GSV News

GSV is privileged to have Elizabeth Rushen presenting 'Bounty and government emigrants 1836-1840 including Mr Marshall's migrants'.

Liz Rushen has written a number of books in this area and you can see more about them at her website HERE.

Her talk is on this coming Thursday 18 October 12.00pm - 1.00 pm. Bookings are essential but you can still get a place if you are quick.  Bookings can be made in person at GSV, via the website HERE.  Or you can book by email to gsv@gsv.org.au or by phone +61 3 9662 4455.

GSV Members $5.00, RHSV/CAV/FHC $15.00 and Non-members $20.00.

There were many emigration schemes and agents operating in the early to mid-nineteenth century and this talk by historian and author Elizabeth Rushen will give a broad overview of emigration in the 1820s and 1830s. Various emigration schemes were available until the formation of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission in 1840 and John Marshall was the most active entrepreneur under the bounty scheme of assisted migration to Australia.

This is an area of our history with which many of us have links and this is a great opportunity to get a knowledgeable overview.

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Now that we are emerging from our winter retreats, it is a great time to pick up those challenges we set ourselves this year for our family histories. Even for those who have started, it is always good to have a refresher about what we can find and how to proceed. The GSV has scheduled a short course of three sessions in October which will give you all you need to really get going.

'Australian Family History'  - Wednesday 17, 24 and 31 October, 10.00am - 12.00pm.

This will be presented by John Bugg.

The topics to be covered include:

• Where do I start? How to gather and store information.
• Getting here - immigration, convicts, naturalisation and wills.
• State records - Private lives and public records.
• National Records - Finding families.

For BOOKING and details about this course go to the GSV website HERE. You can also book  in person at GSV, by email to gsv@gsv.org.au or by phone +61 3 9662 4455.

The presenter:  John Bugg has a background in Education and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Education. He has been chasing  eight family lines who arrived before 1870 and has published a small family Bugg history, before attending the family reunion in the UK. John enjoys the chase and detective work of family history and finding links to its wider historical context.

John tells us more about these planned sessions:

'Most of us have explored the commercial data sources and probably checked the odd family tree and been subjected to the afternoon tea-party about the family. What this course aims to do is to go beyond that and build up an originaldatabase of our family and to set it in the social context of the time. How do we find Will Smith; especially if this name is Wilfred Smyth, to say nothing of the transcription error of the clerks in a foreign port who may have little knowledge of German or Spanish?

Emphasis will be placed on original documents and where to find them from little used databases that will lead often to further searching and the unlocking of additional and sometimes surprising information. What is the value of the GSV database and how we may best use it. In the last course we discovered, among other matters, why a great-grandmother had a sister six months later from her same father and mother. Often our search is limited by the commercial databases. I am following eight Australian families and only one is on the official documents of immigration in the nineteenth century and that was further complicated by their arrival in Melbourne but their registration in Freemantle. We will aim to find some other sources of data through the sharing of ideas.

Finally the sessions are designed to be fun. By allowing a broad canvas of inputs, and by adding additional information from the group, you will develop a much better understanding of your family and an accurate family tree for all to share.'

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We are hosting two free talks at the GSV Research & Education Centre as part of Rare Book Week. This is a good opportunity to visit the GSV Centre and hear two interesting presentations - but you do need to book.

The first on Tuesday 3 July, 12.00 pm - 1.00 pm is: 

Preservation of books, photographs and paper-based items.

Conservator, Debra Parry will provide information on how materials deteriorate and how to handle, store and display such items to preserve them for the future.

Then on Thursday 5 July at 12.00 pm - 1.00 pm, Douglas Heywood will present: 

WO1 William Scott Heywood, 1941. (Photo courtesy of Doug Heywood)

 

The GSV's Journal 'Ancestor' is now out for this quarter (March 2018, Vol.34:1). If you are a Member you have already got this Issue and you will be well into the interesting articles. Here is a brief look at what is in this new Ancestor. I would love to receive your comments to this blog, about this journal and its features  (see 'Comments' button at end).  You may even want to send me a follow-up article for possible future publication on this Blog.*** Bill Barlow, GSV Blog Editor. e: blog@gsv.org.au

'Use of Autosomal DNA to find Relatives of Charles William Sharman'. DNA testing helped Robyn Sharman Hawking to solve the long-standing problem of who were the parents of her great grandfather Charles William Sharman. It set her on a course that she would never have been able to follow without the test results.

If you would like to know more about DNA and its usefulness in genealogy, the GSV has introduced a new series of 'modules' - you might like to attend one or more of the modules that are being planned for this year. These will help you personally interpret the data that DNA testing companies send you after a swab test.

'Dr John Fishbourne: A Victorian Medical Pioneer'. Kaye Cole has researched her nineteenth century relative Dr John Fishbourne, a medical pioneer in improving the treatment and education of people with a range of conditions including intellectual disability and epilepsy.

'How I found my Namesake'. While searching for her namesake of three generations back, Elizabeth Kelly traced the McCallion family to Sydney and uncovered their mostly sad story.

'Who's Been Living in My House'. Louise Wilson takes us on a rather different journey, that of the history of her house in South Melbourne. This article provides an insight into the large amount of material available on residences.

Martin Playne’s 'A Guide to Researching Northern Territory Records' will give you some good ideas on where to look if you have Northern Territory ancestors. Few people realise that the Northern Territory came under so many jurisdictions at different periods.

In 'Research Corner', Michael Sturmfels has generously shared the results of his research into pastoral workers in the Western District Victoria between 1860 and 1880, for which he checked through a great variety of records. He shares some of the interesting stories, and has made his results available online at the GSV.

But there is more! Family history researchers are assisted each month with the writing of their story in 'Getting it Write'; about oral history in this issue. There are sections about blogging (with Meg Bate), book reviews, notes on additions to the GSV Library, as well as regular pages from the Public Record Office, and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Remember that this is your journal, the place where you can share your family history. As well as our usual longer articles, we would like to invite you to submit a short article (around 250 words) and an image or two, focussing on a particular place of significance in your family history for our new back page space. In this issue in 'Tower Bridge' Barbara Beaumont recalls a family link to this famous London landmark.

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There is a growing interest in joining others who share and discuss common areas of genealogical research. It's informative and more fun!

This year the GSV is launching new Discussion Circles to cater for those researching ancestors who lived in and around London and another for those who lived in British India. A third new Discussion Circle formed recently is focussed on the North of England (Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire & Cumberland).

These common-interest groups are open to GSV Members for no additional cost (as part of GSV membership). They meet regularly and provide great value for your research by the free exchange of their participants' knowledge and experience. They also may invite specialist experts to their meetings. 

For example the South West England discussion circle (SWERD) this coming Wednesday, 14 March at 12:30 to 2:00 pm is looking pretty special with a very interesting guest speaker who will generate plenty of discussion.  Dr Joe Flood is the Administrator of the DNA projects for Cornish ancestry on the myFamilyTreeDNA website and he administers these global DNA projects from Melbourne.  Dr Flood will discuss the projects and the findings to date. The projects have a Cornish focus, but there should be something in the presentation for everyone who is interested in the use of DNA in family history research.   SWERD has been expanded - GSV members with research interests in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and now Dorset are very welcome at the meetings.

The newest GSV Discussion Circles will meet as follows:

The North of England : Tuesday 13 March - 12.30 - 1.30 pm.

London Research - Thursday 22 March - 12.00- 1.00 pm. With a view to starting a Discussion Circle. Bookings essential - ring +61 3 9662 4455 or the website http://www.gsv.org.au

British India - Tuesday 17 April - 12.00 - 1.00 pm.

Join the GSV quick (or on the day) to benefit from these groups if this is your area of special interest. You can also read more about these groups in the latest issue of Ancestor journal 34:1 (March 2018)

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