Traces

This magazine is for people passionate about Australia and New Zealand's genealogy, history and heritage. Whether you want to explore convict history, find your Anzac, identify photographs or trace your family tree, our trusted expert advice will help you discover your past.

Welcome to the 24th edition of Traces!

Traces

Heritage news

The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Sydney • The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, in Sydney’s Millers Point, is steeped in colonial history, its sandstone walls echoing many haunting tales of the 19th century.

A history of Sydney Harbour • Sydney Harbour is the sparkling jewel in the crown of the ‘Emerald City’ – one that has been cut, restyled and polished many times over almost 240 years.

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Sideshow Barkers • In 1908, a lanky young vagabond and petty criminal fought the New South Wales Government in the High Court of Australia to recover his family’s macabre sideshow exhibit: a two-headed stillborn baby. In doing so, he set a legal precedent that resonates today for property rights in human biological material.

Acts of bravery – lives saved at sea • For more than 140 years, the Royal Shipwreck Relief and Humane Society of New South Wales (now the Royal Humane Society of NSW) has recognised bravery in saving human life, and reminds us that heroes are the everyday people who walk among us.

Research tip: looking for a hero?

FINDING SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET • Genealogical research can have a significant impact on those who embark upon it. Mysteries, secrets, hidden talents and passions might all be traceable through your lineage, but what happens when you don’t like the information you find?

Researching Chinese-Australian family history • Through years of research, Mandy Gwan has discovered many details about her Chinese ancestry. Here, she shares her best advice for others hunting down Chinese-Australian ancestors.

How famous ancestors can grow your family tree • When my mother, Ayelet, and I went looking for relatives to add to our almost 5000-person family tree, we didn’t expect to find Nobel Prize winners, cinema builders, rabbis and – possibly – a Bond girl. One thing’s for sure: these notable individuals were invaluable to our research.

What’s that thingamajig? • Answer: a sunshine recorder

When truth is a healer • Is family history research the key to emancipation?

Minnie Berrington’s opal dreams • Why would a good-looking, upper-class English girl choose to spend her life working as an opal miner in one of the most barren and unforgiving places in the world? That’s exatly what London typist Alice Minnie Florence Davies-Berrington did in 1926 when she packed her bags and took her younger brother on a voyage to Australia.

The Admiralty Islets diorama • The Admiralty Islets diorama at the Australian Museum is thought to be Australia’s oldest, predating the famed African dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History by some 13 years. This treasure celebrates its centenary in 2023, but why has the museum genius behind the display been forgotten? Brendan Atkins investigates.

‘Wait awhile’ in Western Australia • With gold found in Cue in 1891, Coolgardie in 1892 and Kalgoorlie in 1893, it is not surprising that many people on the east coast of Australia had turned their attention to the west by 1894.

What’s new online? • The latest updates and additions to historical collections available online.

The iconic Australian worker’s cottage • Worker’s cottages of the early Victorian era retain the charms of their original design, but these modest homes were not always as appealing as they are today.