper there than the recommended retail on other sites. 

I received a surprise when the parcel containing the book arrived. I had expected a paperback but the book is a heavy hardcover. It has all the features of a well documented work - bibliography, contents, indexes and references and contains a few illustrations and maps.I have yet to read the book, I don't think it will identify many individual convicts but I hope it provides a valuable insight into the lives of Irish Convicts in the early 19th century. Dr Perry McIntyre wrote an honest  review of the work in 2017 for Tintean Magazine, https://tintean.org.au/2017/08/06/floating-prisons/.

Playing around on Google I found this article, https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/irish-prison-hulks/, by Meg Carney who, after reading McMahon's book, thinks that her ancestor spent time in Cork on the Surprize. I wonder if I will come to the same conclusion for Patrick after reading the book.