Showing off our Town

I heard during the week that one of my mates, Brenda and her companion Charlie B., would be visiting Newcastle yesterday on one of my favourite cruise ships, Seven Seas Mariner. Brenda is one of the guest lecturers on the next leg of the current world cruise. 

I whipped off a quick message asking Brenda if she would like to catch up with Robert and me. We arranged to meet Brenda and Charlie at the Cruise Ship Shuttle stop where we had previously collected cruisers for a spin around the area. As we approached the site where we were to collect them there was no sign of the shuttle. After some furious messaging we discovered that the shuttle stop was in a new location. 

With Brenda found I settled in the back seat with she and Charlie B. Robert, our chauffeur, launched into his tour guide spiel while Brenda and I gossiped away. 

Back Seat Driver, Charlie B, with his companion Baary

As Brenda had visited Newcastle on several occasions we did not need to give her the full tourist treatment, Nevertheless Robert pointed out many of the historic buildings in the city.

Our first stop was for a stroll along the Newcastle Memorial Walk where we looked at the exhibits and admired our stunning coastline. Robert added the role of photographer to that of chauffeur and tour guide.

Some of Newcastle's beautiful beaches viewed from the Memorial Walk

Charlie was happy to pose along the walk

Charlie was careful not to fall

Brenda and I posed with a shy Charlie

After our stroll I was keen to show Brenda and Charlie our backyard on Lake Macquarie so we drove on to Warners Bay.

Robert left Brenda and I to chat while he went in search of some Australian delicacies for her to share with her shipmates. 

Brenda, Charlie and I sitting across the Lake from our home

Charlie kindly looked after the treats for their shipmates

After so much touristing we were in need of refreshment at a local cafe.
Brenda chose something sweet.

Charlie was dwarfed by some of the public art along the Lake's edge

We were so grateful to Robert and Charlie for leading us

We returned Brenda to the shuttle in plenty of time to brush up on her talk for today

It's always great to catch up with friends. Thanks to Brenda and Charlie B. for sharing your day with us. 

A Particularly Amiable Man

One day I hope to write the story of my 3xGreat-Uncle, Michael Harrington Ryan, elder brother of my Great-Great Grandmother, Bridget Ryan.  

In the interim, as well as references from books and journals found in archives, I have a Private List on Trove where I keep details of newspaper articles that mention Michael. This list currently has 161 references that provide a reasonable timeline of this pioneer priest's appointments and movements. However until today, when I decided to venture away from the Newspaper and Gazette Category on Trove, I didn't know much about Michael's character. 

With half an hour up my sleeve I decided to try my luck in the Magazines and Newsletters Category on Trove so I entered this term, "michael harrington ryan",in the search box and was rewarded with two hits.

My Search

The first of these articles (which are instantly available online) only confirmed that Michael had worked at Mayfield. 

The article from 1933, written by W.E.D. (an ex-pupil of St Mary's School), gives a insight into the character of Michael Harrington Ryan when he worked at St. Mary's Church, Newcastle. It is a nugget of Geneagold. 

2016, The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland National Library of Australia, Canberra viewed 20 August 2020 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-305925577

My next task is to search in this publication using variants of Michael's name in case there are more mentions of him. I was just so thrilled to find this article that I had to share it immediately.

Newcastle Region Library

Folders of cuttings for Hunter locations

On Friday I found myself in Newcastle, NSW, with a couple of hours to spare. After sporting myself a coffee and sandwich I did what any self-respecting genealogist  would do and headed to the local library.
 
Serving the population of one of our major regional cities The Newcastle Region Library is one of the larger public library services in NSW. The Local Studies Library is on the second floor of the building that the library shares with the Regional Art Gallery. The Library aims to collect information and resources relating to the Lower Hunter Region. I hadn't visited for about 8 years and didn't spot any obvious differences in the decor, furniture and fittings. There were a few computers and microfiche readers and a reasonable collection of printed material on open access; the library was extremely tidy.

As my Tierney and Kealy ancestors lived in Dungog I spent  an hour reading through the three binders of cuttings there were for that town. I only found one reference to my great-grandfather, John D'Arcy Tierney. The articles that recounted the early history of the Dungog district will give me value background on conditions of the time. I photographed quite a few pages for future digestion.

In addition to local resurces there is a good collection of general genealogy resources. I found burial details for a few more local relatives before I started on cemetery indexes for other areas. Unfortunately I only managed to get to Cobar in the alphabetically arranged collection before I had to leave.

The library was very quiet during my visit with less than half a dozen patrons  present.

Library Desk - A good spot for a gossip

I have been ruminating about whether I should write these next few sentences but have decided that I will. As an old librarian I was extremely disappointed by the behaviour of the three library staff who stood behind the desk and gossiped for at least 45 minutes of my visit. As they discussed the General Manager, Library Manager, other library staff and their suitability for various roles plus library procedures I cringed. I could not believe that I was witnessing such a display of unprofessional behaviour. That this happened in a public area where library patrons could hear their every word made this a more reprehensible act. Their chatter did nothing to enhance the otherwise peaceful environment in the library.

Surely they could have found a more productive way to spend over two hours of Council's time .  If they were on their lunchbreaks I apologise but reiterate that this location was not appropriate for that conversation.

That having been said I would recommend that any genealogist within cooee of Newcastle or those with links to the Hunter pay a visit to The Newcastle Region Library.