 |
e-newsletter Issue 3 2022 |
|
A Challenging Year and Time to Celebrate |
|
As 2022 comes to a close, I reflect on the year at the Family History Centre. This has been quite a challenge as we emerged from Covid restrictions and tried to perform ‘normally’. Halfway through the year, our computer system developed serious glitches and remained so for many weeks. However, this has now been rectified, and we look forward to welcoming more of our volunteers back in the New Year. I acknowledge and thank all those who have persevered with various projects when things were less than ideal, a large amount was still achieved, plus some interesting family connections. In addition, those who contributed to solving the IT problems are to be congratulated. I wish you all a safe and joyful Festive Season with your families and friends, and a well earned rest, before returning refreshed in January 2023. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Important Dates to Remember |
|
Friday 16th December - History Centre Closes 4pm Monday 16th January - History Centre Re-opens 10am Tuesday 17th January - C&DFHG Committee Meeting 9am Tuesday 14th February - Annual General Meeting 1:30pm Guest Speaker Angela Thomas Information Session & Morning Tea for Volunteers TBA All positions will be declared vacant and nomination forms will be available from the secretary. We need a volunteer to take on the secretary position - for more information on what the role entails, contact Norma on secretary@colacfamilyhistory.org.au
|
|
|
|
 |
CAD is the digital database of the Colac & District Family History Group, developed by our IT volunteer Bernie. One of the many jobs for our volunteers is transcribing names and details from the thousands of documents in our collection and, after they are checked for accuracy, uploading that information onto CAD. If you have ever inquired about a family name, you have most likely been informed that there are a certain number of entries for that name on CAD and the type of records they refer to. If you come into the History Centre to research your family, we show you how to use CAD and where to find the records listed. CAD has other features, such as displaying photographs and images of rate book entries. Bernie is currently developing a tool which will help to interpret our historic map collection. It is a very exciting initiative and will hopefully be available next year. As we near the end of 2022, the number of entries on CAD has now reached 349,500, along with more than 20,000 rate records. We congratulate and thank all involved who have contributed to this work over many thousand hours, either at the History Centre or working from home. Your contributions continue to be invaluable. |
 |
|
|
Useful Website for Researching Early Victorian Settlers |
|
| If you have an ancestor who was in Victoria in the very early stages of white settlement, this website could prove to be very useful. It includes very early census of the Port Phillip District - 1836 & 1841 and the 1838 census of Melbourne. And lots more. https://www.portphillipdistrict.info/ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In 2020 Gavin Brown, a long time member of the family history group, intended to make the trip from his home in NSW to continue researching his Colac ancestors. Unfortunately Covid interfered with that plan and the trip had to be delayed. Both of Gavin’s parents were from the Colac district. His father was from the Brown family of Beeac and his mother was a Wilson from Barongarook. Unfortunately Colac’s weather wasn’t very kind to Gavin and his wife while they were here but he did enjoy his two days at the History Centre and found new information for his family history. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Melissa Leslie, also from NSW, was taking a road trip and decided to include Colac so she could gather some information on her Gamble family ancestors. We put out a call to members to let them know when Melissa (centre) would be in Colac. She was fortunate to meet with other Gamble family descendants, from left Chris Benke, Barry & Rhonda Hyder,and Faye Villinger |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legacy Lessons for Raffle Prize Winner |
|
 | Even though he lives in Melbourne, Paul Brennan was a familiar face in Colac throughout the 2014-2018 WWI commemorations. Every Anzac Day eve Paul travelled to Colac and rose early on Anzac Day to help install hundreds of crosses in the rose garden for the Dawn Service at the Colac War Memorial. Alfred (Fred) Adolphus Brennan, a great uncle of Paul’s died in the First World War and his name is memorialised on the Colac Memorial in gold lettering alongside more than three hundred other Colac district men who paid the ultimate price. Paul was the second prize winner in our on-line raffle early this year and won a Deluxe Legacy Family Tree package. He recently spent time in Colac having lessons from Norma on how to use the software and to update his family tree. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you follow our Almost Forgotten project facebook page, you would have recently seen a story about the Cahill family of Birregurra. Titled “Three Funerals and a Wedding”, it was a story about a young father, Michael Cahill and two of his five children who died in 1863 and were buried in the Colac Cemetery. We were recently contacted by Ian Cahill from Western Australia who is a descendant of Micheal Cahill and Ann Nolan. Ian is keen to organise a reunion, possibly early November in 2023. If you would like to be put in contact with Ian to find out more, email: media@colacfamilyhistory.org.au |
|
|
|
|
 |
More information has come to light about the Holden Family photograph. Louise Loubey (above) saw the story about the photograph in the Colac Herald and identified it as the one she had purchased, possibly in Geelong, more than thirty years ago. Louise had it hanging in her home for twenty-eight years before deciding on a change of decor and donating it to the local Salvos. We have been able to locate a grandson of the lady on the left in the photograph and he will be coming to Colac in early January to collect it. |
|
|
|
Thanks to a grant from the Commonwealth Government, we have been able to purchase some new equipment which will be beneficial for our volunteers and will help us to prepare for any circumstances which require people to volunteer from home. |
|
Excursion to Flinders Street Station Exhibition |
|
An excursion to the Rone Exhibition at Flinders Street Station Ballroom is currently being organised to take place in March, either Wednesday 8th or 15th. Tickets have been selling fast and we will need to book as soon as we return in January. Tickets cost around $40 each or $35 concession. Colac members will most likely travel by train and if you are a Seniors Card holder you might be entitled a free rail pass - Phone 1800 800 007 or visit the PTV website www.ptv.vic.gov.au for more details. If you are interested in joining the group for the excursion - please contact secretary@colacfamilyhistory.org.au Expression of interest for this excursion will close on January 16, 2023. Below; “THE NEWSAGENCY” Photograph from https://rone.art/ |
 |
|
Volunteer Christmas Luncheon |
|
|
Such a good time was had by all of our volunteers who attended the Christmas luncheon on Tuesday that we forgot to take photographs. All we can share is the delicious slices on our festive table and a photo of Craig, Phil and Bernie who couldn’t help but to drift to the computer network and check that everything was working well. |
|
 |
www.facebook.com/almostforgotten1900 |
The Story of John Brown by Meryl Ritchie |
There is only one tantalising clue and some plausible connective leaps to the real identity of the itinerant John Wilson who was found in Camperdown and transported for care to Colac Hospital. It is sitting in the In-Patient records of the Colac Hospital and it may be the closest we ever come to finding what might be the beginnings of this man’s life story. It began with an Irish farm labourer living in England with a wife and family but who, like so many, was sentenced to transportation for larceny. John's wife died whilst he was in the hulks. He was sent to Hobart where his behaviour was constantly troublesome and his record long. It was over 60 years later in 1897 that John died in Colac Hospital and was buried in the RC section of the Colac Cemetery. Perhaps now he is no longer an entirely unknown or forgotten man. |
 |
|
MEMBERSHIP & NEWSLETTER Membership entitles you to receive copies of the newsletter throughout the year. The intention is that this will be on the 15th of each month from February to December. You will also receive bulletins throughout the year. If your membership has lapsed, this will be the final newsletter that you will receive. If you are unsure of your status, please contact secretary@colacfamilyhistory.org.au Thank you for your ongoing support. |
|
|
