More WW1 Records Digitised

The National Archives of Australia and Ancestry.com have collaborated to digitise 95,000 First World War records, preserving them for the future.

The project digitised a series of records for individuals who applied to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and were either rejected, discharged while still in training, or went on to serve within Australia only. 

Individuals, especially young men, who did not enlist were often stigmatised for failing to 'do their bit', with the infamous white feather presented to many to symbolise their perceived cowardice.  Yet many of these individuals tried to enlist only to be rejected.  Their stories are often left untold.

Many of those rejected were sent home on medical grounds, even though many appeared physically fit.  Examples of reasons for a person's rejection include : poor hearing or eyesight, insufficient chest measurement, issues with feet including poor veins or hammer toes, alcoholism, and poorly healed injuries such as a previously broken arm which had healed crooked.  Others tried to enlist over or under age and were sent home when their deception was discovered.

Rebecca Britt, National Archives Director of Digitisation Services said the partnership allowed for a sharing of knowledge and resources to ensure records were digitised to a world-class standard.

‘We welcomed Ancestry.com staff to our East Burwood, Victoria repository to support the project, and alongside National Archives staff, the Ancestry.com team digitised the records. This meant that the records never left the repository, ensuring security and best practice for the project.’

This series of records now joins more than 376,000 First Australian Imperial Force service records which have already been fully digitised.  All these records are accessible to the public via The National Archives of Australia's free RecordSearch site and through the Ancestry.com family history platform.

Who Do You Think You Are Australia

Series 14 of Who Do You Think You Are? Australia will start airing at 7.30pm on Tuesday 2 May on SBS and SBS On Demand.

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? Australia will star actor and comedian Barry Humphries; journalist Jenny Brockie; journalist and former Senator Derryn Hinch; actor and entertainer Rhonda Burchmore; choreographer and artistic director Stephen Page; comedian and broadcaster Peter Helliar; actor Kerry Armstrong; and actor and musician John Waters. The episode themes will include Barry Humphries discovering a royal scandal in his family history; Stephen Page uncovering his mother Doreen's indigenous Australian identity; and John Waters tracing the women in his family tree.

Education

It is always exciting to find a new detail about an ancestor, especially when you move into more detail that the basic birth / marriage / death information.  Extra details of our ancestor's lives help to flesh out our knowledge, add to the image of the person rather than the bare bones of dates and times.

Recently I was lucky to find the certificate below, belonging to William Pummeroy in 1939.

Knowing where ancestors went to school and what they achieved is invaluable and I can now continue my research into William's studies and achievements and see what else I can find about his education.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue :

• DNA FAQs Genetic genealogy expert Debbie Kennett answers your questions about DNA testing
• How to write your family history Janet Few tells you how to turn your ancestry into a book
• The history of coronations As we look forward to the coronation of Charles III, we look back on the origins of coronation traditions
• Reader story Gary Cooper's relative was the world's first professional basketball player
• Plus: Finding 20th century Merchant Navy records, tracing aristocratic and royal connections, finding 19th century property records 
• and more

Future of Trove Announced

Back in early January I posted a blog about the bleak future of Trove, with the lack of ongoing funding threatening the continuation of this wonderful free resource.

I warned that "the future of Trove, the National Library of Australia’s public digital archives, is in doubt with just six months funding left.  The library’s director general has revealed that it is facing “very, very big decisions” in the next few months.

The last tranche of funding for Trove, which receives about $5m annually from the Federal Government and has more than 20m hits each year, is set to run out in July. While there remains a possibility that Trove will be thrown a last-minute lifeline in the May budget, that will come just weeks before it could be forced to cease operations."

Happily, news has just been released that in its upcoming May budget, the federal government has promised $33 million over four years to the NLA.  Trove, will also be separately allocated funding of more than $9 million — a move the government said would secure the future of the service for years to come.

A statement from the National Library reads as follows :

The National Library of Australia is deeply grateful for the commitment of the Albanese Government to provide significant ongoing and indexed funding for Australia’s cultural and historical institutions. This allows the Library to focus on providing world-leading services to the Australian community from our physical building and storage facilities in Canberra, and via our digital library, Trove. The funding provides certainty and includes:

• Sustainable funding for our core operations, to further develop our collections and outreach activities and the services we provide to communities across Australia.
• Undertake critical ongoing building maintenance to:
  • continue replacing the antiquated heating, ventilation and cooling systems
  • ensure existing storerooms are watertight
  • replace leaking windows, and
  • address urgent safety and code compliance requirements.
• Extend our storage repository at Hume to store collection material (currently in rented storage that expires in 2025) with ongoing indexed funding to safely house our physical collection (which grows by approximately two kilometres every year) into the future.

This announcement comes as a great relief to all the historians and researchers who have gained so much from the continuing availability of this free online resource made available to all.

Great news indeed.

Really Useful Podcast Episode 6

The Family History Federation has now launched Season 2, Episode 6 of its series of Really Useful Podcasts. 

 

This episode is titled 'Writing your Family History'.  The website describes it : 

It can be very enjoyable to write about our family history. It is also a useful way to focus our research. In this episode our guests discuss the different ways to write up our family histories and offer some advice for doing so.

Joe is joined by Natalie Pithers, who runs the Curious Descendants Club which helps people write their family history https://genealogystories.co.uk, Mish Holman, professional genealogist who researches and writes up family histories into books https://www.familyhistorygifts.co.uk/, Paul Chiddicks, Family Tree magazine’s ‘Dear Paul’ and blogger at https://chiddicksfamilytree.com and https://oldpalaceschoolbombing.com/ and Matthew Abel, museum professional at the V&A and family historian.

Genealogy Webinar Marathon

MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars are running their 4th annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon April 13-14, 2023.  The entire event is free, and you can pop in for a session or two, or stick around for the full 24 hours – it’s completely up to you. 

Sessions include :

• Solving Unknown Parentage Mysteries with MyHeritage DNA
• The Secret to Finding Your Ancestor's Stories 
• Genealogy A to Z : a Trivia Adventure
• Slow Down - Planning you Research
• To Have but No Longer to Hold : Divorce in Australia
• Australian Indexes online for Family History Research
• Different calendars in German Genealogy
• Unearthing Treasures in the Irish Registry of Deeds
• An Introduction to Investigative Genetic Genealogy
• Finding the Original Recordwhen the Idex is Unclear
• Elusive Ancestors : Never too Poor to Trace
  
• And more...