Week 21 (May 21-27) Military

Russell Nicholas Clark, WW2

The prompt for Week 21 is 'Military'.  My family was extremely lucky, in both world wars and other conflicts, to have most of those who served not only come home, but come home fairly unscathed.  Once second cousin was killed in France in World War 1 ; one uncle died in the Merchant Navy in World War 2.  All the other relatives who served – my father, uncles and great-uncles and more recently several cousins - returned safely to their loved ones.  While they all had to live with the memories of the conflicts, they were mostly uninjured by their experiences and able to rebuild their civilian lives.  

So many others were not so fortunate.  Numerous Australian families endured the loss of loved ones on foreign soil, the arrival of the dreaded telegram, or the return of family members forever scarred by their service.  So many who returned faced a lifetime of ruined health or years of recovery and rehabilitation, and ongoing trauma from their wartime experiences.  My family has been lucky indeed.

 

Leonard Clark, WW2

My father, after attempting to enlist underage and being caught and sent home, served as ground crew in the Air Force in the latter stage of World War 2.  Stationed in Darwin for much of his active service, he always regretted that he never made it out of Australia and always refused to march in ANZAC Day or Remembrance parades.  At the end of his service he was stationed in Sydney helping unload POWs returning home from Japan, an experience he would never talk about.

 

ANZAC has very much become a part of our national vocabulary.  Many of the people who lived though that campaign were ordinary volunteers, just as Australia’s current veterans are ordinary volunteers.  They put their daily lives on hold to serve and protect us all, most with very little clear idea of just what they were volunteering for.  Even as a young child I was taught the significance of ANZAC Day, attended services, and spent my pocket money on ANZAC Day badges, many of which I have in a container at home, which I still add to annually.

Ernest Green, WW2 postcard from Egypt

Through the National Archives of Australia I have downloaded several family military records -  the NAA has indexed and digitised Boer War and World War 1 and 2 dossiers, which you can search and view online for free.  Other websites include Discovering Anzacs which allows you to add your stories and images, and the Australian War Memorial, which has databases like the WW1 Embarkation Rolls and WW1 Red Cross files.  Researching  newspaper reports in Trove has also been a gold mine, with reports of enlistments, farewells, news from the front, even letters home published in local papers.

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 : 

• Social media How to get help with your family history online
• Zeppelin raids How one man identified the victims of Britain's first air raids
• The history of slums Living in poverty in the cities of Victorian Britain
• Family Hero Dawn Robinson-Walsh's convict ancestor built a better life in Australia
• French genealogy Getting started with family history research
• Around Britain Research in the West Midlands
• And more....
  

 

Website Wednesday - National Archives of Australia

The National Archives of Australia is a rich source of information for family historians.

Many of the records in the collection are about people who:

• migrated to Australia
• served in our defence forces
• are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin
• were interned or investigated by the government
• applied for copyright, patents or trademarks

The best way to search is to think about how family members had contact with the government, then work out what types of records the NAA might have about them.

There are many ways your family might have had contact with the government.

• Migrating to Australia
• Becoming an Australian citizen
• Applying for a relative to visit from overseas
• Serving in the army, air force or navy
• Enrolling to vote
• Registering a patent or trademark
• Working for the government

You can search for family surnames using RecordSearch.  Once you have found what you are looking for, your RecordSearch item list will display an item description that shows an item's status. This will be either:

• open
• open with exception
• not yet examined, or
• closed

If the record you want is open, or open with exception, you can view it online through RecordSearch if a digital copy is available, order a digital copy or arrange to view the record in the research centre.

If the record you want is not yet examined, you will need to apply for access. To do this you will need to submit an access application online, or contact the NAA with the details of the record.

Closed records can only be accessed records that are in the open access period under the Archives Act.

Week 20 (May 14-20) Wheels

This week's #52Ancestors prompt is 'Automobiles', which brings to mind stories of my parents' wedding in 1967, which featured my father's beloved Chev Biscayne.

The Biscayne was one of the few cars my father owned during his lifetime, and was definitely his favourite.  Driven mainly for trips from the sheep station where we lived on the Darling River into Mildura or down to Melbourne, it was also the wedding car when my parents married.

Proudly decorated for the event, by the end of the reception it had, to my father's dismay, been liberally 'decorated' with toilet paper and eggs and was driven away trailing streamers and tin cans.  It was a story I heard many times during my childhood.

The Biscayne was my father's pride and joy, and he owned it for many years.  I have fond memories of family outings in that car as a young child, before it was eventually replaced with a 1967 Chrysler Valiant, in which my sister and I both learned to drive.

Family Tree UK Magazine

The latest issue of Family Tree UK magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue :

• 'This is the community’s wealth’ - insight into the Anglo-Saxons via their runic inscriptions
• US WW2 draft registrations 1940-1947 indexed by AI
• Extensive Dunbartonshire collections now online
• Blenheim Palace celebrates 75 years of opening to the public
• Wiltshire FHS baptisms & burials project complete!
• Chalke Valley History Festival all-inclusive tickets
• DNA Club news
• RAF Museum Midlands secures £650k grant
• Tracing ancestors in the British Armed Forces
• Bigamy - Anything you can do, I can do better!
• A chip off the old block
• Leaving a true part of ourselves for future generations

Website Wednesday

Explore Your Genealogy is an educational website developed by the Family History Federation that relates to every aspect of tracing your family history, from the very first steps to more complex research.

The main objective of the website is to promote the study and interest in family history (and associated disciplines including local and social history) in a free-to-access, easy-to-navigate website.  New articles and topics are being added regularly. 

Explore Your Genealogy already covers a range of topics, beginning with a section on 'How do I start?"  Further topics include :

• Civil Registration
• Parish Registers
• Family Heirlooms
• Wills
• Graveyards
• Military
• Archives
• DNA
• Poor Law Records
•  Census Records
• And much more

Each topic heading can contain multiple articles containing a wealth of information useful to beginners and experienced researchers alike.  There is always something new to learn!

The Family History Federation also produces the Really Useful Bulletin, which is published monthly and free to all.  The Bulletin will provide information about updates on a regular basis, and past issues can also be viewed on the website.

Week 19 (May 7-13) At the Library

How often do you visit your local public library for your Family History research?  If you haven't visited lately, you may be missing out.

Most public libraries today offer a number of resources for family history researchers.  If your ancestors lived locally, your library's Local History collection may hold valuable resources.  You can also check the local libraries in the areas your ancestors lived to see what is available - especially with today's online catalogues and potential for digitised copies and inter-library loans.

Most libraries today also offer free in-house access to online databases, such as Ancestry Library Edition or Find My Past.  While these databases are generally only available for use in the library - via public access computers or perhaps using your own device and the library wi-fi - they are a bonus for the budget conscious and allow researches to download or print relevant records.

Borrowing your favourite genealogy magazine from your local library instead of purchasing it is also a money-saving option.  Many libraries subscribe to a number of magazines for people to read in-house or borrow.  As access to eBooks and eAudio has grown, so does access to digital issues of magazines, and genealogy magazines may also be available in digital issues that you can download and read at home.

Does your local library offer classes on family history topics?  Hints and tips on getting the most out of your valuable research time?  What about a Family History Chat or hosting meetings of your local Family History Group?

Don't forget the library staff themselves can be a valuable resource.  Does your local library have a local / family history librarian?  Someone who you can call on for a little help getting the most out of library resources or available databases? 

It might be well worth your time to visit your local library to see what the have to offer family history researchers.  And most - if not all - of their resources are free!